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Are you a Nepali passport holder? Prepare then to be greeted by suspicious looks and a salvo of queries, whether you are traveling to Amsterdam, Bangkok or Cairo. Nepalis have become notorious among airport authorities the world over for overstaying their visa or even disappearing into thin air. Probe a little and you will be told that Nepalis are also ‘uncouth’ and ‘rude’. It is thus only natural that other countries should try to avoid them. The Nepali passport is unvalued for the same reason. According to the latest Henley Passport Index, the Nepali passport is the seventh worst in the world—even behind the passport of the communist dictatorship of North Korea. While Nepalis are allowed visa-free entry into 38 countries, the North Koreans are welcomed into 40. 

That Nepalis are considered ‘escape-prone’ and ‘mannerless’ in turn has a lot to do with the wretched state of their homeland. Its national politics is in shambles: the country has not had a government that has served out its term in the past 32 years of democracy. The economy is, likewise, in tatters, with the finance minister openly working for vested interests and without a clue about running the country’s financial system. Tourism infrastructure and facilities are shoddy. The influence of black-money ever on the rise. Very few good jobs are being created, and even when they are, the pay and perks tend to be rather poor. Most of its youngsters thus want to escape the country the first chance they get.  

Another reason for Nepal’s continued slide in the passport index is its poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Other countries are not assured that those tested in Nepal are virus-free. That the country should find itself ranked alongside the likes of war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan again says much about how the rest of the world sees Nepal. The old bunch of corrupt and immoral leaders are taking the country down with them. Before they fully succeed, it is time to boot them out of office in the upcoming elections. A thorough clean-up of the old, stinking stable could for once attract the right kind of international attention.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu is arriving in Nepal on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he will stay in Nepal only for one day.

His visit to Nepal, at a time when the parties are divided over the issue of implementing the State Partnership Program (SPP), has been taken meaningfully.

The government had directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the United States that Nepal will not be a part of the SPP.

But, the Ministry has not informed the United States about the issue yet.

On Wednesday, the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives had directed the government to make Nepal's position clear on the SPP.

In recent times, the ruling and the opposition parties have been debating on the issues of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and SPP.

Six fringe communist parties have announced protests against the MCC and SPP.

Earlier, Lu, who visited Nepal on November 17, 2021, had held separate meetings with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka among other leaders.

The National Examination Board (NEB) published the results of the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) by organizing a press conference on Wednesday.

According to the NEB’s member secretary Durga Prasad Aryal, 22, 640 students did not attend the examinations. He said that 3, 280 students secured 0.8 to 1.2 GPA.

Similarly, the number of students graduating with 1.2 to 1.6 GPA stood at 44, 586 while 100, 594 managed to get 1.6 to 2. 0 GPA.

Likewise, 112, 733 students got 2.0 to 2.4 GPA and 90, 598 secured 2.4 to 2.8 GPA.

Aryal said that 69, 000 students managed to secure 2.8 to 3.2 GPA while 41, 627 secured 3.2 to 3.6 GPA.

According to the NEB, the number of students securing 3.6 to 4 GPA stood at 9, 633.

Nepal reported 564 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 778 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 418 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 676 people underwent antigen tests, of which 146 were tested positive.

As of today, there are 3,929 active cases in the country.

At least 15 people were killed and about 50 wounded during a second day of violent anti-United Nations protests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern cities of Goma and Butembo, authorities have said, the Guardian reported.

The dead included demonstrators and UN personnel as UN sites were attacked by crowds.

A Reuters journalist reported seeing UN peacekeepers shoot dead two protesters as people threw rocks, and vandalised and set fire to UN buildings in Goma.

The demonstrations began on Monday, when hundreds of people attacked and looted a UN warehouse in the city, a regional hub for international aid groups, demanding the mission leave the country. They flared again on Tuesday and spread to Butembo, about 124 miles (200km) north of Goma.

The protests were called by a faction of the ruling party’s youth wing that accuses the UN mission, known as Monusco, of failing to protect civilians against militia violence.

“Mobs are throwing stones and petrol bombs, breaking into bases, looting and vandalising, and setting facilities on fire,” deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

Some stormed the houses of UN workers who were evacuated from Goma in a convoy of vehicles escorted by the army, a reporter said.

One peacekeeper and two UN police personnel were killed when their base in Butembo was attacked, the UN spokesperson said. Butembo’s police chief, Paul Ngoma, said that seven civilians were also killed when the peacekeepers retaliated.

“The situation is very volatile and reinforcements are being mobilised,” Haq said, adding that UN forces had been told to exercise maximum restraint and only fire warning shots.

The government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, had said earlier that at least five people were killed and about 50 wounded in Goma. The Reuters reporter in Goma said peacekeepers fired teargas and live bullets at the crowd, killing two and wounding at least two others, according to the Guardian.

Protesters were initially peaceful, but turned violent as some picked teargas grenades off the ground and threw them back at the Monusco warehouse.

Ngoma said demonstrators attacked the Monusco base there with stones and gunfire. “That’s how three Monusco peacekeepers died. On the population side the provisional report shows seven dead as Monusco also reacted with weapons,” he said.

India’s foreign minister said two of the peacekeepers who died were Indian. Ngoma said the third was Moroccan.

Among the demonstrators were militiamen recruited from the bush who brought weapons, he said, adding that the number of wounded was unknown.

Monusco, the UN’s stabilisation mission in the DRC, has been gradually withdrawing from the country for years, the Guardian reported.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s wife and Nepali Congress central member Arzu Deuba, who is currently in India for treatment, held a meeting with Indian BJP foreign affairs Chief Vijay Chauthaiwale in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Chauthaiwale has posted photos of his meeting with Deuba on social media.

He tweeted that he was happy to meet Dr Arju Rana Deuba in New Delhi after six months.

Deuba has been undergoing treatment at the New Delhi-based Max Hospital for the past few days.

She also met CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal who had gone to visit India at the invitation of BJP.

JAR or ‘Just Another Restaurant’ has become a popular hangout joint for many of Kathmandu’s youngsters. It is easy to see why this place at Mid Baneshwor is such a draw. The place serves a wide selection of mouth-watering food and drinks. Try its Buff Philly Sandwich, Chicken Popcorn and JAR Special Chicken Burger. Or maybe their special tea menu will strike your fancy. How about ‘Anxi-tea’ to relieve your stress? The ambience is best suited for family and friends. You can visit the restaurant any time, but we recommend weekends, preferably in the evening when you get to enjoy live music and participate in an open mic session (every alternate week).  

Chef’s special:

Buff Philly Sandwich

Chicken Popcorn

JAR Special Chicken Burger

Opening hours: 11:30 am to 10:00 pm 

Location: Mid Baneshwor

Meal for 2: Rs. 1,000

Online/Card Payment: Yes

Contact: 9802325777