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Two persons died when a motorbike they were riding in met with an accindent in Garuna Municipality-4 in the wee hours of Thursday.

Police identified the deceased as Mohammad Altaf Alam (19) and Ravi Sah (25) of Gadhimai Municipality-8, Rautahat.

The two-wheeler (Na 62 Pa 3399) was heading towards Samanpur from Garuna when the incident occurred, DSP Shreeram Bhandari of the District Police Office, Rautahat said.

Critically injured in the incident, they breathed their last on the way to a hospital, he added.

Further investigation into the incident is underway, police said.

The Madhesh government has directed the concerned authorities to take action against Janamat Party cadres who had vandalized the vehicles of people's representatives yesterday.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, government spokesperson and Finance Minister Shailendra Prasad Sah directed the concerned authorities to carry out fair investigation into the incidents , provide compensation to the victims and take action against the guilty.

The Janamat Party cadres had attacked and vandalized the vehicles of Province Assembly member Ashok Yadav, Hariban Municipality mayor, deputy mayor and Dr Satish Sah of Jaleshwor Hospital on Wednesday.

"I wish speedy of the injured and urge all the parties to express their views and opinions in a peaceful way," he said in the statement.

India logged 2,86,384 new COVID-19 cases and 573 deaths in the last 24 hours, stated the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 22,02,472, which is 5.46 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases reported so far.

As per the health bulletin, the daily positivity rate is 19.59 per cent while the weekly positivity rate is 17.75 per cent.

With 3,06,357 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours, the cumulative recoveries reached 3,76,77,328. The recovery rate is currently at 93.33 per cent.

However, with the addition of new fatalities, the COVID death toll in the country climbed to 4,91,700.

As many as 14,62,261 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours to detect the presence of the virus. Over 72.21 crore tests have been conducted so far in the country, stated the official release from the Ministry.

Meanwhile, under the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive, over 163.84 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far.

Two persons died when a jeep met with an accident in Ilam onThursday.

The deceased have been identified as Ramesh Thapa (55) and Surya Bahadur Thapa (40) of Mechinagar Municipality-4, Jhapa.

According to the Information Officer at the District Police Office Ganga Bahadur Thapa, the ill-fated jeep (Province 1-01-001 Cha 7916) was heading towards Ilam from Jhapa when the tragedy occurred.

He said that the incident took place after the driver lost control of the vehicle and fell some 500 metres down the road at Pahiro in Rong Rural Municipality-4 along the Mechi Highway this morning.

Jeep driver Arjun Koirala (33) of Mechinagar-4 was critically injured in the incident. He has been taken to the B & C Hospital for the treatment.

Police said that they are looking into the case.

PHDCCI to organize India-Nepal Startup Summit 2022

Kathmandu-- Under the aegis of its India-Nepal Centre/SDC and in association with the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal SBI Bank, PHDCCI is hosting India-Nepal Startup Summit 2022 on January 28.

It aims to bring the important stakeholders of bilateral economic cooperation on a common idea platform from both India and Nepal to discuss some of the most crucial aspects concerning investment and partnership to support the thriving Startup Ecosystem in both India and Nepal, says Atul K Thakur, Nodal Coordinator, India-Nepal Center, PHDCCI. 

 The session will be attended by the key policymakers from both the government and industry to ideate the way forward for ever closer cooperation between India and Nepal. The key points of discussions are Indian investment and startup partnership in Nepal, changing scenario of investment in Nepal, strategizing Nepal’s economic development among others.

The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led coalition government came into being, via a court order, after erstwhile Prime Minister KP Oli started playing fast and loose with the constitution. Oli had twice dissolved the federal lower house on dubious constitutional grounds and the Supreme Court had to step in to check his excesses. The parties in the current ruling coalition—Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist)—had been up in arms against Oli and his ‘totalitarian ways’. But they seem to be doing no better.

