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Entire preparations for grade 12 exams taking place from today were completed, the National Examinations Board confirmed. 

The grade 12 exams are scheduled to begin at 8:00 am today across the country. 

Board's Chairman Mahashram Sharma has urged the examinees to sit for exams with top confidence.

The Board has designated 1,591 examination centers including one in Japan.

Sharma stated that there are a total of 162 examination centers in Kathmandu and one each in Manang and Mustang.  

According to Sharma, a total of 511,525 students will appear for the Board exams including 395,908 under the regular category and 115,617 under the partial category. 

This year's Board exams will be completed on May 16.

Astronomers have been trying to determine the cosmic origins of the heaviest elements, like gold, for decades. Now, new research based on a signal uncovered in archival space mission data may point to a potential clue: magnetars, or highly magnetized neutron stars, CNN reported.

Scientists believe lighter elements such as hydrogen and helium, and even a small amount of lithium, likely existed early on after the big bang created the universe 13.8 billion years ago.

Then, exploding stars released heavier elements like iron, which became incorporated in newborn stars and planets. But the distribution of gold, which is heavier than iron, throughout the universe has posed a mystery to astrophysicists.

“It’s a pretty fundamental question in terms of the origin of complex matter in the universe,” said Anirudh Patel, lead author of the study published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and a doctoral student of physics at Columbia University in New York City, in a statement. “It’s a fun puzzle that hasn’t actually been solved.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Vladimir Putin of “playing games” after the Russian leader proposed a three-day unilateral ceasefire to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day commemorations, Aljazeera reported.

“This is more of a theatrical performance on his part. Because in two or three days, it is impossible to develop a plan for the next steps to end the war,” Zelenskyy told a small group of journalists on Friday, in remarks embargoed until Saturday.

Russia announced a 72-hour halt in hostilities beginning May 8, but has so far rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire pushed by Ukraine and the United States, which is trying to broker an end to the three-year war.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not be “playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin’s exit from isolation on May 9” when some foreign leaders are due in Moscow for Russia’s World War II commemorations, according to Aljazeera.

At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza as Israel’s punishing blockade of food, water, and other critical aid to the besieged enclave stretches into its third month amid relentless bombardment, Aljazeera reported.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Saturday that most of the victims were children, as well as the sick and elderly, condemning the “continued use of food by the Israeli occupation as a weapon of war” and urging the international community to exert pressure on Israel to reopen the borders and allow in aid.

Gaza has been under total Israeli blockadesince March 2, video obtained by Al Jazeera Arabic showing large numbers of trucks carrying vital supplies piling up on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the queue extending south beyond the city of Arish, located approximately 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Rafah border crossing.

Al Jazeera’s team identified one of the latest victims on Saturday, a baby girl called Janan Saleh al-Sakafi, who died of malnutrition and dehydration in the Rantisi Hospital, west of Gaza City. More than 9,000 children have been admitted to hospital for treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year, according to the United Nations, according to Aljazeera.

Revered investor Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of his shareholders Saturday by announcing that he wants to retire at the end of the year, Associated Press reported.

Buffett said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board that Greg Abel should become CEO at the end of the year. 

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the Chief Executive office of the company at year end,” Buffett said.

Abel has been Buffett’s designated successor for years, and he already manages all of Berkshire’s noninsurance businesses. But it was always assumed he wouldn’t take over until after Buffett’s death. Previously, the 94-year-old Buffett has always said he has no plans to retire.

Buffett announced the news at the end of a five-hour question and answer period and didn’t take any questions about it. He said the only board members who knew this was coming were his two children, Howard and Susie Buffett. Abel, who was sitting next to Buffett on stage, had no warning, according to Associated Press.

 A second-string Paris St Germain side fell to a 2–1 defeat at fourth-placed Strasbourg on Saturday, giving the Ligue 1 champions another reverse in the closing stages of the campaign, Reuters reported.

With the title wrapped up and PSG's undefeated league run ended by a 3-1 loss to Nice in the last round, the only thing at stake for the visitors was preserving a 39-game unbeaten Ligue 1 away record - the most ever in Europe's top five leagues.

However, manager Luis Enrique retained only Joao Neves from the starting lineup that featured in the 1-0 Champions League win at Arsenal in the semi-final first leg in midweek, seemingly resting key players ahead of Wednesday’s return game.

For Strasbourg, the result puts them fourth, level on 57 points with Nice in third and one point behind second-placed Olympique de Marseille, with the top three spots securing Champions League football, according to Reuters.

Bournemouth came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday, with Evanilson's scrappy winner giving the Cherries a huge boost in their push for European football next season, Reuters reported.

Declan Rice gave the Gunners the lead in the 34th minute, rounding goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and producing an accomplished finish on his 100th Arsenal appearance.

Bournemouth move up to eighth, which could be enough for European football next season, with 53 points from 35 games. Arsenal stay second with 67 points, three points above Manchester City in third, according to Reuters.

Sirri Sureyya Onder, a prominent pro-Kurdish party lawmaker and key figure in Turkey's tentative process to end the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) insurgency, died on Saturday at age 62, his party said, Reuters reported.

Onder, the deputy parliament speaker, was among MPs from the DEM Party who recently met jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and held talks last week with President Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to end a decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

He was taken to hospital around two weeks ago after suffering a heart attack and aortic rupture, according to the hospital where he was being treated in Istanbul. After his heartbeat recovered, he underwent some 12 hours of surgery.

Onder then spent 18 days in intensive care but died due to multiple organ failure on Saturday, the Istanbul hospital said.

Known for his wit, poetry, and warm public presence, Onder was also an accomplished director and screenwriter of works that blended political storytelling with social critique, according to Reuters.