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The United Kingdom (UK) has handed over two artistic cultural artifacts that disappeared from Nepal.

At a programme organized at the London-based Nepali Embassy on Friday, Detective Superintendent Head of London Metropolitan Police Office, John Roch handed over the lost heritages to Nepal’s Ambassador to the UK, Gyan Chandra Acharya.

Artifacts handed over to Nepal were the 16th century-old wooden inscribed Toran and the 18th century-old stone idol depicting a devotee with a gesture of Namaskar.

The wooden heritage was stolen from the Kumari Temple located in the eastern part of the Hanumandhoka Durbar area of Kathmandu in the decade of 1980-90. The stone-inscribed artifact was stolen from the Manjushree Temple, the London-based Embassy sources said.

On the occasion, Ambassador Acharya expressed gratitude to the metropolitan police and those others involved in the search and detection of lost heritages of Nepal.

Detective Superintendent Head Roch also expressed his pride in being successful in detecting and handing over priceless heritages to Nepal.

The artifacts would be handed over to the Nepal Government through the Department of Archeology soon, the Embassy said. RSS

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Saturday that at least 847 civilians had been killed and 1,399 wounded in Ukraine as of March 18, Reuters reported.

Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes, OHCHR said.

The real toll is thought to be considerably higher since OHCHR, which has a large monitoring team in the country, has not yet been able to verify casualty reports from several badly hit cities, it said, according to Reuters.

The government has successfully vaccinated 93 percent of the target group against Covid-19.

Out of the total population over 18 years of age, 18,498,160 people have been given at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.

Similarly, the number of people who have been fully vaccinated is 16,184,858. This is 81.2 percent of the total target population. In addition, 3,118,785 (91 percent) people in the age group of 12-17 years have been vaccinated for the first time. The number of people fully vaccinated under 18 years of age is 2,311,998 (67 percent).

According to the ministry, a total of 39,223,941 vaccines have been provided to all age groups till March 18. Out of which 18,695,826 first dose, 18,698,595 second dose and 1,829,520 quantity booster dose has been provided.

The Government of Nepal has been providing Vero Cell, Covishield, AstraZeneca, Modern, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The government had received a total of 47,882,800 doses of vaccine including grant assistance and procurement.

There are currently 3,996 active cases of Covid-19 in Nepal. A total of 1,118,180 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Nepal since the outbreak of Coronavirus in the country. The virus has killed 11,950 people so far.

The Government of Nepal has set a target of vaccinating all those above 18 years of age against Covid-19 by mid-April 2021. Only seven percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve the goal of '100 percent vaccination'. Under the age group of 18, only nine percent of the population is left to receive the both doses of vaccine. RSS

Singer Prakash Saput has removed the scene of a female combatant shown indulging in prostitution from the song 'Pir' after widespread criticism. He uploaded a new video of the song to YouTube on Saturday evening.

Singer Saput has clarified that he removed the video after he felt that the particular scene in the video song would remain as a thorn in the video that would remain as an archive on social media. He also said that song Pir has not only been successful but has also been an eye opener in many senses.

Also read: Editorial: Questioning art

"While making creations based on the facts, it is important to keep in mind the views of the Nepali audience, listeners, the group/community and the society as a whole," said Saput. He also said that the particular scene and character had actually overshadowed other beauty of the song and video.

The new video has been 're-uploaded' by editing the scene.

Singer Saput has also requested all sides concerned not to further politicize and exaggerate in the context of the new song. RSS

Two persons died in separate incidents in Mahottari district on Saturday.

Suman Thakur (18) of Mukhiyapatti Musarniya-3, Dhanusha died while swimming in a pond at Matihani Municipality-7.

Thakur, who fell unconscious while swimming, was rescued from the pong and rushed to the District Hospital in Jaleshwor where he breathed his last during the course of treatment, the District Police Office, Mahottari said.

Similarly, Rahup Sah (50) died of electric shock at Bairiya in Samsi Rural Municipaltiy-3 of Mahottari.

Sah, who was injured in the incident, died on the way to a hospital, the District Hospital, Mahottari said.

DSP Prakash Bista said that they are looking into both cases.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday said his country will invest $42 billion in India over the next five years in a deal that is expected to boost bilateral trade, Associated Press reported.

Kishida met his counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi during his maiden visit to India since assuming office. The two leaders held talks ranging from economy to security cooperation.

In a televised press statement, Kishida said the investment plan will bring huge benefits for several industries, from the development of urban infrastructure to green energy.

