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Press Council of Nepal (PCN) has taken a series of fresh measures to implement the journalistic code of conduct.

“Implementation of ethics has become a more challenging job with the emergence of digital technology-dominated media platforms. So these measures are aimed at promoting professional, independent, and healthy journalism,” says PCN Chairperson Balkrishna Basnet.

The council recently held a code of conduct orientation for journalists on the importance of ethics. It plans to run classes on the journalistic code of conduct if any journalists are found to be violating their professional ethics.

According to Basnet, it is not just online media platforms that are breaching journalistic ethics.
“Even some established mainstream media have failed to enforce the code of conduct for journalists,” he adds.

PCN is presently offering training to the owners, editors, and journalists of new online platforms since many people are entering the media field with little or no idea of their professional responsibility. The council is also taking measures to prevent the registration of online news platforms whose names closely resemble already established news sites.  

Besides, it is also monitoring YouTube channels that call themselves purveyors of news, events, and analysis but in reality, broadcasting misinformation and provocative content to increase their viewership.  

“There are many YouTube channels that give their viewers an impression of being a legitimate news outlet. But the truth is they are acting with impunity and no one to regulate or monitor them,” Basnet says. ‘We are trying our best to bring them under the framework of proper journalism if that is what they plan to do with their channels.”  

The council has formed a panel to recommend ways to regulate the mushrooming online news media platforms.

To make the journalistic code of conduct more accessible, PNC has made the document available in languages including Doteli, Nepal Bhasha, Bhojpuri, and Maithili.

Adherence to the journalistic code of conduct, Basnet says, is vital to not just for the credibility of the concerned media, but also for promoting fact-based news stories.

“A trustworthy media is vital for society. Right now, there are several shortcomings in the Nepali media industry. We have to work together to fix them,” says Basnet.

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said that the budget presented for the next fiscal year 2022/23 is not ambitious.

Reponding to the questions raised by the lawmakers on the budget in the Parliament, Minister Sharma said that the budget is not ambitious but based on reality.

"The budget sees the private sector as the engine of economic growth," he said, adding, "The budget has stressed on agricultural production."

He further said that the budget has given top priority to domestic production. 

Minister Sharma went on to say that the budget is trying to resolve the problems by increasing the production.

World food prices dipped in May for a second consecutive month after hitting a record high in March, although the cost of cereals and meat both rose, the United Nations' food agency said on Friday, Reuters reported.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 157.4 points last month versus 158.3 for April.

The April figure was previously put at 158.5.

Despite the monthly decline, the May index was still 22.8% higher than a year earlier, pushed up in part by concerns over the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO said it expected global cereal production would drop in the 2022/23 season for the first time in four years, easing 16 million tonnes from record 2021 levels to 2.784 billion tonnes.

While the dairy, sugar and vegetable oil price indices all fell last month, the meat index edged up to hit an all-time high and the cereal index climbed 2.2%, with wheat posting a 5.6% month-on-month gain. Year-on-year, wheat prices were up 56.2%

FAO said wheat prices were shunted higher by India's announcement of an export ban, as well as reduced production prospects in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, according to Reuters.

The vegetable oil price index dropped 3.5% from April, pushed down in part by Indonesia's decision to lift a short-lived export ban on palm oil.

"Export restrictions create market uncertainty and can result in price spikes and increased price volatility. The decrease in oilseeds prices shows how important it is when they are removed and let exports flow smoothly," said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen.

The dairy index also dropped by 3.5% month-on-month, with the price of milk powders shedding the most because of market uncertainties tied to continued COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

The meat index rose 0.6% in May, with stable world bovine meat prices and falling pig meat prices offset by a steep increase in poultry prices.

Issuing its first forecast for global cereal production, FAO predicted declines for maize, wheat and rice production, while barley and sorghum outputs were seen increasing, Reuters reported.

"The forecasts are based on conditions of crops already in the ground and planting intentions for those yet to be sown," FAO said.

World cereal utilization was forecast to ease in 2022/23 by 0.1% from 2021/22 levels, to 2.788 billion tonnes -- the first contraction in 20 years.

A day after the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) slashed the prices of petroleum petroleum, the Department of Transport Management reduced the public transportation fares.

The department reduced the fares of public transportation plying in the inter-state with effect from today.

The NOC had slashed the prices of petroleum products by Rs 10 per liter on Thursday evening.

The department has reduced the public transportation fares by 2 percent.

Similarly, the department has also reduced the fares by 2.6 percent and 2. 9 percent for cargo carriers serving routes in the hills and the Tarai respectively.

The death toll from heavy rains last week in the Brazilian city of Recife and its metropolitan area has risen to 126, with two people still missing, the government of the northeastern state of Pernambuco said, Business Standard reported.

At least 9, 302 people have been driven from their homes due to rains that caused major floods and landslides in Recife, burying dozens of hillside houses and causing most of the deaths, Xinhua news agency reported.

It is the worst tragedy to occur in Pernambuco since the start of the 21st century and the second worst in the state's history, after the May 1966 flooding caused the Capibaribe river to overflow leaving 175 dead.

