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A man attacked his wife with acid in Bhaktapur on Sunday.

According to the District Police Office, Bhaktapur, Shyam Gubhaju attacked Puja Gubhaju (60) of Dadhikot, Suryabinayak-4 with the acid.

Police said that they have arrested Shyam for investigation.

Puja, who sustained injuries in the incident, has been sent to the Kirtipur Hospital for treatment, police said.

The official global death toll from COVID-19 is on the verge of eclipsing 6 million — underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over, Associated Press reported.

The milestone is the latest tragic reminder of the unrelenting nature of the pandemic even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe. The death toll, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, stood at 5,997,994 as of Sunday afternoon.

Remote Pacific islands, whose isolation had protected them for more than two years, are just now grappling with their first outbreaks and deaths, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.

Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is testing its entire population of 7.5 million three times this month as it clings to mainland China’s “zero-COVID” strategy.

As death rates remain high in Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, the region has seen more than 1 million refugees arrive from war-torn Ukraine, a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths, according to the Associated Press.

And despite its wealth and vaccine availability, the United States is nearing 1 million reported deaths on its own.

Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s medical school and co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.

“This is a disease of the unvaccinated — look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed,” said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. “The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population.”

It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million — more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland, Associated Press reported.

But despite the enormity of the figure, the world undoubtedly hit its 6 millionth death some time ago. Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in coronavirus deaths, in addition to excess deaths related to the pandemic but not from actual COVID-19 infections, like people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment because hospitals were full.

Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the Our World in Data portal, said that — when countries’ excess mortality figures are studied — as many as nearly four times the reported death toll have likely died because of the pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

Russian forces intensified shelling of cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south, a Ukrainian official said, as a second attempt to evacuate besieged civilians collapsed, Associated Press reported. With the Ukrainian leader urging his people to take to the streets to fight, Russian President Vladimir Putin shifted blame for the invasion, saying Moscow’s attacks could be halted “only if Kyiv ceases hostilities.”

The outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv in the north, Mykolaiv in the south, and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, faced stepped-up shelling late Sunday, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said. Heavy artillery hit residential areas in Kharkiv and shelling damaged a television tower, according to local officials.

The attacks dashed hopes that more people could escape the fighting in Ukraine, where Russia’s plan to quickly overrun the country has been stymied by fierce resistance. Russia has made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of its efforts have become stalled, including an immense military convoy that has been almost motionless for days north of Kyiv, according to the Associated Press.

Food, water, medicine and almost all other supplies were in desperately short supply in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian and Ukrainian forces had agreed to an 11-hour cease-fire that would allow civilians and the wounded to be evacuated. But Russian attacks quickly closed the humanitarian corridor, Ukrainian officials said.

“There can be no ‘green corridors’ because only the sick brain of the Russians decides when to start shooting and at whom,“ Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said on Telegram.

A third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian leaders is planned for Monday, Associated Press reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyrallied his people to remain defiant, especially those in cities occupied by Russians.

“You should take to the streets! You should fight!” he said Saturday on Ukrainian television. “It is necessary to go out and drive this evil out of our cities, from our land.”

Zelenskyy also asked the United States and NATO countries to send more warplanes to Ukraine, though that idea is complicated by logistical questions about how to provide aircraft to Ukrainian pilots, according to the Associated Press.

He later urged the West to tighten its sanctions on Russia, saying that “the audacity of the aggressor is a clear signal” that existing sanctions are not enough.

Nepal logged 68 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 135 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 54 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 794 people underwent antigen tests, of which 14 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 538 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 6, 461 active cases in the country. 

The Tanahun District Court has remanded actor Paul Shah in police custody for 12 days.

Shah was arrested on the charge of raping singer Samikshya Adhikari (17) on February 27. He turned himself in to police at the District Police Office, Tanahun.

Following his arrest, he was remanded in police custody for seven days.

The district court gave permission to keep him in police custody for 12 more days after police sought time for further investigation, DSP Yuvaraj Khadka of the District Police Office said.

Singer Adhikari had filed a rape against Shah in the District Police Office, Tanahaun a few days ago.

Based on the complaint, the District Police Office, Tanahun taking the permission from the District Court issued an arrest warrant against actor Shah.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 3. 66 points to close at 2,543.39 points on Sunday, the first trading day of the week.  

Similarly, the sensitive index increased by 1. 30 points to reach 490. 13 points.

A total of 5,139,239 units of shares of 230 companies were traded for Rs 2. 49 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market except for Banking, Hotels and Tourism, Development Bank and Others.  

Meanwhile, Mailung Khola Jal Vidhyut Company Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 7.80 percent. Likewise, Shivam Cement Ltd was the top loser with its price dropped by 7.11 percent. 

At the end of the day, total market civilization stands at Rs 3.60 trillion.

Russian forces will observe a temporary cease-fire Sunday in two Ukrainian cities, an official in one of the country’s two pro-Russia separatist regions said after an agreement to allow civilians to evacuate collapsed a day earlier amid continued shelling, Associated Press reported.

Eduard Basurin, the head of the military in separatist-held Donetsk, said safe passage corridors for residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol and the city of Volnovakha would reopen Sunday. He did not say for how long nor whether a cease-fire would accompany the evacuation.

Ukrainian officials confirmed that evacuations from Mariupol would take place starting from 12 p.m. local time. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said a ceasefire would be in effect between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m, according to the Associated Press.

A promised cease-fire in Mariupol failed amid scenes of terror Saturday. Ukrainian officials said the evacuation was aborted because the city of 430,000 remained under attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the failure and warned that the country’s ongoing resistance since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24 is putting the country’s future as a nation in jeopardy, according to the Associated Press.

“If they continue to do what they are doing, they are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood,” the Russian leader said Saturday. “And if this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

Putin also hit out at Western sanctions that have crippled Russia’s economy and sent the value of its currency tumbling. likening to “declaring war.”

With the Kremlin’s rhetoric growing fiercer and a reprieve from fighting dissolving, Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million.

By nighttime Saturday, Russian forces had intensified their shelling of Mariupol, while dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, Associated Press reported.

Sunday’s evacuations were announced along with a third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine. Davyd Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said the meeting would take place Monday. He gave no additional details, including the location of the talks.

A fire broke out at a vegetable bazaar at Dhungedhara in Banasthali in Kathmandu in the wee hours today, burning down at least 70 vegetable stalls, said the police.

A short-circuit is expected to have caused the blaze that took place at 1 am and was doused one hour later with the help of five fire engines, police and local people, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Gautam Mishra.

Details of property loss in the inferno have yet to come by, he said. The vegetable and fruit bazaar has been run by one Takadir Ratna Shakya. RSS