Submit your Article

A person died when a bus hit a motorbike in Bhaktapur on Tuesday.

The identity of deceased has not been ascertained yet.  But, he was riding pillion.

The District Police Office, Bhaktapur spokesperson Raju Pandey said that the incident occurred when the bus (Ba 4 Kha 2212) rammed the bike from behind at around 2 pm today.

The bike rider is undergoing treatment at the Bhaktapur International Hospital.

Police said that they have impounded the bus and arrested its driver for investigation.

The Sankhuwasabha District Court has slapped imprisonment to those involved in murdering six members of a family at Khola Gaun in Umling of Madi Municipality-1, Sankhuwasabha.

A single bench of Justice Shanti Prasad Acharya on Monday announced the verdict of life imprisonment against four of the five persons for their involvement in the murder of six persons, registrar Keshav Prasad Gautam said.

He said that one of them was underage and minor.

The case was filed against Rana Bahadur Karki (49), his sons Lok Bahadur Karki (28) and Naresh Karki (17) and Khadak Bahadur Karki (47) and his son Hasta Bahadur Karki (28).

Among them, Rana Bahadur, Lok Bahadur, Khadak Bahadur and Hasta Bahadur have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the verdict, Naresh has to spend 16 years and eight months in prison.

Tej Bahadur Karki (55)), his mother Parbati Karki, wife Kamala, daughter-in-law Ranjana Karki (32), grandson Bipin (8) and grand daughter Goma (5) were brutally murdered on September 6, 2021.

Two more persons were tested positive for cholera in Kathmandu Valley.

With the confirmation of the two new cases, the number of people infected with the highly contagious fatal disease has reached 19.

According to Dr Chumanlal Das, Director at the  Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, cholera has been confirmed in two children of Kageshwori Manohara Municipality.

He said that the children have already returned home after receiving primary treatment at a local hospital.

Earlier on Friday, one case each was reported in Kirtipur, Kageshwori Manohara and Teku of Kathmandu.

Dr Das said that almost all of them contracted cholera by drinking contaminated water.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Sunday extended school closures for one week because there isn’t enough fuel for teachers and parents to get children to classrooms, and the energy minister appealed to the country’s expatriates to send money home through banks to finance new oil purchases, Associated Press reported.

A huge foreign debt has left the Indian Ocean island with none of the suppliers willing to sell fuel on credit. The available stocks, sufficient for only several days, will be provided for essential services, including health and port workers, public transport and food distribution, officials said.

”Finding money is a challenge. It’s a huge challenge,” Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera told reporters.

He said the government has ordered new fuel stocks and the first ship with 40,000 metric tons of diesel is expected to arrive on Friday while the first ship carrying gasoline would come on July 22.

Several other fuel shipments are in the pipeline. But he said authorities are struggling to find $587 million to pay for the fuel. Wijesekera said that Sri Lanka owed about $800 million to seven fuel suppliers, according to Associated Press.

Last month, schools were closed nationwide for a day due to fuel shortages and had remained closed for the last two weeks in urban areas. Schools will remain shut until Friday.

Authorities also announced countrywide power cuts of up to three hours a day from Monday because they can’t supply enough fuel to power generating stations. Sweeping power cuts have been a blight on Sri Lanka’s economy for months, along with severe shortages of essentials including cooking gas, medicine and food imports.

Wijesekera said the main problem is the lack of dollars and appealed to some 2 million Sri Lankans working abroad to send their foreign exchange earnings home through banks instead of informal channels.

He said workers’ remittances, which usually stood at $600 million per month, had declined to $318 million in June.

According to the Central Bank, the remittances — the nation’s main foreign exchange earner — dropped from $2.8 billion in the first six months of 2021 to $1.3 billion in the same period this year for a decline of 53%.

The drop came after the government last year ordered the mandatory conversion of foreign currency. It said that black-market premiums have led people to hoard foreign currency, Associated Press reported.

Sri Lanka’s has been getting most of its fuel needs from neighboring India, which provided it with a credit line. The government said it was also negotiating with suppliers in Russia and Malaysia.

Sri Lanka has suspended repayment of about $7 billion in foreign loans due this year out of $25 billion to be repaid by 2026. The country’s total foreign debt is $51 billion.