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The price of gold has dropped by Rs 100 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 93, 000 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 93, 100 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 92, 500 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver is being traded at Rs 1, 105 per tola today.

A man was detained Thursday night after he aimed a handgun at point-blank range toward Argentina’s politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández, and President Alberto Fernández said the assassination attempt failed because the gun did not fire, Associated Press reported.

“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” the president said in a national broadcast.

He called it “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy” in 1983 and urged political leaders, and society at large, to repudiate the incident.

Supporters of the vice president have been gathering in the streets surrounding her home since last week, when a prosecutor called for a 12-year sentence for Fernández as well as a life-long prohibition in holding public office as part of a case involving alleged corruption in public works during her 2007-2015 presidency. Fernández, who is not related to the current president, has denied all charges.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed updated COIVD-19 boosters, opening the way for a fall vaccination campaign that could blunt a winter surge if enough Americans roll up their sleeves, Associated Press reported.

The new boosters targeting today’s most common omicron strains should begin arriving in pharmacies and clinics within days.

The decision by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came shortly after the agency’s advisers voted in favor of the recommendation.

The shots “can help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination and were designed to provide broader protection,” she said in a statement.

The tweaked shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna offer Americans a chance to get the most up-to-date protection at yet another critical period in the pandemic. They’re combination or “bivalent” shots — half the original vaccine and half protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions now causing nearly all COVID-19 infections.

The CDC’s advisers struggled with who should get the new boosters and when because only a similarly tweaked vaccine, not the exact recipe, has been studied in people so far.

But ultimately the panel deemed the updated injections the best option considering the U.S. still is experiencing tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and about 500 deaths every day — even before an expected new winter wave. “I think they’re going to be an effective tool for disease prevention this fall and into the winter,” said CDC adviser Dr. Matthew Daley of Kaiser Permanente Colorado.

Comparing the tweak that has been studied in people and the one the U.S. actually will use, “it is the same scaffolding, part of the same roof, we’re just putting in some dormers and windows,” said Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University, according to Associated Press.

The CDC recommendation was the last step before shots can begin. Pfizer said it expected to deliver 3 million doses to vaccination sites around the country by Tuesday.

The original COVID-19 vaccines still offer strong protection against severe illness and death, especially among younger and healthier people who’ve gotten at least one booster.

But those vaccines were designed to target the virus strain that circulated in early 2020. Effectiveness drops as new mutants emerge and more time passes since someone’s last shot. Since April, hospitalization rates in people over age 65 have jumped, the CDC said.

