Nepalinews

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has issued Aircraft Search and Rescue Regulation, 2017, which provides for a provision of an 11-member National Coordination Committee led by minister or sta According to the regulation published in the Nepal Gazette on Monday, the NCC to be formed in Kathmandu Flight Information Region shall make policy provisions relating to aircraft search and rescue operation. As per the regulation, KFTR refers to all airspace located within the geographical boundary of Nepal. Similarly, there shall be a seven-member Rescue Coordination Committee headed by general manager of Civil Aviation Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport to carry out search and rescue operation of aircraft in a coordinated manner. The new law has also stipulated a provision of Search and Rescue Coordination Centre at TIA for deployment of trained human resources in case any aircraft goes missing within KFIR. The regulation requires the Civil Aviation Authority...

Sanu Babu Lamsal, a quake victim from Gorkha, recently transferred the ownership of his cab after acquiring a taxi permit from the government and registering the vehicle at Bagmati Transport Management Office. Though the government had issued new taxi permits to 1,500 quake survivors, such as Lamsal, through lucky draws held on June 22 and 23 to assist them with their livelihood, Lamsal said he had little choice in transferring the ownership of his cab after he found that the government scheme would actually add financial burden on quake victims instead of assisting them. “Firstly, we cannot afford to buy these cabs that cost almost Rs 1.6 million. Secondly, it’s impractical for us to shift to Kathmandu Valley from our respective districts to run taxis,” Lamsal said, explaining his decision. He, however, declined to disclose the amount for which he transferred the vehicle ownership. Lamsal said he would not have transferred the ownership of his taxi if the government had assured h...

GENEVA:  US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson doubled down Thursday on Washington’s call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power, looking past recent battlefield gains by his Russian-backed forces to insist that “the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end.” Tillerson made the comments after what he called a “fruitful” meeting with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who later announced plans to resume UN-mediated peace Syrian talks on Nov. 28. It will be the eighth such round under his mediation in Geneva since early 2016. They come despite the fact that Assad’s forces have just in the past year recaptured Syria’s second-largest city and reached the key eastern city of Deir el-Zour, long under siege from IS fighters. The top US diplomat used the occasion to reiterate Washington’s longstanding, hardline position against Assad, which has been overshadowed of late by the Trump administration’s focus more on defeating the Islamic State group than on ousting ...

KATHMANDU:  The broader leftist alliance has asserted the government to hold timely elections of House of Representatives and State Assembly on November 26 and December 7. Orgainising a press meet in the Capital on Thursday, leftist alliance leaders asserted on a timely elections for the implementation of the constitution and federalism in the nation.UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli said the nation is moving forward with democratic values and norms. “There is no point of reversing back, we have already moved forward and will strive ahead,” Oli added. Referring to the question of jurnos about former King Gyanendra Shah’s desire to take the leadership role of the nation, oli reiterated by saying that anyone can contest in the elections, its the beauty of democracy. He also said anyone wishing to take the leadership role should fill their nomination by November 16 and contest in the upcoming polls. Similarly, CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said holding timely elec...

KATHMANDU:  Chhath — a festival of holiness, good will and faith — is being celebrated across the nation with fanfare. The festival is dedicated to the Sun God, with offerings made to the rising and setting sun. It is observed for four days, from Kartik Shukala Chaturthi to Kartik Shukla Saptami as per the lunar calendar.Issuing a statement today, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced to extend the public holiday even on Friday in course of the Chhath Puja. Here are some of the pictures taken by our local correspondents and international media.

DHANGADHI:  At least 22 persons have sustained injuries after a bus they were travelling on met with an accident at Kaluwapur of Shuklaphanta Municipality in Kanchanpur district on Wednesday. An ill-fated bus (Na 4 Kha 8039) was heading to Mahendranagar from Dadeldhura before it turned turtle along the East-West Highway in the district this afternoon. According to DSP Lalmani Joshi, the injfured have been undergoing treatment at the local hospitals in the district.

