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Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has directed the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to take big projects ahead by creating capital on its own.

Participating in the seventh meeting of the Monitoring and Facilitation Committee of the IBN, Minister Sharma said that the ministry would provide necessary support if IBN moves ahead for capital formation.

He further said, "IBN should pay attention to invest on big projects by creating capital on its own. We will discuss how we can help if such fund is set up."

Also the Vice-Chairperson of the IBN, the Finance Minister advised the Board to build capital fund for the export-oriented projects by holding discussion with private sector.

He urged the IBN to take initiative for the investment by assessing projects capable of contributing significantly to gross domestic project (GDP) and capital formation.

The Investment Board had presented work progress of Arun III Hydropower Project and its subordinate projects, Logistic Project, Kaptad Integrated Tourism Development Programme, Tamor Water Reservoir Hydropower Project, Upper Marsyandi Hydropower Project, Plant Vehicle Manufacturing and Assembling Plant and Huaxin Cement Project in the meeting.

On the occasion, the Finance Minister expressed dissatisfaction over non-implementation of the Investment Board's decision of providing one-stop service to big foreign investors.

He was of the view of treating all foreign investors equally and facilitating them accordingly.  The Finance Minister insisted on doing away with the conventional development approach and moving ahead with new perspectives.  He made it clear that the culture of keeping proposed projects pending for long in the name of a study/ survey was not a good practice.  

“It is not good to take a long time to decide on project development proposals submitted to the Board for approvals.”  He was of the view of dealing with such projects by a team of related experts and finalizing them on time.

IBN Chief Executive Officer Sushil Bhatta highlighted the need of a policy-level decision to come up with special provisions in regard with the selection of a site for the construction of industry for production-based big projects.

 He apprised that though they received a proposal for establishing an automotive industry from a South Korean company, the further progress has stalled due to the site selection issue.

As he claimed, the Board continues its actions in line with its defined terms of reference. RSS

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the current coalition would remain intact till the upcoming elections.

Speaking at a programme organised in Birgunj on Thursday, Prime Minister Deuba said that the five-party alliance would remain intact till the forthcoming elections.

Saying that none of the parties would garner a majority if they contested the elections alone, Prime Minister Deuba, who is also the President of the Nepali Congress, said that the party would contest the three tier of elections with the parties in the alliance.

“Nepali Congress will not garner a majority if it contests the elections alone. That is why, the party should forge alliance with other parties for the upcoming elections,” he said.

In a different context, the Prime Minister said that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is in the interest of the nation.

Saying that the MCC is a grant project, Prime Minister Deuba opined that it would help develop the country and also create job opportunities.

Stating that Nepal is situated in between the two big neighbours, the Prime Minister said that Nepal should maintain a balanced relationship with both the countries.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 3, 500 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 102, 000 per tola today.

It was traded at Rs 105,500 per tola on Wednesday, which was the highest price in the Nepali market so far. 

Similarly, price of silver has decreased by Rs 45 per tola today as compared to previous day and reached Rs 1,405 per tola, according to the Federation.

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Swastika Thami was only 16 when she got married. She was in the fifth grade. After the marriage, she stopped going to school. Hers is not a unique case in the locality.

Many girls and boys from the Thami community living in Doramba Shailung and Khadadevi rural municipalities of Ramechhap district marry in their early teens. When they are married, they invariably drop out of school.

“I wanted to study but there was no way I could go back to school after marrying,” says Swastika. She is 18 now and lives with her husband and his family in Daduwa village of Doramba Shailung.

Rime Thami says child marriage is continues to be prevalent in his community because most of its families are dirt poor.

“They do not have the financial wherewithal to raise and educate their children,” he says. “Girls are married off early and boys are sent away to work.”

Dek Thami, a young Thami man, says poverty barred him from pursuing higher education.

“Your quest for education is meaningless when you are oppressed by poverty and deprivation,” he says.

There are around 350 Thami families in Shailung Doramba and Khadadevi rural municipalities. They live in tight-knit groups, largely uninfluenced by the outside world.

Nearly 600 Thami children go to various primary schools in their villages.

“The majority of them do not make it beyond grade seven,” says Tara Bahadur Moktan of Daduwa. “Until a couple of years ago, the Thami community didn’t even send their daughters to school.”

Dhandhwoj Lama, education department chief of Shailung Doramba Rural Municipality, says hardly 10 percent of the Thami children clear tenth grade.

Thami children are quitting school not just because they marry early. Jit Bahadur Thami says they also leave school because they have to support their families.

Many Thami families in Ramechhap are involved in farming, but the crops they grow hardly last for three months. So parents send their children to work in cities.

“Some parents see the children of their neighbors bringing money from cities and they are also encouraged to send their school-going sons and daughters to work,” says Purna Bahadur Thami. 

Update: Death toll in Sankhuwasabha bus accident has reached 14. 

