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Chinese President Xi Jinping met Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Beijing. Xi said China is ready to deepen trust and cooperation. He also welcomed Finnish businesses into the Chinese market.

The leaders discussed trade, energy transition, agriculture, and forestry. China urged Finland to oppose protectionism and support fair trade policies. A business cooperation deal is expected to be signed.

Orpo’s visit includes meetings with top Chinese leaders. He is joined by executives from over 20 Finnish companies. China remains Finland’s biggest trading partner in Asia

Singer Katy Perry and other US celebrities urged citizens to speak out after two Americans were killed in Minnesota. The deaths happened during a federal immigration crackdown. According to the Reuters, protests erupted across the state.

Reuters reported, Perry asked followers to contact lawmakers and oppose funding for immigration enforcement. Stars like Pedro Pascal and Billie Eilish shared posts demanding justice. NBA players also released a statement supporting protesters.

Officials said the killings were acts of self-defense. However, video evidence raised questions about that claim. The incidents have renewed debate over immigration policy and police conduct

Firefighters in Australia’s Victoria state are fighting at least six major bushfires. A record-breaking heatwave has worsened the situation. Two fires are burning at emergency level.

According to the international media, temperatures have reached historic highs across the state. One area recorded 48.9°C, while Melbourne hit 41°C. Authorities warn fires may spread quickly due to extreme heat and wind.

Emergency alerts have been issued for several communities. Officials urge residents to stay informed and follow safety advice. Health experts also warn of serious heat-related risks

Prime Minister Sushila Karki said that religious belief and cultural heritages should not be affected while carrying out development construction including road infrastructure.

In the course of inspecting Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhes fast track, the national pride project, today, the Prime Minister directed the bodies concerned to find a solution after taking the concerns of locals seriously.

She mentioned, "The concerns of the locals should be taken seriously and find solutions to them. The demarcation along the section as well as zero point should also be changed if needed. We should forward development construction without hurting their faith."  

The Prime Minister also suggested making arrangements of necessary vacant places while constructing physical structures. 

"Open space is needed during natural disasters. It is also required for people's movement, festivals, fairs, and gatherings. Therefore, we should abandon the idea of building any structure after seeing an open space. We should plan and build structure by leaving open space," she argued.

The Prime Minister's team comprises the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the secretaries of different ministries, among other officials.

Previously, Chief of the Army Staff Ashok Raj Sigdel and project chief Major General Dharmendra Jha had informed Prime Minister Karki about the project's progress so far and related challenges.

There was a slight delay in starting the project as the detailed project report (DPR) of this road under construction under the management of the Nepal Army took time to be approved.

The physical progress of the expressway project, which has a total length of 70.977 km, has currently reached around 45 percent.

Under the expressway, more than 87 bridges will need to be constructed. Among them, some are of a specific type and up to 82 meters tall. 

As these bridges have also reached the final stage of construction, the Army has stated that the project will be completed within the scheduled date of Chaitra-end 2083 BS and within the initial estimated cost of Rs 213 billion.

This will be a short-distance highway connecting Kathmandu Valley directly with the central Tarai region.

After the construction of the expressway, it is expected that transportation of goods from the Tarai to Kathmandu will significantly reduce costs and time, and contribute considerably to the country's economic development.

There are seven tunnels under the project. 

The Army has stated that it is making special efforts to accomplish the tasks according to the project's objectives.

American YouTuber IShowSpeed is nearing the end of his 28-day Africa tour. The trip aims to show Africa’s cultural richness beyond poverty and violence. He said the journey changed how he sees the continent.

AP reported, the tour covered 19 countries across Africa. He attended major sports events, met local communities, and tried traditional food. In Ghana, he said he felt “back home” after learning about his ancestry.

The tour drew praise for changing perceptions of Africa. Some critics, however, questioned his loud online persona. Despite debate, the series gained massive attention worldwide

India and the European Union have finalised a landmark trade deal that will represent a quarter of the world's economy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, as the two sides seek to hedge against fickle ties with the U.S, Reuters reported. 

After nearly two decades of on-off negotiations, the deal will pave the way for India to open up its vast and guarded market, the world's largest, to free trade with the 27-nation EU, its biggest trading partner.

"Yesterday, a big agreement was signed between the European Union and India," Modi said, according to Reuters. 

State-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) has cancelled its Rs 5bn procurement of a new billing system from Chinese technology giant Huawei, even though the bidding process had reached its final stage. The decision ends a tender that had been controversial from the beginning and raises fresh questions about governance, data security, and geopolitics in the country’s strategic telecom sector.

