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It is my privilege to be a part of “The Parents’ Day and 21st Anniversary” of our school, held on February 26th in Nepal Academy Hall, Kamaladi as an active member. Parents’ Day is an event organized by our school to honor all the parents of the school. In the Parents’ Day, selected students showcase their talent under the mentorship of ECA instructors in support of teachers to entertain the parents. One noteworthy thing is that our school has provided opportunities to perform nearly 650 students in events and more than 1300 parents attended the event. I can proudly say that the program was a huge success. I have a connection with music and love to express myself through playing the guitar and beat boxing. Since I was involved in guitar I was selected to perform on Parents' Day. I, along with my group members, performed two guitar pieces named Auralee and Helicopter that have been modified and combined by our music instructor Niresh Rai. Though it was challenging at first, we practiced hard and achieved perfect coordination while performing on the stage. I was selected as host of the events too. According to the schedule provided by ECA Coordinator Pawan Thakuri, I along with my co-host got two performances to host the program. That sounds less but took a lot of effort and practice to a successful performance. I and my co-host, Dikshya Thapaliya as well as other host members of the cultural and musical performances got regular mentorship from our mentors Neelie Maharjan and Dhana Mahat to finalize the script, overcome nervousness and develop confidence along with stage etiquettes. We hosted both performances in the English language. We were dressed up in Tamang Dress to showcase cultural diversity. Despite the hectic backstage environment, I successfully performed on the guitar and hosted the program.  I made great memories in the program that I’ll never forget. At the end of the program, all the hosts of different performances, including myself, called on stage as an appreciation towards our efforts. I want to thank my teachers for exploring my potential. Thank you to all the parents who attended, this program wouldn’t have been possible without you. Anshudeep Amgai Grade-8 ‘Emerald’ Meridian International School Baluwatar, Kathmandu

Sagarmatha research and development center and Sagarmatha student research council, research groups of Sagarmatha Engineering College, Sanepa successfully completed a one day research field visit. The field visit was conducted under the leadership of the Research Director of Sagarmatha Research and Development Center (SRDC) Dr Bhupati Neupane along with SRDC, SSRC, Research Members, Research Supervisor, and Faculty Member.  The field visit was planned to Dhap dam, a concrete face rockfill dam located in Gokarneshwor municipality-01, Kathmandu. The total water capacity of the dam is twelve lakh meter cube. It can discharge four hundred liters of water per second. Dam's top height is twenty-four meters, the maximum bottom width is one hundred meters and Dam’s top length is one hundred seventy-five meters. The crest width is eight meters and the Dam crest elevation is 2090.14 masl.  Researchers’ students from different faculties participated and performed all the disciplines of research fieldwork. The proposed Dhap dam is important for followings;

• The newly constructed site is important for study on engineering prospects.
• This is the best place to study on the present and future hazard assessment in Kathmandu city.
• Researchers might learn its construction, maintenance as well as its environmental impact.

President Ram Chandra Paudel took oath of office and secrecy on Monday. Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki administered the oath of office and secrecy to Paudel amidst a special ceremony held in Sheetal Niwas this afternoon. Outgoing President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, former President Ram Baran Yadav and former ministers were present in the program. Paudel was elected as the President on March 9. He defeated CPN-UML candidate Subash Chandra Nembang to become the President.    

Brendan Fraser has won the best actor Oscar for The Whale at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, The Guardian reported.

Fraser stars as a morbidly obese teacher in the film, which was directed by Darren Aronofsky and adapted by Samuel D Hunter from his own play. Fraser defeated a field of contenders including Elvis’s Austin Butler and The Banshees of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell.

The role has already won Fraser best actor at the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards, and best actor nominations for the Baftas and Golden Globes (for film drama). Fraser chose not to attend the latter, after alleging in 2018 that the Golden Globes former president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him in 2003. Berk called the allegation “a total fabrication”. An internal investigation concluded that Berk had “inappropriately touched” Fraser, but said Berk’s action “was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance”.

