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Rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to take place in the hilly areas of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces today.

According to meteorologist Govinda Kumar Jha at the Weather Forecasting Division, the rainfall is a result of a combination of local winds coupled with partial influence of the westerly winds.

With pre-monsoon activities already coming into play, rain with thunder and lightning is likely in the afternoon while the weather will remain generally clear at night.

Since Wednesday evening, light to moderate rain has occurred in the hilly areas of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces.

However, the Division has stated that there is no possibility of rain tonight as the weather system that causes rain has developed in Gandaki Province and exited through Koshi Province.

It may be noted that the weather has remained cloudy in various parts of the country including the Kathmandu Valley for the past few days.

As a result, the country's air traffic has also been affected due to the adverse weather.

According to the Tribhuvan International Airport, domestic as well as international flights had to be put on hold in the sky for some time on Wednesday afternoon due to low visibility.

The Supreme Court has quashed the contempt of court case filed against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, for not meeting sufficient grounds for it to be established.

A joint bench of Justices Hari Prasad Phunyal and Nityanand Pandey today ruled that the contempt of court case does not hold sufficient ground to be entertained.

It may be noted that Senior advocate Kumar Sharma Acharya and advocate Kanchan Krishna Neupane had filed a petition at the apex court in 2077 BS, arguing that PM Oli's comment on the case related to the dissolution of the then House of Representatives, which was sub judice at the Constitutional Bench of the court, and statements targeting senior advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari amounted to a contempt of court.

Prior to this, a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma had issued an order requiring Oli to appear in person and submit a written response.

As per the order, Prime Minister Oli had appeared in person and submitted a written reply.

The 4th edition of Ilam Literature Festival is all set to be held in Ilam Bazaar of Ilam district on March 14 and 15.

According to press statement released by Prakash Thamsuhang, chair of the Festival, many authors, artists, intellectuals and politicians from Nepal, India and Bangladesh will participate in the two-day festival.

With the slogan 'Literature for Tourism', the two-day festival will include more than 20 sessions. "Prof. Anand Kumar from India will be delivering the keynote speech on Democracy and Environment," as per the statement. 

Anand Kumar is the former professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and chair professor of Goa University.

Organized by Ilam Municipality, Literature, Art and Music Foundation of Ilam and IlamSahitya Samaj in association with the Nepal Academy, Nepal Fine Art Academy and Red Panda Network, the festival will consist of many sessions on literature, commerce, environment, music, culture and politics.

Khagendra Sangraula will speak on his bygone days with journalist Deepak Sapkota. Krishna Khanal, Narayan Kaji Shrestha 'Prakash', Gagan Kumar Thapa, and GokarnaBista are scheduled to speak on the topic 'Politics: Optimism or Pessimism'.

Poet Hangyug Agyat will speak on the beauty of the village while Tikaram Yatri, Ani Chhoing Dolma and Min Dolma will discuss the session 'Art and Spirituality.'  Likewise, journalist Phanindra Sangam will discuss with poets Shrawan Mukarung, Mishra Baijanti and Avaya Shrestha in the session 'Poetic Sense and Effect'. 

Journalist Raman Paudel will talk with Prithvi Subba Gurung, Minister for Communication and Information Technology, on the issue of social media while singer Prakash Saput will speak on caste-based discrimination.

Similarly, professional Nepali translator Ken Subedi will moderate the session ' Embodying Diversity in South Asia Through Translation' in which Shahed Kayes, from Bangladesh, Dr. Balram Adhikari and Chandra Gurung from Nepal will take part. Moreover, PradipMeyangbo will talk to Arjun Mabuhang and Sandhya Subba on 'Mundhum and Environment'.

Basanta Basnet, Srijana Pokhrel, GirirajBaskota, Chhabilal Khatiwada, Bishnu Kafle, Prabin Khaling, Tika Chhetri, YogendramanShrestha, Krishna Paudel, Gayatri Thegim, Bishnu Bishwas, Asha Uparkoti, Milan Tamli, Premika Rana Magar, Shankar Tiwari, Krishna Baral, Shailendra Adhikari and Deepa Dahalwill speak on different topics.

Similarly, other participants include Navaraj Parajuli, Madhuraj Kerung, Shiva Rijal, KomalPhuyal, Rajan Mukarung, Naresh KangmangRai, Dewan Kirati, Munaraj Sherma, Mahendra Birahi and others. Shanaz Parveen, AnjumanAra, Lovely Yesmin from Bangladesh and others will join poetry recitation.

According to Festival chair Thamsuhang, the Festival will include Ilam Poetry Concert, a Ghazal symposium and others. 

It is informed that Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture, Badri Pandey, will inaugurate the Festival.

"We believe that we can promote tourism through art and literature," chair Thamsuhangsaid. The festival will be held at Gautam Buddha Conference Hall in Ilam Bazaar.

The first commercial chartered flight will be operating on the Pokhara- Chengdu (China) route from March 18 in a bid to regularise international flights at Pokhara Regional International Airport in Kaski.

The regular operation of international flights from the airport had not been possible since two years of the launch of the airport.

According to Pokhara Tourism Council Chair, Taranath Pahari, the first operation of a commercial charted flight is scheduled to take place on March 18 for Chengdu.

Efforts to this end have been made from the private sector, it is said. China Travels International, Chengdu, the Embassy of China in Nepal and the Sichuan Airlines have collaborated with the Council towards that end.

Likewise, the Council has the support of Nepal-based Chinese Overseas Association.

The step is expected to be a cause for the boom the Province tourism business. They aim to welcome around 1,250 Chinese tourists directly from Sichuan province in China at the airport in the next three months.

Currently there is partial impact of the westerly wind and local wind in the country.

