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Almost twice as many passengers have left Kathmandu Valley this year compared to last year. From the beginning of this month till today, about 1.7m residents of the valley have traveled to their homes to celebrate Dashain. In the past two years, the number of people going out of Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain was less due to the covid pandemic, but this year it has increased sharply. The National Transport Business Federation of Nepal, said that 200,000 more are expected to leave the valley by the day of Vijaya Dashami.  Like the previous years, this year too, passengers are facing problems such as charging more than the specified fare in the vehicle, buying tickets for two people for the same seat, keeping the passengers in different seats than mentioned in the tickets.  Not only from Kathmandu, but also from regional cities outside the valley and from district headquarters, many people are going to their respective homes. 

An earthquake of magnitude 5.7 jolted Japan's Kyushu island on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake hit around 20:32 (local time) at a depth of 28.3km. According to the data by USGS, the epicenter was monitored at 31.322 degrees north latitude and 131.457 degrees east longitude. No casualties have been reported so far.  Kyushu is the southwesternmost of Japan's main islands with a subtropical climate, mostly. The region is majorly known for its active volcanoes, beaches and natural hot springs. (ANI)

As human rights violations across the war-torn country continue under the Taliban regime, residents of Wardak province of Afghanistan called on the organization to reopen the schools for girls above grade six.  As women and girls in Afghanistan are facing a human rights crisis, a teacher in the central province of Wardak, Shukria Husseini launched a campaign to encourage girls to get education in Afghanistan. "I was the first woman to encourage girls to get education. Now I am very sad that they can't study," she said as she called out the Taliban to reopen the schools for girls in grades 7-12 as soon as possible. "As the girls above grade six are not allowed to go to the schools, the families also prevent their daughters below grade six from going to school. They say when the girls above grade six can't be educated, these girls below grade six also cannot be educated," Husseini added.  Several human rights and education activists had urged world leaders in an open letter recently to mount diplomatic pressure on the Taliban to reopen secondary schools for girls in the war-torn country as the Taliban's brutal regime in Afghanistan will soon complete a year in August.  World leaders, regional allies, and international organizations were urged in the letter to take serious actions to fulfill their commitments in order to promote and protect Afghan girls' rights, especially the right to education which was snatched away from them after the Taliban-led Afghan government banned the education for girls in classes 6 and above.  Taliban has imposed draconian restrictions on women and girls' rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, and movement. The Taliban's decision to ban female students above grade six from school has drawn widespread criticism at the national and international levels.  Further, the Taliban regime which took over Kabul in August last year has curtailed women's rights and freedoms, with women largely excluded from the workforce due to the economic crisis and restrictions. As a result, women and girls in Afghanistan are facing a human rights crisis, deprived of the fundamental rights to non-discrimination, education, work, public participation and health. (ANI)

A huge avalanche hit Nepal's Manaslu Base Camp on Sunday. The incident was confirmed by Tashi Sherpa who was trying to climb the eighth-highest mountain in the world at 8,163 metres.  In a video shared by Tashi, avalanches can be seen descending toward the base camp. He further divulged that few tents were destroyed in the avalanche with one person missing. Some of the expedition companies are calling off their attempt for the season. Notably, it comes a week after the last one, which had left two persons dead.  According to the Tourism Department of Nepal, over a dozen people were injured, including an Indian after an avalanche ripped through just below camp 4 on September 26. The weather has not been great throughout the season.  An avalanche occurred in the mountain a few days ago also. Over 400 permits were issued by the Department of Tourism to climb Manaslu this year. An avalanche (also known as a snow slide) is a fast-moving snow flow down a slope, such as a hill or a mountain.  Avalanches may occur spontaneously, as a result of variables such as excessive precipitation or a decreasing snowpack, or as a result of external sources such as people, animals, and earthquakes. Large avalanches mostly made up of moving snow and air, have the power to catch and transport ice, rocks, and trees. It is caused by a number of factors, such as heavy snowfall, increased human activities, wind direction, steep slopes, warm temperatures, layers of snow, and earthquakes.  Notably, the Indian Army and the Defense Geoinformatics and Research Establishment (DGRE) have jointly installed the Avalanche Monitoring Radar, the first of its kind in India, in north Sikkim in September this year. Besides being used for the detection of avalanches, this radar can also be employed to detect landslides.  The avalanche radar was made operational by the Defense Research and Development Organization's wing DGRE, which is involved in forecasting and mitigating avalanche hazards faced by the Indian Army in the Himalayan region. (ANI)