Firefighters and army soldiers are working to recover the bodies of the two missing victims with the help of trained rescue dogs.

A total of 31 municipalities in Pernambuco have declared a state of emergency due to the rains, while 51 towns suffered some type of damage.

The federal government has announced it will allocate some $200 million to rebuild affected areas, according to Business Standard.

Rains also affected the states of Sergipe, Alagoas, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte, in the northeastern region of Brazil.

In Alagoas, four people died and nearly 12,000 remain homeless.

A 16-year-old boy was found dead in Mulpani of Kathmandu.

Dharma Shahi of Budhiganga Municipality-9, Bajura was found dead near Laxmi Narayan Temple in Kageshwori Manohara Municipality-6.

Police said that they are looking into the case.

Sri Lanka’s cash-strapped government has announced a taxation overhaul to boost revenue amid the country’s crippling economic crisis, hiking value added taxes and corporate income tax, and slashing the relief given to individual taxpayers, Reuters reported.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office this month and plans to present an interim budget within weeks, said on Tuesday the measures were necessary as the current state of government finances was unsustainable.

“The implementation of a strong fiscal consolidation plan is imperative through revenue enhancement as well as expenditure rationalization measures in 2022,” Wickremesinghe’s office said in a statement.

Sri Lanka’s inflation rose to 39.1 percent in May, its statistics office said – a record level, compared with the previous high of 29.8 percent recorded in April.

An increase in value added tax (VAT) to 12 percent from 8 percent with immediate effect is among the key tax increases announced on Tuesday, which is expected to boost government revenues by 65 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($180.56m), according to Reuters.

Other measures, including increasing corporate income tax to 30 percent from 24 percent from October, will earn an additional 52 billion rupees ($143.46m) for the exchequer.

Withholding tax on employment income has been made mandatory and exemptions for individual taxpayers have been reduced, the statement said.

The island nation of 22 million people has been battered by its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, with a severe shortage of foreign currency stalling imports of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines.

The roots of the crisis lie in tax cuts enacted by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in late 2019, which came months before the COVID-19 pandemic that battered the country’s lucrative tourism industry and led to a drop in foreign workers’ remittances.

The tax cuts caused annual public revenue losses of about 800 billion rupees ($2.2bn), the prime minister’s office said in its statement.

The new tax regime and COVID-19’s impact, together with the pandemic relief measures, widened the budget deficit significantly to 12.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 from 9.6 percent of GDP two years earlier, Reuters reported.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency this month, Wickremesinghe – who also holds the finance ministry portfolio – said he would cut expenditures down “to the bone” in the upcoming interim budget and reroute funds into a two-year relief programme.

The tax hikes are aimed at putting public revenues back at pre-pandemic levels and focused on fiscal consolidation as the country seeks a loan package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Lakshini Fernando, a macroeconomist at investment firm Asia Securities.

“The tax increases are definitely a very positive first step, especially for IMF talks and debt restructuring,” Fernando said.

“This was required to take forward discussions and will also help the government in talks with bilateral and multilateral partners to secure more funding,” Fernando said, according to Reuters.

Police have said a gunman who killed three employees and a patient at an Oklahoma hospital was targeting the surgeon who performed his back surgery, BBC reported.

Dr Preston Phillips was killed in Wednesday's attack, according to Tulsa city officials.

Police named the other victims as Dr Stephanie Husen, Amanda Glenn and William Love, at a news conference on Thursday.

The suspect died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

He had purchased a semi-automatic AR 15-style rifle just hours before the shooting, and was also armed with a handgun, police said.

Tulsa police chief Wendell Franklin said the man "blamed Dr Phillips for ongoing pain" following the surgery he received at St Francis Hospital on 19 May.

After his release from hospital, the suspect "called several times over several days complaining of pain and wanting additional treatment", Mr Franklin said. It is unclear if he received further assistance, according to BBC.

He added that a letter recovered from the crime scene made it clear the suspect "came in with the intent to kill Dr Phillips and anyone who got in his way".

"That letter told us the story. This was planned," Mr Franklin said.

Police reportedly arrived at the medical building three minutes after being alerted to the incident on Wednesday afternoon - which they say ensured the death toll wasn't higher. 

Ten other injuries have been reported, officials added.

"Our training led us to take immediate action without hesitation," Chief Franklin said.

Law enforcement response to active shooter situations is under heightened scrutiny after police in Uvalde, Texas reportedly waited 40 minutes before confronting a gunman who shot 21 dead, including 19 children.

Clinic appointments at the medical building have been cancelled for the rest of the week.

In a statement, St Francis Health Systems said it was "grieving the loss of four members of our family".

Dr Ryan Parker, an emergency physician at the hospital, apologised to the family of Mr Love, the slain patient, and said the loss of her own colleagues was "incomprehensible".

"All of my colleagues went into medicine to help people. We are supposed to be the ones that are caring for others during tragedies like this."

A tearful Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum thanked St Francis health workers for "coming to work today".

"Every day, for years... you have put your lives at risk to save the lives of people in this city and yet you're still here ready to save more lives every day," he said, according to BBC.