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Weekly Editorial Cartoon

In 2014, an investigative article titled ‘The Law School Scam’ was published in ‘The Atlantic’. The story brought under the radar Flor­ida Coastal located in Jacksonville, Florida in the United States while talking about the disturbing trends in the for-profit world of legal edu­cation. Citing the example of the said college, the article mentioned that law schools admit underqualified students who then take millions of dollars in loans annually to fund their course. Since many students will never be able to repay much of the loans due to a dismal job market, it’s the taxpayers that will be stuck with the tab as law schools them­selves continue to reap enormous profits.

Replace Florida Coastal with Foggy Bottom and you have the premise for Grisham’s ‘The Rooster Bar’. In the novel, Mark Frazier, Todd Lucero and Zola Maal are third-year law students in D.C., enrolled in a bottom-of-the-line, for-profit legal institution, who realize they have been duped. Their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also owns a bank that provides student loans.

Each of the three students is drowning in debt as they had all borrowed heavily to attend a law school where graduates rarely pass the bar exam. To slip out of the grasp of the law school scam, and escape their debt while exposing the school and bank and making some money in the process, they skip their last semester at Foggy Bottom and, with new identities, pose as lawyers and get to work.

Grisham’s tale is thoroughly engag­ing and does its bit to expose the workings of for-profit law schools, banks that exploit students, and even addresses unfair US immigra­tion policies. You don’t have to be a fan of John Grisham or have read any of his other works to enjoy The Rooster Bar.

Kathmandu College of Management hosted its 14th annual Intercollege Music Competition (ICMC) at the Jawlakhel grounds last week. Organized and managed by the students of KCM, ICMC opens doors to all music enthu­siasts in Nepal. The event is primarily aimed at providing young and energetic music enthusiasts a platform to exhibit their musical talent and enhancing inter­action among educational institutions in Nepal.The Grand Finale of the ICM held on March 24 saw 10 bands of different genres (selected from preliminary rounds) per­forming for the judges as well as a huge audience. Popular Nepali bands Jind­abaad, Tumbleweed, Screaming Mari­onette and Underside also performed as guest bands to enthrall the audience while the scores and votes of the partici­pants were being calculated.

Blue Skin, Famous Last Wishes and Chihaan won the first, second and third prizes, respectively, while the surprising entry Shree Kali—a Nepali folk ensem­ble—won the Crowds’ Favorite award. Similarly, the talented metal outfit Of Quite Echoes (whom we feature in a story) took home the Judges’ favorite award. APEX BUREAU

Qatar Airways is starting flights from Kathmandu to Canberra. The flight from Kathmandu will make a stop at Doha and then fly to Canberra. The airlines last week hosted a press confer­ence in the presence of Austra­lian Ambassador Peter Greme Budd, Qatar Ambassador Yousef Mohammed Al-Hail and Coun­try Manager Jayaprakash Nair to celebrate the launch of Qatar Air­ways’ inaugural Canberra flight. Canberra is will be the fifth Aus­tralian airport to get direct flights from Kathmandu. Qatar Airways already operates a daily service to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

NIC Asia Bank has launched ‘Samunnati Plus Bachat Khata’, with 10 percent annual inter­est. Special features of the sav­ings account include minimum balance of Rs 10,000, 50 per­cent discount on locker facility, free debit card, free mobile and internet banking, among oth­ers, according to a press release issued by the bank.

Telecom service provider Ncell has topped the list of companies paying the highest taxes (Rs 8 billion) in the first six months of the current fiscal, followed by Nepal Telecom (Rs 6 bil­lion), Surya Nepal (Rs 3 billion), Gorkha Brewery (Rs 1.5 billion), Nepal Investment Bank (Rs 1.5 billion) and Nabil Bank (Rs 1 billion). APEX BUREAU

Turkish Airlines started regular flights to Freetown last week, as its 52nd destination in Africa. Beginning February 24, new direct flights to Freetown, Capital of Sierra Leone, also bring the total countries reached by the flag carrier to 121.

Turkish Airlines flies to more destinations in Africa than any other airline and this latest addition to Free­town marks another milestone in its international expansion, a press release issued by the company reads. The airlines already has services to city-hubs of Accra, Lagos, Bamako, Conakry, Dakar, Abidjan, Cotonou, Douala, Yaounde, N’Djamena, Ougadou­gou, Niamey, Cape Town, Johannesburg and more.

The Freetown flights will be available twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The service will provide a link between Istanbul Atatürk International Airport and Lungi International Airport via Ouagadougou.

Long Night of Storm, a collection of short stories by the renowned Indian writer of Nepali descent, Indra Bahadur Rai, and translated from Nepali into English by Prawin Adhikari, was launched in Kathman­du this week. The book is published by Speaking Tiger, New Delhi.Adhikari is also the writer of the short story collections ‘The Vanish­ing Act’ and ‘Folk Gods’.

Writers and translators Khagen­dra Sangroula and Muna Gurung spoke about the book at the event and about Rai’s contributions to Nepali literature. Following their speeches, Adhikari shared his experiences of meeting Rai and translating his stories.

The event was jointly organized by Quixote’s Cove, Speaking Tiger and Station 5 Café.

Long Night of Storm contains 16 stories picked from Rai’s two short story collections: ‘Bipana Katipaya’ and ‘Kathastha’. APEX BUREAU