Submit your Article

The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels amid setbacks brought by ongoing global COVID-19. 

HAN's this urge comes after the government cancelled the licence of Hotel Yak and Yeti to operate casino after it failed to pay Rs 420 million in royalty. 

A team led by HAN President Shreejana Rana recently sat down with minister Ale and discussed current issues facing tourism sector, according to a statement issued by the HAN. During the meeting, President Rana apprised the minister of HAN's role in the development, promotion and protection of the country's tourism sector. 

Stating any individual or institution should not avoid its responsibility to pay revenues, taxes and fees to the state as per the laws, she said that the HAN has supported the state on this matter. 

Drawing the HAN's attention to the cancellation of the licence of the five-star Yak and Yeti 'which has contributed immensely to the promotion of the country's tourism', she said that as a result, workers, staffs, related people and payment of their salaries have been affected. 

The HAN always supports the state on the matter of implementing rules and regulations as per the law, but immense contributions of hotel sector to the country's economy should be honoured, according to her. RSS

A total of 30 people have gone missing in Chitwan in the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2021/22.

According to the District Police Office, among the missing ones, 13 are women, 12 males, one boy, three girls and a senior citizen.

Police inspector Kamala Naral said that most of those who went missing had told their families that they would go visit their friends' house or visit the market but never return home.

Similarly, the district records rising cases of violence against women. A total of 261 such cases were reported in the last seven months against 154 during the same period last fiscal year. Those cases were related to thrashing, ridiculing and denial of food and shelter for the survivors among others.

There were 84 cases of violence against women were recorded in fiscal year 2019/20, informed inspector Naral. Among the 261 cases reported this fiscal year, 181 were reconciled while 51 were registered in the court while remaining 24 were under deliberation. RSS

Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a UN environmental report published on Tuesday said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals, Reuters reported.

The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations as well as at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer.

“Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the report’s author, UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd, concluded.

Due to be presented next month to the UN Human Rights Council, which has declared a clean environment a human right, the document was posted on the Council’s website on Tuesday.

It urges a ban on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, man-made substances used in household products such as non-stick cookware that have been linked to cancer and dubbed “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily.

It also recommends the clean-up of polluted sites and, in extreme cases, the possible relocations of affected communities – many of them poor, marginalised and indigenous – from so-called “sacrifice zones”.

That term, originally used to describe nuclear test zones, was expanded in the report to include any heavily contaminated site or place rendered uninhabitable by climate change.

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called environmental threats the biggest global rights challenge, and a growing number of climate and environmental justice cases are invoking human rights with success.

Veteran singer-composer Bappi Lahiri died in a Mumbai hospital following multiple health issues, reported news agency PTI. The news of his death was confirmed by hospital doctor. He died on Tuesday night at Mumbai's CritiCare Hospital in Juhu. He was 69.

"Lahiri had been admitted to the hospital for a month and was discharged on Monday. But his health deteriorated on Tuesday and his family called for a doctor to visit their home. He was brought to the hospital. He had multiple health issues. He died due to OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) shortly before midnight," Dr Deepak Namjoshi, director of the hospital, told PTI.

Fondly known as Bappi da, he was as much known for his hit numbers as he was for his fascination for gold. Bappi Lahiri was known as the true blue 'Disco King' of Bollywood of the 80s and 90s, especially for his widely popular songs for films such as Namak Halaal, Disco Dancer and Dance Dance.

He also composed songs for movies such as Himmatwala, Sharaabi, Adventures of Tarzan, Satyamev Jayate, Commando, Aaj Ke Shahenshah, Thanedaar, Numbri Aadmi and Shola Aur Shabnam, among others. The singer-composer's first big Bollywood hit score was for Aamir Khan's father Tahir Hussain's film Zakhmee. 

In the last decade, Bappi Lahiri sang songs such as Ooh La La for The Dirty Picture, Tune Maari Entriyaan for Gunday, Tamma Tamma for Badrinath Ki Dulhania, and more recently, Areey Pyar Kar Le for Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. He last composed the song Bhankas for the 2020 movie Baaghi 3.

Speaking to Hindustan Times in a 2020 interview, he had talked about the trend of recreating old classics, and said, “The trend started with recreation of my old song Tamma Tamma in Badrinath Ki Dulhania. I don’t want to comment on it. Public’s choice is the top most choice. Public is my everything."

Last year, the musician was admitted to Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai after being diagnosed with Covid-19. In September, the singer-composer had rubbished reports about his ill health, telling Hindustan Times: “I am shocked to see so many reports stating that I’ve lost my voice. It’s ridiculous and I’m really unhappy."