Submit your Article

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order to halt the implementation of the Iodized Salt (Production, Sale, and Distribution) Act, 2055 BS (1998 AD), effective from July 17, 2025.

A division bench of Justices Til Prasad Shrestha and Mahesh Sharma Paudel issued the order on July 14, noting although the Act was passed nearly 25 years ago, the regulations required for its enforcement have yet to be formulated.

In its ruling, the Court reasoned that the non-implementation of the Act is unlikely to cause significant harm, and thus issued the order in the name of the Government of Nepal and the Ministry of Health and Population.

The decision follows a writ petition filed by advocate Shital Maharjan, who challenged the enforcement of the Act in the absence of the requisite regulations for more than two decades.

DW Akademie hosted a regional webinar on Thursday to present key findings from its latest report, State of Media Development 2025, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region including Nepal. The webinar discussed how international media assistance aligns with six OECD principles of “Development Cooperation Principles on Relevant and Effective Support toMedia and the Information Environment”. 

The event brought together media development practitioners, journalists, and researchers from across Asia. It was moderated by Dr Dennis Reineck, Senior Research Consultant at DW Akademie.

Umesh Pokharel, a Nepali media researcher and DW Akademie’s Asia Research Consultant, and author of the Asia-Pacific chapter, presented the findings of the regional assessment. He emphasized that while international assistance continues to play an important role in supporting public interest media,  many donor interventions are fragmented, short-term, and, in some cases, inadvertently harmful. 

“Donor visibility, strict branding, and oversight requirements have in several instances triggered legal and reputational risks for local media development organizations in the region including in Nepal,” Pokharel said during the webinar.

The research examined how donor practices align with key principles such as “Do No Harm,” “Increase Financial and Other Support,” “Whole-of-System Perspective,” “Strengthen Local Leadership,” “Donor Coordination,” and “Investment in Learning and Innovation.” The finding suggests that the first principle, Do No Harm, was found to be only minimally fulfilled. Financial and Other Support—was not fulfilled at all. The third principle—Whole-of-System Perspective—was partially fulfilled. The report raises the issue that donor assessments about the  media ecosystem tend to focus on capital cities, often ignoring rural, community-based, and minority-language media. The fourth principle, Strengthening Local Leadership and Ownership, was also partially fulfilled. The report also found that local actors remain sidelined due to donor-driven agendas, strict eligibility criteria, and language barriers. The fifth principle, Improve Coordination, was again only partially fulfilled. Local media development partners’ efforts are often reactive, with weak data sharing, overlapping funding, and limited inclusion of local actors. The sixth and final principle, investing in Learning and Innovation, was minimally fulfilled. 

Further, country-specific insights were shared by panelists including Ahmad Quraishi from the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) and Mrs. Khashkhuu Naranjargal from Mongolia’s Globe International Center. Both echoed the need for more contextualized, long-term, and locally driven donor support to media development organizations.

DW Akademie plans to take the findings forward to engage with donors and regional stakeholders.

The death toll in the jeep accident occurred along the Kawadi-Kyudi road section in Himali Rural Municipality -5 of Bajura district has reached three. 

Juneli Rokaya (35) of the same rural municipality breathed her last during the rescue operation conducted by the security personnel, according to the District Police Office, Bajura. 

Rokaya is among the 17 passengers who sustained injuries in the accident while two passengers had died on the spot in the accident, informed Inspector Dev Bahadur Chaudhary.

The deceased were Bijaura Rokaya (76) and Bachkala Rokaya (75) from Kyudi Village  of Himali Rural Municipality, he said. 

The overcrowded jeep (Ba Pra 03-001 Ja 0338) was heading towards ward 5 of the same rural municipality from Kyudi when the incident occurred, shared Chaudhary.

Among the remaining 16 injured ones, 13 are in critical condition while three are in normal condition. 

They are being treated at a healthcare facility in Kyudi Village while efforts are underway to rescue those critically injured through Nepal Army's helicopter, said Chief District Officer, Meghnath Padhya.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 4. 48 points to close at 2,983. 36 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 0. 73 points to close at 517. 56 points.

