Submit your Article

As many as 800 security personnel have been mobilized in Rasuwa for tomorrow's local level elections.

Chief District Officer Nawaraj Jaisi said that 801 security personnel have been deployed in the district this time.

He said that Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and temporary police personnel have been mobilized for the security.

According to Jaisi, 294 Nepal Police, 288 temporary police and 219 Armed Police Force personnel have been mobilized in the district.

All the security personnel will give security to the voting centers and will also patrol the areas.

It has been learnt that 255 staffers have been deployed for the elections in the district.

There are 38, 545 voters in the district.

CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) cadres attacked a ward chairman candidate of Umakunda Rural Municipality-3, Ramechhap with a khukuri on Wednesday.

Ramesh Sunuwar, who had filed his candidacy from the Nepali Congress, was critically injured in the attack, Nepali Congress Umakunda Rural Municipality ward chairman candidate Jit Bahadur Katuwal said.

He has been taken to the Bamti Hospital in Bamti for treatment.

It has been a group led by Pabitra Subba attacked Sunuwar with the khukuri.

Police said that they have arrested some cadres along with Subba for investigation.

The UK has agreed mutual security pacts with Sweden and Finland, agreeing to come to their aid should either nation come under attack, BBC reported.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited both countries to sign the deals, amid debate about them joining Nato. 

The pacts also state that Finland and Sweden would assist the UK in a crisis. 

Mr Johnson and Swedish PM Magdalena Andersson said co-operation was "even more important" given Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The second deal was announced in a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

Mr Johnson said the "solemn declaration" between the UK and Finland was reflective of the "extreme difficulty of the times we are in".

He emphasised the deal was "not a short-term stop gap" while Finland considered whether to join the Nato defensive alliance, but rather a "enduring assurance between two nations".

Asked if there would be "British boots on the ground" in Finland should a conflict break out, Mr Johnson said military assistance would be offered, but that the "nature of that assistance" would depend upon the "request of the other party". 

Mr Johnson added the agreement would become the "foundation of an intensification of our security and our defence relationship in other ways as well".

Mr Niinistö said his nation appreciated the UK's "strong support" of Nato's open-door policy to Finland's potential membership, according to BBC.

He said joining Nato would not be "against anybody" and the UK deal was intended to "maximise our security one way or another" while considering joining the defensive alliance.

However, when asked if the possible move could provoke President Vladimir Putin, Mr Niinistö said Russia would be responsible if Sweden or Finland joined Nato. 

He said Russia was suggesting the two nations did not have their "own will" by threatening them against applying for membership.

"They are ready to attack their neighbouring country, so... my response would be that 'you caused this - look at the mirror'".

Speaking earlier in Sweden Mr Johnson said: "If Sweden were attacked and looked to us for help and support, then we would provide it."

Asked by the BBC to spell out exactly what the UK would do if Russia attacked Sweden, Mr Johnson said the deal meant that "upon request from the other party, we would come to the other party's assistance".

Ms Andersson argued her country would be safer as a result of the mutual assistance agreement with the UK, adding: "Of course this means something. This is important whatever policy choice we make in Sweden."

She also explained the country was "exploring all possible options and Nato is one of them that is on the table".

Finland says applying to join Nato is all about defence. But Vladimir Putin doesn't see it that way. He's always viewed Nato's eastern expansion as a threat, BBC reported.

Finland shares an 800 mile (1300km) long border with Russia, bringing the alliance's military might that much closer Moscow.

Finnish and Swedish membership will make Nato more robust too - boosting its eastern flank and presence in the Baltic Sea. And the Kremlin has threatened retaliation.

Some fear it might deploy targeted nuclear weapons. But Finnish diplomats I've spoken to believe Russia has its military hands full in Ukraine and that it will instead focus on cyber and disinformation campaigns.

They say President Putin has himself to blame for Nato expanding. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, most Finns and Swedes preferred to work alongside, but not inside, Nato, according to BBC.

Russia's aggression - its expansionist zeal - changed all that.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said he will appoint a new prime minister and cabinet this week, after his elder brother and former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned following deadly violence in the country, Aljazeera reported.

The new prime minister and cabinet will command a majority in the 225-seat parliament, Rajapaksa said, adding he will bring constitutional reforms to grant more power to the parliament.

“I am taking steps to form a new government to control the current situation, to prevent the country from falling into anarchy as well as to maintain the affairs of the government that have been halted,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

The move followed comments earlier in the day from Sri Lanka’s central bank governor, who said he would quit within weeks unless political stability was restored.

P Nandalal Weerasinghe, appointed central bank chief last month to help the island nation of 22 million people find a way out of its worst-ever economic crisis, said a stable government was essential to stop the turmoil.

“I have clearly told the president and other political party leaders that unless political stability is established in the next two weeks I will step down,” Weerasinghe told reporters, according to Aljazeera.

“Without political stability, it doesn’t matter who runs the central bank,” he said. “There will be no way to stop the economic deterioration.”

Ordinary Sri Lankans blame the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family for the growing crisis on the island with down to just about $50m, and massive shortages of essentials including cooking gas, fuel and medicine.

After more than a month of mostly peaceful demonstrations, public anger exploded into violence this week, after ruling party supporters stormed an anti-government protest camp, triggering clashes nationwide and the prime minister’s resignation.

With ruling party politicians targeted by mobs, Mahinda Rajapaksa, once hugely popular and a former president, was whisked away to a military base in the country’s northeast, the defence secretary said.

“He will remain there for the next couple of days and when the situation is normalised, he can be moved to a location of his choice,” Kamal Gunaratne said, Aljazeera reported.

On Wednesday, police and soldiers patrolled the streets of Weeraketiya, the Rajapaksa family’s home town, where shops and businesses were shut amid a curfew that will remain in force until Thursday morning.