Submit your Article

{"version": 2, "isGlobalStylesUserThemeJSON": true }

Birgunj police have taken under control three trucks with goods passed through illegal channels to Nepal from India.

Police have handed over the trucks along with the seized goods worth around Rs 20 million to the Department of Revenue Investigation in Pathlaiya for investigation, DSP Om Prakash Khanal of the District Police Office, Parsa said.

Khanal said that the trucks (Ba 5 Kha 6558 and Lu 2 Kha 5349) laden with medicines and garments among others were taken under control from Ghantaghar, Birgunj.

Similarly, police said that the truck (Na 4 Kha 4301) carrying medicines among other goods was impounded from Maisthan Chok, Birgunj-8.

Unity for Sustainability, Annapurna Media Network’s climate change dialogue campaign, in association with Save Soil, and VFX Talks organized a panel discussion on the topic ‘Soil and I’ in Kathmandu on June 5.

The event held at Nepal Academy Hall to mark the World Environment Day was aimed at raising awareness about soil degradation in solidarity with the global movement ‘Save Soil’ initiated by Sadhguru, an Indian yogi and the founder of Isha Foundation.  

More than 1,000 people were in attendance to listen to the panelists representing various fields. 

Govinda Prasad Sharma, secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, spoke about the importance of soil and the current soil condition in Nepal.

He pointed out that there were good amounts of potassium and phosphorus in Nepal’s soil, but it was deficient in nitrogen content. 

“Nepal’s soil has 1.96 percent of organic content, which is less than the minimum organic content requirement (3 percent) for the soil to be considered healthy,” he said.

Bhawani Rana, former president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, it was high time that the private sector also came to terms with the effects of soil degradation and did the needful to save soil. 

“The private sector can do a lot to prevent soil degradation. It can, for instance, encourage agri-entrepreneurs and relevant government agencies to work together to maintain and improve the soil quality,” she said. 

Actor Rajesh Hamal said just acknowledging that Nepal’s soil quality is unhealthy was not going to make any difference. “It’s time to take action by assimilating the information and knowledge and information we have on our soil,” he added.

The panel discussion was moderated by banker Anil Shah. The program also had musical performances by Pushpan Pradhan, Pema Lama, Arjun Karki, and Manoj Maharjan. 

India's central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate to 4.9% from 4.4%, the second such hike in the last three weeks to contain inflation, Associated Press reported.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said the decision was aimed at curbing price increases and mitigating the impact of geopolitical tensions, like the war in Ukraine.

"Upside risks to inflation ... materialized earlier than expected," Das said.

Wednesday's increase follows a 40 basis points rise in May.

The central bank raised its inflation projection for 2022-23 to 6.7% from 5.7% and kept its forecast for growth this year at 7.2%.

The war in Ukraine is giving rise to "newer challenges each passing day which is accentuating the existing supply chain disruptions. As a result, food, energy and commodity prices remain elevated," Das said.

The price spikes have impacted consumer spending, which accelerated to an eight-year high of nearly 7.8% in April, according to official data, according to Associated Press.

India's economy expanded at a 4.1% annual pace in the January-March quarter, following 5.4% growth in the previous quarter. Overall, the economy grew 8.7% in the 2021-22 financial year, slower than the 8.9% estimated by the government.

A speeding bus veered off a narrow mountain road and plummeted into a ravine in a remote area of southwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 22 passengers including women and children, a government official said, Associated Press reported.

The accident happened in the district of Qilla Saifullah in Baluchistan province.

Deputy District Administrator Mohammad Qasim said rescuers transported the bodies to a nearby hospital. There were apparently no survivors, he added. Qasim initially said 18 people died in the accident but later added that rescuers retrieved four more bodies from the badly destroyed wreckage of the bus.

He said relatives of passengers who died in the crash were arriving at a hospital to receive their bodies.

The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Authorities said the weather was fine at the time of the crash, and that police officers were looking into possible mechanical problems or human error as witnesses said the bus appeared to be speeding when it lost control and fell into a ravine.

Eyewitness Abdul Ali told The Associated Press by phone that he was traveling on the same road on motorcycle when he saw a small bus going faster, skidding and falling into a ravine, according to Associated Press.

Ali said that after the bus fell people from a nearby village alerted police, who rushed to the scene. He said he then joined rescuers who were transporting bodies to the hospital in ambulances.

Qillah Saifullah is located about 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Pakistan's President Arif Alvi and other government officials expressed sorrow over the tragic accident, and ordered authorities to make arrangements to deliver the bodies of passengers to their families.

Deadly road accidents such as this one are common in Pakistan due to poor road infrastructure and disregard for traffic laws, as well as poorly maintained vehicles.

In July of last year, a jam-packed bus carrying mostly laborers traveling home for a major Muslim holiday rammed into a container truck on a busy highway in central Pakistan, killing at least 33 people, Associated Press reported.

The Biden administration unveiled a new proposed US economic partnership with Latin America on Wednesday (Jun 8) as regional leaders gathered for a US-hosted summit whose agenda has been undermined by discord over the guest list, Reuters reported.

Seeking to counter China's growing clout, a senior administration official said President Joe Biden is offering America's neighbours to the south an alternative that calls for increased US engagement, including stepped-up investment, strengthening supply lines and building on existing trade deals.

However, Biden's "Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity," which still appears to be a work in progress, stops short of offering tariff relief and, according to the US official, will initially focus on "like-minded partners" that already have US trade accords. Negotiations are expected to begin in early fall, the official added.

Biden was due to outline his plan in a speech later on Wednesday to formally open the summit, which was originally conceived as a platform to showcase US leadership in reviving Latin American economies and tackling migratory pressures.

But Biden's agenda has been marred by a partial boycott by leaders upset at Washington's decision to exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the summit, according to Reuters.

US officials hope the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles and a parallel gathering of top business executives can pave the way for greater economic cooperation as regional nations grappling with higher inflation work to bring supply chains stretched by the Covid-19 pandemic closer to home.

"It's much better for us ... to have a supply chain here in the Americas than it is for us to be dependant on a supply chain that comes from China," US ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar told Reuters.

Biden is seeking to press the administration's competitive goals against China with the launch of the new partnership for the region, the US official said.

Washington, which already has a combined trade pact with Canada and Mexico, a collective one with Central America and a series of bilateral agreements in the region, will attempt to develop new customs, digital trade, labour, environmental and corporate accountability standards, according to the official.

The plan would also aim to mobilise investments, revitalise the Inter-American Development Bank, create clean energy jobs and strengthen supply chains whose weakness were exposed by the pandemic.

Still, the Biden administration appeared to be moving cautiously, mindful an initiative that promotes jobs abroad could face US protectionist pushback, Reuters reported.