Submit your Article

After neighbors complained about the noise he was making, a Texas man went next door with an AR-15-style rifle and shot them, killing five people – including an eight-year-old child – as well as wounding three others at a home in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday night, The Guardian reported. Law enforcement patrolling the community more than 40 miles outside of Houston were searching for Francisco Oropeza, 38, who had been intoxicated and fled the scene, the sheriff of San Jacinto county, Greg Capers, told reporters on Saturday. Oropeza is facing five charges of murder, Capers told the Washington Post. By Saturday afternoon, as police continued to search for his whereabouts, Capers reportedly told local media that authorities believed they had cornered Oropeza in a wooded area. Family members had walked to his fence and asked Oropeza to cease shooting rounds in his yard because an infant was trying to sleep. Oropeza responded by saying that it was his property. Capers told reporters that video footage showed Oropeza walking up to the neighbors’ front door with the rifle. The killing, less than a year after the deadliest mass shooting at a Texas public school left 19 students and two teachers dead in Uvalde, marked the 174th mass shooting and 17th mass killing in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are killed or wounded. It defines a mass killing as one in which four or more victims are slain, according to The Guardian. That puts the United States at a record pace of mass killings this year. Currently, mass killings happen once every six and a half days, according to an analysis by the Associated Press and USA Today. Capers told reporters that the killings in Cleveland unfolded about 11.30pm local time. “Everyone that was shot was shot from the neck up, almost execution-style,” Capers said. Of the 10 people in the house, four people were found dead at the scene. A fifth – the youngest victim at 8 years old – died later at the hospital. All of victims were from Honduras. Oropeza is from Mexico. Honduras’s foreign minister, Eduardo Enrique Reina, wrote in Spanish on Twitter that Oropeza should face the “full weight of the law” for the killings. The Spanish language newspaper Tu Nota first reportedReina’s tweet. Capers noted that two women who were killed “were laying over these children were doing it in such an effort as to protect the child”. Those children survived, The Guardian reported. “It’s horrific,” Capers told the Washington Post. “No one should ever have to look at this scene, the blood, the trauma that went on in that house.”

Two persons died and another sustained injuries when a car met with an accident at Pipalbhangyang in Kamalamai Municipality-2 of Sindhuli on Sunday. The identities of the deceased are yet to be established. DSP Chiranjivi Dahal said that the injured has been taken to the Sindhuli Hospital for treatment. He said that the tragedy occurred when the car (Ba 8 Cha 5135) fell some 20 meters down the road this morning. Further investigation into the incident is underway, police said.  

Nepal reported 103 new Covid-19 cases on Friday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 627 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 50 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 298 people underwent antigen tests, of which 53 tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours and 53 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 375 active cases in the country.

The Election Commission (EC) has submitted a report of the April 23 by-elections of the House of Representatives (HoR) to Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav on Friday. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya submitted the report amidst a program at the Office of the President, Shital Niwas this afternoon. On the occasion, the Acting President thanked the EC for successfully concluding the election and fulfilling the constitutional and legal responsibilities. The Chief Election Commissioner apprised the Vice President that the election was held in a free and impartial atmosphere. Election Commissioners Ram Prasad Bhandari, Dr Janaki Kumar Tuladhar, Election Commission secretary Gokarnamani Duwadi and Joint Secretary Shaligram Sharma Poudel were present on the occasion. As per the law, the report of the election shall be presented to the President within a week of the election results.  