Nepal is in the process of fast-track development and wants to achieve economic prosperity as earliest as possible. Media is the only platform from which in a small period of time we could amplify the message and communicate with larger communities to make awareness and educate on diverse issues. As a media social responsibility, Annapurna Media Network On 24th November 2021 declared its commitment to the climate change and sustainability agenda through the UNITY FOR SUSTAINABILITY- UFS program. This is a two-year campaign that will be working in a collaborative effort between AMN and climate stakeholders through green partnerships. The campaign’s aim is to enhance the meaningful dialogue among the stakeholders and foster interactions on critical climate change issues. UFS believes in a sustainable development framework that strikes a balance between development and environmental protection. UFS mainly covers the four key areas that are Green partnership, Behavioral change communications, Audit and alert, and Climate stories. With adequate media spaces with additional editorial priority, each AMN member media working on a specialized theme: Climate Change & Policies, Climate Change & Youth, Climate Change & Local Government, Climate Change & Livelihood, Climate Change & Natural Disasters. Annapurna Media Network has announced the campaign to ‘lead the climate change dialogue’ working closely with all stakeholders particularly focusing on climate-change issues and its cross-cutting issues. UFS is the first of its campaign in Nepal that aims to bring key climate stakeholders together to fight the effects of climate change and create sustainable development through media sensitization. Inaugurating the campaign, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba applauded AMN initiatives to create awareness of climate change issues. PM Deuba added that the media can play a vital role in highlighting issues of climate change and contribute to an enhanced dialogue. “I believe we can contribute to clean and green nature-based solutions to the prevailing climate change and environmental issues. I also strongly raised the issue in the recent COP26 Summit,” said PM Deuba. He was informed of the initiatives taken by the Nepal government to mitigate the effects of climate change.  Three former prime ministers—KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Madhav Kumar Nepal—through their video message appreciated the AMN initiation as well. They also underlined the need to work together to fight climate change. AMN Chairman Capt. Rameshwar Thapa said the world was passing through a climate crisis so all stakeholders must unite and work in collaboration. “I am confident that this initiation will add one more brick towards green minds, thereby green behaviors,” Thapa said. Thapa added that as a media house it is AMN’s duty to make people aware and alarmed about this life-and-death issue. “The issue of climate change concerns me. This is the time to give back to the environment and society,” he said. AMN’s Group Chief Executive Officer Mr. Sanat Neupane formally asked for more and more climate partners to support the UFS initiative. He said, “Join us or please make us join you, all that matters are a partnership and doing something more.” Neupane further added, “Climate change, we thought, was a distant ghost but now it is knocking on our doors.” During the campaign, high-level government officials, climate activists, leaders of civil society, and national and international media representatives are continuously informed and are in touch in depth.  In spite of fighting climate change, individual steps are not enough and all stakeholders need to work together. AMN hopes to change this state of affairs by bringing together climate stakeholders and fostering meaningful interactions between them. It wants to highlight the issue of a sustainable development approach that takes care of the planet and addresses the challenges posed by the effects of climate change. So the core of the campaign is to unite all stakeholders to work on sustainability.  “For a country like Nepal, the awareness level is still not mature. Several focused campaigns and targeted programs are still necessary to elevate the general conscience. Broad participation from government, development agencies, the private sector, and civil society is necessary for a meaningful impact of this initiative. A Green Society is the next milestone of Human Evolution. It is just a matter of how slow or how fast. With joint intervention, we may reach there with less social pain. We are equally happy to let our wonderful ideas cross out the borders of the classroom and touch the general public.” - Dr. Biraj Singh Thapa Associate Professor, Kathmandu University, Nepal.  While providing interviews to the Annapurna Express on February 19 2022, as a Green Ambassador for our campaign, Erik Solheim is a well-known global leader in environment and development. He served as Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development from 2005-12, and provided a specific message to Nepal and Nepali politicians on climate action. “Please focus on the positive. How agriculture in Tarai can give better yields to the farmers by going green. How the Nepali valleys can be hubs for hydro and solar energies, How the Himalayas can attract more tourists, but with less impact on vulnerable nature. I am so excited to be a part of this Unity for Sustainability campaign.”  “As a Green Partner of Unity for Sustainability Campaign, an initiative of Annapurna Media Partner working jointly against climate change issues, our efforts will be focused on generating and transferring scientific knowledge to the society on green growth and sustainable development for building a climate resilient country.”- Dr. Sunil Babu Shrestha, Vice Chancellor -Nepal Academy of Science and Technology “Nepal is among the most vulnerable nations to climate change with the country’s fragile topography, climate-sensitive livelihoods of the people, and their limited adaptive capacity. As a Least Developed Country (LDC) with an insignificant contribution to past and current global emissions and limited financial resources, Nepal has suffered for ages from climate change.  AEPC greatly appreciates the effort of Annapurna Media Network (AMN) for the initiation and continuation of the campaign on Unity for Sustainability. Moreover, AEPC is happy to be a part of it. We have already signed MoU to work together in the campaign.”- Dr. Madhusudhan Adhikari, Executive Director, Alternative Energy Promotion Center “We believe in Green Partnership to tackle climate change -Thank you for pouring in so much love and guidance towards our campaign that will help our campaign as well as to save our mother earth. Where it all began! So, in a climate action working together is no longer optional- It is a matter of compulsion. We are still confident that our green partnerships with the multi-stakeholders will definitely help us fight against climate change.” Chiranjibi Neupane, Program Manager, Unity for Sustainability. 

Fellowship is the flagship program of Daayitwa. The journey that started in 2013 has continuously and directly worked towards bridging the trust-gap between Nepali youth and the government while strongly emphasizing the importance of use of evidence in policy making. Under the umbrella of Daayitwa Nepal Public Service Fellowship (DNPSF), Daayitwa offers two different programs, the Daayitwa Nepal Public Policy Fellowship (DNPPF) and the Daayitwa Nepal Public Administration Fellowship (DNPAF). The former one supports the federal government in conducting evidence-based policy research and the latter provides policy research, implementation and administrative support to the local municipal governments. Daayitwa Nepal Public Service Fellowship (DNPSF) has a unique model that creates rare opportunities for young talents to collaborate and work in close coordination with the government as well as Parliamentarians at all levels. DNPSF competitively selects and places young professionals and students in public agencies and with parliamentarians for 3-6 months, builds their technical and adaptive capacities and enables them to provide research or implementation support to their public partners.  During the past nine years, from 2013 to 2021, Daayitwa fellowship has supported 164 young Nepali policy professionals from 30 countries to conduct research projects for 74 government organizations as well as 25 parliamentarians at federal, provincial and municipal levels on policies related to access to investment, women’s economic empowerment, enterprise value chain, youth employment and economic governance. Daayitwa Nepal Public Policy Fellowship The Daayitwa Nepal Public Policy Fellowship is a program where young professionals collaborate with the government to conduct economic policy research and promote evidence-based policy decisions. The mission is to ignite self-responsibility for public service in Nepali youth by nurturing their collaborative leadership towards an enterprising Nepal.  It has three major goals:

