Koirala, Chaudhary to contest election from same constituency
Nepali Congress former general secretary Shashank Koirala and Binod Chaudhary have chosen the same electoral constituency to be candidates for the parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for November 20. Chaudhary is a proportional representation member of the House of Representatives. Nepali Congress District Secretary Hom Raj Ranabhat said that both have applied to contest the upcoming federal election from East Nawalparasi-1. Koiral had won the election from the same constituency three times. He is preparing to contest the election from the same constituency. Ranabhat said that Chaudhary has also applied to contest the federal election from constituency 2. The district has two electoral constituencies. A total of 14 persons have applied to contest the federal election from the Nepali Congress.
China, Nepal to enhance cooperation, boost ties
China's top political advisor Wang Yang on Friday met via video link with Chairman of National Assembly of Nepal Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Xinhua reported. Wang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, said that China stands ready to work with Nepal to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries. Wang said China is willing to work with Nepal to enhance strategic communication and practical cooperation, jointly build the Belt and Road, and strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges. China welcomes Nepal to support and participate in the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, he added. Wang said the CPPCC National Committee stands ready to work with the National Assembly of Nepal to deepen exchanges and promote the further development of bilateral relations, according to Xinhua. Timilsina said Nepal attaches great importance to its relations with China, firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and hopes that cooperation between the two countries will yield more fruits. The National Assembly of Nepal hopes to enhance cooperation with the CPPCC National Committee to make contributions to the development of bilateral ties, he said.
Indian cabinet gives nod to MOU with Nepal on biodiversity conservation
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Nepal in the field of biodiversity conservation, to promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of forests, wildlife, environment, and climate change, Hindustan Times reported. “The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for signing an MoU with the Government of Nepal on biodiversity conservation, with a view to strengthen and enhance the coordination and cooperation in the field of forests, wildlife, environment, biodiversity conservation and climate change, including restoration of corridors and interlinking areas and share knowledge and best practices, between the two countries,” said a press release issued by the Cabinet. According to the release, the MoU would help in promoting cooperation between the parties in the field of forests, wildlife, environment, biodiversity conservation, and climate change, including restoration of corridors and interlinking areas and sharing knowledge and best practices, according to Hindustan Times. India is one of the 17 mega-diverse countries in the world and it is taking several steps to conserve the wildlife population and biodiversity. Earlier, ex-Minister for Environment, Forests, and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar had said, “India has thriving wildlife and biodiversity.” The Indian government has adopted many laws, policy initiatives, and acts to conserve the vast flora and fauna in the country and across the borders adjoining neighbouring countries.
Nasa: Artemis Moon rocket second launch attempt called off
The launch of Nasa's new Artemis I Moon rocket is facing a potentially lengthy delay after a second postponement, BBC reported.
Controllers tried and failed again on Saturday to get the Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle to lift off. They were thwarted by a fuel leak.
Engineers now want to inspect the rocket, and any repairs may need to happen in the workshop rather than on the launch pad.
The whole process is certain to lead to a setback of several weeks.
It means we may not see a third launch attempt before mid-October at the earliest.
Much of the enormous thrust comes from burning almost three million litres of super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen in four big engines on the vehicle's underside.
But when controllers sent the command early on Saturday morning to fill the rocket's hydrogen tank, an alarm went off, indicating there was a leak.
Controllers tried a number of fixes, including allowing the hardware to warm up for short periods to reset the seal, but they were not successful.
The Artemis I mission is uncrewed, but Nasa's Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said the rocket's future role in human spaceflight meant extreme care was still required in its operation, according to BBC.
"This is an incredibly hard business. This is an initial test flight of this vehicle. As was said: we're going to fly when we're ready. And as part of this initial test flight, we're learning the vehicle; we're learning how to operate the vehicle," he told reporters.
The leaky seal on the SLS could conceivably be fixed on the launch pad. But there are batteries in the termination system used to destroy the rocket in the event of a wayward launch that will require recertification beyond this coming week, and this can only be done in the workshop.
Rolling the vehicle back to the engineering building makes a third lift-off attempt before mid-October unlikely.
"In order to test our batteries, change out the batteries, we have to roll back," said Jim Free, Nasa's associate administrator for exploration systems development.
Saturday's attempt to despatch the SLS rocket had been scheduled for the start of a two-hour window beginning at 14:17 local time (19:17 BST; 18:17 GMT).
The 100m-tall vehicle's objective is to hurl a human-rated capsule, called Orion, in the direction of the Moon, something that hasn't happened since Project Apollo ended in 1972.
Nasa had first tried to launch the rocket on Monday. That attempt was waved off when controllers couldn't be sure the four big engines at the base of the core-stage were at the correct operating temperature.
Frustratingly, subsequent analysis indicated that a sensor was almost certainly outputting inaccurate readings. The power units, in all probability, were in absolutely the right condition to go fly.
When the SLS does get away, it is sure to be a spectacular sight, BBC reported.
"It's gonna be 'shuttle on steroids'," said Doug Hurley, who was the pilot on the very last shuttle mission in 2011.