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, the weather will be partly to generally cloudy in the hilly regions of Koshi Province and other provinces while the weather is fair in the rest of the country.

The weather will remain partly to generally cloudy in the hilly regions of Koshi Province and other provinces and fair in the rest of the country this afternoon.

There are chances of light snowfall at one or two places of the high hilly and mountainous regions of the country, the Division informed.

Light rain accompanied by thunder and lightning is likely to occur at a few places of the hilly region of Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces and at one or two places of the hilly region of the rest of the provinces.

Similarly, the weather will be partly to generally cloudy in the hilly region and fair in the rest of the country tonight.

Light snowfall is likely to occur at one or two places of the high hilly and mountainous regions of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Karnali Provinces.

Light rain with thunder and lightning is likely to occur at one or two places of the hilly regions of Koshi and Gandaki Provinces.

There is a possibility of light snowfall in one or two places of the high hilly and mountainous region of the country.

In view of possible light rain with thunder and lightning at some places of the hilly regions of Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces and at one or two places of the hilly regions of the rest of the provinces, the Division has urged all concerned to take precautions since it may have partial impact on daily life, health, road and aviation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the United States was cancelling 83 percent of programs at USAID, as the Trump administration guts spending not aligned with its “America First” agenda.

In Nepal too, hundreds of projects launched under the USAID have faced closure. At the same time, the future of a $500m grant under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) hangs in the balance as the US is yet to make a decision about it. The USAID aid cut has significantly hit various sectors in Nepal such as health and education, human rights and gender. Following the USAID cut, the Nepal government is approaching India, China and other countries to fill the gap. Senior officials at the Ministry of Finance are exploring ways to prevent the possible impact on Nepal’s critical areas such as health, education, agriculture and support for minority groups. 

The USAID distributes humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, and critics warn that any major downsizing of its operations will affect millions of people. “After a six week review, we are officially cancelling 83 percent of the programs at USAID,” Rubio said on social media platform X. “The 5,200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”

US President Donald Trump, who has called for the agency to be shut down, signed an executive order in January demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid to allow time to assess overseas expenses. Rubio said the remaining 1,000 programs would be administered by the State Department, delivering a seemingly fatal blow to USAID—where most workers have been placed on leave or fired since January.

Notably, Rubio on Monday thanked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which billionaire Elon Musk is leading in a drive to cut federal spending and jobs. Musk, whom Rubio has reportedly criticized over his aggressive belt-tightening, responded on X describing the USAID cuts as “tough, but necessary.”

The State Department had announced last month its intention to cut 92 percent of USAID contracts, identifying 5,800 grants to be eliminated. Trump and his allies have argued that foreign assistance is wasteful and does not serve US interests, but aid groups argue much of the assistance supports US interests by promoting stability and health overseas.

Press Council Nepal Chairman Bal Krishna Basnet has suggested that the media should give special coverage to the issue of climate change.

He said so during a program held in New York, USA, on the theme 'Save the Mountains, Save the Earth', organized jointly by the Alpine Sports Association New York and the Sath Sathai Foundation.

Media persons and mountaineers attended the program organized recently at Jackson Heights, New York.

"The effects of climate change are seen clearly on our mountains. The white and shining mountains are turning into black," Chairman Basnet said. "The media should should increase coverage to draw the world's attention to the issue."

Chief Guest of the program Chairman Basnet, senior journalist Babita Basnet, Vice Chairperson of the Federation of Nepali Journalist Nitu Pandit, Nepal Television journalist Anita Bindu, Radio Kantipur journalist Kamala Panthi, Madan Puraskar winner writer Nilam Karki (Niharika) and Sath Sathi Foundation Head Prajita Karki among others were present in the event.

Temba Sherpa, advisor to the Parbat Sports Association New York and president of Sherpa Kidug, welcomed them at the program.

Conducting the program, Sanjog Acharya, the general secretary of the Association, expressed his happiness for being able to interact with the media on new issues that need to be raised.

On the occasion, guest speakers expressed their views on the initiatives needed to be taken to balance the Earth's environment and protect Nepal's mountains.

Similarly, Sath Sathai Foundation Chairperson Prajita Karki presented her important views on how to move forward from the community level for sustainable development of tourism and promotion of the Himalayan region in Nepal.

She said that since Nepal's mountains are world heritage sites, everyone should join hands in their protection and promotion.

Saying that Nepal's mountains are in crisis owing to climate change, senior journalist Babita Basnet stressed on the need for international initiatives for their long-term protection.

She also thanked the organization for reaching out to the masses and working on such profound issues.

During the program, participants highlighted the need for all parties to work together to promote tourism, economic development of local communities, and long-term conservation of the Himalayan region in Nepal.

Saying that Nepal's mountains are not only our heritage but also play a significant role in maintaining the ecological balance of the earth, the participants said that their conservation is our collective responsibility.

A development economist, Dr Raghu Raj Kafle, has been appointed the Executive Director of Health Insurance Board.

Among three persons shortlisted and recommended by the selection committee, Dr Kafle was able to secure the post, according to the private secretariat of Minister for Health and Population, Pradip Paudel.

A total of 10 candidates selected out of those applying for the post had made presentations and undergone interviews on March 2-3.

The selection committee recommended Dr Krishna Prasad Adhikari and Kamal Panthi along with Dr Kafle before the Council of Ministers.

Earlier, Dr Kafle was a member of the health insurance reform taskforce formed by Minister Paudel.

The taskforce had handed over a report to the Minister, suggesting how the health insurance scheme could be improved.

Moreover, the development economist has the experience of working as Vice Chairman of Gandaki Policy and Planning Commission, and Executive of the Foreign Employment Board.

He had also worked for over a decade at UNDP as a senior officer.