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The Public Service Commission has defeated Tharu Commission in a tie-breaker of the inter-constitutional body quiz contest organized by the Public Service Commission on the occasion of its 72nd anniversary. It held a two-day quiz contest on June 13 and 14. A total of eight constitutional bodies had contested the competition.

Officers Tilak Sapkota, Madan Kumar Bajgain, and Ishwari Adhikari were on the winning side while Nanda Paudel, Phanindra Shanker Ghimire, and Shiva Sharma represented the Tharu Commission.

The eight teams were divided into two groups for the qualifier round held on June 13 where the Public Service Commission, Tharu Commission, Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, and Human Rights Commission made it to the finale.

In the final held on June 14, Public Service Commission and Tharu Commission got equal (80 points) pushing the competition to a tie-breaker where the home team grabbed 10 additional points.

The CIAA came third with 55 points, and the Human Rights Commission satisfied themselves with a consolation prize.

Chairman of the Public Service Commission Madhav Regmi distributed shields, medals, and certificates to the winners.

Commanding General of the US Army Pacific Charles Flynn has termed his four-day visit to Nepal as terrific.

"I want to express my gratitude to Nepali Chief of Army Staff Gen. Sharma for a terrific visit to Nepal this week," he wrote on Twitter.

“We cherish our decades long defense partnership & look forward to future opportunities for collaboration,” he further said.

General Flynn, who arrived here on a four-day official visit on Thursday, held meetings with President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Deuba and General Sharma, among others, on Friday.

The Cycle City Network Nepal with support from the Promoting Green Recovery Project under the United Nations Development Program successfully completed the pilot-scale intervention in a 17 Ha area (2km road section) in neighborhoods surrounding the core city in Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City. 

The pilot included construction of 16 zebra crossings, cycle priority markings in major road intersections and more than 50 cycle logos in the neighborhood. The cycle lane development is the follow up of the rapid assessment for sustainable urban mobility conducted at the Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City.

The pilot aims to develop a cycling and pedestrian culture in the early development of the city to integrate non-motorized transport as a significant agenda in future expansion and developments. 

Further, the pilot also aims to bring into light concepts such as “cycle boulevards'' (streets which have been “optimized” for bicycles), as an early intervention in emerging cities that have yet to face the challenges of high-volume traffic. 

The designs were based on municipality road and neighborhood surveys, which indicated a traffic flow of less than 3000 per day and relatively low traffic speed (40 km/hrs).

An intervention of the whole area as cycle-friendly neighborhoods was thus preferred over dedicated cycle lanes.

A rapid study of the Google Earth Imagery of the area was done to study the distribution of built-up area, land uses, road network and terrain. 

Based on the study, the preliminary structural zoning for the development of cycling infrastructure has been identified. 

The zones were classified as Priority 1, Priority 2 and Priority 3 Zones based on their proximity from the commercial centers, population density and access to services.

The proposed pilot project lies at the heart of the priority zone 1 and connects the roads parallel to the Rapti Highway on the either side and few roads connecting them. 

The roads serve the Sub-Metropolitan City Office and commercial and institutional land uses of the City Center.

Priority Zone 1 comprises the core city area of Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City. It covers an area of about 20 sq.km. bound over a perimeter of about 17 Km. The area extends about 2 Km to North, about 2.5 Km East and West, and about 3 Km South of Birendra Chowk. 

This area has a well-developed road network and built-up environment with many public, commercial and institutional buildings/parks. Linking these uses with cycle tracks and other supporting infrastructures will not only facilitate the present cycle uses but also support in generating additional demand in the future.

The project has further provided recommendations to the municipality to further invest in the neighborhood on sign boards, speed regulating mechanisms like medians, traffic lights and so on. 

Similarly, Priority Zones 2 and 3 should focus on continuity of the cycle network in the core and connect major trip attraction centers such as public parks, industrial areas, schools and educational institutions, health institutions, etc. in these zones.

The Cycle City Network is a green partner of Annapurna Media Network initiative climate action campaign, Unity for Sustainability.

Sir Mick Jagger has tested positive for Covid-19, prompting The Rolling Stones to cancel a performance in Amsterdam, BBC reported.

The band said the show at the Johan Cruijff Arena would be rescheduled and that they were "deeply sorry".

Sir Mick, 78, added in a message to fans: "Thank you for your patience and understanding."

The band are currently on their Sixty tour, where they had planned to play 14 shows in 10 European countries.

Tickets for the original show will be honoured for the new date once the show is rescheduled.

The Stones had already played three of their tour dates, including one at Anfield in Liverpool, according to BBC.

A statement on behalf of the band said: "The Rolling Stones have been forced to call off tonight's concert in Amsterdam at the Johan Cruijff Arena, following Mick Jagger testing positive after experiencing symptoms of Covid upon arrival at the stadium.

"The Rolling Stones are deeply sorry for tonight's postponement, but the safety of the audience, fellow musicians and the touring crew has to take priority".

Writing on Twitter, Sir Mick, added: "I'm so sorry that we've had to postpone the Amsterdam show with such short notice tonight.

"I have unfortunately just tested positive for Covid. We aim to reschedule the date ASAP and get back as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Mick."

A further two dates are planned in the UK as part of BST Hyde Park, a music festival. The Stones are due to play on 25 June and 3 July.

Two more performances, in Switzerland and Italy, are also planned within the next ten days, according to BBC. 

There has been no announcement yet about whether these shows will go ahead as planned.

Police have apprehended four persons on the charge of raping a 24-year-old woman in Boudha.

The detainees have been identified as Ritesh Tamang (24) of Kathmandu, Rinjen Sherpa (22) of Melamchi Municipality-2, Sindhupalchok, Uttam Lama (34) of Bagmati Municipality-4, Sarlahi, Dhilla Sherpa aka Angnima (34), operator of Lungta Guest House. 

Based on information that three persons have been absconding after raping a woman at the Boudha-based Lungta Guest House in Kathmandu-6 on Sunday, a police team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Circle, Boudha swung into action and rounded them from various places of Boudha. 

Police said that they are looking into the case.

Nepal reported 12 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 473 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which seven returned positive. Likewise, 868 people underwent antigen tests, of which five were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 16 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 93 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 36. 08 points to close at 1,996.25 points on Tuesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index fell 6. 48 points to reach 383.51 points.

A total of 4,147,255 units of shares of 232 companies were traded for Rs 1.18 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market. Non-Life insurance topped the chart with 242.73 points.

At the end of the day, total market civilization stands at Rs 2. 84 trillion.

The District Police Range, Kathmandu concluded that a contestant of a beauty pageant held eight years ago was raped by hoodwinking with the intention to exploit her. 

The police completed the investigation against Manoj Pandey with the conclusion that he raped the contestant by taking her under control.

An official at the District Police Office, Kathmandu, said that a probe team has submitted a report with an opinion by conducting the investigation under the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act, 2007.

In the report, the team said that Pandey will be charged under the Human Trafficking and Transportation as he drugged and raped the girl in various places by taking her under control.

Police have used the video statement made public by the victim and the statements of some witnesses as evidence.

Police have demanded 14 years of jail sentence—11 years for human trafficking and three years for sexually abusing the child—to Pandey.

Earlier, the girl came out with a series of videos on TikTok claiming that she was drugged and raped in 2014 when she was 16-year-old.

Pandey, the owner of Model Global Visas Consultancy, was apprehended on May 21 from Swoyambhu, four days after the girl shared harrowing experiences of being raped at the hands of Pandey some eight years ago on social media.