HONG KONG:  When the propaganda film, “The Founding of an Army,” hit theaters in China recently, the reaction wasn’t quite what the ruling Communist Party might have hoped. Instead of an outpouring of nationalism and self-sacrifice for the state, it inspired mockery for trying to lure a younger audience by casting teen idols as revolutionary party leaders.Viewers more used to seeing the idols play love interests in light-hearted soap operas responded to the film by projecting “modern-day romantic narratives on the founding fathers of the nation,” said Hung Huang, a well-known social commentator based in Beijing. “It was hilarious.” While China’s resurgent Communist Party once pushed its policies on an unquestioning public, it now struggles to compete for attention with the country’s booming entertainment industry and the celebrity culture it has spawned. “Chinese people are increasingly ignoring party propaganda and are much more interested in movie stars, who represent a...

LONDON:  Real Madrid’s Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best soccer player in the world for the second year running at FIFA’s The Best awards gala on Monday. The four-time Ballon d’Or winner won a La Liga and Champions League double with the Madrid club this year, striking twice against Juventus in the European Cup final to help Real become the first team to retain the trophy in its current format. Barcelona’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who has won the Ballon d’or five times, and Paris St Germain’s Brazil forward Neymar were runners up for the award voted for by national team coaches and captains plus the media and fans. The Best FIFA Men’s Player award and the Ballon d’or, which is voted for only by the media, are now separate awards. Real Madrid’s French coach Zinedine Zidane won the manager of the year trophy for his part in the club’s success. Five Real players were named in the best XI of the year, with Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modri...

WASHINGTON:  David Letterman was never known as a particularly political comedian, preferring a detached irony-drenched tone that favored the surreal and silly over topical humor. But there was an unmistakable political tint to much of Sunday night’s ceremony to present Letterman with the Mark Twain award for American humor. Several of the comedians honoring Letterman took shots at President Donald Trump and the general state of the country. More than one comedian quipped that the Kennedy Center’s funding was about to be cut off mid-show. Meanwhile, the center announced that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was a Kennedy Center benefactor. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly blamed Letterman for helping to bring Trump to power. “It’s like you went out for cigarettes one day and left us in the hands of our abusive, orange stepfather,” Kimmel quipped. He praised Letterman profusely, recalling a monologue he delivered on his show shortly after the 9/11 attack. “Y...

BARCELONA:  Real Madrid have not thought about signing Harry Kane, club president Florentino Perez said on Tuesday, putting a dampener on widespread speculation that the in-form Spurs striker may be bound for the Santiago Bernabeu. Perez said that, if he did make an inquiry, Tottenham would value Kane at 250 million euros ($295 million), which would be a world-record transfer fee. “(But) I haven’t thought about signing Kane. We are happy with (Karim) Benzema and the rest of the team,” Perez told radio station Cadena COPE on Tuesday. Parts of Real’s forward line have been misfiring this season, while 24-year-old Kane’s red-hot start to the 2017/18 campaign has seen him score 17 times in 16 games for club and country. That has put him in the frame to be the next Spurs star to join the Champions League holders, with Croatia’s Luka Modric and Welshman Gareth Bale having made the switch from North London to Madrid in recent seasons. Speculation was fuelled further last...

KATHMANDU:  Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, said that it was making utmost efforts to retrieve money amounting to over Rs 400 million transferred to various banks abroad by hackers using SWIFT from NIC Asia Bank. Some unidentified hackers broke into the Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecommunication (SWIFT), an international payment network, at the NIC Asia Bank in Kathmandu, and had siphoned off the amount from there during the Tihar festival. It has been learned that Hackers have transferred the amount to eight banks in six countries. According to the Joint-Spokesperson at the NRB, Rajendra Pandit, NRB has asked the domestic banks to make efforts to retrieve the amount transferred abroad. Also, it has sought help of banks in those six countries from where hackers have requested the transfer. Meanwhile, NIC Asia Bank has been stepping up its effort towards this end. A total of 11,000 banking and financial institutions across 200 countries are s...

