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Newly elected members of the House of Representatives are scheduled to take the oath of office and secrecy today.

Eldest member of the House of Representatives, Arjun Narsingh KC, of the Nepali Congress will administer the oath of office and secrecy to fellow HoR members at 2 pm, shared Federal Parliament Secretariat Spokesperson Ekram Giri. 

President Ram Chandra Paudel had administered the oath of office and secrecy to KC on Wednesday.

The oath of office and secrecy ceremony of the members of the House of Representatives will be held at the newly constructed multi-purpose hall in Singha Durbar. 

According to the Federal Parliament Secretariat, 47 MPs have registered to take the oath in their mother tongue, other than Nepali language. Out of them, 17 are to take the oath in Maithili language.

In the election of members of the House of Representatives held on March 5, the Rastriya Swatantra Party came first with 182 seats while the Nepali Congress stood second with 38, the CPN-UML won 25 seats, the Nepali Communist Party 17, the Sram Sankriti Party seven, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party won five seats.

The weather today will remain generally cloudy in the mountainous regions, partly cloudy in the hilly regions, and mainly fair weather in the Tarai today. 

According to the Weather Forecasting Division, there is a possibility of moderate rain and snowfall with thunder and lightning at a few places in the mountainous regions of Koshi, Bagmati, and Gandaki Provinces, and at one or two places in the remaining hilly and mountainous regions.

Meteorological Analysis by the Division states that at present Nepal is under the partial influence of westerly winds along with local winds.

The Central Committee meeting of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is scheduled to be held this afternoon at the party's central office in Banasthali, Kathmandu.

Joint General Secretary Bipin Acharya said that the meeting has been called to elect senior party leader Balendra Shah popularly known as Balen Shah as the Parliamentary Party leader.

The CC meeting will be held after the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected members of the House of Representatives. 

The RSP had announced Shah as the candidate for Prime Minister in the March 5 House of Representatives elections.

The RSP emerged as the first party with a total of 182 seats, giving way for the formation of the next government under its leadership. 

Shah is likely to be unanimously chosen as the RSP's Parliamentary Party leader, paving the way for him to become the next Prime Minister of Nepal.

The Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection has imposed a cash penalty on two firms after they were found violating the law during an on-site inspection.

The department issued a press release on Wednesday stating that it has imposed a fine of Rs 201,000 on Pilgrims Grocery Pvt. Ltd., Swayambhu, and a fine of Rs 10,000 on RS Grocery and Gas Shop, Lalitpur, Bhaisepati. 

Similarly, instructions for correction have been given to 17 more firms in the federal capital.

The firms were fined in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act, 2075 BS. 

The department has been regularly conducting market inspections with the participation of local people representatives, consumer rights activists and concerned parties.

Iran has told intermediaries that Lebanon must be included in any ceasefire agreement with ​the United States and Israel, six regional sources familiar with Iran's position said, linking an end of the war to ‌a halt to Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, Reuters reported. 

Iran's Press TV on Wednesday cited an Iranian official saying Tehran wanted any deal with the United States to secure an end to the war both on Iran and other "resistance groups" in the region.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran was still reviewing a U.S. proposal to ​end the regional war raging for nearly a month, indicating that Tehran had so far stopped short of rejecting it outright.

Iran is reviewing a U.S. proposal to end the war in the Gulf but has no intention of holding talks to end the ‌widening Middle East conflict, the country's foreign minister said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. 

The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi suggested some willingness by Tehran to negotiate an end to the war if its demands were met, despite an initial response that was negative as Iranian officials publicly poured scorn on the prospect of any negotiations with the U.S.

The exchange of messages through mediators "does not mean negotiations with the U.S.," Araqchi said on state television, according to Reuters. 

Iranian officials denied any talks had taken place. One military spokesperson even mocked the claim, saying Americans had been "negotiating with themselves".

The gap is clear. Washington talks about progress; Tehran rejects it outright. But this is not just a disagreement; it reflects deep mistrust, BBC reported. 

That mistrust comes from recent events. 

Over the past year, talks between the two sides have twice raised hopes of easing tensions, with the last round said by their Omani host to have addressed key US concerns about Iran's nuclear programme. 

A Los Angeles jury has handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media, BBC reported. 

Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year old's mental health.

The woman, known as Kaley, was awarded $6m (£4.5m) in damages, a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts.

Meta and Google said separately that they disagreed with the verdict and would both appeal. Meta said: "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app, according to BBC.