A total of 38,962,508-unit shares of 328 companies were traded for Rs 18. 49 billion.

Meanwhile, Green Ventures Limited (GVL) was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise,  9.5% Manjushree Finance Limited Debenture 2085 (MFLD85) was the top loser as their price fell by 4. 22 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 97 trillion.

Chitwan, a district in the Bagmati Province, has not received adequate rainfall this monsoon, even as the third week of July has passed. 

The delayed monsoon has adversely affected rain-dependent agriculture, particularly paddy transplantation. 

Farmers who had managed to transplant paddy using irrigation are now worrying as recently planted seedlings are drying up in the fields.

Water levels in local sources, including rivers and streams, have dropped considerably, creating further challenges in managing irrigation.

In western Chitwan, under the Bharatpur Metropolitan City, farmers primarily rely on the Narayani Lift Irrigation System for irrigation. However, due to a sharp decline in water levels in the Khageri River, many farmers who previously used this water source have now turned to the Narayani system for irrigation. 

As a result, water from the Narayani River is being diverted into the Khageri Canal to support irrigation efforts in the affected areas.

Kularaj Chalise, Chief of the Narayani Lift and Khageri Irrigation Management Division Office, stated that water from the Narayani River is being released into the Khageri Canal 24 hours a day in response to growing demand from farmers.

“With the delay in rainfall, we havehad to regulate canal operations more intensively,” Chalise said. “Under the Narayani Lift Irrigation Project, irrigation is being provided to 4,700 hectares of land, where 90% of paddy transplantation has already been completed."

The 3,900 hectares of land has been covered by the Khageri Irrigation Project in Devnagar, Gitanagarm and Parbatipur. It has so far witnessed the completion of only 70% of paddy transplantation. 

Areas such as Sharadanagar, Shibanagar, Parbatipur, and Jayanagar are among the worst affected by the rainfall deficit. 

Farmers are also turning to underground water sources for irrigation, though this is proving insufficient in many cases.

Farmers said that though the use of underground water provided support for irrigation, it has not been sufficient. 

As they report, due to low electricity voltage, they are able to operate tube wells only during the night which further limits irrigation capacity. 

Khilaraj Regmi, Vice Chair of the Khageri Irrigation Project Users Committee and a farmer himself, said that the drought has significantly delayed paddy transplantation. “Water supplied through the Narayani Lift has been a respite, but it hasn’t fully addressed the needs." 

Due to limited water availability, farmers are accessing canal water on a rotational and rationalized basis. 

Purna Bahadur Ranabhat, Chair of the Narayani Lift Irrigation Consumers’ Committee, added that the prolonged dry conditions have led to the wilting of transplanted seedlings.

According to the District Agriculture Development Office, 87.60% of paddy transplantation has been completed so far in Chitwan. 

Office Chief Jhalaknath Kandel reported that the western belt of Bharatpur Metropolitan City has been most affected by the lack of rainfall, with seedlings beginning to dry up in several areas.

U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that a decision had been taken to destroy the stock.

The supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following President Donald Trump's decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid in January.

They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screengrab shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction, according to Reuters.

Gaza is suffering man-made mass starvation caused by a blockade on aid into the Palestinian enclave, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

He spoke following an appeal by more than 100 aid agencies warning of hunger in Gaza while tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside the territory.

"I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made, and that's very clear," Tedros told a virtual press conference live-streamed from Geneva. "This is because of (the) blockade."

Gaza's food stocks have run out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023, cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May - but with restrictions that it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups, according to Reuters.

A Thai F-16 fighter jet bombed targets in Cambodia on Thursday, both sides said, as weeks of tension over a border dispute escalated into clashes that have killed at least two civilians, Reuters reported.

Of the six F-16 fighter jets that Thailand readied to deploy along the disputed border, one of the aircraft fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target, the Thai army said. Both countries accused each other of starting the clash early on Thursday.

"We have used air power against military targets as planned," Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters. Thailand also closed its border with Cambodia, according to Reuters.

Cambodia's defence ministry said the jets dropped two bombs on a road, and that it "strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia".