Gold price drops byRs 300 per tola on Tuesday
The price of gold has dropped by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Tuesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 95, 000 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 95, 300 per tola on Monday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 94, 500 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has decreased by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,160 per tola today.
Parliament meeting postponed till August 29
The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament has been postponed till August 29. The meeting was postponed after tabling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Enforced Disappearance Commission (Third Amendment) Bill, 2079 in the Parliament. Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Govinda Prasad Sharma presented the Bill in the Parliament today.
British Airways to cut 10,000 Heathrow flights
British Airways will cut roughly 10,000 short-haul flights to and from Heathrow Airport between late October and March, BBC reported.
The move is aimed at minimising disruption over the winter and some long-haul flights will also be affected, the airline said.
BA said it will also cut a dozen round-trips per day - totalling 629 flights - until the end of October.
Heathrow, which is BA's main hub, has capped passenger numbers flying from the airport due to staff shortages.
Airports and airlines, which cut jobs during the height of Covid restrictions, have found it difficult to recruit enough staff as demand for holidays has returned. Heathrow has struggled to cope with rising passenger numbers and issues with its baggage handling systems caused long delays in returning luggage.
BA said it was "protecting key holiday destinations over half-term". Most schools in England are off during the last week of October.
Most cancellations will be on routes which have other daily services to the same destinations, it said in a statement.
Passengers affected by the changes will be offered an alternative flight with BA or another airline or a refund, it added.
BA insisted the impact for customers was "minimal", with the majority of flights unchanged.
"Customers booked for winter will be able to travel as planned and are being given several months' notice of any changes," a statement said.
The airline said it was expecting to operate an average of 290 round-trips per day from London Heathrow over the winter. Its total capacity for the winter schedule will be reduced by 8%, according to BBC.
"At this point they are likely to inconvenience very few people and I wouldn't expect any noticeable impact on price," he added.
British Airways is the largest operator at Heathrow, and earlier this month suspended sales of tickets on short-haul flights from the airport for two weeks. This is to avoid exceeding its share of the airport's 100,000 per day passenger limit.
This cap had been due to end on 11 September but was recently extended until 29 October.
Announcing the extension, Heathrow said that the cap had worked, resulting in fewer last minute cancellations and delays, and better baggage delivery, BBC reported.
BA had already cut more than 30,000 flights over the wider summer period, and had been planning a slow ramp-up towards the winter. But the passenger cap means it cannot run as many as hoped.
Bandh enforcers vandalize six vehicles in Chitwan
Bandh enforcers vandalized six vehicles for defying bandh in Chitwan. The bandh enforcers vandalized three buses, two trucks and a car in various places of Bharatpur Metropolitan City. A car (Province 3-0-01 Ka 0312), three buses (Na 8 Kha 4259, Na 5 Kha 1431 and Province 2-0-3-001 Kha 0098) and two trucks (Na 5 Kha 2263 and Na 4 Kha 8325) were vandalized this morning. Chitwan police have arrested five persons for their alleged involvement in vandalizing the vehicles, DSP Narahari Adhikari, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Chitwan said. The suspects have been identified as Amit Ghising of Bharatpur-23, Rajanbabu Singh of Bharatpur-9, Suraj Sharma and Sudio Paudel of Bharatpur-7 and Ganesh Shrestha of Bharatpur-2. However, there is no impact of Bandh in Bharatpur. The Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal called the bandh against the government for endorsing the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and not implementing the three-point agreement signed with the party.
Hyundai supplier accused by US authorities of child labor violations
The Department of Labor (DOL) has said that SL Alabama LLC, a subsidiary of SL Corp. of South Korea, employed underage workers at its factory in Alexander City, Alabama, according to filings filed Monday with the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Reuters reported. Since November, SL Alabama has “repeatedly violated” labor laws by employing “oppressive child labor” and “children under the age of 16,” the DOL said in a six-page complaint.
3 Arkansas officers suspended after video captures beating
Federal authorities said Monday they have started a civil rights investigation following the suspension of three Arkansas law enforcement officers after a video posted on social media showed two of them beating a man while a third officer held him on the ground, Associated Press reported.
The officers were responding to a report of a man making threats outside a convenience store Sunday in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma, authorities said.
Arkansas State Police said the agency would investigate the use of force. State police identified the suspect as Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina.
However, the attorney for the two deputies says Worcester attacked one of the deputies, giving him a concussion.
The video shows one officer punching the suspect with a clenched fist, while another can be seen hitting the man with his knee. The third officer holds him against the pavement.
In video recorded from a car nearby, someone yells at officers to stop hitting the man in the head. Two of the officers appear to look up and say something back to the person who yelled. The officers’ comments could not be heard clearly on the video.
“The fight was escalating with those officers, and you hear that woman on that video yelling and whoever that is, I think she could have saved his life,” said Carrie Jernigan, an attorney representing Worcester.
He was taken to a hospital, then released and booked into the Crawford County jail in Van Buren on multiple charges, including second-degree battery, resisting arrest and making terroristic threats, state police said.
Worcester was released Monday on $15,000 bond. When asked how he was feeling, he said “all right.” An attorney who escorted him from jail declined to comment on his behalf. Worcester was pushing a bicycle as he left the jail.
Worcester’s father declined to comment when contacted Monday by The Associated Press. He referred a reporter to a law firm representing the family. That firm said it was still trying to gather information and did not immediately have a comment on the video, according to Associated Press.
