COVAX: Global Initiative Against Virus

It has been a year since the coronavirus emerged in the world in late December 2019. Still, there is no sign of the viral disease abating despite preventive and curative measures taken across the world like social distancing, washing hands with soap and water, using sanitiser, wearing masks and quarantine and isolation arrangements. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been trying its best to tackle the global pandemic in collaboration with various countries, other international organisations,...

Sunshine Fades

The fine line between adventure and disaster is sometimes as stark as a positive COVID-19 test. This little boy sneaked into his COVID-positive cousin’s bedroom at night to show him the new “adventure” comic, slept in the same bed and landed up a week later in the COVID-19 paediatric ward. He was one of the bravest five-year-old reporting to the paediatrics ward — not scared of PPE-clad masked men or needle-wielding women and not deterred by the antiseptic stench or the crying inmates. As...

Bar opposes PM’s dissolution move

The Nepal Bar Association has criticised Prime Minister KP Shrama Oli’s move to dissolve the federal parliament, comparing it to a lightning strike on the federal democratic republican system of the country. Issuing a statement on Monday, the Bar called the dissolution of the House of Representatives a gross violation of the Constitution of Nepal by the very officials entrusted to protect it. It further remarked that the Prime Minister had the constitutional option of convening a regular session...

NC's CC meet today

The Nepali Congress has called its Central Working Committee meeting for Tuesday. NC chief secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel on Monday said the meeting would be held at the party’s central office in Sanepa, Lalitpur. The meeting would dwell on the dissolution of the House of Representatives and the snap polls announced by the government. A meeting of the sitting and former office bearers of the party on Sunday had objected to the government move stating that the dissolution of the parliament was...

Security tightened in the Valley

In the wake of the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) of the Federal Parliament on Sunday, police have beefed up security as well as vigilance in three districts of Kathmandu Valley -- Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur. Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, has prepared a special action plan for the same, and that is being implemented after the approval of the Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari. In line with the plan, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force have upped checking in...

House still in existence: Nepal

Senior leader of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has termed the recent move of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to dissolve the House of Representatives (HoR) unconstitutional. Talking with reporters before a meeting of lawmakers close to the faction of Nepal and the party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda at Baneshwor on Monday, senior leader Nepal said PM Oli took the unconstitutional decision after he fell into minority.

Rare Jupiter-Saturn conjunction piques astronomers’ interest

On the night of December 21, stargazers across Nepal witnessed a rare celestial event -- the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The planets appeared extremely close to each other, making them look like one bright dot in the sky.

Report: Social media manipulation affects even US senators

Researchers from the center, a NATO-accredited research group based in Riga, Latvia, paid three Russian companies 300 euros ($368) to buy 337,768 fake likes, views and shares of posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, including content from verified accounts of Sens. Chuck Grassley and Chris Murphy.

China slams U.S. signature of bill barring Chinese firms from U.S. stock market

Noting that the move has severely distorted the basic principles of market economy the U.S. always claims to champion, he said it would deprive U.S. investors and the U.S. public of benefiting from the development of Chinese companies, weaken global investors' confidence in the U.S. capital market, and eventually damage the international status and reputation of the U.S. capital market.

Separate meetings of the NCP CC called for tomorrow

Following the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) by President Bidya Devi Bhandari as per the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, two chairs of the NCP have called the CC meet separately, which indicates the party is on the verge of a split.