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The Supreme Court has ordered the government to furnish written clarifications within seven days regarding its decision to grant amnesty to Yograj Dhakal ‘Regal’, a murder convict doing a 20-year jail term.

The Office of the President, Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Home Affairs and District Administration Office, Banke have been made the defendants in the case. 

Responding to a writ from Bharati Sherpa, wife of Chetan Manandhar, whom Regal had murdered, a bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma also ordered the government to provide security to the victim’s family.

The court has ordered the authorities to submit to it copies of all relevant decisions related to the case and ordered the Attorney-General to appear in the court in person on the day of the hearing.

President Ramchandra Paudel, acting on a recommendation from the Council of Ministers, had pardoned Regal on the occasion of the Constitution Day.

Manandhar’s family had objected to the presidential pardon and his wife had moved the apex court stating that the release was against the Constitution.

A gangster and the then president of Tarun Dal Banke-3, Regal used to extort transporters operating buses between Nepal and India. Regal had killed Manandhar at a hotel in Surkhet Road area on 13 July 2015. On 24 April 2018, a bench of Banke district court judge Bishnu Subedi had convicted Regal as the mastermind behind the crime and sentenced him to 20 years behind bars.

Regal, at large after the murder, had surrendered before the court after police launched a series of encounters against gangsters. 

The 16th conference of the World Social Forum is taking place in Nepal for the first time with the slogan 'Another world is possible'.

The organizing committee of the World Social Forum Nepal has organized a global announcement program about the event taking place in the open theater from February 15 to 19, 2024. 

On the occasion, an intercontinental youth forum and a parliamentary forum will be organized, said Sushil BK, coordinator of Media and Communication Group, the World Social Forum Nepal.

The forum is free and open for exchanging ideas and experiences on an alternative to neoliberalism. It started from Porte Alegre in Brazil in 2001 in the course of discussing an alternative to the impact of neoliberal globalization in the world two decades ago. 

The platform represents the collective power of the global movements and the civil society organizations that have united against neoliberalism, globalized capitalism, climate crisis, patriarchy, caste, discrimination based on color, racial discrimination and violence, discrimination and hatred against gender and sexual minority communities.

Non-governmental organizations including the NGO Federation of Nepal are coordinating the conference that runs parallelly.

Various 13 contemporary subjects have been selected for the session. The subjects to be discussed include: economic inequality and economic justice, labor, immigration, slavery and human trafficking; discrimination based on caste, work and descent, caste, ethnicity, indigenous nationalities, untouchability and all forms of discrimination, gender, sexuality, gender-based violence and identity, land, agriculture, food sovereignty, agricultural ecosystem, energy and natural resources;  peace, conflict, war, acquisition, displacement and security; education, art and culture, communication, social networks and media, digital equality; democracy, human rights, authoritarianism, law and justice; health, social protection and equality; climate, environment, equitable transformation, habitat and sustainable development; women, children, youth, the elderly and persons with disabilities and social movements, the place of citizens and the future of the world social platform.

Expressing their solidarity, representatives including Prof Aananda Kumar from India and Dr Uddhav Pyakurel from Nepal have extended their best wishes for the success of the event.

Dengue infection has shot up in Baglung district lately.

According to latest data, dengue infection has been confirmed in 130 people in the district. More than 90 people have been confirmed dengue infected in the last one month alone.

According to the data in the last four months ago, 130 people contracted the disease, said Prabin Sharma, Chief of the District Health Office. He also urged people to be alert as dengue infection is fast spreading in the district.

"Until a month ago, dengue infection was very low, only 40 people were infected. In the past month, only 90 people were infected, but now the number of infections has shot up to 130. Dhorpatan Municipality has recorded the highest infection cases. As the infection is fast spreading, there is a need to avoid mosquito bites," he said.  

The infection was confirmed in 96 people during the testing of suspected patients at Burtibang Primary Health Care Centre alone. Similarly, 15 dengue infections have been confirmed in Dhaulagiri hospital, 17 in Galkot municipal hospital and two in Bongadovan health post.

Of the ten municipalities in the district, dengue infection has been confirmed in nine except Bareng Rural Municipality, said the health office.

According to the data with the health office, Dhorpatan Municipality confirmed 67, Baglung Municipality eight, Jaimini Municipality two, Galkot Municipality 14, Kathekhola Rural Municipality three, Badigadh Rural Municipality 10, Nisikhola Rural Municipality 18, Tamankhola Rural Municipality four, Tarakhola Rural Municipality one.

The hospital has been overwhelmed with dengue patients.

A US national died after falling off a cliff in Manang, a mountainous district.

The deceased has been identified as Charles Keith Davis (69).

He was heading towards Chame from Lamjung in a jeep (Ba 6 Cha 756) on Wednesday night. He was together with his spouse, guide, driver and porter.

Davis suddenly fell from the road while he was trying to remove a rock from the road at Khotrodanda of Naso Rural Municipality-3 along the Beshisahar-Chame road section.

He fell some 100 meters down the road into the Marsyangdi River bank, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police, Phanindra Ranabhat.

A police team mobilized from the District Police Office, Chame rushed him to the District Hospital after rescuing him in the same night, but he breathed his last during the course of treatment.

The body has been sent to TU Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu for postmortem, police added.