Today’s national news in a nutshell

Khabarhub

June 23, 2022

7 MIN READ

KATHMANDU: Khabarhub brings to you a glimpse of major developments of the day in Nepal, including politics, business/economy, sports, entertainment, and more.

Membership of GGGI tabled for approval in parliament

The government has tabled a proposal seeking consideration of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Nepal’s membership of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

The proposal was tabled by Minister for Forests and Environment Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav in Thursday’s HoR meeting.

Justifying the proposal, he said that the acquisition of membership would help increase investment for green development by consolidating national financial resources and attracting international investment.

The GGGI is an intergovernmental body established after the Rio +20 Conference held in 2012. Its secretariat is in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It currently has 43 member nations.

China commends Nepal’s decision not to move ahead on SPP

China has commended Nepali government’s decision not to move ahead on the State Partnership Program (SPP) with the United States, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to comment on the issue, Xinhua reported.

Shrestha appointed Nepal’s ambassador to China

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday appointed Bishnu Pukar Shrestha as Nepal’s residential ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

According to the Office of the President, Shrestha was appointed to the post of ambassador as per the Article 282 of the Constitution of Nepal on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

China puts up a wire fence in no-man’s land in Gorkha

China has unilaterally laid a 150-meter long wire fence at Ruila border of Chumanubri Village-1 of Gorkha district, Annapurna Post (AP) has reported.

The report published by AP says that the fence has been built without abiding by any of the criteria to be followed while constructing the structure at the border.

Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the District Administration Office is aware of this, the report says.

Annapurna Post has quoted Chief District Officer of Gorkha, Shankar Hari Acharya, as saying that the administration has no information on the issue.

Even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to be unaware of the fence.

Senior pilot Jwarchan appointed as NAC’s general manager

Senior pilot of the Nepal Airlines Corporation(NAC) Deepu Jwarchan has been appointed as its General Manager.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale appointed Jwarchan as NAC’s GM from a minister-level decision on Thursday.

Jwarchan would now look after the responsibility of executive chief of the NAC, which was vacant after the suspension of the executive chairperson Yubraj Adhikari, according to the Ministry.

‘Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train’ arrives in Janakpur carrying 500 pilgrims

The “Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train” carrying 500 religious tourists arrived in Janakpurdham at 1:30 pm on Thursday.

The train with 14 coaches was jointly flagged off from New Delhi Minister of Railways and Minister of Tourism of India on Tuesday.

The train is a first of its kind tourist train covering the Ramayana Circuit in India and Nepal.

Maoist Center will be first leftist force in upcoming election: Chair Dahal

Chairperson of the CPN (Maoist Center), Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has argued that the Maoist Center would become the first party among the leftist parties in the upcoming federal and provincial elections.

At a program organized by CPN (Maoist Center) District Coordination Committee, Lalitpur, on Thursday, Chair Dahal said the Maoist Center would become the second largest party of the country.

He shared, “There is a possibility of becoming the first party in the leftist in the federation and provinces. So work hard from today itself for the same.”

USD hits new high against Nepali rupees

The value of the United States Dollar (USD) has made a new contemporary record in Nepal with one USD trading for Nepali Rs 125.12 on Thursday.

The Central Bank, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), fixed the buying rate for one USD at Rs 125.12 and the selling rate at Rs 125.72 today.

Audio tape issue alleging bribery in judiciary enters parliament

The issue of bribery in the judiciary, leaked via an audio tape recently, has received attention in the parliament.

In a meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, lawmaker Leela Devi Sitaula expressed her concern about the alleged involvement of people in the judiciary being involved in bribery.

Airing her views in a special hour of the Lower House of the Federal Parliament today, the lawmaker said the record was sufficient to paint a grim picture of Nepal’s judiciary.

It may be noted that few days ago a tape recording said to be the phone conversation between Kathmandu District Court’s judge Raj Kumar Koirala and Nepal Bar Association former treasurer advocate Rudra Pokhrel for a bribe deal was leaked to media.

The release of the audio tape has already sparked protests from various quarters and it has now entered the House.

Nepal sees slight uptick as 49 COVID-19 cases reported in past 24 hours

Nepal has witnessed a slight uptick in COVID19 cases with 49 new cases reported in the past 24 hours as of Thursday.

Out of the confirmed cases today, 33 were detected through the RT-PCR method and 16 through the Antigen method.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, a total of 2,494 swab samples were tested in the past 24 hours. Of them, 1,234 samples were tested through RT-PCR and 1,260 through the Antigen method.