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Three senior leaders of the ruling coalition held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss resolving the House obstruction.

The main opposition CPN-UML has been obstructing the Parliament proceedings for a long time demanding formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the recent gold smuggling case.

Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Deputy Prime Minister duo Purna Bahadur Khadka and Narayan Kaji Shrestha among others were present in the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar this morning.

The Prime Minister’s press coordinator Surya Kiran Sharma said that the meeting has decided to intensify the process of talks with the main opposition party and the parties representing in the Parliament to resolve the House deadlock.

Earlier, Prime Minister Dahal, Congress President Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli had held a meeting.

The meeting, however, could not reach an agreement to open the House.

The UML has been obstructing the proceedings of both the House of federal Parliament since June 26 demanding formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the gold smuggling case.

The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) on July 18 had seized around one quintal gold that had passed undetected through the customs of the Tribhuvan International Airport.  The yellow metal was concealed in motorcycle brake shoes and electric shavers.

But the weight of the gold after removing the brake shoes came out to be 60 kg.

Four children have lost their lives within a month over the wait for flights in remote mountainous district Humla.

Of them, three are infants and one is a toddler.  Though the babies, who were suffering from different health complications, were referred to outside the district by the District Hospital, they couldn't receive timely treatment due to the lack of  reliable transport facility in Humla.

Simkot, the sole airport in the district, has been non-operational for long, causing severe conveniences to the district folks, particularly during health emergencies.

The victims include a six-month-old child of Simkot Rural Municipality-6, a seven-month-old child of Simkot-7, a 17-month-old child of Kharpunath-1 and a five-month-old child of Chankhelli-4, according to District Hospital's senior ANM Sarita Bohara.

The prolonged disruption of flight has greatly affected the people, especially during health emergencies, she said.  Adding to the challenges, the decision of the Civil Aviation Authority to restrict flight operations to mountainous districts beyond the operation hours (after 12:30 pm) during the monsoon season has aggravated the situation, it is reported. 

Besides, Humla frequently gets affected by adverse weather conditions in morning hours in the rainy season.

The father of the child from Simkot-6, who tragically lost his life as the family could not take him outside following a referral from the district hospital said he felt so sorry over the fate that befell his family.

Likewise, the toddler of Kharpunath-1 was hospitalized on July 30 for pneumonia and diarrhea.  His treatment within the district seemed not possible and he was referred to outside the district. The child died on August 11.

A Chinese military delegation arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

A team led by Major General Yue Ande, the Tibet Military Commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, landed at Tribhuvan International Airport this morning.

An eight-member military team led by Major General Yue arrived in Nepal on an official visit.

Brigadier General Sunil Shrestha and Major General Sagar Bahadur Thapa welcomed them at the airport.

The high-ranking Chinese military team is scheduled to meet Chief of Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma among others, Nepal Army Information Officer and Brigadier General Krishna Prasad Bhandari said.

Issues like border security, military relationship between the two countries will be discussed during the meeting.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 100 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 111, 200 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 111, 300 per tola on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 110, 650 per tola. It was traded at Rs 110, 750.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,375 per tola today.  

Teaching and learning activities have been affected after the landslide triggered by incessant rainfall buried school buildings in Parbat.

The landslide buried two buildings of Thapathana Secondary School at Falebas Municipality-2. The landslide that came from around 50 meters above the school buried the buildings.

School headmaster Bishnu Prasad Sharma informed that though the landslide buried three rooms, teaching and learning activities were being conducted in the other eight rooms of the school.

The landslide had caused damage to the building on July 1 also. The landslide occurred in the same place after August 7, 2023 triggered further damage.

The landslide has gradually buried the threshold of the school. "There is no situation to keep students in all eight rooms", he said.

Teaching and learning activities are being conducted from primary level to grade eight. As many as 240 students are studying in the school now.

"There is every likelihood that the landslide may occur anytime and cause damage to the school", Sharma added. "We are compelled to keep the students of grades two and three together in one place".

Santosh Rijal, the school teacher, said the breakdown of the edge of the newly-constructed Naudanda-Karkineta-Falebas-Jaimuni road has caused damage to two-three rooms of the school.

Thapathana is the school having the highest number of students in Falebas Municipality.

The Cabinet has been expanded in Koshi Province on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thapa appointed a senior member of the Province Assembly Gayananda Mandal as the state minister.

Mandal has got the responsibility of the Minister of State for Industries, Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Chief Minister Thapa in the presence of Province Chief Parshuram Khapung administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mandal amidst a program this morning.

Currently, Koshi Province has no Speaker.

The post of Speaker has been lying vacant after Speaker Baburam Gautam participated in the government after resigning from this post.

Gautam is looking after the Economic Affairs and Planning Ministry. He was elected as the Province Assembly member from the CPN (Maoist Center).

The process of choosing a news Speaker has not been taken ahead.

The grade improvement exam of class 12 is set to take place on September 22-23.

The exam is to be held for the students who obtained examination results as non-grading.

Chairperson of National Examinations Board, Dr Mahashram Sharma informed that the grade improvement exam is going to be conducted only for the students obtaining non-grade in the grade 12 examinations.

In the previous years, there was an arrangement that the students were eligible to participate in grade improvement exams the same year if having non-grade in up to two subjects and in case of non-grade in more than two subjects the 12th grader had to attend exams of all subjects next year.

He said the arrangement has been changed from this year onward in which the student with non-grade in the subjects can appear in the exam of the same subjects only.

Chairperson Sharma informed that a total of 123,396 students can participate in the grade improvement examinations according to the results of this year.

Among them, 79,584 students were with non-grade in only one subject.

As per the letter grading directive, non-grading refers to the attainment of below 35 percent score in any subject.

The students with non-grading will not be considered eligible for higher education or upper classes without participating in the grade improvement exam.  

An Air India flight that was about to fly to New Delhi suffered a technical problem on Tuesday.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said that the aircraft that was about to take off from the TIA suffered a technical problem this afternoon.

TIA spokesperson Subash Jha said that the problem was seen in the brakes of the aircraft.

“A tractor pulled the aircraft from the runway and brought it to the parking area,” he said.

Domestic and international flights have been affected after the Air India flight suffered a technical problem on the runway.

The aircrafts were forced to remain on hold in the sky.