1. Support the government and political representatives in addressing critical needs of priority projects
2. Strengthen innovation and leadership capacity of youth through engagement in government projects
3. Build a collaborative community of young policy entrepreneurs, action-oriented policy-makers and policy experts in promoting innovation in the governance system

Educating a girl means creating a more informed family, a stronger community, and a brighter future. For each additional year of schooling she completes, her future income increases by an estimated 15-25 percent. In the last decade, Nepal has made significant gains in primary school enrollment. But girls in historically under-resourced communities continue to drop out, particularly in secondary school. When children reach secondary school, the lack of gender equality in education becomes more pronounced; factors contributing to this situation include gender-based norms and roles, low-income families, a poor learning environment, and early marriage. Room to Read is addressing this vast challenge through its Girls' Education Program, which intervenes at a time when girls are particularly vulnerable to falling behind or dropping out of secondary school. With a focus on teaching girls important life skills and providing mentoring support, young girls are prepared to overcome common obstacles and succeed in their education and their lives after graduation.  In the life skills curriculum, Room to Read teaches students to learn to become self-awareness, self-efficacy, and social- awareness which leads to ten skill sets that will help girls stay in school, make responsible decisions, build healthy relationships, and achieve their goals. When girls are empowered with life skills and supportive mentors, they not only stay in school longer but become leaders of their own lives and agents of change. These abilities assist young women in breaking down barriers, shifting societal paradigms, and sparking solutions to issues such as gender inequality, poverty, hunger, disease, conflict, climate change, and others. Trained local mentors, also known as social mobilizers, who act as role models, advisors, and advocates for girls, are essential to the process. Mentors offer individual sessions to girls, which serve as a safe space for them to share and maneuver through the challenges of adolescence. Meet Reshma. She had always wanted to be a lawyer since she was a young child. She learned that she was getting married in a week, though, when she was in the eighth grade. She had to deal with the ongoing pressure from her family and relatives even though she did not want to quit her education and get married. "I was shocked when they told me I was getting married in a week, and I was terrified of being away from my mom, my friends, my school and my dream." Fortunately, she was taught to oppose child marriage during her life skills session. She was aware that married before the age of 18 was illegal, and she had every right to file a complaint. She took help from her social mobilizer and filed the case when her ceaseless pleading of not wanting to get married and her dream of completing her education was left unheard. Reshma persevered through the police intervention and kept herself composed to voice out against wrong. She is now in grade 9 and tightly holding her dreams of advocating for social good. Nepal has Asia's third highest rate of child marriage. Despite laws and policies to eradicate child marriage the practice remained widespread, with 7 percent of girls married by age 15 and 40 percent married by age 18 ( Human Right Watch, 2021). We know that families suffering extreme economic hardship often choose to deprioritize a daughter’s education. This intervention could be an end to the vast opportunity- an end to taking charge of their life, an end to their dream, or an end to a gender-equal world. Quality education is more than just access to school but equipping them to handle challenges that girls may face, from gender bias to societal values and norms that construct their personal and professional growth. To support girls in their academic endeavors and beyond, it is crucial to create an environment that encourages family, school, and community involvement. Room to Read pioneers the life skills curriculum and works closely with communities, government, and schools across Nepal under the Girls’ Education Program and aims for gender equality in Nepal at scale. The impact that a girl's decision to stay in school will have on her future, her community, and her quality of life is astounding. Girls who complete their education are more likely to be in charge of their own destiny, to challenge gender biases, and to have better employment opportunities, all of which will contribute to the growth of the nation's economy. Thus, investing in girls’ education creates more informed families, and transforms communities, countries, and the entire world.