Two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and one Mulberry police officer were suspended, city and county authorities said.
Worcester is white, according to jail booking information, and the three officers involved also appear to be white.
A Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, the FBI’s Little Rock Field Office and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.
“The FBI and the Arkansas State Police will collect all available evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “The federal investigation is separate and independent from the ongoing state investigation.”
Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said before Worcester was arrested, an officer asked if he had any weapons on him, and he handed one over to the officer. Damante didn’t specify what type of weapon.
“They were about to take him into custody because of part of their investigation on the scene — that’s when he became violent,” Damante said.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office identified the three officers as Crawford County deputies Zack King and Levi White and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle.
“I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter,” Damante said, Associated Press reported.
In a statement released Sunday evening, Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory said the community and the department take the matter “very seriously.”
Haitians launch protests, demand ouster of prime minister
Thousands of protesters in Haiti’s capital and other major cities blocked roads, shut down businesses and marched through the streets Monday to demand that Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down and to call for a better quality of life, Associated Press reported.
Associated Press journalists observed an unidentified man fatally shoot a demonstrator in Port-au-Prince and then flee in a car as the crowd temporarily scattered.
Demonstrator Lionel Jean-Pierre, who witnessed the shooting, said things in Haiti have gotten out of control.
“Families don’t know what to do,” he said as the crowd around him chanted: “If Ariel doesn’t leave, we’re going to die!”
Violence and kidnappings have surged in Port-au-Prince and nearby areas in recent months, with warring gangs killing hundreds of civilians in their fight over territory. They have grown more powerful since last year’s assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
In one of the most recent killings denounced by the prime minister and Haiti’s Office of Citizen Protection, suspected gang members killed eight people over the weekend in one community, including a mother and her two daughters who were set on fire while still alive.
“This collective crime adds to the list of victims...that has reached an alarming proportion,” the office said.
Poverty also has deepened, with inflation reaching 29% and some prices of some basic goods such as rice more than quadrupling. Gasoline also remains scarce and, if available, costs $15 a gallon.
“I need the gas to work,” 28-year-old moto-taxi driver Garry Larose said as he marched. “I have a family to feed, school to pay.”
In one protest, people wore black T-shirts, while at another they wore red T-shirts emblazoned with the words, “RISE UP.”
The protests come days after dozens of demonstrators staged a sit-in in front of Henry’s official residence and demanded that he resign, according to Associated Press.
On Monday, police clashed with demonstrators in some areas, firing tear gas to break up the crowd as burning tires blocked roads.
Trump sues justice department over Mar-a-Lago search
Former US President Donald Trump has asked a judge to freeze a justice department investigation of files seized from his home in an FBI search, BBC reported.
In a lawsuit, his legal team asked that an independent lawyer be appointed to oversee documents that agents removed from Mar-a-Lago in Florida this month.
Eleven sets of classified files were taken from Mr Trump's estate on 8 August, according to the FBI.
Mr Trump is being investigated for potentially mishandling documents.
On Monday, his lawyers asked that a "neutral" third-party attorney - known as a special master - be appointed to determine whether the seized files are covered by executive privilege, which allows presidents to keep certain communications under wraps. Special masters are normally appointed in criminal cases where there are concerns that some evidence may be protected under attorney-client privilege, or other protections that could make it inadmissible in court.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a brief statement that prosecutors were aware of Mr Trump's lawsuit, and would respond in court. The "search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorised by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause", said spokesman Anthony Coley.
The 27-page legal action was filed in West Palm Beach, Florida, before a judge that Mr Trump nominated to the bench in 2020.It says: "President Donald J Trump is the clear frontrunner in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary and in the 2024 General Election, should he decide to run."
"Law enforcement is a shield that protects Americans," it continues. "It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes."
The "shockingly aggressive move" on Mar-a-Lago by about two dozen FBI agents took place "with no understanding of the distress that it would cause most Americans", said Mr Trump's lawyers, according to BBC.
His legal team accused the government of leaking "ever-changing, and inaccurate, 'justifications'" for the search to favoured media outlets.
In a separate statement, Mr Trump maintained he had done nothing wrong, arguing that all of documents he took from the White House when he left office in January 2021 had already been declassified by himself.
Monday's legal action says that the former president and his team want the justice department to provide a more detailed list of what was taken during the FBI search.
The lawsuit says the justice department "simply wanted the camel's nose under the tent so they could rummage for either politically helpful documents or support efforts to thwart president Trump from running again".
The court filing argues that Mr Trump had been co-operating with agents before the FBI turned up unannounced at his home.
His lawyers say the warrant was overly broad and the search violated the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects Americans against unreasonable search and seizure.
The brief message recorded in Monday's lawsuit said that Mr Trump had heard "from people around the country about the raid".
"If there was one word to describe their mood, it is 'angry'," the message from Mr Trump continued.
"The heat is building up. The pressure if building up.
"Whatever I can do to take the heat down, to bring the pressure down, just let us know."
The judge that approved the warrant - an unprecedented criminal investigation of a former US president's home - is still determining whether to release the affidavit, the sworn evidence that was presented as a justification for the FBI search, BBC reported.
On Monday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said proposed government redactions to the affidavit were so extensive as to make it "meaningless" if disclosed, though he said he still believed it should not remain completely sealed given public interest in the case.
