Submit your Article

Domestic and international flights have been affected at the Tribhuvan International Airport due to incessant rainfall since Saturday night.

As a result of low visibility, some flights have been diverted and some others canceled, said the TIA General Manager Pratap Babu Tiwari.

The Air India aircraft coming from New Delhi in India has been diverted to Varanasi, and airplanes of the Air China and Sichuan Airlines heading from Tianfu of China to Tianfu. Similarly, flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara and Surkhet have been halted.

Three Kathmandu-Pokhara flights and one Kathmandu-Tumlingtar flight of Buddha Air have been canceled.

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, rainfall is predicted to continue until Tuesday.

All the short-distance roads from Hetauda to Kathmandu have been obstructed due to landslides triggered by rains since last night.

The Hetauda-Bhainse-Bhimphedi road section has been obstructed due to a landslide that occurred at a distance of two kilometers from Bhainse Bazaar, according to police.

Similarly, the Kulekhani-Sisneri-Kathmandu road section has been blocked due to mudslide at Bhaludanda of Indrasarovar Rural Municipality-3 in Makawanpur district.

Likewise, the Tribhuvan Highway has also been obstructed by a landslide at Lamidanda area of Bhimphedi-9.

Police have been facing problems to remove the landslide debris as it has been raining continuously, said Inspector Basanta Acharya, Chief at the Makawanpur Traffic Police.

The Kanti Highway also has been blocked due to a landslide at Aanpchaur, Bakaiya Rural Municipality-11.

Police have urged people traveling by vehicle from Hetauda to Kathmandu to use alternative roads.

Meanwhile, the swollen Karra rivulet which flows through Hetauda-4 has inundated the Gardohi area following heavy rains.

The local administration has issued flood warnings in the areas near the brook.

The gold is being traded at Rs 111, 100 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 110, 550 per tola.

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

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently tracking several COVID-19 "variants of interest", including EG.5 which is on the rise in several countries, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Wednesday, according to the United Nations.

"The risk remains of a more dangerous variant emerging that could cause a sudden increase in cases and deaths,” he said.

EG.5 is a sublineage of the omicron variant and has been detected in 51 countries, including the United States, China, South Korea and Japan, according to an initial risk evaluation.

While overall risk is low, "based on its genetic features, immune escape characteristics, and growth rate estimates, EG.5 may spread globally and contribute to a surge in case incidence." 

Tedros recalled that three months have passed since he declared the end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency, though at the time he cautioned that it remains a threat, United Nations reported.

Since then, the number of reported cases, hospitalizations and deaths globally has continued to decline.

Meanwhile, the number of countries reporting data to WHO also significantly declined. In the past month, only 25 per cent reported their COVID-19 deaths and only 11 per cent reported their hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions.

Tedros said the risk of severe disease and death is vastly lower than it was a year ago, due to increasing population immunity - whether from vaccination, infection or both - and from early diagnosis with better clinical care.

“Despite these improvements, WHO continues to assess the risk of COVID-19 to global public health as high. The virus continues to circulate in all countries, it continues to kill and it continues to change,” he added.

In response, WHO has published recommendations for countries, which include updating their national COVID-19 programs to move towards longer term sustained management of the disease.

They are also urged to continue collaborative surveillance to detect significant changes in the virus, as well as trends in disease severity and population immunity.

Tedros called for all countries to report COVID-19 data, especially on death and severe disease, genetic sequences, and vaccine effectiveness.

Governments should continue to offer vaccination against the disease, especially for the most at-risk groups, and ensure equitable access to vaccines, tests and treatment.

Nearly seven million people have died from COVID-19, and there have been more than 769 million confirmed cases worldwide.

The virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and WHO declared the global pandemic the following March.

The Meteorological Forecasting Division has forecasted light to moderate rain in most of the places of the country on Sunday.

The Division said that there are chances of heavy to very heavy rain with thunder and lightning in a few places of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudur Pashchim Provinces and in one or two places of Madesh Province.

Likewise, the Division has predicted generally to be mostly cloudy throughout the country with the potentiality of the occurrence of light to moderate rain at most of the places of the country tonight.

Heavy to very heavy rain with thunder and lightning has been forecast in some places of Karnali and Sudur Pashchim Provinces, at a few places of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki  and Lumbini Provinces. 

It has predicted extremely heavy rainfall in one or two places of Sudur Pashchim Province.

The Kathmandu Valley has been receiving rainfall since this morning.