For many years, Nepal has been working to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, a disabling and stigmatizing neglected tropical disease (NTD) spread by mosquitoes. While symptoms can be managed, those who suffer from elephantiasis, cannot be cured. That is why the Government of Nepal is championing efforts to eliminate the disease from the country. USAID has been contributing to Nepal’s efforts to fight neglected tropical diseases, including lymphatic filariasis, since 2009. From mapping the burden of disease, to supporting government-led treatment campaigns, implementing surveys to track progress, and strengthening local capacity to respond, the work continues to ensure the disease is eliminated for good. USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East, which is implemented by RTI International, is a global effort assisting governments to eliminate NTDs, in Nepal, and around the world. The good news is that safe, effective medicines exist to help prevent lymphatic filariasis—and they are donated free of charge to governments working to eliminate the disease. Over the past decade, the Government of Nepal has worked to ensure these medicines reach all those that need them. By providing these preventive medicines for multiple years to whole communities, Nepalis are closer to being free from this devastating disease. However, effectively reaching all Nepalis with these medicines is no small job.  Alongside the government, USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East has supported significant and innovative efforts to ensure all Nepalis are treated, including through targeted efforts such as partnering with youth, journalists and health professionals, and by reaching minority groups often missed by health services.  Raising awareness in schools Nepal’s growing youth population plays a significant role in society and can inform and educate their communities about health activities, including the importance of participation in treatment campaigns for lymphatic filariasis. To this end, Nepal launched a school awareness program with support from USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East to engage and equip youth as community ambassadors. Across seven districts, approximately 100,000 youth have been engaged in this successful school awareness effort, helping to reach youth and their families with annual treatments to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in Nepal.  Partnering with journalists Knowledge can be a powerful tool by helping individuals to understand the disease and raising people’s awareness, interest, and demand for preventive medicines. In an effort to overcome misinformation and increase public awareness about national treatment campaigns, USAID’s Act to End NTD | East has organized interactions with Nepali journalists to make sure they have the resources and information they need to report on lymphatic filariasis and the national efforts to eliminate the disease. These sessions include sharing data on progress across districts, information on budgetary issues for interventions, expected side effects and management plans put in place to address any health concerns following treatment with ample time allocated for questions and clarifications. These efforts have helped in reducing rumors and increased participation in lymphatic filariasis treatment campaigns. Improving uptake of treatment by all Nepalis Over the last few years, with support from USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East, the Government of Nepal has been working to determine which Nepalis are not getting the treatment they need. A gender equity and social inclusion analysis conducted in Dang, Banke, and Kapilvastu confirmed that there are challenges faced by different communities causing them to either miss or refuse treatment. Detailed results are currently being used by national, provincial and district officials, with support from USAID’s Act to End NTDs| East, to develop plans to adapt treatment campaigns to the needs of these communities, including people of certain religious and ethnic groups and young women who face mobility restrictions, by engaging men to achieve better treatment results in the challenging geographic areas in the coming years. A Nepal free from lymphatic filariasis Despite some challenges, Nepal has made tremendous progress toward eliminating lymphatic filariasis, with more than 18m Nepalis no longer requiring treatment across the country, thanks to the success of these interventions to date. The massive task to distribute treatment is driven by strong government leadership, the commitment of municipalities in planning and financing treatment campaigns for their populations, and the diligent efforts of health workers and female community health volunteers in planning and mobilizing people for treatment and sharing other important health information.  Nepal has made incredible progress to date, but the work is not over. Currently, treatment continues for 10m Nepalis still at risk of lymphatic filariasis—ensuring that treatment campaigns reach these people effectively will be a key step to securing a healthy and productive future free from lymphatic filariasis. USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East program continues to support the government to conduct surveys to measure progress—these results show where adaptations and improvements are needed, as well as the areas that are having successes in eliminating the disease.  Nepal has proven that it is capable of eliminating a neglected tropical disease before and can do it again. In April 2018, the World Health Organization validated Nepal’s elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. Through the leadership of the Government of Nepal and the Nepal Netra Jyoti Sangh (NNJS), and with support from partners like USAID and Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, Nepal achieved an incredible success in eliminating trachoma as a public health problem. Nepal was the sixth country globally to eliminate trachoma, and the first in WHO’s Southeast Asia Region. As we move forward, we must work together to eliminate this disease for good. This will require adaptive and targeted strategies to ensure that all those at risk receive treatment and continued efforts to monitor and track progress. Together we can achieve a Nepal free from lymphatic filariasis – we can and we are making Nepal better. 

