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Police arrested 77 persons for staging demonstrations against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on Wednesday.

Nepal Police spokesperson Bishnu Kumar KC said that 77 persons were detained from different parts of the Capital. 

As many as 21 sister organistaions of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, CPN (Maoist Centre) and other six parties staged demonstrations outside the Parliament building in New Baneshwor this afternoon. 

Demonstrators and police personnel also clashed in the Baneshwor area. 

Police used water cannons and also lobbed tear gas shells after the protesters pelted stones at them. 

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 19.84 points to close at 2,734.44 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index fell 3.47 points to reach 518.66 points.

A total of 5,652,182 units of shares of 231 companies were traded for Rs 3.02 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market except for others and Life Insurance.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3.87 trillion.

The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels amid setbacks brought by ongoing global COVID-19. 

HAN's this urge comes after the government cancelled the licence of Hotel Yak and Yeti to operate casino after it failed to pay Rs 420 million in royalty. 

A team led by HAN President Shreejana Rana recently sat down with minister Ale and discussed current issues facing tourism sector, according to a statement issued by the HAN. During the meeting, President Rana apprised the minister of HAN's role in the development, promotion and protection of the country's tourism sector. 

Stating any individual or institution should not avoid its responsibility to pay revenues, taxes and fees to the state as per the laws, she said that the HAN has supported the state on this matter. 

Drawing the HAN's attention to the cancellation of the licence of the five-star Yak and Yeti 'which has contributed immensely to the promotion of the country's tourism', she said that as a result, workers, staffs, related people and payment of their salaries have been affected. 

The HAN always supports the state on the matter of implementing rules and regulations as per the law, but immense contributions of hotel sector to the country's economy should be honoured, according to her. RSS

A total of 30 people have gone missing in Chitwan in the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2021/22.

According to the District Police Office, among the missing ones, 13 are women, 12 males, one boy, three girls and a senior citizen.

Police inspector Kamala Naral said that most of those who went missing had told their families that they would go visit their friends' house or visit the market but never return home.

Similarly, the district records rising cases of violence against women. A total of 261 such cases were reported in the last seven months against 154 during the same period last fiscal year. Those cases were related to thrashing, ridiculing and denial of food and shelter for the survivors among others.

There were 84 cases of violence against women were recorded in fiscal year 2019/20, informed inspector Naral. Among the 261 cases reported this fiscal year, 181 were reconciled while 51 were registered in the court while remaining 24 were under deliberation. RSS

The meeting of the House of Representatives has been postponed till Friday. 

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapokota postponed the meeting after endorsing the report of Tharu Commission and a condolence motion. 

He said that the next meeting will be held on Friday.

Cadres of various political parties staged a demonstration against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in New Baneshwor on Wednesday.

Police used a water cannon to disperse the crowd from the area.

The government was planning to table the MCC in the Parliament today but Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had a meeting this afternoon and decided not to table the compact in the meeting of the House of Representatives.

Prime Minister Deuba has called a meeting of the coalition for 3 pm tomorrow to hold the decisive discussion on the MCC.

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.