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The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will not be tabled in the meeting of the House of Representatives today.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal held a meeting this morning and agreed not to table the MCC in the Parliament today.

Soon after the Parliamentary Party meeting, Dahal reached Baluwatar to inform Prime Minister Deuba that the party had decided not to table the MCC without forging national consensus.

The duo had agreed to hold a meeting of the alliance at 3 pm tomorrow in an attempt to forge consensus on the MCC.

The Maoist Centre warned that the coalition will break down if the MCC is tabled forcefully in the Parliament.

“The coalition will fall apart if the government tables the MCC without the decision of the alliance. The government will also break down if the coalition falls apart,” Party Chief Whip Dev Gurung said.

The Parliament meeting has been scheduled for 1 pm today.

Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a UN environmental report published on Tuesday said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals, Reuters reported.

The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations as well as at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer.

“Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the report’s author, UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd, concluded.

Due to be presented next month to the UN Human Rights Council, which has declared a clean environment a human right, the document was posted on the Council’s website on Tuesday.

It urges a ban on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, man-made substances used in household products such as non-stick cookware that have been linked to cancer and dubbed “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily.

It also recommends the clean-up of polluted sites and, in extreme cases, the possible relocations of affected communities – many of them poor, marginalised and indigenous – from so-called “sacrifice zones”.

That term, originally used to describe nuclear test zones, was expanded in the report to include any heavily contaminated site or place rendered uninhabitable by climate change.

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called environmental threats the biggest global rights challenge, and a growing number of climate and environmental justice cases are invoking human rights with success.

The CPN (Maoist Centre) has decided not to take the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal compact ahead without forging national consensus.

A Parliamentary Party meeting of the Maoist Centre held at the party’s Parliamentary Party Office in Singhadurbar on Wednesday said that the agenda could not be taken ahead until the main opposition CPN-UML lifted the House obstruction.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, party Chief Whip Dev Gurung said that the meeting has decided not to take the MCC compact ahead until the UML ends the House obstruction.

The main opposition CPN-UML has decided to boycott a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the House of Representatives called by Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota for Wednesday.

UML lawmaker and member of the Business Advisory Committee Khagraj Adhikari said that they would not attend the meeting due to the party's busy schedule.

Speaker Sapkota has called the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee for 11 am today to make a final list of the agenda before the House meeting.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dilendra Prasad Badu is preparing to float the proposal to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee.

“We will not budge from our stance. There is no meaning of going to the meeting or not,” he said.

Similarly, Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, member of the Business Advisory Committee, said,” we have told the Speaker Sapkota to resign from his post. We have been directed not to attend the meeting called by the Speaker until he put in his papers. Our obstruction in the House will continue.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had urged Speaker Sapkota to convene a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee to create a conducive environment for holding the Parliament meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he welcomed a security dialogue with the West, and his military reported pulling back some of its troops near Ukraine. But US President Joe Biden said the US had not verified Russia’s claim and that an invasion was still a distinct possibility.

Putin said he does not want war and would rely on negotiations in his efforts to eliminate any chance that Ukraine could one day join NATO. At the same time, he did not commit to a full pullback of troops, saying Russia’s next moves in the standoff will depend on how the situation evolves.

In remarks at the White House, Biden promised that the U.S. would continue to give diplomacy “every chance” to prevent a Russian invasion, but he struck a skeptical tone about Moscow’s intentions. Biden also insisted that the US and its allies would not “sacrifice basic principles” respecting Ukraine sovereignty.

“Two paths are still open,” Biden said. “But let there be no doubt: If Russia commits this breach by invading Ukraine, responsible nations around the world will not hesitate to respond. If we do not stand for freedom where it is at risk today, we’ll surely pay a steeper price tomorrow.”

Putin’s overtures soothed global markets that have been on edge amid the worst East-West tensions in decades. Washington and its European allies remained cautious, saying they want to see evidence of a Russian pullback. Biden said 150,000 Russian forces are now massed near Ukraine and in Belarus, an increase from an earlier US estimate of 130,000 troops.

Russia’s claim that it pulled back troops “would be good, but we have not yet verified that,” Biden said. “Indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position.”

