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Nepali Congress General Secretary Gangan Kumar Thapa has said that it was legally and constitutionally wrong to issue an ordinance to grant amnesty to Resham Chaudhary, who is serving a life term in connection to the Tikapur carnage of August 2015. He expressed his dissatisfaction for bringing the ordinance without holding discussions within the party. Taking to Twitter on Monday, the former Health Minister said, “This ordinance is legally, politically and morally wrong. This is against the parliamentary system. The government should withdraw the ordinance at the earliest.” Leader Thapa said that the party cannot bear the burden of the wrong decision made by the government. “This is a care taker government. It cannot take decisions of far-reaching importance,” he said. The government has no legal and constitutional rights to issue the ordinance, Thapa added. He further went on to say that the government cannot withdraw the cases that are sub-judice in the court. Saying that the executive has intervened in the jurisdiction of the court and Parliament, Thapa, who was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from the recently held election, said that the government should withdraw the ordinance immediately. Chaudhary has been doing time in the central jail for masterminding the carnage at Tikapur, Kailali, which took the lives of eight people including a toddler in August 2015. A Cabinet meeting held on Sunday had decided to issue an ordinance to grant amnesty to anyone convicted of heinous crimes. Earlier today, another party General Secretary Bishwo Prakash Sharma had also objected to the government decision to bring the ordinance.  

Locals have named a small hill on Dashera section of the Mid-Hills Highway in Chhedagad Municipality of Jajarkot as 'Facebook Hill'.  Road authorities have erected a board containing the name 'Facebook Hill' along the road section.  While authorities were searching for a local name for the area after blacktopping the road section, local youths suggested the name, according to Harihar Adhikari, a local of the area.  Local people used to come to this place if they lost telecommunication signal in their villages. Gradually local youth started frequenting the place to use Facebook using 2G connection. This way the place earned the name 'Facebook Hill', say locals.  "Though mobile signal was not available in different parts of Chhedegad in the past, phones used to work in this place. That is why people started calling the place as 'Facbook Hill'", Chandra Bahadur Thapa, deputy mayor of Chhedegad Municipality, said.  Facebook Hill is a popular destination now. People traveling through the road section stop here, take selfies and make TikTok videos, according to Thapa.  Telecommunication services are not available in all the settlements because of difficult topography. People still have a compulsion to climb to higher altitude to get telecommunication signal.

With the election results out, senior leaders of the major political parties are busy holding discussions on the new government formation. Most probably, the process to form the new government will start from mid-December. The Election Commission has started preparations to submit the report of the final results of the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on December 15. The process of forming the new government will start after the President receives the report. After the Election Commission hands over the report, the President will have to call the parties to start the process of forming the new government. There is a constitutional provision that the President appoints the leader of the Parliamentary Party with the majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister. None of the parties have secured a majority in this election. That is why, it has not been decided who will lead the government. Parties are holding discussions on the same. According to the Article 76 (1) of the Constitution, if no party garners clear majority, there is a provision that the President can appoint a member of the Parliament who can obtain a majority with the support of two or more parties represented in the House of Representatives as the prime pinister. If the prime minister is not appointed according to the Article 76 (2) within 30 days from the date of announcement of the final results of the election to the House of Representatives as per Article 76 (3) or the prime minister appointed on the same way fails to obtain vote of confidence as per Article 76 (4), there is a provision that the President appoint the parliamentary party leader of the party with the highest number of members in the Parliament as the prime minister. The prime minister appointed as per Article 76 (2) or (3) will have to obtain vote of confidence within 30 days. The Election Commission had submitted the results of the 2017 election on February 14. CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli was appointed the prime minister on February 15.  

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Monday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 100, 200 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 100, 500 per tola on Sunday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 99, 700 per tola today. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1, 390 per tola.

A man who opened fire on a meeting of apartment block residents in a coffee shop in northern Rome has killed three people, including a friend of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, the Guardian reported.

The suspect, 57, had been in a series of disputes with the residents’ association, a witness told Italy’s Rai News.

“He came into the room, closed the door and shouted ’I’ll kill you all’ and then started to shoot,” Italian news agency Ansa quoted another witness as saying. Residents managed to overpower and disarm him before police arrived.

Three other people were wounded in the shooting, with at least one of them suffering serious injuries.

Hours after shooting, Meloni posted on Instagram what appeared to be a recent picture of herself alongside Nicoletta Golisano, one of the victims, saying she was a friend, according to the Guardian.

“It is not right to die like this,” Meloni wrote of the woman, who she said had a husband and 10-year-old child. “Nicoletta was happy, and beautiful, in the red dress she bought for her 50th birthday party a few weeks ago. For me she will always be beautiful and happy like this.”

Police have not commented on the motivation for the shooting and Meloni’s post did not suggest it was political.

The prime minister said a shooting range from which the suspect had taken the gun used in the attack had been closed and placed under investigation by the authorities.

The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, called an emergency security meeting for Monday after what he called “the grave episode of violence that has struck our city”.

Prabhu Sah, who got elected as an independent candidate in the recently concluded elections, CPN (Maoist Center) deputy general secretary duo Pambha Bhusal and Janardan Sharma and Secretary Devendra Paudel held a meeting at party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s residence in Khumaltar on Monday. During the meeting that lasted for an hour, the leaders discussed power sharing, a leader of the CPN (Maoist Center) said. They also discussed the ordinance issued to amend the Criminal Code to withdraw the cases. A Cabinet meeting held on Sunday had decided to issue the ordinance. Sah was elected as a member of the House of Representatives with the support of the ruling coalition. He has been constantly holding meetings with the Maoist Center leaders lately. Earlier, Dahal had held meetings with Resham Chaudhary, who has been doing time on the murder charge, Janamat Party Chairman CK Raut and Nepal Samajbadi Party Chairman Mahendra Yadav. Recently, the Maoist supremo has intensified meetings with the leaders of various political parties to urge them to help him become the prime minister.    