PROVIDENCE, RI:  The Environmental Protection Agency kept three scientists from speaking at a Monday event in a move condemned by researchers and Democratic members of Congress as an attempt by the agency to silence a discussion of climate change. The scientists were scheduled to discuss a report on the health of Narragansett Bay, New England’s largest estuary. Among the findings in the 500-page report is that climate change is affecting air and water temperatures, precipitation, sea level and fish.The EPA didn’t explain why the scientists were told not to speak, but said in a statement that the agency supports the program that published the document, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, with a $600,000 annual grant. The EPA is the sole funder of the program. “EPA scientists are attending, they simply are not presenting; it is not an EPA conference,” agency spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said in a statement Monday. Several people involved in the report and members of the sta...

BEIJING:  China’s ruling Communist Party enshrined President Xi Jinping’s political thought into its constitution on Tuesday, putting him in the same company as the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, and cementing his power ahead of a new top leadership line-up. The party unanimously passed the amendment to include “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” as one of its guiding principles at the end of its week-long congress.The party will announce its new Standing Committee, the apex of power in China, around midday (0400 GMT) on Wednesday, culminating a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle. The current committee is made up of seven people. Also included in the amended constitution was the party’s “absolute” leadership over the military, that the fight against corruption will continue, Xi’s “Belt and Road” development initiative, supply-side reforms, and giving play to the “decisive role” of market forces in resource allocation. “The c...

WASHINGTON:  President Donald Trump’s four-month worldwide ban on refugees ended Tuesday, officials said, as his administration prepared to unveil tougher new screening procedures. Under an executive order Trump signed earlier this year, the United States had temporarily halted admissions for refugees from all countries, with some exceptions.The end-date written into the order came and went Tuesday with no new order from Trump to extend it, according to a State Department official, who wasn’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity. Refugees seeking entry to the US will face what officials described as more stringent and thorough examination of their backgrounds, in line with Trump’s “extreme vetting” policy for immigrants. The Homeland Security Department, the State Department and other U.S. agencies have been reviewing the screening process during the temporary ban. The new screening procedures were to be announced later Tuesday. It was unclear exactly w...

HETAUDA:  Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Kamal Thapa, has pledged to ensure 35 per cent populations’ access to electricity in the country. Works were going on at the war-footing level through joint efforts of the Energy Ministry and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to provide electricity to the people who are still deprived of this facility, Thapa added.Addressing a programme organised by NEA regional office, Hetauda on Tuesday, Thapa said the government had already called on domestic and foreign investors to invest in energy sector. He viewed that completion of the under construction Kulekhani III project as soon as possible would help reduce the load-shedding from the country for a long term. On the occasion, Energy Secretary Anup Upadhyay stressed on the need of cracking down on illegal power leakage in the Terai and promoting the small scale hydropower projects. The taskforce has been formed to control power leakage, said Executive Director of the Nepal ...

PHIDIM:  Tough competition is on the offing as influential leaders from Nepali Congress and leftist alliance are contesting for provincial and parliamentary elections in Panchthar district. A total of 29 candidates from 13 parties are contesting for upcoming polls. 11 and 18 candidates are vying for House of Representatives and State Assemblies elections respectively. After the promulgation of the constitution, Panchthar district would elect one member of parliament and two members in state assembly. Ruling Nepali Congress have fielded its central member and erstwhile parliamentarian Veesmaraj Angdembe for the House of Representatives election. Similarly, the leftist alliance have nominated Basanta Kumar Newang for the same, many are eying for a tough battle between this two contestant for the post of member of parliament. It has been learned that the NC candidate Angdembe was elected to the constituent assembly election in 2013 from Panchthar constituency -2 in t...