Submit your Article

The import of petroleum products via the Birgunj transit, the country’s major transit point, has significantly increased this year compared to the previous year.

The import during the first six months of the current fiscal year is more by 1007,690 liters of petro products worth Rs 33.48 billion than the corresponding period last year. 

The transit recorded the import of 700,835 liters of petro products: diesel, petrol, kerosene and aviation turbine fuel worth Rs 31.89 billion in the first six months of last fiscal year (2020-21) and the amount jumped to Rs. 65. 37 billion in the current fiscal year.

The import is an increase by 144 per cent while the price of the fuel imported also recorded a rise by 144 per cent. It may however be noted that the import of fuel had been impacted due to the Corona Virus last year, with industry, trade, transport and development construction sector bearing the brunt of it.

As this year, these sectors did not suffer much of an impact the import has thereby increased, said Information Officer at the Customs Office Sumit Gupta. RSS

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has warned not to get involved in illegal online business such as cryptocurrency, hyper fund and digital networking among others.

Issuing a notice on Sunday, the CIB stated that it is minutely monitoring such businesses being run although banned. An investigation was conducted against those involved in such illegal business and actions were also being taken, the CIB said.

Urging one and all not to involve in the transaction of such business, the CIB  shared that online transactions under cryptocurrency and digital networking business has been declared illegal recently.

CIB has also requested the public to inform the CIB if they found out anyone involved and running such illegal business.

CIB’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Shyam Kumar Mahato said those proven guilty of running such illegal business or involved in them would be put behind the bars and there will be fined. RSS

Nepal recorded 747 new Covid-19 cases and eight deaths on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 6, 279 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 482 returned positive. Likewise, 2,417 people underwent antigen tests, of which 265 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 2, 319 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 20, 739 active cases in the country.

Twelve people were injured at Saudi Arabia's Abha airport by shrapnel from an explosive-laden drone intercepted by air defences on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said, Reuters reported. 

In a statement carried by Al Arabiya TV, the coalition later warned people in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa to avoid civilian locations used for military purposes during the next 72 hours while it strikes drone launch sites,

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group hit a military target at Abha airport with a Qasef 2 drone.

Air traffic operations at Abha civilian airport returned to normal after standard safety procedures following the drone interception, the coalition said in statements carried by state media.

Shrapnel from the drone attack at midday fell inside airport grounds and some glass facades were damaged, it said.

Light injuries were sustained by two Saudi nationals and citizens of Bangladesh, Nepal, India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement condemning the "terrorist attack" that Washington was committed to supporting the kingdom in the defence of its people and territory.

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since early 2015, after the group ousted Yemen's internationally recognised government from power in Sanaa.

The Houthis often launch attacks on Abha airport, which lies close to the Yemeni border in Saudi Arabia's south, and other parts of the country with drones and missiles. Most attacks are intercepted but a few people have been killed and several injured.

The coalition regularly carries out air strikes on what it says are Houthi military targets in Yemen. On Thursday it said it would take measures to neutralize the source of threats to civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The United Arab Emirates, a coalition member, twice in January said its forces destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launch area in Yemen, after unprecedented drone and missile attacks on the UAE this year claimed by the Houthis.