Ukraine counter-offensive: Russian forces retreat as Ukraine takes key towns
Russian forces have withdrawn from key eastern towns, as a rapid Ukrainian counter-attack makes further gains, BBC reported.
Ukrainian officials said troops entered Kupiansk, a vital eastern supply hub for Russian forces, on Saturday.
Russia's defence ministry then said its troops have retreated from nearby Izyum to allow them "to regroup".
The ministry also confirmed the withdrawal of troops from a third key town, Balaklyia, in order to "bolster efforts" on the Donetsk front.
The Ukrainian advances - if held - would be the most significant since Russia withdrew from areas around Kyiv in April.
In his nightly video address on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Ukraine had now liberated 2,000 sq km (700 sq miles) from Russia since beginning a renewed counter-offensive earlier this month.
Russia's admission of a withdrawal from Izyum is significant because it was a major military hub for Moscow, according to BBC.
"A three-day operation was carried out on the drawdown and organised transfer of the Izyum-Balakliya group of troops to the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic," the Russian statement said.
"In order to prevent damage to the Russian troops, a powerful fire defeat was inflicted on the enemy."
Shortly afterwards, the chief administrator of Russian-controlled parts of the Kharkiv region recommended that its residents evacuate to Russia "to save lives", according to the Russian state-run Tass news agency.
And the governor of the neighbouring Belgorod region, in Russia, said mobile catering, heating, and medical assistance would be available to people queuing to cross the border.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the latest developments had shown its forces were able to defeat the Russian army and could end the war faster with more Western weapons, BBC reported.
Foreign Secretary Paudyal to visit India on Sept 13-14
Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal will pay an official visit to India on September 13-14 at the cordial invitation of the Foreign Secretary of India Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
During the visit, the Foreign Secretary will hold a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart where the two sides will discuss different areas of cooperation between Nepal and India, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.
The Foreign Secretary will return Kathmandu on September 15.
President condoles demise of Queen Elizabeth II
President Bidya Devi Bhandari today visited the British Embassy in Lainchaur, Kathmandu and put her signature on a condolence book on the demise of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. During her conversation with UK’s Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Pollitt, the Head-of-State said with the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II, Nepal lost its good friend and expressed her sincere condolences on the passing away of the longest-serving British monarch.
Government changes tax rate of various goods
The government has provided concession on customs tariff on the import of various goods. The Ministry of Finance has informed through a notice in the Nepal Gazettee that the rate of the tax on the import of various goods has been changed. As per the new provision, 90 percent concession is provided on the customs tariff on import of crude soybean oil, palm oil and sunflower oil. Revenue Secretary Rameshwor Dangal said the industries which were given 50 percent concession on the import of sunflower seeds for extracting sunflower oil before this will instead be given 90 percent concession. This new provision also applies to the import of soybean seeds for the production of oil and oilcake from it. Before this, the industries importing soybean seeds for this purpose got 50 percent concession on import of soybean seeds and now they will get 90 percent concession. Similarly, 90 percent concession is provided on customs tariff on the import of mustard, spinach, canola and rapeseed seeds. A 15 percent customs tariff has been imposed on the import of spring steel wire that industries producing optical fibre cable use as raw material. Recommending for the concessions under this section should be made on the basis of the production capacity of the industry and the annual quantity of consumption. The provision of imposition of 15 percent income tax on transactions, except those enjoying tax concessions, carried out within the metropolitan city area and of seven percent within the then municipality area by the cooperatives, has been removed. It is said that as per the new provision, cooperatives operating within the municipality area will get 5 percent concession, those operating within the sub-metropolitan city area will get 7 percent concession and those run within the metropolis area will be given 10 percent concession on income tax. Likewise, arrangements have been made for keeping the customs tariff of wire and iron rod only at 5 percent. However, the excise duty on the import of raw materials of sanitary pad has been removed now.
