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CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting at the Hotel Marriott in Naxal, Kathmandu on Sunday.

During the meeting, Chairman Dahal urged Foreign Minister Wang to take a necessary initiative to implement the projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Shakti Basnet, who attended the meeting, said that the two leaders discussed expediting BRI-related projects among others and reducing trade deficit.

In response, Minister Wang said that China would respect any decision taken by Nepal in its development efforts, Basnet said.

Earlier this afternoon, the Chinese Foreign Minister held a meeting with former Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli at the same hotel.

At least four persons died when a commuter bus they were traveling in fell off a bridge over the Phuljor River in Lalbandi Municipality-17 of Sarlahi district along the East-West Highway on Sunday.

The bus (Na 4 Kha 8555) was heading towards Janakpur from Birgunj when the incident occurred, police said.

The identities of the deceased are yet to be established. The bodies have been taken to the District Hospital in Malangwa for postmortem.

The number of the people injured in the incident is yet to be ascertained. The injured are undergoing treatment in various health facilities in Lalbandi.

Police said that they are looking into the case.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli held a meeting at Marriott Hotel in Kathmandu on Sunday.

Vice-Chairman Ishwor Pokharel and General Secretary Shankar Paudel among others from the CPN-UML were present in the meeting.

During the meeting, Minister Wang said that China was eager to implement the BRI project.

In response, Oli said that the BRI project should be implemented at the earliest.

After the meeting, UML Foreign Department Head Rajan Bhattarai said that the two leaders discussed the implementation of the BRI project.

Earlier this morning, Minister Wang paid a courtesy call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari at Sheetal Niwas.

During the meeting, the duo discussed Nepal-China relations and projects under the BRI among other issues.

The government of the People's Republic of China will provide more than Rs 11.40 billion in grant assistance to the government of Nepal under financial and technical assistance.

The amount will be spent on the implementation of projects agreed upon by both the countries, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is on a three-day visit to Nepal, has also pledged to provide development assistance announced during President Xi Jinping's 2019 visit to Nepal.

He expressed the commitment during the Nepal-China Foreign Ministerial Talks held in the Capital on Saturday. He also agreed to fully operate the two-way movement of goods and services on the Rasuwagadhi-Tatopani border point.

During the talks, the Foreign Ministers of the two countries have instructed the concerned bodies to make necessary preparations for speedy operation of the border point. The Chinese Foreign Minister also assured that the Nepali students will return to China as soon as possible. RSS

Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a courtesy call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari at Sheetal Niwas on Sunday.

During the meeting, the duo discussed Nepal-China relations and projects under the BRI among other issues.

Minister Wang is scheduled to hold separate meetings with former Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and former Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal today itself.

Earlier on Saturday, Minister Wang paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and signed a nine-point agreement.

One of Sri Lanka’s biggest fuel suppliers has raised the price of petrol by nearly 20 percent, the second increase in as many weeks, as the country struggles to import oil without dollars, Aljazeera reported.

Lanka IOC, a fuel retailer which accounts for a third of the market, on Saturday said it raised the petrol price to 303 rupees (just over $1) a litre, up from 254 rupees.

Two weeks ago, the company increased the price of petrol by 25 percent.

The company said the 30 percent depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar and other major currencies this month fuelled the increase.

There was no immediate price revision from the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation but its representatives, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP news agency it was almost certain to follow Lanka IOC, according to Aljazeera.

Sri Lanka is in the grip of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

The island’s foreign reserves have hit rock bottom, with commercial banks unable to secure dollars to finance imports of food, fuel and medicines.

At least four people have died while waiting in long queues to buy fuel in the past week.

Sri Lanka was in a deep economic crisis when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, reducing foreign worker remittances and crippling the lucrative tourism sector – a key source of dollars for the economy.

The government imposed a broad import ban in March 2020 to save foreign currency, Aljazeera reported.

The shortages pushed food prices up 25 percent last month, with overall inflation at 17.5 percent – the fifth consecutive monthly record high.

Sri Lanka is also facing five-hour rolling electricity blackouts as thermal generators have run out of oil.

Three international rating agencies have downgraded the island since late last year, on fears it may not be able to service its $51bn sovereign debt.

Sri Lanka announced earlier this month that it will seek an International Monetary Fund bailout and talks are expected to open next month in Washington, Aljazeera reported.

