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Nepali Congress has formed a 37-member Central Executive Committee on Friday.

A virtual meeting of the Central Committee held this afternoon formed the committee.

Though there is a provision to have 46 members in the committee, the party has nominated 35 members for now.

The names of the members are as follows:

1. President Sher Bahadur Deuba
2. Senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel - senior leader
3. Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka
4. Vice-President Dhanraj Gurung
5. General Secretary Gagan Thapa
6. General Secretary Bishwo Prakash Sharma
7. Assistant General Secretary Pharmullah Mansoor
8. Assistant General Secretary Bhismaraj Angdambe
9. Assistant General Secretary Uma Kanta
10. Assistant General Secretary Mahendra Raya Yadav
11. Assistant General Secretary Mahalaxmi Upadhyay Dina
12. Assistant General Secretary Kishor Singh Rathore
13. Assistant General Secretary Badri Pandey
14. Assistant General Secretary Jeevan Pariyar
15. Gopal Man Shrestha
16. Prakash Man Singh
17. Bimalendra Nidhi
18. Bijay Kumar Ghachhadhar
19. Krishna Prasad Sitaula
20. Dr Shashanka Koirala
21. Chitra Lekha Yadav
22. Dr Ram Sharan Yadav
23. Arjun Narsingh KC
24. Dr Prakash Sharam Mahat
25. Sunil Bahadur Thapa
26. Dr Shekhar Koirala
27. Bal Bahadur kc
28. Bal Krishna Khand
29. Gyanendra Bahadur Karki
30. Uma Regmi
31. Ramesh Rijal
32. Dr Narayan Khadka
33. Jip Tshering Lama
34. NP Saud
35. Jeevan Bahadur Shahi
36. Sujata Koirala
37. Ananda Prasad Dhungana

Ten Pakistani soldiers were killed after terrorists attacked a security forces' checkpost in Balochistan's Kech district, local media reported on Thursday.
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the "fire raid" by terrorists occurred on the night of January 25-26, Dawn reported.
"During intense exchange of fire, one terrorist was killed and several injured. While repulsing terrorists' fire raid, 10 soldiers embraced martyrdom," the statement said.
The statement further stated that three terrorists had been apprehended in the follow-up clearance operation, which it said was still in progress to hunt down the perpetrators of the incident.
"The armed forces are determined to eliminate terrorists from our soil no matter what the cost," Dawn quoted the ISPR statement.
Earlier this month, a Pakistan Army soldier was killed after terrorists attacked a military post in Bannu's Janikhel.
On January 5, two soldiers were killed and as many terrorists killed in two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted by security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dawn reported.
It further reported that last month, four soldiers of the Pakistan Army were killed in an exchange of fire with terrorists during an IBO in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan tribal district. (ANI)

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba held a meeting with CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) Party Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal. 

It has been learnt that  they discussed local level elections among other issues during the meeting.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Deuba held a meeting with President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. 

During the meeting, she urged the Prime Minister to hold the elections on time.

The Election Commission has also been urging the government to fix the date of local level elections.

Though the Prime Minister has been holding discussions with leaders of various on the local level polls, he has not been able to fix the date yet.

The poll body has recommended the government to hold the elections on April 27.

The US has threatened to halt the opening of a key pipeline that would send Russian gas to Western Europe, if Russia invades Ukraine, BBC reported.

Nord Stream 2 would run from Russia to Germany, and on Thursday officials in Berlin said the project could face sanctions if Russia attacks.

Western allies say they will target Russia's economy if it invades, and the latest comments signal a hardening of their stance on the lucrative pipeline.

Russia denies it is planning an attack.

But the build-up of tens of thousands of Russian troops on Ukraine's borders in recent weeks has stoked tensions and escalated fears of an invasion.

"I want to be very clear: if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward," US state department spokesman Ned Price told NPR.

But he added that he was "not going to get into the specifics" of how it would be stopped, and questions remain over whether the US would have the power to cancel the project.

"We will work with Germany to ensure it does not move forward," Mr Price said.

While the US insisted that it would stop the opening of the pipeline completely, Germany only said it would not rule out imposing sanctions on the project.

The country's foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, told parliament that Western allies were "working on a strong package of sanctions" covering aspects "including Nord Stream 2".

But she added that she would prefer to "continue the dialogue" with Moscow.

Her comments came after the German ambassador to the US Emily Haber tweeted that "nothing will be off the table, including Nord Stream 2" if Russia violated "Ukraine's sovereignty".

The 1,225km (760-mile) pipeline took five years to build and cost $11bn (£8bn). The energy project, which would run under the Baltic Sea, is designed to double Russia's gas exports to Germany.

But as yet it has not started operating, as regulators said in November it does not comply with German law and suspended its approval.

Major European businesses have invested heavily in Nord Stream 2, which is run by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. But many groups object to the plan.

Environmentalists question how it will fit in with German efforts to cut emissions and tackle man-made climate change, while politicians at home and abroad fear it could increase Europe's dependence on Russian energy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously described the pipeline as a "dangerous geopolitical weapon".