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The Democratic Socialist Party submitted a memorandum of demands to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday.

Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur along with other leaders handed over an 11-point memorandum to Prime Minister Deuba this morning.

The leaders said that they submitted the memorandum to the Prime Minister to remind the commitment he made to address the demands of the party.

The party said in its memorandum that the children of the naturalized citizens should be given citizenship certificates immediately as per the constitution.

It also demanded withdrawal of false cases slapped against the party cadres during the Tharuhat and Madhesh movement and release of the arrested cadres including Resham Chaudhary in Mahottari and Kailali.

Similarly, the party has also demanded to amend the constitution, provide representation in local bodies, province assemblies and federal parliament on the basis of population, to implement the idea of distributing budget on the basis of population density and to make public the report of high-level probe commission led for former Supreme Court justice Girish Chandra Lal.

Likewise, the party has also demanded the government to arrange fertilizers to the farmers and control inflation and black marketing and provide land ownership certificates to those who have not received yet.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed to finish the remaining two years in his term despite monthslong street protests calling for his ouster, but won’t stand for re-election as he focuses on fixing a financial mess that tipped Sri Lanka into its worst-ever economic crisis, Hindustan Times reported.

“I can’t go as a failed president,” Rajapaksa said Monday in a wide-ranging interview at his official residence in Colombo, his first with a foreign media organization since the crisis unfolded. “I have been given a mandate for five years. I will not contest again.”

The defiance comes in the face of slogans of “Gota Go Home,” with protesters blaming Rajapaksa and his family for decisions that led to severe shortages of everything from fuel to medicine, stoking inflation to 40% and forcing a historic debt default. Thousands of demonstrators have camped outside the president’s seaside office since mid-March, forcing him to retreat to his barricaded official residence about a kilometer away.

The economic tailspin spiraled into political turmoil with the resignation of the president’s old brother -- Mahinda Rajapaksa -- as the nation’s prime minister, after clashes between government supporters and the protesters turned bloody in May.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are now seeking about $4 billion in aid this year from the International Monetary Fund and countries including India and China. Sri Lanka’s rupee has lost about 82% over the past year and the central bank on Monday flagged the possibility of a further correction. While the nation’s debt trades deep in distressed territory, bonds were quoted slightly higher on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, according to Hindustan Times.

“This is unlikely to placate protesters who are calling for his immediate resignation,” said Patrick Curran, an economist at Tellimer. “With presidential elections more than two years away, Rajapaksa’s decision to see his term through will contribute to heightened political uncertainty over the next couple years and could hamper reform efforts.” 

The president said he wanted to replicate his previous successful stints serving the nation. Gotabaya Rajapaksa oversaw the urban development authority and was Sri Lanka’s defense secretary under then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, when they crushed a 30-year civil war in 2009, Hindustan Times reported.

Russia's UN ambassador has stormed out of a UN Security Council meeting after the European Council president blamed Russia's invasion of Ukraine for causing a global food crisis, BBC reported.

Charles Michel said Russia was using food supplies as a "stealth missile" against the developing world, forcing people into poverty.

The Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia accused Mr Michel of spreading lies.

The war has left food stuck at Ukrainian ports. 

Ukraine is a large exporter of cooking oil as well as cereals such as maize and wheat. Russia also exports vast amounts of grains as well as fertiliser. The lack of these exports has caused the price of alternatives to soar.

"Mr Ambassador of the Russian Federation, let's be honest, the Kremlin is using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries," Mr Michel said during the Security Council meeting in New York.

"The dramatic consequences of Russia's war are spilling over across the globe, and this is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions.

"Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis."

He added that he had seen for himself the millions of tons of grain stuck in the Ukrainian port of Odesa because of a naval blockade enforced by Russia, according to BBC.

Mr Michel also accused Russia of stealing grain and preventing crop planting and harvesting in Ukraine because of its military activities there.

His comments led to Mr Nebenzia storming out. As he left, Mr Michel addressed him directly: "You may leave the room, maybe it's easier not to listen to the truth".

Mr Nebenzia told Reuters he couldn't stay because of "the lies that Charles Michel came here to distribute".

In a separate meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Russia was preventing Ukrainian grain exports from leaving the country and accused Russian forces of destroying Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure.

Speaking during a virtual roundtable with philanthropists, non-governmental organisations and private sector entities, Mr Blinken said: "There's somewhere around 20m tons of wheat that's trapped in silos near Odesa, and in ships literally filled with grain that are stuck in the Odesa port because of this Russian blockade."

Like Mr Michel, he said there were credible reports that Russia was "pilfering" Ukraine's grain to sell for its own profit, BBC reported.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote on Monday, securing enough support from his Conservative Party to remain in office despite a substantial rebellion that leaves him a weakened leader with an uncertain future, Associated Press reported.

Known for his ability to shrug off scandals, the charismatic leader has struggled to turn the page on revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held boozy parties that flouted the COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on others. Support among his fellow Conservative lawmakers has weakened as some see a leader renowned for his ability to connect with voters increasingly as a liability rather than an asset in elections.

Johnson won the backing of 211 out of 359 Conservative lawmakers in a secret ballot, more than the simple majority needed to remain in power, but still a significant rebellion of 148 MPs. 

Johnson called it a “convincing” win and said the party should now “come together.”

“What it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on stuff that I think really matters to people,” he said.

With no clear front-runner to succeed him, most political observers had predicted Johnson would defeat the challenge. But the rebellion could still be a watershed moment for him — and is a sign of deep Conservative divisions, less than three years after he led the party to its biggest election victory in decades.

Johnson’s winning margin is less than that secured by his predecessor Theresa May in a similar vote in December 2018. She was forced to resign six months later, according to Associated Press.

Since replacing May as prime minister in 2019, Johnson has led Britain out of the European Union and through a pandemic, both of which have shaken the U.K. socially and economically. The vote comes as Johnson’s government is under intense pressure to ease the pain of skyrocketing energy and food bills.

But the main blow to his leadership has been revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held illegal parties during lockdowns. That caused anger in the country, and unease among many Conservatives.

Discontent that has been building for months erupted after a 10-day parliamentary break that included a long weekend of celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. For many, the four-day holiday was a chance to relax — but there was no respite for Johnson, who was booed by some onlookers as he arrived for a service in the queen’s honor at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday.

Conservative Party official Graham Brady announced Monday that he had received letters calling for a no-confidence vote from at least 54 Tory legislators, enough to trigger the measure under party rules. Hours later, party lawmakers lined up by the dozen in a corridor at Parliament to cast their ballots in a wood-paneled room, handing over their phones as they entered to ensure secrecy, Associated Press reported.

Johnson addressed dozens of Conservative lawmakers in a House of Commons room before the vote as he tried to shore up support, vowing: “I will lead you to victory again.”

Johnson’s allies had insisted he would stay in office if he won by even a single vote.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said Johnson had won the vote “handsomely,” and urged the party to “draw a line under this now.”

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, one of the favorites to succeed Johnson if he is ousted, tweeted: “Pleased that colleagues have backed the Prime Minister. I support him 100%. Now’s the time to get on with the job.”

But previous prime ministers who survived no-confidence votes emerged severely weakened, according to Associated Press.