When Ganga Parki returned home from school one day, she was surprised by a large number of guests laughing and dancing in the front yard. Soon her surprise turned into a shock when she found out that the people were there to celebrate her marriage of which she was unaware.  The 13-year-old broke down in tears and told her mother that she didn’t want to get married. Parki’s family members tried to persuade her to get married, telling her that the event had already been fixed. But the teenager stood her ground. The wedding was ultimately canceled. The incident took place in Doti district six years ago. Parki, now 19, says the incident changed her life. She is now a member of an adolescent club that actively prevents child marriage. She and her fellow club members educate parents and teenagers in their communities about the consequences of child marriage. The club was established as part of ActionAid Nepal’s local rights program to offer a variety of managerial support and training. Through eight adolescent clubs, eight youth groups, and seven child clubs in Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality, Shikhar Municipality, and KI Singh Rural Municipality of Doti, about 400 children, adolescents, and youths are actively involved in the fight against child marriage. They engage in community outreach programs like door-to-door campaigning and perform street dramas to discourage underage marriage.  “Some people claim that we are stopping child marriages out of jealousy because no one has come to us with a marriage proposal,” says Bimala Pariyar, one of the club members.   But criticisms and pushbacks have not deterred these youth activists. Thanks to their tireless campaigning and support from officials who are now pushing for a law at the local level to prohibit child marriage.  According to Bigyan Dewal, a former youth focal point person for Equity Development Center, Doti, Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality has created a draft version of the anti-child marriage ordinance and other local authorities are also committed to follow suit. The club has already prevented 13 child marriages in Doti. And most youngsters who were rescued from getting married off by their parents are now in school and actively involved in anti-child marriage campaigns.   Besides preventing child marriage, the club also gathers update on the situations of minors who were married as children and offer counseling to both parents and children. “Initially, nobody was in support of this youth-led campaign. But soon after they managed to prevent 11 child marriages, the local representatives were on their side,” says Dewal. Today, the club enjoys the support from local police, elected officials  and some parents. Some local units have even started allocating funds to empower the youths. For instance, in the fiscal year 2020/21, K.I. Singh Rural Municipality allocated Rs 50,000 for capacity building of youths and prevention of child marriage.  Many youngsters in Palpa are also involved in the fight against child marriage. In collaboration with ActionAid Nepal and with assistance from the ActionAid Denmark Global Platform, the Youth Fellowship Leadership Development Project was established in the Bagnaskali Rural Municipality in 2019. The project has involvement of youths and coordination with the local government to organize various campaigns to prevent and stop child marriage. Four child weddings have already been prevented as a result of the campaign, and one lawsuit has been filed. Bagnaskali Rural Municipality-1 in Palpa saw zero incident of child marriage this year compared to 10 in 2021.  This was possible due to teenage interventions, such as color analysis, orientation, and peer counseling. Through color analysis, 86 individuals this year who were most at risk of child marriage received counseling. About 500 adults from 398 families were also taught about the risks of child marriage. The members of the club, Yuva Sangam, led the initiative and gathered information on the hotspots for child marriage. In collaboration with the police, they formed a youth club to educate young people about the legal system in the battle against child marriage. To show the consequences of such dangerous practices, they included teachers and health professionals in their campaign.  “Everyone in our area now knows that child marriage is a bad thing. They have heard the testimonies of those who got married as children,” says Manoj Sharma, a club member.  Ishira’s parents married her off at a young age. But she was lucky enough to continue her studies. Today, she is an active member of the club that has been preventing child marriage in her area.  Srijana Gaire, another club member, says despite awareness campaigns, child marriage is still a fairly common practice because many people still think that it is normal.  “It will be easy to reduce child marriage if all municipal governments were to strongly support our campaigns,” she says. Bagnashkali Rural Municipality is one of the local units where the partnership between local government and youth activists against child marriage is bearing desired results. In the fiscal year 2021/21, the rural municipality allotted Rs 20,000 to keep the youth campaigns against child marriage running.  In Bajura district, too, a network of girl clubs is fighting against child marriage. It intervened and stopped four unlawful marriages this year in wards 3, 4 and 9 of Budhinanda Municipality.  Youth clubs in Siraha district are also writing a success story by lowering child marriage incidence with their campaignings in places like Dhangadhimai and Lahan. These clubs are supported by the local governments, ActionAid partner organization Dalit Janakalyan Youth Club, Women’s Rights Forum and other social organizations.   The same goes for Parsa, where local youths in some villages are campaigning against child marriage in areas where the practice is common. Based on one survey, they have achieved a 70 percent success rate in child marriage prevention.

CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the key to national politics is with the Maoist. Addressing the first meeting of the central office bearers organized by the Press Center Nepal in Lalitpur on Sunday, the former prime minister said that the onus to take the country towards the path of right direction rests on the shoulder of the Maoist. “The Moist is that kind of party even the international powers cannot do anything” Dahal said. Saying that many powers are hatching conspiracies to finish off the Maoist, the Maoist supremo said that it is the responsibility of all to protect the party. “It is not clear that the government will be led on the rotation basis,” he said, adding, “The Maoist has the capacity to command 60 seats.” Though the powers, who want to see the Maoist in a worse situation, tried to weaken the party, the condition is not like that.