Export Trade On Track

About 11 months have passed since the emergence of the coronavirus disease in Wuhan City of China. The virus-induced lockdowns and other restrictions have had an unparalleled impact on the global economy. Since the pandemic has spread as rapidly as a wildfire globally, the entire production system has remained stagnated and the supply chain disrupted. This has left millions of people jobless across the world. As projected by scientists, several European countries have now experienced second wave...

Elections Consolidate Democracy

Myanmar’s people Sunday cast their votes in the third parliamentary elections held in line with the constitution that came into effect in 2008. The first and second general elections were held in 2010 and 2015 respectively. The first one was focused on establishing the foundation of a quasi-democratic system while the second one was more of a transition into civilian administration as many positions of government, which were once held by military personnel, were handed over to civilian staff. Myanmar...

Biden’s Burden Of Challenges

After intense speculations and a variety of conflicting opinion poll predictions, Democratic Party candidate Joe Bidenis set to be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States next January, replacing Donald Trump. But that is not the whole story. Proving the pollsters wrong for the second successive time, it was no cake walk for Biden, who served as vice-president during Barack Obama’s two terms in office (2009-2016). Analysts and news media do not deliver electoral victory in an assertive...

Tourism Bounces Back

As the holiday season began last month, we can observe the social media flooding with posts and pictures of people holidaying, trekking and camping along with adventurous recreational activities such as paragliding and boating. In view of COVID-19 pandemic that continues to rage, it sounds reckless to go outing for pleasure which is non-essential activity. Despite the health hazard, internal tourism has restarted with precaution, igniting hope for business and job creation. A complete recovery is...

Reconstruction of Rato Machhindranath in full swing

Reconstruction of the Rato Machhindranath temple in Bungamati, Lalitpur is moving in full swing after the consumer committee was given the responsibility to continue the construction work. The Rato Machhindranath temple’s future was pushed into limbo after the Sri Lankan government withdrew the reconstruction project in February. Controversies regarding the use of construction materials such as bricks, cement and limestone, among others, had also heated up before.

Indian envoy hands over 28 ventilators

To fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Ambassador Vinaya M. Kwatra of India handed over 28 ICU ventilators to Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Minister for Health and Population, on Sunday. Issuing a press statement today, the Indian embassy informed that the ICU ventilators were provided to further support the efforts of Nepal government to fight against the pandemic. The supply of the ventilators follows the earlier COVID-related assistance extended to Nepal- Remdesivir vials on 15 September, ICU ventilators...

Virus spread unlikely onboard planes: Studies

A new study has shown that circulating air in aeroplanes is not likely to spread the coronavirus, provided that the passengers wear face masks at all times. The study, commissioned by the United States Department of Defense, suggests that the ventilation systems on airplanes are very efficient at filtering air and are able to take out disease-transmitting particles. The study team simulated a coughing passenger on board a fully loaded plane and tracked the movement of the released respiratory droplets....

Govt to prohibit deusi-bhailo in valley

Owing to COVID-19 pandemic, the government would not allow playing deusi-bhailo in the Kathmandu Valley this Tihar. According to Chief District Officer (CDO) of Kathmandu, Janakaraj Dahal, the government would not allow a single group to play deusi-bhailo this year as such practice was likely to increase the cases of the coronavirus further in the society.

Chhaupadi still in practice in Kailali villages

The superstitious belief that keeping menstruating women inside house would make the god angry still exists in a few villages of Ghodaghodi, Gauriganga, Bardagoriya and Lamkichua Municipalities among others. The practice, popularly known as Chhaupadi, has been common in the hills of Sudurpaschim and Karnali States. Thirteen-year-old Jamuna (name changed) of Ghodaghodi Municipality-8 is on the third day of her menarche. She has been staying in Chhau goth, a traditional hut made to keep menstruating...

CCMC recommends halting COVID-19 rescue flights

The government has decided to not conduct rescue flights for Nepalis stranded because of COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was taken by the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre Directive Committee (CCMC) while setting the agenda for the upcoming Cabinet meeting. A meeting of the Committee held on Sunday took the decision to recommend the Cabinet to discontinue the rescue flights. The meeting also decided to provide health workers from the concerned ward offices to the people testing positive for coronavirus...