The Area Police Office, Chainpur said that 10 among the deceased have been identified as Indra Bahadur Adhikari (38), Anjana Katuwal, Dikshya Katuwal (5) of Madi-6, Deepak Dahal (45), Shyam Sherpa (50), Bhawani Dahal (55) of Madi-5, Aita Bahadur Tamang (38), Sabita Raut Karki (35), bus conductor Umesh Bhattarai (30) of Madi-4 and bus owner Bipin Niraula of Aunsi Danda, Tehrathum.

DSP Lal Dhoj Subedi of the District Police Office, Sankhuwasabha said that five persons were injured in the incident. Among the injured, one person is said to be critical.

10 killed in Sankhuwasabha bus accident

At least 10 persons died when a bus they were traveling in met with accident in Sankhuwasabha on Thursday.

DSP Lal Dhoj Subedi said that the ill-fated bus (Ba 4 Kha 735) was heading towards Damak of Jhapa from Madi when the incident occurred at around 5:30 am today.

He said that the bus fell some 300 metres down the road.

Russia could be planning a chemical or biological weapon attack in Ukraine - and "we should all be on the lookout", the White House has said, BBC reported.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Russia's claims about US biological weapon labs, and chemical weapon development in Ukraine, were preposterous.

She called the false claims an "obvious ploy" to try to justify further premeditated, unprovoked attacks.

It comes after Western officials shared similar concerns about fresh attacks.

They said they were "very concerned" about the risk the war could escalate, and particularly the possibility of Russia using non-conventional weapons. 

This most likely refers to chemical weapons although the term also covers tactical (small-scale) nuclear weapons, biological weapons and dirty bombs, according to BBC.

"We've got good reason to be concerned," said one Western official.

They said this was partly because of what had been seen in other places where Russia has been engaged - notably Syria where chemical weapons were used by its allies.

Ms Psaki said: "We should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them - it's a clear pattern."

Earlier on Wednesday, the UK Ministry of Defence said in a tweet that Russia had used thermobaric rockets in Ukraine. These rockets are also known as vacuum bombs because they suck in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion.

This makes them more devastating than conventional explosives of a similar size, and can have a terrible impact on people caught in their blast radius, BBC reported.

The fears around chemical weapon use were borne from Russian claims potentially "setting the scene" for some kind of "false flag" claim, Western officials said.

In a tweet, the Russian Embassy referred to claims that "recently found documents" showed components of biological weapons were made in Ukrainian laboratories - with funding from the US Department of Defense. 

The US dismissed the claims, saying it was the "kind of disinformation operation we've seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries".

Russian officials and media have also claimed in recent days that Ukraine was planning to build a so-called dirty bomb - which disperses radioactive material.

Meanwhile Russia's foreign minister has claimed Ukraine had been seeking nuclear weapons, according to BBC.

Some believe Moscow is pushing these claims to come up with a justification for its own public about why it invaded Ukraine. But Western officials also fear they could be used as the basis for a "false flag" event.

A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow’s invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn. Ukrainian officials said the attack wounded at least 17 people, Associated Press reported.

The ground shook more than a mile away when the Mariupol complex was hit by a series of blasts that blew out windows and ripped away much of the front of one building. Police and soldiers rushed to the scene to evacuate victims, carrying out a heavily pregnant and bleeding woman on a stretcher as light snow drifted down on burning and mangled cars and trees shattered by the blast.

Another woman wailed as she clutched her child. In the courtyard, a blast crater extended at least two stories deep.

“Today Russia committed a huge crime,” said Volodymir Nikulin, a top regional police official, standing in the ruins. “It is a war crime without any justification.”

In Zhytomyr, a city of 260,000 to the west of Kyiv, bombs fell on two hospitals, one of them a children’s hospital, Mayor Serhii Sukhomlyn said on Facebook. He said the number of casualties was still being determined. His report could not be independently confirmed, according to the Associated Press.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Mariupol strike trapped children and others under the rubble.

“A children’s hospital. A maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation?” Zelenskyy asked in his nightly video address, switching to Russian to express his horror at the airstrike. “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?”

He urged the West to impose even tougher sanctions, so Russia “no longer has any possibility to continue this genocide.”

Video shared by Zelenskyy showed cheerfully painted hallways strewn with twisted metal, Associated Press reported.

“There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held “to account for his terrible crimes.”

The World Health Organization said it has confirmed 18 attacks on health facilities and ambulances since the fighting began, killing 10 people. It was not clear if that number included the assault on the maternity hospital.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken condemned Russia’s “unconscionable attacks” in a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, that also covered diplomatic attempts to roll back the invasion, the State Department said.

Two weeks into Russia’s assault on Ukraine, its military is struggling more than expected, but Putin’s invading force of more than 150,000 troops retains possibly insurmountable advantages in firepower as it bears down on key cities, according to the Associated Press.