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KATHMANDU/January 30: Media Action Nepal (MAN), a research based media rights advocacy organization based in Nepal has been selected as a Member of global network the Media Freedom Coalition–Consultative Network (MFC–CN). Created in January 2020, MFC-CN is a group of organizations that provides advice to the Media Freedom Coalition on the work of the MFC and facilitates selection of cases that it believes require State intervention.

Stating that Nepal, South Asia, Southeast Asia and many countries across the world need to address the issue of impunity in cases of media rights violation, Laxman Datt Pant, Chairperson of Media Action Nepal commented, "The global stakeholders should  work together to create an enabling environment for independent and fearless media." Media Action Nepal looks forward to providing support to the MFC through the Consultative Network presenting wider civil society and media rights perspectives to uphold free press, Pant added. 

The MFC-CN presents cases to the MFC for action - both cases of concern in countries where media freedom is at particular risk and cases of individual journalists or media outlets under threat. Also, it offers advice on present and future issues within media freedom and media development.

Comprised of 22 member organizations, MFC-CN is loosely structured into four areas of interest: press freedom organizations, media development organizations, collective representation organizations, and the academia and organizations that are not covered by the other areas of interest.

Along with Media Action Nepal, the other current member organizations include ARTICLE 19, Association of International Broadcasting (AIB), Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), Comité por la Libre Expresión (C-Libre), Honduras, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), DW Akademie, Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP), IFEX, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and International Media Support (IMS),  International Press Institute (IPI), Internews Europe, Maharat Foundation, Lebanon, Media Monitoring Africa, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), Public Media Alliance (PMA), Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM), The Guardian, and WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers).

At least 32 people have died of coronavirus infection in the last four days in Nepal.

During a regular press briefing of the Ministry of Health and Population, spokesperson Dr Sangita Mishra said that 32 people lost their lives to the disease from January 27 to 30.

She said that 12 people lost their lives in Bir Hospital while 20 in various hospitals of the country.

Meanwhile, Nepal recorded 13,145 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

The Ministry said that 6,359 infected people recovered from the disease.

There are 83,999 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 105.55 points to close at 2,885.53 points on Sunday.

Similarly, the sensitive index rose to 19.81 points to close at 538.53 points.

A total of 12,155,432 units of the shares of 231 companies were traded for Rs 6.32 billion.

Meanwhile, Wean Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today followed by Liberty Energy Company Limited with their price surging by 10 percent each. Likewise, Manjushree Finance Private Limited Debenture was the top loser with price dropped by 3.23 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 4.07 trillion

The government has directed the concerned authorities to inoculate students across the country from Sunday. But, the programme to administer the Covid-19 vaccine to the children of Parsa district has become uncertain.

The Ministry of Education has directed the authorities to administer Covid-19 vaccine to the students between the age of 12 and 17 in the schools from today till Wednesday.

But, the program to vaccinate the students of the targeted group has become uncertain in the Parsa district due to lack of vaccines.

Nepal Teachers’ Association, Birgunj Chairman Binod Mehata said that community schools in Birgunj Metropolitan City in Parsa will remain closed until the students receive the vaccine.

Thori Rural Municipality health coordinator Ramesh Raj Thieng said that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines meant for students have not arrived in the rural municipality yet.

He said that the vaccination programme has been affected due to lack of vaccine.

Teachers’ coordinator Bhupal KumarJoshi said that the list of the names of students between the age of 12 and 17 from all the community schools of Thori have already been sent to the rural municipality.

He said that there are around 2,500 students between the age of 12 and 17 who have not taken the vaccine yet.

Nawal Kishor Sah, Acting Chief of the Health Office in Parsa, said that the vaccination program has been affected due to lack of vaccine.

He said that the students will be jabbed soon after they receive the vaccine.

The National Assembly meeting has been postponed yet again.

meeting scheduled for Monday has been postponed in view of the risk of coronavirus, the Parliament Secretariat said.

