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Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the obstruction seen at the Parliament will end soon.

Addressing the nation on Friday, PM Deuba said that the House deadlock will end soon after holding discussions with all the political parties.

Saying that the government has the responsibility to hold all three levels of elections within one year, the Prime Minister expressed his commitment to hold the local level elections on time.

Amid a growing risk of spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus, he urged all the people to take precautions.

Nepal recorded 10,703 new Covid-19 cases on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 18,618 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 8,815 returned positive. Likewise, 4,474 people underwent antigen tess, of which 1,888 tested positive.

Similarly, three people succumbed to the virus while 766 infected people recovered from the disease.

There are 64,374 active cases across the country as of today. Of them, 63,734 persons are in home isolation while 1,640 are in institutional isolation.

Likewise, 194 people are in the intensive care units and 35 on ventilators.

Civil Society members have demanded that the government remove Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav at the earliest for publicly threatening to kill CK Raut, Chairman of Janamat Party.

Issuing an appeal on Friday, Dr Kedar Narsingh KC, Charan Prasain, Ganesh Kumar Mandal, Sushil Pyakurel, Taranath Dahal, Indra Aryal, Mahamanishwor Acharya and Kanak Mani Dixit expressed their dissatisfaction over the remarks.

During a programme organized in Rautahat on January 19, Minister Yadav had warned of carrying out Gaur massacre again.

As many 27 cadres of the then CPN-Maoist were murdered at a Gaur-based rice mill on March 21, 2007.

She warned that CK Raut will face the fate like that of Maoist cadres if he keeps on challenging her.

The Civil Society leaders have claimed that Yadav, who tried to promote violence in the society, does not deserve the post of minister.

The activists have also raised questions over the government's inaction despite remarks by the minister with ‘the potential of sparking social unrest’.
 

Citizens’ Appeal: 21 January 2022, Kathmandu

Relieve minister who acknowledges involvement in massacre and threatens targeted killings

We the undersigned strongly object to the statement made by Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Renu Yadav on 19 January at a political event in Gaur of Rautahat District, where she threatened opponents with targeted killing and made incendiary remarks that have the potential of sparking social unrest.

1. The well-known Gaur Massacre of 21 March 2007 was a mass killing conducted by the then Madheshi People’s Rights Forum, where 28 Maoist cadre lost their lives. In her speech of 19 January, Minister Yadav publicly acknowledged her party’s involvement in the massacre even as the perpetrators of that barbaric episode remain outside the purview of law, and impunity rages on in the country.
2. At the same event, publicly available video clips show Minister Yadav threatening a repeat of the Gaur Massacre by encircling and targeting Chandra Kant Raut (CK Raut), Chair of the Janamat Party. We are clear that a person who cannot hold the dignity of a minister’s position, demonstrates criminal mindset, and publicly concedes to acts of murder, is ineligible to retain any position of public responsibility.
3. The fact that a sitting minister can threaten target killings, and also proudly take ownership of a massacre, is the result of the unchecked lack of accountability in the country. Meanwhile, the fact that the Government has failed to show interest or concern three full days after Minister Yadav’s harsh words became public knowledge raises the question whether she was expressing the Government’s own point-of-view and attitude. The first duty of any government is to give citizens a sense of the existence of rule of law, and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba must take the lead in fulfilling this responsibility. Accordingly, we demand that Prime Minister Deuba immediately relieve Minister Yadav of her post and move to start legal proceedings against her.

1. Dr. Kedar Narsingh KC
2. Charan Prasai
3. Ganesh Kumar Mandal
4. Sushil Pyakurel
5. Taranath Dahal
6. Indra Prasad Aryal
7. Mahamunishwar Acharya
8. Kanak Mani Dixit

Contact: 9851053209

The government of Nepal has decided to grant on arrival visas to only those foreign nationals who have received both doses of vaccine against Covid-19.

Issuing a notice on Friday, the Department of Immigration said that the foreign nationals have to present vaccination cards, negative reports of Covid-19 test conducted 72 hours before the flight, proof of hotel booking and mountaineering and trekking permit to obtain the on arrival visa.

Similarly, the department said that the foreigners who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 will have to take a visa from the Nepali Mission in the concerned country.

Foreigners who have not been vaccinated will have to undergo mandatory antigen tests at the airport.

If the results come positive, they will have to stay in isolation designated by the Ministry of Health and Population and they will have to stay in hotel quarantine for five days if the results come negative.

The department said that the foreigners will have to bear the expenses on their own.

