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CPN (Maoist Centre) Chief Whip Dev Gurung has demanded that the government postpone the US visit of Chief of Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Taking part in the ongoing discussion on the budget at the Parliament, the Maoist leader said that the visit would not be appropriate now considering security sensitivities.

“CoAS Sharma and Prime Minister Deuba’s visit is not necessary,” he said, adding, “I would like to request CoAS Sharma and Prime Minister Deuba to postpone the visit keeping in view of the national security sensitivities.”

Even if the visit is not postponed, there should be no agreement including State Strategy Partnership, he said.

Saying that the US is mounting pressure on the SSP, he stressed on the need to move ahead only through all-party and national consensus while signing any agreement.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Naresh Bikram Dhakal as the ambassador to Qatar.

Bhandari appointed Dhakal to the post on the recommendation council of ministers in accordance with Article 282 of the Constitution.

Earlier on April 8, the government had recommended 20 people for appointment as ambassadors of Nepal to various countries.

The High Court Tulsipur, Butwal Bench, has issued a mandamus over a writ petition filed demanding the whereabouts of those disappeared during the Maoist insurgency.

A bench comprising judges Nityananda Pandey and Mamata Khanal issued the order responding to the writ petition filed in the court by Budhu Pasi and Dhan Kumari Tharu on behalf of the families of disappeared people.

Advocates Shiva Prasad Gaudel and Indira Acharya pleaded in favour of the petition.

It is said, their repeated calls to the concerned authorities for finding the whereabouts of the disappeared had been largely ignored.

Their earlier effort to file a police case on the International Day of the Disappeared could not be fruitful due to reluctance of the district police office to register the report. So with nowhere to go, they knocked the door of the court.

Lautu Pasi alias Ram Palat of the then Bodawar VDC-3 (now Rohini Rural Municipality-5) in Rupandehi was arrested in 2059 BS and subsequently disappeared, according to the petition.

Victim Budhu said that though they knocked the door of Police Office to file FIR, it was not happened and they eventually reached the court.

Saying he met his elder brother on June 7, 2004 for the last time, Budhu demanded the disclosure of whereabouts of his elder brother at the earliest.

Similarly, it has been one and half decades since the disappearance of spouse of Dhan Kumari Tharu of Siyari rural municipality-6 in Rupandehi.

Tharu shared that writ petition was filed at the Court, seeking the disclosure of the situation of Kamal, who was made disappeared on August 27, 2005 from state side.

Security personnel on plain clothes had apprehended Kamal from Bansgadhi at a time when he was going to his in-laws house.

The Comprehensive Peace Accord signed between the then rebel side and government has mentioned that the whereabouts of disappeared persons should be made public within 60 days after disappearance, but the implementation of the agreement is still awaited.

The victim families complained the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons has failed to carry out effective works even after seven years of its formation.

The Biden administration unveiled a new proposed US economic partnership with Latin America on Wednesday (Jun 8) as regional leaders gathered for a US-hosted summit whose agenda has been undermined by discord over the guest list, Reuters reported.

Seeking to counter China's growing clout, a senior administration official said President Joe Biden is offering America's neighbours to the south an alternative that calls for increased US engagement, including stepped-up investment, strengthening supply lines and building on existing trade deals.

However, Biden's "Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity," which still appears to be a work in progress, stops short of offering tariff relief and, according to the US official, will initially focus on "like-minded partners" that already have US trade accords. Negotiations are expected to begin in early fall, the official added.

Biden was due to outline his plan in a speech later on Wednesday to formally open the summit, which was originally conceived as a platform to showcase US leadership in reviving Latin American economies and tackling migratory pressures.

But Biden's agenda has been marred by a partial boycott by leaders upset at Washington's decision to exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the summit, according to Reuters.

US officials hope the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles and a parallel gathering of top business executives can pave the way for greater economic cooperation as regional nations grappling with higher inflation work to bring supply chains stretched by the Covid-19 pandemic closer to home.

"It's much better for us ... to have a supply chain here in the Americas than it is for us to be dependant on a supply chain that comes from China," US ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar told Reuters.

Biden is seeking to press the administration's competitive goals against China with the launch of the new partnership for the region, the US official said.

Washington, which already has a combined trade pact with Canada and Mexico, a collective one with Central America and a series of bilateral agreements in the region, will attempt to develop new customs, digital trade, labour, environmental and corporate accountability standards, according to the official.

The plan would also aim to mobilise investments, revitalise the Inter-American Development Bank, create clean energy jobs and strengthen supply chains whose weakness were exposed by the pandemic.

Still, the Biden administration appeared to be moving cautiously, mindful an initiative that promotes jobs abroad could face US protectionist pushback, Reuters reported.