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), which is currently importing electricity from India to manage the power supply within the country, is gearing up for electricity export to its southern neighbor from the third week of May. As the water level in the rivers is increasing with the start of pre-monsoon rainfall and melting of snow due to summer heat, NEA has said that electricity generation from big power plants will increase, enabling it to start power export from the third week of May. The authority started to export electricity to India last year from the first week of June. As the installed capacity of electricity has increased by 700MW over the past year, NEA believes it can export more electricity this year compared to last year. NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising said that the state-owned power utility will start exporting electricity from the third week of May. "As the pre-monsoon season is approaching, the flow of water in the rivers will increase," said Ghising, "We have started making our internal preparations accordingly." According to NEA, there have been rains across the country in the last two weeks and electricity generation has also increased. The authority claims that electricity generation will further increase after the pre-monsoon begins. Although Nepal has started exporting surplus electricity to India during the wet season, it has to import electricity in the dry season to meet the power demand. It is because almost all of the power production in the country is based on run-of-the-river hydropower plants. The dry season runs from December to April while the wet season lasts from May to November. According to NEA, the run-of-the-river type hydropower projects usually produce less than 40 percent of their installed capacity as water levels in the rivers decrease significantly during the dry season. During the wet season, when there is more water in the river, the electricity generation is also higher. At that time, the production is more than the demand in Nepal. The excess electricity is exported to India. Now, the NEA plans to export 1,200 MW this year to India. The NEA has been selling electricity in the day-ahead market of Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IX) through daily bidding. Currently, the southern neighbor has allowed Nepal to sell 452.6 MW of electricity generated by 10 hydropower projects in the Indian power market. But the approvals given to the 10 hydropower projects need to be renewed every year. NEA has forwarded the list of additional projects including the 452 MW Upper Tamakoshi Project, the electricity of which it plans to sell to India. If the southern neighbor accepts the new list, the state-owned power utility can be able to export power according to its target. As per NEA's estimation, the country's installed capacity will reach 2,800 MW by this wet season. With peak electricity demand in Nepal around 1,750 MW, the NEA believes it can export up to 1,200 MW during the wet season. Nepal earned over Rs 11 billion by supplying excess power to India from early June to mid-December, 2022. Nepal first started exporting power to India in early November 2021 through a competitive bidding process. But after exporting for a few weeks, Nepal stopped selling power to India in December amid a reduction in power generation in the dry season. Exports resumed in 2022 with the start of the monsoon in early June. The NEA sold 1.35 billion units of electricity to India since then and earned Rs 11.16 billion. The power was sold at a rate between Rs 6.58 and Rs 12.15 a unit. NEA earned Rs 2.83 billion from exports from July to the end of the last fiscal year 2021/22 and an additional Rs 8.32 billion since the start of the new fiscal year 2022/23. The authority has set a target of Rs 16 billion within the current fiscal after resuming exports in May.

Twenty-three houses were completely damaged by an earthquake at Bichchhya in Himali Rural Municipality-2 of Bajura district on Friday. An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale with its epicenter at Dahakot, Gaumul Rural Municipality struck the district at 1.30 am. Chief Administrative Officer of Himali Rural Municipality Raj Bahadur Bhandari said that 23 houses were damaged by the tremor in Bichchhya. The houses of Dhanjit Budha, Dantir Budha, Joblal Budha, Naule Budha, Dil Bahadur Budha and Saurmal Rokaya were completely damaged. Similarly, the houses of Basu Rokaya, Surendra Budha, Duwalal Budha, Dev Bahadur Budha, Pancha Rokaya, Surendra Budha, Jaggi Bohara, Saimal Bohara, Surja Bohara, Jas Thapa, Bhayadhan Thapa, Purna Thapa, Kusum Khadka, Bachmal Rokaya, Kala Rokaya, Surja Khadka and Gellal Khadka were also completely damaged by the quake. Chief District Officer Pushkar Khadka said that the district administration is collecting the information on the damage caused by the earthquake in coordination with the Chief Administrative Officer and the rural municipality ward chairperson.  

Lumbini Province Chief Minister Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary took oath of office and secrecy on Friday. Province Chief Amik Sherchan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Chaudhary at the Butwal-based office of the Province Chief this afternoon. The chief minister appointed three ministers without portfolios today itself. Dhan Bahadur Maski of the CPN (Maoist Center), Dharma Bahadur Chaudhary of the Nagarik Unmukti Party and Santosh Pandey of Democratic Socialist Party were appointed as the ministers. Chaudhary had submitted a claim for the post of chief minister with the support of 53 lawmakers of the eight political parties. Province Chief Sherchan appointed Chaudhary as the chief minister as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution. Sherchan had called on the parties to submit a claim for the chief ministership as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution after Chief Minister Leela Giri failed to secure a vote of confidence during the floor test. In the 87-member Province Assembly, Nepali Congress has 27 lawmakers, CPN (Maoist Center) 11 and Nagarik Unmukti Party 4. Similarly, Janatmat Party, Janata Samajbadi Party and Democratic Socialist Party have three lawmakers each and Rastriya Janamorcha and CPN (Unified Socialist) Party have one lawmaker each.  

Newly appointed Gandaki Province Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey took oath of office and secrecy on Friday. Province Chief Prithvi Man Gurung appointed him as the chief minister on Thursday. Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Pandey had laid a claim for the post of chief minister with the support of CPN (Maoist Center) and an independent lawmaker. Province Chief Gurung administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pandey at his residence this afternoon. After being sworn in as the chief minister, Pandey expanded the Cabinet by inducting two ministers. Sushila Simkhada of the CPN (Maoist Center) and Saraswati Aryal of the Nepali Congress were appointed as the ministers. They also took the oath of office and secrecy today.