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Kailash Sirohiya, Chairman and Managing Director of the Kantipur Media Group, responded to the allegations made by Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane. Issuing a statement on Tuesday, Sirohiya denied all the allegations leveled against him and challenged Lamichhane to prove them. He said that maybe he was expressing his frustration at the honorable Supreme Court for stripping him of membership of the House of Representatives. Sirohiya further said that in the statement that may be he was trying to divert the people’s attention away from his dual citizenship related case. During a press conference held on Sunday, Lamichhane had made various accusations against Sirohiya and the Kantipur Media Group. The Chief of the Kantipur Media Group expressed his regret that Lamichhane leveled baseless allegations against the Nepali media fraternity and media personnel. “He was trying to attack the prestige and trustworthiness of the Nepali media in a premeditated way either to cover up his mistakes or weaknesses,” he said, adding, “Those who believe in press freedom and democracy will not tolerate this.” Expressing his serious reservations over Lamichhane’s accusations that he owned shares of Chandragiri Cable Car allegedly in return for stopping to publish the news against the Chandragiri Hills project, he said that I don’t know if he knows this: Chandragiri Hills is a public limited company and anyone can easily check who owned what percentage of shares in it and at what time, from the concerned government office. Neither I nor any of my family members has ever owned a single share in the company. I have serious reservations over Lamichhane’s false accusations along this line. Sirohiya said that yes, it was true that his son’s (Sambhav Sirohiya) car met with an accident in Maitighar on December 12, 2015. But, unlike Lamichhane’s portrayal of the incident, neither had the car hit any pedestrian on the street nor had it collided with any other vehicle. It was an unfortunate accident in which one of my relatives sustained minor injuries for which he was treated at Norvic Hospital for a time, he said. There was absolutely nothing in the incident that should have been hidden, nor was any attempt made to hide it. Instead, Sambhav Sirohiya had formally notified the Traffic Police Office at Baggikhana of what had happened, he added. “We are surprised why a person who has already served in the capacity of Home Minister would try to mislead the public by suggesting a cover-up. And who gave him the right to try to destroy someone’s private life by spreading such a blatant lie?” he questioned. In response to the questions raised by Lamichhane over his investments Himalayan Reinsurance Limited, Sirohiya said that the company was being established some years ago, as a businessman. He too had bought promoter shares worth Rs 10 crores. “I did not get the shares as a personal favor but bought them with my own taxable income. For this purpose, I had withdrawn money from my accounts in Kumari Bank and Nepal Investment Bank Limited and bought the shares with the same money. Why can’t I take part in a perfectly legal business transaction?” he questioned. Sirohiya said that Lamichhane had brought up an unsubstantiated claim once made by businessmen Ajaya Sumargi that Sirohiya used to get ‘golden shares’ for every big business established in the country. Expressing his dissatisfaction over Lamichhane's statement, he said, “I would like to remind everyone of the ruling of the Kathmandu District Court in our favor in relation to a case we had filed against Sumargi. Can Lamichhane furnish any proof that I had accepted such golden shares? I want to challenge him: Can he point to a single share that I or any of my family members bought with an income that we did not earn from legal sources and for which we did not pay taxes?” he questioned.      

