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Nepal reported 260 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 027 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 214 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 817 people underwent antigen tests, of which 46 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 48 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 1, 171 active cases in the country.

Five persons including four of a single family were injured in a leopard attack at Bhimdhunga in Nagarjun Municipality-8, Kathmandu on Thursday.

The Leopard entered the chicken farm of Ram Bhattarai at around 1 am today.

Ram Bhattarai (25), his mother Saraswati, father Kumar (50) and grandmother Sanumaya were injured in the attack.

Subin Karki (26), neighbor of Bhattarai, was also injured while trying to chase the wild cat away.

According to ward Chairman Suraj Pokharel, all the injured are undergoing treatment at the Sitapaila-based Manmohan Hospital.

Surging prices for gas, food and rent catapulted US inflation to a new four-decade peak in June, further pressuring households and likely sealing the case for another large interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with higher borrowing costs to follow, Associated Press reported.

Consumer prices soared 9.1 percent compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, the biggest 12-month increase since 1981, and up from an 8.6 percent jump in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.3 percent from May to June, another substantial increase, after prices had jumped 1 percent from April to May.

The ongoing price increases underscore the brutal impact that inflation has inflicted on many families, with the costs of necessities, in particular, rising much faster than average incomes. Lower-income and Black and Hispanic Americans have been hit especially hard, because a disproportionate share of their income goes toward such essentials as housing, transportation and food.

Some economists have held out hope that inflation might be reaching or nearing a short-term peak. Gas prices, for example, have fallen from the eye-watering $5 a gallon reached in mid-June to an average of $4.66 nationwide as of Tuesday — still far higher than a year ago but a drop that could help slow inflation for July and possibly August.

In addition, shipping costs and commodity prices have begun to fall. Pay increases have slowed. And surveys show that Americans’ expectations for inflation over the long run have eased — a trend that often points to more moderate price increases over time, according to Associated Press.

Yet for now, the relentless spike in inflation has caused a steep drop in consumers’ confidence in the economy, sent President Joe Biden’s approval ratings tumbling and posed a major political threat to Democrats in the November congressional elections. Forty percent of adults said in a June AP-NORC poll that they thought tackling inflation should be a top government priority this year, up from just 14 percent who said so in December.

Illegal extraction of construction aggregate and deforestation in the Chure region has long been a cause for concern that has never quite been addressed.

The Chure hill range is spread across 37 Tarai districts, and over the years, its resources have been exploited to the point people living on its foothills are facing environmental consequences.

“There was a time when Chure was a blessing for the Tarai. It used to be an important source of freshwater for civilizations below,” Bijaya Kumar Singh, a Chure expert says. “Now landslide and drought have become common occurrences in the region.”

According to the 1986 report of the Land Resource Mapping Project, the Chure region consisted of 1.45m hectares of forest cover. The Chure forest size has shrunk rapidly since then. The Forest Resource Survey report of 2010 put the Chure’s forest size at 1.37m hectares.

Conservationists and experts say the forest cover of Chure has reduced exponentially in the past 12 years, as its resources are getting exploited at the behest of powerful political leaders.

 They add the authorities are turning a blind eye on illegal crusher plants that occupy the rivers and streams that flow from the Chure.

Crusher operators and timber traders resort to threat and violence if they are met with opposition.  

On 10 Jan 2020, Chure activist Dilip Mahato was murdered by the thugs paid by a crusher operator in Dhanusha district. Chure conservation campaigns have gained many supporters in recent years, but such campaigns are largely citizen-led, hence powerless. 

“Crusher operators are above the law because they work hand in glove with local politicians,” says Som Prasad Sharma, Madhes province chair of the Federation of Community Forestry Users’ Nepal. “For them, Chure is a gold mine and they have no qualms about using violence or bribes to continue their illegal business.”

Their actions have led the water sources to dwindle in many Tarai districts during the dry season.

“Chure deforestation has dried up the water sources, which becomes evident during winter,” says Nagadev Yadav, a Chure conservationist. 

“It is opposite during the monsoon. There are floods and landslides due to over-mining of riverbed close to human settlements.”

According to a Home Ministry’s report, 156 people lost their lives and 30 others remain unaccounted for in the Madhes province in flood-related incidents. 

Experts say stopping mining and logging activities in the Chure region alone will solve half of the problem. The rest, they say, can be taken care of through afforestation and other rejuvenation campaigns.

“There should be a sustainable symbiotic relationship between the Chure range and the communities living on its foothills. This is the only way to restore balance,” says Girirajmani Pokharel, a former education minister, who is currently leading a green campaign in Madhes.

Ramashish Yadav, environmental campaigner and assembly member of Madhes Province, says people should understand that Chure is the lifeline of Madhes.

 “It is upon us all to conserve Chure,” he says. “We cannot survive without Chure.”