The US and NATO, which continue to warn that Russia could invade at any time, have sent troops and military supplies to shore up alliance members in Eastern Europe. Russia has denied having such plans. It wants the West to keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of the alliance, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe.

The US and its allies have roundly rejected those demands, but offered to engage in talks with Russia on ways to bolster security in Europe.

Speaking after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the West agreed to discuss a ban on missile deployment to Europe, restrictions on military drills and other confidence-building measures — issues that Moscow put on the table years ago.

He said Russia is open to discuss “some of those elements,” but added that it would do so only in combination “with the main issues that are of primary importance for us.”

Asked if there could be a war in Europe, Putin said Russia doesn’t want it but that Ukraine’s bid to join NATO posed a major security threat to his country.

While Scholz reiterated that NATO’s eastward expansion “is not on the agenda — everyone knows that very well,” Putin retorted that Moscow will not be assuaged by such assurances.

“They are telling us it won’t happen tomorrow,” Putin said. “Well, when will it happen? The day after tomorrow? What does it change for us in the historic perspective? Nothing.”

Scholz also said diplomatic options are “far from exhausted,” and he praised the announcement of a troop withdrawal as a “good signal,” adding: “We hope that more will follow.”

The Russian Defense Ministry released images of tanks and howitzers rolling onto railway platforms and more tanks rolling across snowy fields. It did not disclose where or when the images were taken, or where the vehicles were headed, other than “to places of permanent deployment.”

Biden acknowledged the likelihood that sanctions imposed on Russia in retaliation for an invasion would have significant blowback on the American economy, including possible price hikes and disruption to the nation’s energy supply.

“The American people understand that defending democracy and liberty is never without cost,” Biden said. “I will not pretend this will be painless.”

He said the administration was trying to preempt supply issues by working with energy producers and shippers on contingency plans. The president said he would work with Congress on unspecified “additional measures to protect consumers and address the impact of prices at the pump.”

Russian forces continue to threaten Ukraine along the eastern border and from the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014, the year when it also backed a separatist insurgency in the country’s east. More Russian troops loom over Ukraine in Belarus, where they were deployed for sweeping joint drills.

Ukraine expressed skepticism about Russia’s statements of a pullback.

“We won’t believe when we hear, we’ll believe when we see. When we see troops pulling out, we’ll believe in de-escalation,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that “so far, we have not seen ... any signs of reduced Russian military presence on the borders of Ukraine,” adding that the alliance wants to see a “significant and enduring withdrawal” of forces, troops and heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, a series of cyberattacks on Tuesday knocked out the websites of the Ukrainian army, the defense ministry and major banks. There was no indication that the relatively low-level denial-of-service attacks might be a smokescreen for more serious cyber mischief. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US has not yet determined who was behind the attacks.

Few Russians expect a war, following the Kremlin’s dismissal of Western warnings as “hysteria” and “absurdity.”

In a village in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Ukraine’s border, residents carried on with life as usual, even as more military personnel have been passing through village streets.

“We are friends with Ukraine,” villager Lyudmila Nechvolod said. “We are really on the border, we really have relatives here and there, everyone has somebody there (on the Ukrainian side). No one wants war.”

Diplomatic efforts continued Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday about the evolving crisis.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers urged Putin to recognize rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house, voted to submit an appeal to Putin to that effect.

Putin said the request reflects the Russian public’s sympathy for the suffering of people trapped in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed over 14,000 since 2014. He noted, however, that Russia continues to believe a 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany should serve as the main vehicle for a settlement of the separatist conflict.

Putin’s statement signaled that he wasn’t inclined to back the parliament proposal that would effectively invalidate the 2015 agreement, which marked a major diplomatic coup for Moscow and asked Kyiv to offer broad self-rule to the separatist territories. It has been resented by many in Ukraine, and its implementation has stalled.

Simon Noodle House isn’t your typical restaurant. The keyword here is ‘house’. With its homely setting, this joint at Sanepa, Lalitpur, resembles an average Nepali family’s home.