Forty-year-old Fupu Tenjing Sherpa, the vice president of Beauty Pageant Association of Nepal (BPAN), is a talented event planner who has consistently conducted successful events, especially beauty pageants. Having 12 years of experience in the industry, Sherpa has a proven track record of creating unique and memorable experiences for clients in the fashion industry. With a keen eye for detail and an ability to think outside the box, he has quickly become one of the most sought-after event planners in the country. Born in Taplejung of Province 1, he completed his schooling from Patan High School in Lalitpur. Soon after, he enrolled in one of the contemporary arts and fashion training centers in Kathmandu, where he received a diploma course in fashion design which, he says, was a turning point in his career. “I developed an interest in event management while doing the fashion designing course,” says Sherpa. He mentions that although his involvement in the fashion industry back then was minimal, it provided him the opportunity to learn more about the business side of the industry, including marketing, branding, and financial management. Sherpa’s foray into event management happened in 2003 when he organized ‘Kid Queen Pokhara’. “I was nervous as it was my first event. But I got to learn a lot from the experience,” he says. He then went on to organize the same pageant in Dharan, Biratnagar, Chitwan, and Kathmandu. In the meantime, he was also the organizer for ‘Miss Teen Sherpa-2004’, and ‘Miss Newa-2005’, which have since then become a yearly event. “I wanted to bring beauty pageants to every ethnic group, ages, communities, and caste, in order to showcase their ethnicity and culture,” he says, adding it was why he started planning those pageants. Although Sherpa was successful in managing all of these events, he says it was quite challenging for him to seamlessly execute each and every aspect of a beauty pageant. “Back then, the fashion industry wasn’t the thriving business it is today,” he adds. There weren’t enough designers and that posed a huge challenge. “But I didn’t want to give up. I just felt these pageants were necessary to sort of revolutionize the fashion industry in Nepal,” he says. Sherpa is dubbed the ‘Event King’ in Nepal, and not without reason. In two decades, he has organized more than 300 events, including but not limited to ‘Miss Nepal World’, ‘Mr Nepal’, ‘Miss Mangol’, ‘Miss Indigenous Heritage Nepal’, and ‘Miss Teen Nepal’. He is also involved in reality shows like Voice of Nepal, Voice of Nepal Kids, Nepal Idol, as well as several music videos and films. Sherpa has also appeared in several Nepali music videos and also acted in a movie titled ‘Rahadani’ that was released in 2020. “Acting had always been my hobby, so this was a fulfilling experience,” he says. He believes that everyone has their own unique talent when it comes to acting, modeling or singing. “It never hurts to give things a shot,” he says. Now, Sherpa is teaching fashion designing, though he is still actively involved in event planning and management. He teaches at the IIFT Kathmandu - School of Fashion and Interior Design. He is also the managing director at the institute.  He says he is happy to see youths interested in fashion. The institute has managed to train over 1,000 students in fashion designing. They are also encouraged to be involved in event management along with Sherpa. The institute is listed as one of the best fashion institutes in the city, and has received several excellence awards, one of them being the ‘Best Fashion Academy Award’ in 2020. Sherpa received the ‘Corporate Business Excellence Award’ through IIFT in 2022. There are plans of expansion in the pipeline, with a branch in Pokhara among other places. “Fashion designing, event planning, and other such creative fields weren’t viable options back when I started my career. But that’s slowly changing as people are keen on exploring these options,” he says. He believes the Nepali fashion industry is slowly working its way up in the global landscape with designers and creative minds coming up with new ideas and thus opening new avenues. Sherpa credits his mentor Basana Chhetri and his family for his success. He claims they have paved the way and eased the hurdles for him. “I’m lucky to have found such a supportive family who has assisted me in every possible way,” he says. But he feels he has prioritized his work over family and wants to change that. “I have realized you mustn’t let your work consume you, that there needs to be a healthy work-life balance,” he says.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning, and Syria has appealed to the United Nations for help following devastating earthquakes that killed more than 4,800 people and toppled buildings across southeast Turkey and northern Syria, Aljazeera reported. Authorities fear the death toll from Monday’s predawn magnitude 7.8 temblor, followed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake and several aftershocks will continue to climb as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across a region already suffering under Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis. Rescuers searched through the frigid night into Tuesday morning, hoping to dig more survivors out of the rubble as those trapped cried out for help from beneath mountains of debris.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City demolished a police beat in Maitidevi on Tuesday. The KMC said that the police beat was bulldozed as part of the campaign to demolish illegal structures within the metropolis. The structure was built by encroaching upon the road. People had been facing difficulties in walking due to the building.