Issuing a statement, Bharat Raj Gautam, General Secretary at the Federal Parliament Secetariat, said that the meeting called for Monday has been postponed.

He said that the meeting has been postponed until further notice.

The meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for today has also been postponed.

The meeting of the National Assembly has been postponed yet again.

The meeting scheduled for Monday has been postponed in view of the risk of coronavirus, the Parliament Secretariat said.

Issuing a statement, Bharat Raj Gautam, General Secretary at the Federal Parliament Secretariat, said that the meeting called for Monday has been postponed. He said that the meeting has been postponed until further notice.

The meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for today has also been postponed due to the risk of Covid-19.

A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sentenced 51 people to death, several in absentia, in a mass trial over the 2017 murder of two United Nations experts in a troubled central region, Aljazeera reported.

Capital punishment is frequently pronounced in murder cases in DRC, but is routinely commuted to life imprisonment since the country declared a moratorium on executions in 2003.

Dozens of people have been on trial for more than four years over the killings that shook diplomats and the aid community, although key questions about the episode remain unanswered.

Zaida Catalan, a Swede, and Michael Sharp, an American, were investigating violence between government forces and an armed group in the central Kasai region in March 2017 when they were stopped along the road by armed men, marched into a field and killed.

Their bodies were found in a village on March 28, 2017, 16 days after they went missing. Congolese officials have blamed the killings on the Kamuina Nsapu armed group.

Unrest in the Kasai region had broken out in 2016, triggered by the killing of a local traditional chief.

About 3,400 people were killed, and tens of thousands of people fled their homes, before the conflict fizzled out in mid-2017.

Death penalty

Prosecutors at the military court in Kananga had demanded the death penalty against 51 of the 54 accused, 22 of whom are fugitives and are being tried in absentia.

The charges ranged from “terrorism” and “murder” to “participation in an insurrectional movement” and “the act of a war crime through mutilation”.

According to the official version of events, pro-Kamuina Nsapu armed fighters killed the pair on March 12, 2017, the day they went missing.

But in June 2017, a report handed to the UN Security Council described the killings as a “premeditated setup” in which members of state security may have been involved.

During the trial, prosecutors suggested that the fighters had carried out the murders to take revenge against the UN, which the sect accused of failing to prevent attacks against them by the army.

If so, those who purportedly ordered the act were not identified throughout the marathon proceedings.

Among the main accused was a colonel, Jean de Dieu Mambweni, who prosecutors say colluded with the militiamen, providing them with ammunition. He has denied the charges and his lawyers say the trial is a set-up.

Mambweni was among those originally facing the death penalty, but instead was sentenced to only 10 years in jail for “disobeying orders and failure to assist a person in danger”. His defence team said he would appeal the verdict.

Catalan’s sister, Elisabeth Morseby, said after the verdict that testimony in the case was of dubious reliability given how much time the defendants had spent together in prison and said the conviction of Mambweni was a smokescreen.

“In order for the truth to emerge, all suspects, including those higher up in the hierarchy, need to be questioned, which has not yet been done,” she told Reuters news agency.

The government has started administering booster dose vaccine against coronavirus to senior citizens aged above 60.

Assistant Spokesperson for Ministry of Health and Population Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said that the ministry had begun inoculating booster dose to senior citizens above 60 and who have completed six months after receiving the second dose of the vaccine.

A ministerial meeting chaired by Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada yesterday decided to send a letter to the district health offices of all 77 districts to administer vaccines.

The ministry is administering vaccines to the senior citizens based on the recent recommendations of the World Health Organisation's Strategic Advisory Group of Expert on Immunisation and National Vaccination Advisory Committee.

The ministry has sent a letter to the district offices to administer Covishield or AstraZeneca vaccines to those who have already been inoculated with the full dose of Covishield or AstraZeneca or Moderna or Pfizer or Vero Cell and provide Covishield or AstreZeneca to those who are yet to get the second dose. RSS