President Joe Biden delivered a forceful and highly personal condemnation of Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Saturday, summoning a call for liberal democracy and a durable resolve among Western nations in the face of a brutal autocrat, Associated Press reported.

As he capped a four-day trip to Europe, a blend of emotive scenes with refugees and standing among other world leaders in grand settings, Biden said of Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” 

It was a dramatic escalation in rhetoric — Biden had earlier called Putin a “butcher” — that the White House found itself quickly walking back. Before Biden could even board Air Force One to begin the flight back to Washington, aides were clarifying that he wasn’t calling for an immediate change in government in Moscow. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quickly denounced Biden, saying “it’s not up to the president of the US and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.”

While Biden’s blunt language grabbed headlines, in other pieces of his roughly 30-minute speech before Warsaw’s iconic Royal Castle he urged Western allies to brace for what will be a turbulent road ahead in a “new battle for freedom.”

He also pointedly warned Putin against invading even “an inch” of territory of a NATO nation, according to the Associated Press.

The address was a heavy bookend to a European visit in which Biden met with NATO and other Western leaders, visited the front lines of the growing refugee crisis and even held a young Ukrainian girl in his arms as he sought to spotlight some of the vast tentacles of the conflict that will likely define his presidency.

“We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after, and for the years and decades to come. It will not be easy,” Biden said as Russia continued to pound several Ukrainian cities. “There will be costs, but the price we have to pay, because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.”

Biden also made the case that multilateral institutions like NATO are more important than ever if the West and its allies are going to successfully push back against autocrats like Putin, Associated Press reported.

During his campaign for president, Biden talked often about the battle for primacy between democracies and autocracies. In those moments, his words seemed like an abstraction. Now, they have an urgent resonance.

Europe finds itself ensconced in a crisis that has virtually all of Europe revisiting defense spending, energy policy and more, and so does the US.

Charles Kupchan, who served as senior director for European affairs on the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, called the invasion a “game-changer” that left Atlantic democracies with “no choice” but to bolster their posture against Russia, according to the Associated Press.

But the path ahead for Biden — and the West — will only grow more complicated, Kupchan said.

China believes the affairs of Nepal should be decided by its people, and China opposes any attempt to undermine Nepal's sovereignty and independence, interfere in its internal affairs and engage in geopolitical games in the country, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday at a meeting with Nepali Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka in Kathmandu, Global Times reported.

No matter how the international or domestic situations of the two countries change, China will strive to promote a China-Nepal community with a shared future along the direction set by the leaders of the two countries, Wang said.

China will support Nepal in finding a development path suited to its national conditions, Wang said, encouraging all parties and party factions in Nepal to engage in inclusive consultation for the sake of the fundamental and long-term interests of the people. Wang added that all parties in the country should also jointly explore a governance model that is conducive to promoting political stability, economic growth and people's livelihoods.

China supports Nepal in pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies, the Chinese top diplomat said, noting that China believes that all countries are equal regardless of size, and respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, according to Global Times.

Nepal should become a promising land for cooperation between China and South Asia, and China is glad to see Nepal co-exist friendly with other countries and play a bigger role in regional and international affairs, Wang said.

He also elaborated China's support for Nepal in furthering participation in the Belt and Road Initiative. The FM said China is willing to push forward key joint projects, ensure the smooth running of land ports between the two countries, explore cross-border cooperation in electricity, expand economic and people-to-people exchange channels, and build the Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network to make the Himalayas a bond of friendly cooperation between the two countries, Wang said.

China is ready to assist Nepal in taking advantage of its own human resources, geographical location and national ecosystem as well as the opportunities brought by China's development to speed up its development and revitalization, Global Times reported.

In his part, Khadka thanked China's support for Nepal's efforts to safeguard sovereignty and independence as well as oppose external interference. He reaffirmed that Nepal firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests.

They agreed China and Nepal should strengthen cooperation in terms of anti-pandemic drive and vaccines, and that the Sino-Nepali cross-border railway project should be completed, stretching the railway to Kathmandu.

Wang also met with Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday. Deuba stressed that Nepal will continue to firmly adhere to the one-China policy and will never allow any forces to use the Nepali territory to engage in any anti-China activities.

China will work with Nepal to safeguard the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and the basic norms governing international relations, resist unilateralism and oppose power politics, and contribute to regional peace and stability, Wang said, according to Global Times.