Nepal Police plan to mobilize over 71, 000 police personal for parliamentary, provincial elections
The Nepal Police have decided to mobilize 71,693 police personnel for the elections to the House of Representatives and the Province Assembly scheduled for November 20. The number is around 10,000 thousand more than that deputed for the May 13 local elections. Central Police Spokesperson Deputy Inspector General of Police Tek Prasad Rai said that the Home Ministry had proposed the recruitment of 120, 000 temporary police personnel for the two-tier elections taking place at once. During the May 13 elections, 100, 000 temporary police personnel were deputed. The number of security personnel in the Federal and Province elections will increase, bearing in mind the possibility of the rise in the number of voters and polling centers, it is said. However, the Nepal Police awaits the endorsement of the proposal by the Home Ministry to go with further official procedures for the mobilization of security forces for the elections. Now the police are busy with the international preparations. Prior to this, in view of the polls, the police set up a Central Election Cell headed by Additional Inspector General Sahakul Bahadur Thapa and election cells required at its subordinate offices, and province and district level. It plans to classify the polling stations as general, sensitive and most-sensitive zones and depute the security workforce accordingly. It has already demanded 1,494 motor vehicles, over 700 communications sets and a required quantity of arms from the Ministry for the elections.
Health Minister Bhawani Khapung admitted to Bir Hospital
Health Minister Bhawani Khapung has been admitted to the Bir Hospital on Friday. Dr Bhupendra Basnet, Director at the hospital, said that the minister was admitted to the hospital today. “He came to the hospital after he complained of dizziness,” he said, adding, “His medical examination has been done, the report is yet to come.” He came to Kathmandu on Thursday after staying in his home district Tehrathum for a week.
Citizenship Bill will be endorsed: Dahal
CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ' Prachanda' has said the Citizenship Bill will be endorsed by the National Assembly. Talking to media persons briefly at Biratnagar Airport today, the Maoist leader and the member of the House of Representatives said the Bill had again entered the process and would be passed by the Upper House. He said that the President consulting with the Nepal Army officials in regard with the Bill procedures is usual. "The Bill has already entered the process, it will be endorsed and the President will certify it." It may be noted that the Lower House on August 18 again endorsed the Bill that the President returned for reconsideration. The HoR passed the document as it is. Refuting rumors that a political crisis is likely in the country, he said no such thing would happen. He took time to say that there would be an electoral alliance among the five political parties in all 165 electoral constituencies in the upcoming elections. The seat allocations towards that will conclude by the next 15 days, according to the leader.
Climate change: Russia burning huge amounts of gas, puzzling experts
As Europe's energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News.
Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.
They say the plant near the border with Finland, is burning an estimated $10m (£8.4m) worth of gas every day.
Scientists are concerned about the large volumes of carbon dioxide and soot it is creating, which could exacerbate the melting of Arctic ice.
The analysis by Rystad Energy indicates that around 4.34 million cubic metres of gas are being burned by the flare every day.
It is coming from a new liquified natural gas (LNG) plant at Portovaya, north-west of St Petersburg. The first signs that something was awry came from Finnish citizens over the nearby border who spotted a large flame on the horizon earlier this summer.
Supplies through the pipeline has been curtailed since mid-July, with the Russians blaming technical issues for the restriction. Germany says it was purely a political move following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While burning off gas is common at processing plants - normally done for technical or safety reasons - the scale of this burn has confounded experts.
"I've never seen an LNG plant flare so much," said Dr Jessica McCarty, an expert on satellite data from Miami University in Ohio.
"Starting around June, we saw this huge peak, and it just didn't go away. It's stayed very anomalously high."
Mark Davis is the CEO of Capterio, a company that's involved in finding solutions to gas flaring.
He says the flaring is not accidental and is more likely a deliberate decision made for operational reasons, according to BBC.
"Operators often are very hesitant to actually shut down facilities for fear that they may be technically difficult or costly to start up again, and it's probably the case here," he told BBC News.
Others believe that there could be technical challenges in dealing with the large volumes of gas that were being supplied to the Nordstream pipeline.
Russian energy company Gazprom may have intended to use that gas to make LNG at the new plant, but may have had problems handling it and the safest option is to flare it off.
It could also be the result of Europe's trade embargo with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
"So, because of the trade embargo with Russia, they are not able to make the high-quality valves needed in oil and gas processing. So maybe there are some valves broken and they can't get them replaced."
Gazprom has not responded to requests for comment on the flaring.
The financial and environmental costs mount each day the flare continues to burn, say scientists.
"While the exact reasons for the flaring are unknown, the volumes, emissions and location of the flare are a visible reminder of Russia's dominance in Europe's energy markets," said Sindre Knutsson from Rystad Energy.
"There could not be a clearer signal - Russia can bring energy prices down tomorrow. This is gas that would otherwise have been exported via Nordstream 1 or alternatives."
Energy prices around the world rose sharply as Covid lockdowns were lifted and economies returned to normal. Many places of work, industry and leisure were all suddenly in need of more energy at the same time, putting unprecedented pressures on suppliers.
Prices increased again in February this year, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. European governments looked for ways to import less energy from Russia, which had previously supplied 40% of the gas used in the EU.
Prices for alternative sources of gas went up as a result, and some EU nations - like Germany and Spain - are now bringing in energy-saving measures.
The environmental impacts of the burning are worrying scientists, BBC reported.
According to researchers, flaring is far better than simply venting the methane which is the key ingredient in the gas, and is a very powerful climate warming agent.
Russia has a track record of burning off gas - according to the World Bank, it's the number one country when it comes to the volume of flaring.
But as well a releasing around 9,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent every day from this flare, the burning causes other significant issues.
Black carbon is the name given to the sooty particles that are produced through the incomplete burning of fuels like natural gas.
"Of particular concern with flaring at Arctic latitudes is the transport of emitted black carbon northward where it deposits on snow and ice and significantly accelerates melting," said Prof Matthew Johnson, from Carleton University in Canada.
"Some highly cited estimates already put flaring as the dominant source of black carbon deposition in the Arctic and any increases in flaring in this region are especially unwelcome."