NT opened a tender for the system on March 18 last year. Although it shortlisted Huawei and WhaleCloud, the latter was disqualified at the technical proposal-stage. On Aug 31, NT formally invited Huawei’s representatives for the opening of the financial proposal scheduled for September 15. 

The process, however, never reached that point. The financial proposal opening was first postponed to Sept 24 following the GenZ protests of Sept 8 and 9 that toppled the KP Oli-led government. It was again postponed on Sept 4 until further notice. Days later, NT cancelled the entire procurement process, stating that a new tender would be called shortly.

Although then Minister for Communication and Information Technology Jagdish Kharel had given the go-ahead to the Nepal Telecom management, sources say the cancellation came after instructions from higher authorities. According to officials familiar with the process, geopolitics played a decisive role.

Huawei faces heavy restrictions in several countries, including the United States, over national security concerns. Western governments have repeatedly warned that Chinese telecom equipment could expose sensitive data to state influence. Although Nepal has not formally banned Huawei, the pressure of operating a state-owned telecom company in a polarized global technology environment is growing.

But geopolitics was not the only factor. The tender had been disputed since its announcement. Critics accused NT of structuring the bid to favor a single vendor and undermining fair competition. Questions were also raised about the violation of a directive order issued by the Supreme Court, which had clearly warned against awarding both the core network and billing system to the same supplier. 

The court, in its order dated 10 Sept 2024, had stated that the billing system procurement must ensure the protection of fundamental rights, including personal data. It said that the vendor supplying the billing system should not be in a position to access personal data through the core network. It also warned that using the same supplier for both systems could create a conflict of interest and pose information security risks. In simple terms, the ruling effectively meant that Nepal Telecom should maintain separate vendors for its core network and billing system.

In a telecom network, the core network is the central system which handles all voice calls, data routing, switching, roaming, and mobility management. It also generates call detail records (CDRs), which contain sensitive information about who called whom, when, and for how long. The billing system is responsible for converting network usage into money. It calculates charges, prepares invoices, deducts balances, and enables packages and offers. It can work in real time, such as through an online charging system, or in non-real time, through offline billing. Since both systems are critical and sensitive, many telecom operators globally use separate vendors for them. This separation reduces security risks, avoids monopoly control, and makes fault isolation easier when something goes wrong.

Nepal Telecom’s core network is built by Huawei. Its existing billing system, however, has been supplied by Asia Info since 2011. The original contract was for three years, but instead of launching a fresh tender, NT repeatedly extended Asia Info’s contract. Citing irregularities in the contract extension process, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case at the Special Court against former managing director Sangeeta Pahadi Aryal and others. The case is still under consideration.

The attempt to replace Asia Info with Huawei would have brought both the core network and billing system under a single vendor. That triggered alarms among experts and regulators.

Ganesh Gautam, associate professor at Pulchowk Campus, had advised NT that although a single-vendor model might offer minor operational convenience, the risks far outweighed the benefits. He warned of data security vulnerabilities, reduced transparency, difficulty in fault diagnosis, and the danger of vendor lock-in.

“If one system is compromised, the same method can be used to breach the other,” he explained. “When systems are supplied by different vendors, the chance of identical security weaknesses is very low.”

Gautam also said that if one system goes down due to a technical flaw, the other may also fail if both are supplied by the same company. 

Global Telco Consult, an international advisory firm, had also advised NT that awarding both systems to the same vendor could create conflicts of interest.

Many leading operators have separate vendors for core and billing systems. Even Ncell, Nepal’s private telecom operator, initially used Huawei for both. In 2018, it brought ZTE on board as its billing system provider to reduce dependence on a single vendor.

The cancellation of the Huawei contract, therefore, appears less like a sudden decision and more like the inevitable outcome of legal, technical, and political pressure converging at one point.  The larger question now is whether Nepal Telecom can restart the process in a transparent and competitive manner. 

Seven naturalised players in Malaysia's national football team have obtained a temporary reprieve from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, halting their 12-month suspension from all football-related activities, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. 

FIFA suspended the seven naturalised players for 12 months and fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs ($439,257) in September last year after finding that doctored documentation had been used to allow the players to participate in an Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam.

FAM then took the case to CAS after FIFA dismissed its appeal. FIFA said it would launch a formal probeinto the association's internal operations and would notify authorities in five countries of potential criminal proceedings, according to Reuters.