The Division said that presently the axis of monsoon trough is located towards north (near Nepal) from the average position while Nepal experiences influences of a low-pressure area surrounding the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states of India.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has said that no flights meant for rescue operations have been prohibited in remote areas during the 'operation hours'.

The recent decision of the CAAN mandates airlines to conduct flights to remote areas only within the fixed time. 

The decision is said to be for mitigating the risk of air incidents during the monsoon season and enhancing flight safety. However, the CAAN has been criticized for the move.

CAAN spokesperson Jagannath Niraula said that the restriction on flight beyond the operating hours is solely applicable during the monsoon period and is not targeted at rescue flights.

The prohibition is just for commercial flights in remote areas. 

The CAAN said that typically the 'operation hours' for airports based in remote areas begin at 6:30 am and end at 12:30 in the afternoon.

Democracy in Turns: A Political Account of Nepal

Sanjay Upadhya

Politics | History        

As Nepal struggles to construct a new democratic identity under its seventh constitution in as many decades, the wider machinations and manipulations that have dominated politics ever since the country emerged from the unification of petty principalities in the mid-eighteenth century continue to cast a long shadow, Sanjay Upadhya argues. Democracy in Turns critically examines the country’s past political experiments—complete with all key players and proceedings—in an effort to understand modern Nepali democracy and envision its future.

How to Kill Men and Get Away with It

Katy Brent

Thriller | Mystery

Meet Kitty Collins. Friend, lover, killer. He was following me. That guy from the nightclub who wouldn’t leave me alone. I hadn’t intended to kill him of course. But I wasn’t displeased when I did and, despite the mess I made, I appeared to get away with it. That’s where my addiction started. I’ve got a taste for revenge and quite frankly, I’m killing it.

A deliciously dark, hilariously twisted story about friendship, love, and murder. Fans of My Sister the Serial Killer, How to Kill Your Family, and Killing Eve will love this wickedly clever novel.

Money Master the Game

Tony Robbins

Business | Finance

Based on extensive research and one-on-one interviews with more than 50 of the most legendary financial experts in the world—from Carl Icahn and Warren Buffett, to Ray Dalio and Steve Forbes—Tony Robbins has created a simple 7-step blueprint that anyone can use for financial freedom. Robbins has a brilliant way of using metaphor and story to illustrate even the most complex financial concepts. He is an advocate for the reader, dispelling the myths that often rob people of their financial dreams. Robbins walks readers of every income level through the steps to become financially free by creating a lifetime income plan.

I’m 22 years old and work makes me anxious. Although I get it done on time, I’m always panicking. I feel like I shouldn’t take a break and start working as soon as I wake up, and need to continue until it’s time to sleep. I feel guilty if I don’t do so. What should I do to overcome this? 

Answered by Kapil Sharma, counseling psychologist, Nepal Institute of Mental Health

First of all, it’s important to understand what triggers your anxiety. There might be a certain reason or incident that pushes you to become anxious every time you think of work. It might be because of money worries, having some uncertainties, fear of failing, or maybe you think your work is quite urgent. It’s important to figure out the reason behind the anxiety.

You need to track down when it exactly started. Was it when you started working somewhere new, or is it because your supervisor changed, or any other reason that might make you uncomfortable in your work environment? Also, you say you panic whenever you have to work. So when does it start? Before, after, during, or throughout your work? That’s something you need to think about as well.  We can only sort this problem out once we’re fully aware of when it started and why it triggers you. 

Once you have figured it out, think about the first thing that comes to your mind when you start getting anxious. Sometimes we assume the outcome of our work based on our past experiences. Maybe something like that triggers your thoughts as well. It’s important to understand if you’re panicking based on facts, or your emotional judgment and assumptions. 

You have also said that you feel guilty of taking short breaks from work. But working all the time isn’t healthy either. Why do you think you can’t take a break? Is it because you are afraid of procrastinating, need to complete everything on your plate as soon as possible, are taking upon work that’s overbearing, or is the work urgent? You need to ask yourself these questions. Also, I suggest you try out a task management tool called ‘Eisenhower Matrix’ that helps you organize your work based on urgency and importance. 

As for your guilt, take a pen and a piece of paper and list down the reasons why you feel guilty. Most of the time, the reasons behind our guilt are just assumptions and nothing more. We can work through it but we need to know what’s behind that feeling. There are cognitive-based training and task management skills that you can get from a professional if you need support. Doing this alone can be difficult. So don’t shy away from seeking help.