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One more person has died from dengue infection in Chitwan.

The deceased has been identified as a 41-year-old man from Chanauli of Bharatpur Metropolitan city-20.

He died during the course of treatment at the Bharatpur Hospital on Tuesday.

He had a fever when he visited the hospital for treatment on Friday and was admitted to the hospital with a ventilator support, according to Dr Kalyan Sapkota, a senior physician at Bharatpur Hospital.

He said the man had a severe case of dengue and died from multi-organ failure followed by excessive internal bleeding.

On Saturday, a 63-year-old man from Bharatpur-2 succumbed to the dengue fever at Chitwan Medical College.

The Nepal Eye Hospital, Tripureswor has continued collaboration with local governments for the elimination of blindness.

In this connection, the hospital and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City-12 signed an agreement.

Hospital's Chief Executive Officer Dharma Raj Gosain and Ward Chair of Kathmandu-12 Bal Krishna Maharjan signed the agreement on Tuesday.

According to Executive Director Gosain, cataract selection camp will be organized in Kathmandu-12, eye check-up and treatment program in public schools and primary training program on eye treatment for women health volunteers working in the ward.

In the camp, free surgery will be provided to the patients selected for cataract surgery at the Nepal Eye Hospital and free glasses will be distributed to the students with low vision.

The hospital has already collaborated with Kathmandu-11, Lalitpur Metropolitan City-18 and Chandragiri Municipality-7.

According to Executive Director Gosain, the hospital had provided outpatient services to 175,000 people, 12,000 surgical services and mobile camps for eye treatment last year.

The hospital has been operating community eye treatment centers at Simra in Bara, Bhachchek in Gorkha and three places in Kathmandu Valley.

Power leakage has been reduced to one percent in Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City.

Electricity leakage has decreased by 5.67 percent in the fiscal year 2023/24 with the strengthening of Nepal Electricity Authority's system, including hooking control, improvement in customer billing, long-pending meter change and improvement in electricity meter reading.

Chief of NEA's Hetauda Distribution Center Shivaram Yadav informed that electricity leakage in Hetauda area has come down to one percent in the fiscal year 2023/24 as compared to 6.67 percent in the last fiscal year.

According to the Office, Rs 229,379 was collected during the fiscal year 2023/24 BS while taking action against the consumers leaking electricity during the campaign.

Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has said that providing quality services to citizens is the government's top priority.

Speaking at the inauguration of a newly-constructed building for the Nepal Police's Provincial Office in Mahendranagar today, he expressed his belief that the new facility will enhance the police's ability to serve the public more effectively.

During the ceremony, the Home Minister acknowledged that the Nepal Police is bound to function amidst limited resources and called for improved competency in investigations to meet contemporary demands. He highlighted the growing challenge of cybercrime, which has, as he said, caused additional responsibilities for the police.

Minister Lekhak also said that the Nepali Congress-CPN-UML coalition government was formed on the basis of the seven-point agreement between the two major political parties. He asserted that this collaboration aims to address key national issues, referencing historical instances where the Congress and UML have worked together on significant matters, such as drafting the interim constitution and advancing the peace process.

The Minister urged one and all to have confidence in the implementation of the seven-point agreement.

Inspector General of Nepal Police, Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, stated that delivering quality service to citizens remains a priority for the Nepal Police. He added that the police are currently focusing on infrastructure development to support this goal. He said that effective crime investigation relies heavily on infrastructure, legal frameworks, and the society's cooperation.

The Nepal Police had awarded the construction contract for the new building to Ashish Construction on December 15, 2022 at a cost of Rs 132.6 million.

Paris Paralympics historic medal winner taekwondo player Palesa Goverdhan returned home on Wednesday.

She had won a bronze medal in the women's K44 under 57 kg weight category of the taekwondo competition in the Paralympics held in Paris, France.

National Sports Council Member Secretary Tankalal Ghising among others welcomed Nepali team including Goverdhan at the Tribhuvan International Airport this morning.

She is the first Nepali player to win a medal at an Olympic level.

Goverdhan won the bronze medal for Nepal by defeating Marija Micev of Serbia 15-8.

Collaborating with RP Foundation, Kathmandu University (KU) has introduced a pioneering program, ‘Bachelor in Heritage Conservation (BHC)’, under its School of Engineering, Department of Architecture. This new program is the first of its kind in all of Asia, focusing on the preservation and protection of cultural heritage. The BHC program offers an in-depth exploration of the reasons and methods behind heritage conservation, emphasizing its significance in shaping civilizations, says the Foundation. “Given Nepal’s rich cultural heritage, including ten UNESCO World Heritage sites and 15 sites nominated for the status, the course aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect and preserve these invaluable assets.”

Classes for the BHC program will be conducted in the culturally rich areas of Panauti, Dhulikhel, and Bhaktapur, offering students hands-on experience in heritage conservation. The application deadline for the inaugural intake is set for Sept 16.

Qatari ambassador to Nepal Mishaal Bin Mohamed Ali Al-Ansari today paid a courtesy call on Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey.

In the meeting held at the Ministry, the two exchanged views on possible measures for promoting the bilateral interests, culture, and tourism sector, discussing the civil aviation issues as well.

According to the Ministry, the meeting also touched on the issue of adopting strategies implemented by Qatar Airways known as the world's best airline by the Nepal Airlines. 

Representatives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were present in the meeting.

Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba has said that her recent official visit to India has played a significant role towards contributing to enhance the mutual goodwill as well as to the promotion of cooperation and collaboration between the two countries.

Minister Rana was briefing about her India visit in a meeting of the Parliament's International Relations and Tourism Committee held at Singha Durbar today. She expressed the confidence that the visit contributed to further strengthening the friendly, cooperative, multi-faceted and close relations subsisting between the two countries on the basis of mutual equality and benefit.

Apart from this, the visit also provided a guideline to expand contact at high level and various levels as well as to promote cooperation and collaboration for mutual benefit through the bilateral mechanism also.

Responding to lawmakers' queries, the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a positive response to an invitation for him to visit Nepal. Stating that she had undertaken an official visit to India from August 18-22 and on the occasion also paid a courtesy call on the Indian Prime Minister.

"On behalf of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, I conveyed warm greetings and best wishes to the Indian Prime Minister and also formally handed to him an invitation that PM Oli had extended to him for a state visit to Nepal," she said, adding that the Indian PM happily acknowledged the invitation and gave a positive response for a visit to Nepal.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Rana had visited India at the invitation of Minister for External Affairs of India, S Jaishankar. She held a courtesy meeting with the Indian PM in New Delhi on August 19.

According to her, on the occasion discussions were held on further consolidating the friendly ties subsisting between Nepal and India and on expanding the existing collaboration on matters of mutual benefit.

Foreign Minister Rana said the bilateral meeting she had with her Indian counterpart at Hyderabad House in New Delhi earlier the same day remained significant. On the occasion, the two Foreign Ministers had discussed expanding cooperation in trade and transit, increasing the quantity of electricity exported to India from Nepal, extending the cross-border connectivity and promoting Indian investment in Nepal.

Also, she said that talks were held to take forward necessary discussions for granting more air routes to Nepal, for mobilization of related mechanisms for resolving the problems of flooding and inundation and taking ahead the Pancheshwar Multi-purpose Project on priority basis.

Foreign Minister Rana said talks were held on overall topics of Nepal-India relations, including cooperation in sports sector, capacity enhancement of sportspersons and construction of a cricket stadium at Phapla of Dhangadhi as well as on construction and expansion of border infrastructures.

It is stated that besides this agreement was reached on giving continuity to contacts at various levels on several topics through the existing bilateral mechanism.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said that she specifically brought up the topic of air route and an agreement has been reached in principle for the technical committee to hold the necessary discussions on this matter.

Noting that the government has been conducting the country's international relations and diplomacy as per Nepal's foreign policy focusing on protecting and promoting the national interest, she asserted that Nepal is being represented in the international forums ensuring Nepal's interest as specified by the Constitution and the foreign policy.

Minister Rana reiterated that the present government is committed to mobilizing Nepal's foreign-based diplomatic missions, the mission chiefs taking the supreme interest of the nation into account. 

She assured that this government shall make maximum efforts to make the appointment of ambassadors more systematized, dignified, transparent and capacity and performance-based on the main basis of the spirit of the constitution and the guidelines on appointment of ambassadors.

Foreign Minister Rana stated that the policy of appointing at least 50 per cent ambassadors from the Foreign Service has been continued this time as well for maintaining balance between political appointment and appointment from the career diplomats.

She also informed the Committee that preparations were being made for signing four important agreements with Oman on tourism, health, labor and foreign affairs.