Harkening back to 2004, seven scholars after their doctoral degree from renowned Universities abroad were wandering and pondering while chasing a key question “what new initiative shall be done in Nepal to make a breakthrough in the development”. The founder members had a strong conviction that there is a dire need for policy reform based on the research-based evidence in Nepal and they came up with an idea to start up a policy research institute in Nepal that resulted in the establishment of Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI). NDRI stands today as a leading Think Tank in Nepal, working independently and free from partisans. NDRI aims to carry out research activities on contemporary issues related to development and advancement of society, and to provide substantive analytical inputs for policy making on contemporary issues through rigorous research and dissemination of findings. NDRI comprises an interdisciplinary team of experts/researchers working in the field of Agriculture, Livelihood and Food Security; Water and Climate; Heath, Education and Environment; Economic Development; Disaster Risk Management, and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI). The beneficiaries of NDRI’s activities include government institutions, international organizations (bilateral and multilateral), universities, and research institutes. The activities of NDRI are divided into four strands: Policy Research, Data-Based Research, Events and Publication. Through Policy Research, NDRI identifies pertinent subjects in contemporary issues, collects data/information and analyzes, runs discourses with an interface between the policymakers and scientists, and prepares research papers and policy briefs. Some of the pertinent issues being researched in NDRI include, not limited to: Foreign Direct Investment, Water induced disasters such as Floods and Landslides, Tobacco economics, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, GESI and Mycotoxin in food commodities. NDRI has covered all 77 districts of Nepal for the database research such as for impact assessment of development interventions done by both the government agencies and other collaborators. Organizing interactive platforms such as workshops, seminars, dialogue inviting critical masses from diverse sectors, and webinars are the regular activities of NDRI. NDRI gives importance to producing knowledge products such as peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, factsheets, and policy briefs that have great value for scientific communities and national stakeholders.  Some of the notable publications/works of NDRI include: Railway development in Nepal: NDRI published a peer-reviewed proceeding report titled “Railways Development in Nepal” in 2009 which recommended ample prospects for railway development in Nepal. The proceeding came from the expert’s consultation from countries where Railways have been playing an instrumental role for their economic development such as Japan, India, and others.  This report is considered as the first paving stone for the Railways development which played a prominent role to conceive the trust in the possibility of the railway development in Nepal. Food Security Atlas:  NDRI, in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) and National Planning Commission (NPC) has prepared the Food Security Atlas in 2010 (First edition) and in 2020 (Second edition). This is the only Food Security Atlas in Nepal that has widely been used as a decision supporting document. Tobacco control program: It is well known that Nepal belongs to one of the least taxpayer countries in the world for tobacco which is 37 percent (excise duty) while the WHO recommendation is 75 percent. The repercussion of this paradoxical lowest tax rate has led Nepal to be one of the countries with high prevalence of tobacco consumers (32 percent) and significant GDP loss in health (1.04 percent). The Tobacco Control Program of NDRI has succeeded in convincing the Government of Nepal to increase the excise duty by 25 percent and 20 percent in the fiscal year budget 2021/22 and 2022/23, respectively. Climate change impact on urban flooding: Increased rainfall extremes cause severe urban flooding in cities across the globe with adverse socio-economic consequences. NDRI analyzed historical extreme rainfall patterns across Kathmandu city and used these as the basis for future projections in combination with a range of General Circulation Models. Future projections of extreme rainfall were then fed into the flood inundation model HAIL-CAESAR (Lisflood) for Kathmandu using a high-resolution digital elevation model. The results show that the future flood magnitude and extent (hazard) will increase. The historical 100-year return period flood will correspond to a 25-year period future flood. This analysis has served as a scientific basis to assess future flood-induced risk in Kathmandu in response to climate change. 19 years of service excellence NDRI has been continuously providing service since 19 years. It celebrated its 19 anniversary on 13 April 2022. It was an honor for NDRI to have Bindu N Lohani, Former Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Distinguished Fellow, Emerging Markets Forum, USA as a Key Speaker with the guest presence of Ram Manohar Shrestha, Emeritus Professor of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. Also, NDRI feels the privilege to have the presence of Ambassadors and Deputy Chief Mission from various countries. Challenges and recommendations Despite several success stories in the course of 19 years of services, NDRI is no exception to different challenges, those include inadequate policy of the government to govern research institutes, inadequate sense of authorities on the need for research and evidence on decision making, and inadequate capacity of research institutes. NDRI is persistently advocating the need for a policy to govern think tank research institutes. The government shall operate some research funds for think tank institutes which shall be accessed through a competitive basis i.e. call for proposals in specific sectors to address the relevant issues. Equally important is to make designated provisions to monitor and evaluate think tanks and research institutes in appropriate ways. Similarly, there is a dire need for the provision of ethical approval of research pertaining to varied sectors for the consistent regulation. Last but not the least, the state should consider the research capacity development through universities and research institutes, making them resourceful with a strategic plan and linking with the strategic development of Nepal.