The place primarily specializes in noodles and serves an eclectic menu of Thai, Chinese, and Malaysian noodle dishes prepared by the finest chefs. And there are non-noodle options including momos, lemongrass chicken wings, Thai chicken salad and Asian-style fried rice. Also on the menu are a variety of drinks and mocktails.

Chef’s Special:

Pork Kung Pao

Chicken Satay Noodles

Sea Food Noodle Soup

Opening hours: 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Location: Sanepa, Lalitpur

Online pay: Yes

Card pay: No

Meal for Two: Rs 700

Contact:  9813085397

Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal writes to the MCC Headquarters pledging support for its Nepal compact. Back home, he denounces the same compact to shore up his communist base. Another former prime minister, KP Oli, someone who pushed for the compact’s parliamentary endorsement while in power, now decides to sit on the fence.

The current prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, has always backed the compact’s endorsement. But to get the support to do so from his coalition partners he also has to agree to impeach the chief justice. The old Panchayat stalwart Kamal Thapa swears by the Holy Gita to never again break away from the mother RPP ship. But when defeated in the contest for party chair, he abandons it pronto. How do people trust these two-faced politicians? And what kind of a political culture are they trying to establish?

 It would perhaps not be unfair to say that almost all the important political forces of Nepal have lost their ideological moorings. The once-revolutionary Maoist party is now no different to the traditional parliamentary parties it liked to denounce. And it would be a stretch to call CPN-UML, the corporatist machine, a ‘communist’ party. Nepali Congress too has thrown in its lot with free-market capitalism, having long forgotten its social-democracy roots. With every political outfit and politician out to grab power and make a fast buck to win the ever-expensive elections, Nepali politics has lost its direction.

 The drawn-out MCC saga has again exposed our politicians’ willingness to even trade away national interests to get a leg-up on political opponents. Everything is negotiable—and not just with forces within the country. Our politicians will also readily do the bidding of foreign powers. In this situation, what we need is a mechanism for the public to express its disappointment with politicians. As we argue in this week’s ‘What if…?’ column, one way of doing so would be to inject the ‘right to reject’ option in ballot papers for elections to all three tiers. Let us see how many Nepalis, if given a choice, would vote in favor of a new set of political leaders.

Veteran singer-composer Bappi Lahiri died in a Mumbai hospital following multiple health issues, reported news agency PTI. The news of his death was confirmed by hospital doctor. He died on Tuesday night at Mumbai's CritiCare Hospital in Juhu. He was 69.

"Lahiri had been admitted to the hospital for a month and was discharged on Monday. But his health deteriorated on Tuesday and his family called for a doctor to visit their home. He was brought to the hospital. He had multiple health issues. He died due to OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) shortly before midnight," Dr Deepak Namjoshi, director of the hospital, told PTI.

Fondly known as Bappi da, he was as much known for his hit numbers as he was for his fascination for gold. Bappi Lahiri was known as the true blue 'Disco King' of Bollywood of the 80s and 90s, especially for his widely popular songs for films such as Namak Halaal, Disco Dancer and Dance Dance.

He also composed songs for movies such as Himmatwala, Sharaabi, Adventures of Tarzan, Satyamev Jayate, Commando, Aaj Ke Shahenshah, Thanedaar, Numbri Aadmi and Shola Aur Shabnam, among others. The singer-composer's first big Bollywood hit score was for Aamir Khan's father Tahir Hussain's film Zakhmee. 

In the last decade, Bappi Lahiri sang songs such as Ooh La La for The Dirty Picture, Tune Maari Entriyaan for Gunday, Tamma Tamma for Badrinath Ki Dulhania, and more recently, Areey Pyar Kar Le for Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. He last composed the song Bhankas for the 2020 movie Baaghi 3.

Speaking to Hindustan Times in a 2020 interview, he had talked about the trend of recreating old classics, and said, “The trend started with recreation of my old song Tamma Tamma in Badrinath Ki Dulhania. I don’t want to comment on it. Public’s choice is the top most choice. Public is my everything."

Last year, the musician was admitted to Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai after being diagnosed with Covid-19. In September, the singer-composer had rubbished reports about his ill health, telling Hindustan Times: “I am shocked to see so many reports stating that I’ve lost my voice. It’s ridiculous and I’m really unhappy."