An emotional Fraser took to the stage exclaiming: “So this is what the multiverse looks like!”

He paid tribute to the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, and writer Samuel Hunter, saying: “You laid your whale-sized hearts bare so we could see into your souls.”

He closed his speech touching on his early years in the industry. “I started in this business 30 years ago,” he said. “Things didn’t come easily to me but there was a facility I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped.”

He finished by thanking his three sons and his “first mate”, wife Afton Smith.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 600 per tola in the domestic market on Monday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 104, 100 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 103, 500  per tola on Sunday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 103, 600 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1,255 per tola today.

The first seven months of the current fiscal year have been noteworthy for the  Nepali insurance sector. While the drive for the merger in the banking sector seems to be gradually settling down with the conclusion of some big mergers and acquisitions (M&As), the consolidation in the insurance sector is in full swing. Life insurance companies recorded significant growth in their profits in the first half of the current fiscal year. The unaudited financial reports of the life insurance companies for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the profits of the insurers increased by 72.51 percent in the first six months of FY 2022/23. The 18 life insurance companies posted profits totaling Rs3.37bn during the review period, an increase of Rs1.41bn from the same period of the last fiscal year. The companies earned a net profit of Rs 1.95bn in the first half of FY 2021/22. Nepal Life Insurance Company has topped the chart in terms of net profit earnings. The company posted a net profit of Rs440m in the first half of the current fiscal. Sun Nepal Life Insurance came second with a net profit of Rs353m followed by Surya Jyoti Life Insurance with Rs284.1bn. According to insurers, high deposit interest rates of banks and financial institutions have driven their profits as insurance companies keep most of their investable capital in fixed deposits of commercial banks. The fixed deposit interest rate for institutional investors climbed as high as 12 percent when the financial system was hit by a severe shortage of investible funds. Compared to life insurance companies, the profit of non-life insurance companies grew by 20 percent in the first half of the current fiscal. Marginal growth in premium collection While the profits have grown, the overall business of life insurance companies grew marginally in the first seven months of this fiscal year. According to Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA), life insurance companies collected premiums amounting to Rs83.32bn in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The premium collection of life insurance companies during the same period of the last fiscal stood at Rs81.30bn. The business of non-life insurance companies grew by almost six percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The 18 non-life insurance companies that are in operation in Nepal, have collected Rs23.06bn as insurance premiums till mid-February, 2023. Non-life insurance companies' insurance premium has increased by Rs1.25bn in the first seven months of FY 2022/23. Such insurance premium stood at Rs21.81bn during the same period of the last fiscal year. Insurance sector experts have termed the growth rate of the non-life insurance business as not encouraging. The growth rate of the non-life insurance business was high in the last few years. "The non-life insurance business has been affected this year due to the economic downturn and high inflation rate,"  said Raju Raman Paudel, Executive Director of NIA. Merger drive In the last one year, a series of merger agreements have been signed among both, life insurance and non-life insurance companies. The merger momentum in the Nepali insurance sector intensified after NIA increased the minimum paid-up capital requirements for insurers of both categories. The authority has increased the paid-up capital of non-life insurance companies to Rs2bn while it is Rs5bn for life insurance companies. The authority has been pushing for consolidation in the Nepali insurance sector since the new Chairman Surya Silwal took charge of NIA. Of the 19 insurance companies involved in the merger process, six companies have merged to become three and have started their integrated business while 13 others are still in the process of completing their merger process. According to NIA, 10 non-life insurance companies have signed merger MoUs to become five, while nine life insurance companies have also signed merger deals to become four entities. So far, two life insurance companies and six non-life insurance companies have completed the merger process and have started integrated business. Life Insurance Companies’ Profit (First Six Months)

