MCC cannot be endorsed in its existing form: CPN (Maoist Centre)
The CPN (Maoist Centre) has decided that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) cannot be ratified in its current form.
A party’s Central Office meeting held on Friday morning decided not to endorse the MCC in the status quo, Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s personal secretary Ramesh Malla said.
The meeting has also decided to make every effort to keep the coalition intact.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has urged the coalition partners to endorse the MCC in the existing form.
A meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for today has been postponed till 1 pm on Sunday after the parties failed to forge a common ground on the $500 million grant agreement.
Parliament meeting postponed till Sunday
A Parliament meeting scheduled for Friday has been postponed till Sunday.
The meeting was postponed after the parties failed to forge consensus on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Parliament Secretariat General Secretary Bharat Raj Gautam said.
Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma was scheduled to table a proposal at the Parliament meeting today seeking general discussions on the MCC.
Earlier, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dilendra Prasad Badu had urged Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota to postpone the meeting, Gautam said.
Security beefed up in Baneshwor area
A large number of security personnel has been deployed in the Baneshwor area since this morning.
Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma is scheduled to table a proposal at the Parliament meeting today seeking general discussions on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Nepal Police headquarters fanned out a large number of security personnel in the Baneshwor area at the direction of the Home Ministry in view of possible protests after the government decided to table a proposal at the Parliament seeking general discussions on the MCC.
According to a Home Ministry source, plain clothes police personnel have also been deployed in the Baneshwor area.
Earlier on Thursday, the meeting of the House of Representatives had an agenda to hold a discussion on the MCC.
But Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota postponed the meeting at the eleventh hour after the ruling coalition failed to forge consensus on endorsing the $500 million grant agreement.
Police personnel and cadres of CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) had clashed in Baneshwor, Bijulibazaar and Babarmahal among other areas.
A meeting of the Legislature-Parliament scheduled for 1 pm today.
Explosions heard in Kyiv as Russia presses Ukraine assault
Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early Friday as Russian forces pressed on with a full-scale invasion that resulted in the deaths of more than 100 Ukrainians in the first full day of fighting and could eventually rewrite the global post-Cold War security order, Associated Press reported.
After using airstrikes on cities and military bases, Russian military units moved swiftly to take on Ukraine’s seat of government and its largest city in what U.S. officials suspect is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle the government and replace it with his own regime.
Ukrainian leaders pleaded for help as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee, and hotels in Kyiv were being evacuated amid early indications of an assault.
Ukrainian forces braced for more attacks after enduring for hours a Russian barrage of land- and sea-based missiles, an assault that one senior U.S. defense official described as the first salvo in a likely multi-phase invasion aimed at seizing key population centers and “decapitating” Ukraine’s government. Already, Ukraine officials said they had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
In unleashing the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, Putin ignored global condemnation and cascading new sanctions. With a chilling reference to his country’s nuclear arsenal, he threatened any country trying to interfere with “consequences you have never seen,” as a once-hoped for diplomatic resolution now appeared impossible.
“Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won’t give up its freedom,” Zelenskyy tweeted. His grasp on power increasingly tenuous, he pleaded Thursday for even more severe sanctions than the ones imposed by Western allies and ordered a full military mobilization that would last 90 days.