Kishida also said the two sides reaffirmed Japan and India’s commitment to strengthen security ties across the Indo-Pacific region and held discussions over the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

“We discussed the situation in Ukraine. (The) Russian attack is a serious matter as it has shaken international norms,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

India says ties with Japan are key to stability in the region. The two nations, along with the United States and Australia, are members of the Indo-Pacific alliance known as “the Quad” that is countering China’s rising influence in Asia.

India is the only Quad member that has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has refrained from taking sides and abstained from voting against Russia at the U.N. or criticizing President Vladimir Putin.

Japan, meanwhile, has imposed financial sanctions to isolate Russia, including export controls on high-tech products.

The Japanese investments in India touched $32 billion between 2000 and 2019, mainly in the automobile, electrical equipment, telecommunications, chemical, insurance and pharmaceutical sectors. Japan has also been supporting infrastructure development in India, including a high-speed rail project.

The bilateral trade between India and Japan for 2019-20 crossed $11.87 billion, according to government data. India’s exports from Japan amounted to $3.94 billion while India’s imports from Japan stood at $7.93 billion.

In September, the Quad leaders announced Japan would work with India on a $100 million investment in COVID-19 vaccines and treatment drugs, Associated Press reported.

Kishida will end his India visit on Sunday.

Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine’s besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help,Associated Press reported.

The fall of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war’s worst suffering, would mark a major battlefield advance for the Russians, who are largely bogged down outside major cities more than three weeks into the biggest land invasion in Europe since World War II. 

“Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth,” Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin said from a rubble-strewn street in a video addressed to Western leaders that was authenticated by The Associated Press.

Russian forces have already cut Mariupol off from the Sea of Azov, and its fall would link Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, to eastern territories controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. It would mark a rare advance in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance that has dashed Russia’s hopes for a quick victory and galvanized the West. 

Ukrainian and Russian forces battled over the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said Saturday. “One of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is actually being destroyed,” Denysenko said in televised remarks, according to the Associated Press.

The Mariupol city council claimed hours later that Russian soldiers had forcibly relocated several thousand city residents, mostly women and children, to Russia. It didn’t say where in Russia, and AP could not immediately confirm the claim. 

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said the nearest forces that could assist Mariupol were already struggling against “the overwhelming force of the enemy” or at least 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

“There is currently no military solution to Mariupol,” he said late Friday. “That is not only my opinion, that is the opinion of the military.”

In Mykolaiv, rescuers searched the rubble of the marine barracks that was destroyed in an apparent missile attack Friday. The region’s governor said the marines were asleep when the attack happened.

It isn’t clear how many marines were inside at the time, and rescuers were still searching the rubble for survivors the following day. But a senior Ukrainian military official, who spoke to The New York Times on condition of anonymity to reveal sensitive information, estimated that as many as 40 marines were killed, which would make it one of the deadliest known attacks on Ukrainian forces during the war, Associated Press reported.

Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelenskyy has remained defiant, appearing in a video early Saturday that was shot on the streets of the capital, Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Russia is trying to starve Ukraine’s cities into submission but warned that continuing the invasion would exact a heavy toll on Moscow. He also repeated his call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with him to prevent more bloodshed. 

“The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia’s costs will be so high that you will not be able to rise again for several generations,” he said.

Putin appeared Friday at a rally in Moscow where he lavished praise on his country’s military.

“We have not had unity like this for a long time,” Putin told the cheering crowd.

The rally took place as Russia has faced heavier-than-expected losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home, where police have detained thousands of antiwar protesters. 

Estimates of Russian deaths vary widely, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. Russia had 64 deaths in five days of fighting during its 2008 war with Georgia. It lost about 15,000 in Afghanistan over 10 years, and more than 11,000 in years of fighting in Chechnya.

The Russian military said Saturday that it used its latest hypersonic missile for the first time in combat. Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Kinzhal missiles destroyed an underground warehouse storing Ukrainian missiles and aviation ammunition in the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, according to the Associated Press.

Russia has said the Kinzhal, carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound.

The United Nations has released the World Happiness Report.

According to the report released on Friday, Nepal is ranked 85th in South Asian countries, which is the best ranking in the region. Bangladesh is ranked 99th and Pakistan 103rd while Sri Lanka is 126th, India is ranked 136th in the list of countries in South Asia.

According to the list, neighbouring China is ranked 82nd, three places above Nepal. The report portrays Afghanistan as the unhappiest country in the world in the 146th position.

Meanwhile, Finland has been listed as the happiest country this year as well. The country has been on the list of happiest nations for five consecutive years.

Finland is followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel, New Zealand and Austria in the list as the happiest nations. RSS