The department further said that the on arrival visa will be given to the officials, staffers and their family members of the diplomatic mission in Nepal who have received both doses of vaccine against the Covid-19.

Those who have not been vaccinated will have to stay in quarantine for five days designated by the concerned diplomatic missions.

Purbanchal University and Mid-Western University have decided to postpone all their scheduled examinations.

The Examination Controller Office of the Mid-Western University said that it has decided to postpone all its examinations in view of the rising cases of Covid-19.

Dr Ananda Prasad Subedi, Head of the Examination Controller Office, said that the exams have been postponed until further notice.

Similarly, the Examination Controller Office of Purbanchal has also decided to postpone its all examinations.

Earlier on Thursday, Tribhuvan University and Public Service Commission have also postponed their scheduled examinations until the next notice.

Britain on Friday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping that its allies would stand together to fight for democracy against dictatorships that it said were more emboldened than at any time since the Cold War, Reuters reported.

Speaking in Australia, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Britain and its alliesin the "free world" must respond together to global threats, deepen ties with democracies in the Indo-Pacific and "face down global aggressors" who were using economic dependence to get what they want.

Truss and Britain's defence secretary, Ben Wallace, met with their Australian counterparts in Sydney on Friday for the annual Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN), where a deal for Australia acquire nuclear submarines was discussed.

Australia's defence minister, Peter Dutton, said there was no plan to establish a British military base in Australia, even as the British navy stepped up its presence in the Pacific. The two countries signed deals to fund infrastructure in the region as a counter to Beijing's influence.

In a joint statement, the ministers expressed concern at Russia's military build-up on the border with Ukraine and "their absolute support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Truss warned Putin to "desist and step back from Ukraine before he makes a massive strategic mistake", in a speech at the Lowy Institute foreign affairs think tank.

Truss argued that the "Kremlin has not learned the lessons of history" and that "invasion will only lead to a terrible quagmire and loss of life, as we know from the Soviet-Afghan war and conflict in Chechnya."

More than 15,000 Soviet troops died in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, while hundreds of thousands of Afghans perished. The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 led to more than 3,500 deaths among the international military coalition.

Global aggressors "are emboldened in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War," Truss said in the speech.

"They seek to export dictatorship as a service around the world," she added. "That is why regimes like Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar find their closest allies in Moscow and Beijing."

Britain should work with allies such as Australia, Israel, India, Japan and Indonesia to "face down global aggressors", especially in the Pacific.

"It is time for the free world to stand its ground," she said, adding that China's "economic coercion" of Australia was "one of the wake-up calls" to Britain that Beijing was using its economic might to exert control over other countries.

Beijing, which imposed trade sanctions on Australian goods after Canberra called for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, has denied accusations of economic coercion.

The West casts Russia as a dictatorial kleptocracy governed by a mercurial elite that has involved itself in irresponsible escapades such as the 2014 annexation of Crimea, attempts to meddle in U.S. and European elections, and a series of high-profile espionage and assassination attempts abroad.

Russian officials say the West is riddled with division, gripped by Russophobia and has no right to lecture Moscow on how to act.

Police have arrested a man with 7,600 kg of low quality honey.

Acting on a tip-off, a team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) arrested the operator of Natija Packaging Nara Bahadur Shrestha aka Naresh Shrestha.

Natija Packaging, which was registered in the name of his wife Rashmila Shrestha, had been producing low quality honey for the past seven years.

Police said that they have been found selling the honey by pasting the label of ‘Sparsha Honey’.

SP Krishna Prasad Koirala, who is also the spokesperson of the MPCD said that the honey was found to be of poor quality and inedible while testing at the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control.

According to a preliminary investigation, they had been found selling the low quality honey in the restaurants and hotels in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.

The Sparsha Honey brand has not been registered yet. 

Police have recovered machines, chemicals and raw materials among others used to make the honey.

Shrestha has been sent to the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku for further investigation.

The government has decided to impose the odd and even system for vehicles in the Kathmandu Valley from midnight today to stem the surge of Covid-19.

A joint meeting of all three District Administration Offices of the Kathmandu Valley held on Thursday made the decision to this effect.

Acting Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Suprabha Khanal Dhungel said that vehicles with odd-registration number plates will operate on odd days and even registration plates on even days in the Kathmandu Valley.

The rule applies to both public and private vehicles.

She said that the public vehicles can carry passengers not more than their standard seating capacity. All the passengers should wear masks and the sanitizers should be provided at the door of the vehicles.