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South Korean authorities began removing loudspeakers blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the country’s border, Seoul’s Ministry of National Defence has said, as the new government of President Lee Jae-myung seeks to ease tensions with Pyongyang, Aljazeera reported.

“Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,” Lee Kyung-ho, spokesman of South Korea’s Defence Ministry, told reporters on Monday.

Shortly after he took office in June, Lee’s administration switched off propaganda broadcasts criticising the North Korean regime as it looks to revive stalled dialogue with its neighbour, according to Aljazeera.

A Singapore-based billionaire hotelier has pleaded guilty to a charge connected to a rare corruption scandal that shocked the country last year, BBC reported.

Ong Beng Seng has admitted to abetting the obstruction of justice by helping ex-transportation minister Subramaniam Iswaran cover up evidence while he was being investigated for corruption. 

Ong gave expensive gifts, including an all-expenses paid trip which included a private jet ride, to Iswaran while they were engaged in official business, according to BBC.

Tarakeshwor Rural Municipality-6 in Nuwakot Ward Chairman Narayan Prasad Rimal passed away on Monday.  He was 44. 

According to the family source, he breathed his last in the course of treatment for fever and pneumonia at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu.   

He had undergone a surgery for gallstone two months back. 

Rimal was suffering from fever and pneumonia for a week. 

He was elected the ward chair during the 2074 BS local elections, representing the CPN-UML.

Tarakeshwor Rural Municipality today declared a public holiday at the local level, mourning the demise of Rimal. 

As per the local government's decision, an official flag here has been lowered at half-mast over the demise of the ward chair.

One of the top aides to US President Donald Trump has accused India of allegedly financing the Russian war against Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow. The development comes after the US president escalated pressure on New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil or face penalties, The Indian Express reported.

During an interview on Fox News‘ “Sunday Morning Futures”, Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House, said, “What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia."

Miller, who is seen as one of Trump’s most influential aides, criticised India for purchasing oil from Russia and effectively financing Moscow’s war against Kyiv. Miller’s criticism is being viewed as one of the strongest by the Trump administration yet about one of the US’ major partners in the Indo-Pacific, according to The Indian Express.

A person died and 16 others were injured when a vehicle carrying pilgrims met with an accident at Jayaram in Tuwachug Municipality-1, Halesi, Khotang on Monday. 

DSP Santosh Shrestha of the Traffic Police Office said that the identity of the deceased has not been ascertained yet.

Among the injured, three are in critical condition.

The incident occurred when the vehicle (Province 2-01-001 Ja 0053) returning from Halesi, a famous religious pilgrimage site in Khotang, fell some 200 meters down the road this morning.

Police said that they are searching for the driver who fled the scene after the accident.

India and the Philippines staged joint sail and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea for the first time, a high-profile military deployment that will likely antagonize China. Beijing has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian democracies and a long-running regional rivalrywith New Delhi, Associated Press reported.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner said Monday that the two-day joint naval sail and exercises which began Sunday have been successful so far and expressed hopes that Filipino forces could engage India’s military in more joint maneuvers in the future.

Asked if Chinese forces carried out any action in response, Brawner said without elaborating that “we did not experience any untoward incident but we were still shadowed. We expected that already.”

The price of gold has increased by Rs 100 per tola in the domestic market on Monday. 

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 196, 600 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 196, 500 per tola on Sunday.

Similarly, the price of silver, however, has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 2, 250 per tola today.

The UN's main food agency has warned that families trapped within the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher face starvation, BBC reported.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had not been able to deliver food to the city in the western Darfur region by road for more than a year.

El-Fasher has been surrounded by paramilitary fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for nearly16 months - determined to seize it from Sudan's army.

The WFP warning comes as local activists have already begun reporting deaths by starvation in the city, which is home to about 250,000 people, according to BBC.