With the Nepali rupee continuous weakening against the US dollar, Nepal’s debt liability to external creditors has increased substantially in domestic currency terms. The fluctuation in the foreign exchange rate has resulted in an exchange loss of Rs 43.72 billion during the second quarter of the current fiscal year, according to the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO). This calculation is based on the exchange rate difference at the beginning of the second quarter on October 17 and the end of the quarter on January 14. PDMO data shows that during the review period, the domestic currency plunged by Rs 1.64 per US dollar. By the end of the second quarter of the current fiscal year, Nepal’s total external debt reached an equivalent of Rs 1.1 trillion. ‘The exchange losses of nearly Rs 44 billion does not mean that Nepal is losing an equivalent amount this fiscal year,” said a senior PDMO official. “We are not paying the entire debt in a year but we had to pay more  for the debt repaid during the second quarter in proportion to the weakening of the exchange rate during the quarter.” During the second quarter, the government spent Rs 10.36 billion in repaying external debt including both principal and interest.   The country will have to spend more to cover the exchange rate losses in the domestic currency provided that the exchange rate of the domestic currency remains weak. During the first quarter of the current fiscal year, fluctuations in the rate of exchange resulted in an exchange loss of Rs 5.52 billion, according to PDMO. At the beginning of the fiscal year on July 16, 2022, the exchange rate was Rs 128.11 to the dollar. By October 17, 2022 (the end of the first quarter), the greenback had risen to Rs 132.07. As the country’s debt size is on the rise, the weakening of the domestic currency contributes to increasing the liability of the country further. Nepal’s total debt hit the Rs 2 trillion rupee mark for the first time last fiscal year, 2021/22. According to PDMO,  Nepal’s total debt had reached Rs 2.01 trillion, which is equivalent to 41.47 percent of Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP). Though Nepal’s current debt level is not alarming, the country’s total debt doubled to Rs 2 trillion from just Rs 1 trillion in FY 2018/19, suggesting a staggering rise in a short period of time. The country’s total debt reached as high as Rs 2.07 trillion at the end of the second quarter of the current fiscal year. Of the total debt by the end of the second quarter of this fiscal, the share of the external debt stands at 53.24 percent of total debt. The government’s debt liability has increased at a time when the government has been struggling to collect enough revenue. The government collected revenue amounting to Rs 567.60 billion as of March 11  of the current fiscal which is not enough even to fund the recurrent expenditure of the government. The government’s recurrent expenditure during the same period stood at 598 billion, according to the Financial Comptroller General Office. In fact, the total revenue collection is negative with the government failing to collect revenue equivalent to the amount it collected last fiscal year. During the same period in the last fiscal year, the government had collected Rs 677 billion in revenue. As debt falls under the category of compulsory liability, the government must pay the liability of loans even by slashing the budget allocated elsewhere. Through the mid-term review of the budget, the government slashed the budget size by 13.59 percent. But the debt liability like the liability for salary and pension is not part of budget cuts. “Though the budget allocated for paying internal debt is not enough, the allocated budget for paying external debt is likely to be enough,” the PDMO official said.

Nepal defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 177 runs in the second match of the final tri-series of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 held at TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Sunday. With the win, Nepal have retained their one-day international status (ODI) status. Nepal, who chose to bat first after winning the toss, scored 248 runs in 49.2 overs by losing all the wickets. Chasing the target of 249 runs in the second innings, the UAE managed to score only 71 runs in 22.5 overs. Lalit Rajbansi took five wickets for Nepal. Likewise, Sandeep Lamichhane claimed two wickets. Similarly, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami and Gulsan Jha took one wicket each. Captain Rohit Paudel and Bhim Sarki played an important 54-run partnership. Sarki scored 29 off 37 balls hitting four boundaries. Arif Sheikh, who came to the crease at number 5, and skipper Paudel shared an 86- run partnership. Paudel returned to pavilion scoring 77 runs off 112 balls hitting nine boundaries. Sheikh made 43 runs off 52 balls and Gulsan Jha scored 37 runs off 32 balls. Similarly, Dipendra Singh Airee returned to the pavilion adding 34 runs off 19 balls in the scoreboard.