It is unfortunate that the ruling coalition, and Prime Minister Deuba in particular, is trying to postpone local elections for partisan gains. Deuba and those in the coalition apparently believe local elections before federal and parliamentary elections will work to the main opposition’s favor. And so they want to put them off by six months by using a constitutional loophole. But the constitution most definitely doesn’t say local elections

should—or even can—be held six months after the expiry of the term of the local bodies.

It would be both logical and desirable to first hold the local elections in April—as proposed by the Election Commission—and then the two remaining ties of elections. Postponing local elections will leave a political vacuum at the local level, which the constitution does not envision under any condition. Last week, we wrote approvingly of the ruling coalition’s ‘agreement’ to start local elections on April 27. Perhaps we spoke too soon, placing our faith in the alliance to uphold the constitution.

If none of our major parties is committed to democratic values and so readily abuse the constitution, it will only be a matter of time before this constitution too fails, not because of its inherent flaws but largely due to its drafters’ failure to uphold its spirit. Again, better sense should prevail and Prime Minister Deuba should push ahead with local elections, with or without the support of his coalition partners. We expect a little statesmanship from the five-time prime minister close to the end of his political career. 

Annapurna Media Network (AMN) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the ‘Unity for Sustainability’ campaign on Wednesday.

AMN, a leading media house in Nepal, launched a two-year ‘Unity for Sustainability’ campaign which aims to collaborate with concerned stakeholders on climate change issues on November 24.

AMN Chief Executive Officer Sanat Neupane and CNI Director General Yadav Poudyal signed the MoU at the latter’s office in Thapathali today.

The main objective of signing the MoU was to reduce the impact of climate change in Nepal, advise people to use alternative energy for cooking, encourage the use of green energy in industries and to protect biodiversity.

Nepal has planned to achieve ‘no net’ carbon emissions by 2045.

The two organizations have also decided to join hands together to run a program on climate change.

On the occasion, CNI Director General Poudyal said that climate change is a sensitive and broad issue.

With the signing of agreement, the foundation has been established between the two organizations for a long-term partnership, he said.

AMN Chief Executive Officer Neupane underscored the need to raise awareness about the climate change in Nepal as it is an important issue not only for a person or an organization but for the whole world.

CNI Director Sabin Mishra and Chiranjibi Neupane and Subha Khanal Thapa from the AMN were present in the programme.

Rescuers from the United States Coast Guard are searching the waters off Florida’s Atlantic coast for 39 people reported missing for several days after a boat believed to be used for human smuggling capsized, Al Jezeera reported.

A good Samaritan alerted the Coast Guard early on Tuesday after rescuing a man clinging to the mostly submerged hull of the boat after it hit bad weather about 72km (45 miles) east of the town of Fort Pierce, the maritime security agency reported on Twitter.

The survivor told authorities that he had left the Bahamas’ Bimini islands with 39 other people on Saturday night, and that they had not been wearing lifejackets, the Coast Guard added.

Cutter vessels and aircraft have been deployed to search an area stretching from Bimini to Fort Pierce to find the missing.

The Coast Guard said it was treating the incident as a case of suspected human smuggling.

The nationality of those on board is not yet known.

Migrants have long used the islands of the Bahamas as a stepping stone to reach the United States, with the Bimini Islands only about 80km (50 miles) east of Miami, Florida.

Smugglers typically try to take advantage of breaks in the weather to make the crossing, but the vessels are often dangerously overloaded and prone to capsizing. There have been thousands of deaths over the years.

The latest accident follows another ill-fated crossing last week when the authorities rescued 32 people whose boat capsized west of Bimini, Coast Guard spokesperson, Petty Officer Jose Hernandez told the Reuters news agency.

Most of those attempting the crossing come from Haiti and Cuba.

At least 557 Cuban migrants in all have been picked up at sea by the Coast Guard since October, according to the agency.

Crossings by Haitians have also grown more frequent as the Caribbean island nation deals with economic and political crises, as well as gang-related kidnappings.

The Coast Guard said it had intercepted at least 159 Haitian nationals over the past year.