Submit your Article

The main opposition party, CPN (UML) has demanded execution of the US grant project Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to serve national interest, following its parliamentary endorsement. 

At a press meet organised to disclose the party's opinion on MCC here today, the UML said much attention had to be paid before signing the foreign assistance agreement but now efforts should be made for its implementation when its compact was endorsed. 

On the occasion, UML chair KP Sharma Oli said the MCC should be taken as a development project and urged the concerned side not to do politics creating differences and conflict on the agreement. It was wrong to ascend the cadres to fuel street-based protests, he added. 

Main opposition party leader Oli said the government should immediately go for fresh mandate and clarified that fresh discussions between NC and UML were held for safeguarding the Constitution. The former Prime Minister also stressed the need for collaboration between UML and Nepali Congress (NC) which have been fighting for democracy since long. 

He accused the efforts of cornering UML by not creating an environment conducive to participate in parliamentary process while endorsing MCC. 

Chairperson Oli commented that the interpretive declaration of the MCC presented in the House of Representatives (HoR) was merely a manifestation of deception. He further shared it was baseless to state that the MCC compact was part of the Indo Pacific Strategy (IPS). 

"The US has been clarifying that it was not part of the IPS. Now the ruling coalition also echoed the same. The interpretive declaration also noted the same rhetoric. Then why erstwhile Minster Pradeep Gyawali was accused of making MCC as part of IPS,” he questioned. RSS

An Indian student was killed on Tuesday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city that is being pounded by heavy shelling by Russian forces, Hindustan Times reported.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was in touch with the student’s family. “With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Bagchi further said foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla is calling in ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine to reiterate India’s demand for urgent safe passage for its nationals who are still in Kharkiv and cities in other conflict zones. “Similar action is also being undertaken by our Ambassadors in Russia and Ukraine,” he added in the tweet.

News of the student’s death came within hour of the Indian embassy in Ukraine asking its citizens to urgently leave capital Kyiv. “Advisory to Indians in Kyiv- All Indian nationals including students are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available (sic),” a statement from the embassy read.

The Indian government has undertaken a massive mission to bring back its stranded citizens from war-torn Ukraine via neighbouring countries and has sent its senior ministers to assist the evacuation process. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the Indian Air Force to join the evacuation efforts under Operation Ganga, even as as special flights of Air India are being run to bring back the citizens.

For climate scientists reviewing a Pacific Ocean temperature forecast map in November, a bright red, sideways “V”, thousands of kilometres long signalled disaster, Reuters reported.

Combined with La Nina cooling in the central and eastern Pacific, the V-shaped pattern of warm sea water, stretching from Australia’s east coast to the Philippines and back over the ocean north of Hawaii, indicated that halfway around the world in the Horn of Africa the upcoming March-May rainy season would likely fail.

The scientists’ organization, called Famine Early Warning System Network or FEWS Net, sent out an alert with U.N., EU and African institutions, saying the “unprecedented” drought would likely “cause a perilous and disruptive humanitarian disaster”.

If the warning is born out, it could push the region into its worst drought on record. Millions of people would struggle to feed themselves.

Such warning systems are becoming increasingly essential as climate change puts food security at increasing risk. “Our work is to save lives and livelihoods,” said FEWS Net agricultural meteorologist Gideon Galu said in Kenya.

On Monday, a report by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the top global climate science authority, warned heatwaves, droughts and extreme rainfall would become more frequent in coming decades as temperatures continue to climb.

Already, “increasing weather and climate extreme events have exposed millions of people to acute food insecurity and reduced water security,” it said.

A 20-year-old woman, who was rescued from Juinka of Khatyad Rural Municipality-4 in Mugu for labour complications, gave birth to a child on a rescue flight. 

Dhanalakshmi Rawal ( 20) of Junka village was on board the Nepali Army helicopter during the 40-minute flight from Mugu to Surkhet and delivered a baby boy after 30 minutes of the departure, said NA Western command Major Belina Malla quoting pilot Lieutenant Colonel  Rachan Shrestha. 

The woman suffered labour pain for 18 hours before the rescue. Now the mother and baby have been admitted to the Karnali Province Hospital and they both are in normal health condition.RSS

Nepal logged 158 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 4, 458 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 92 returned positive. Likewise, 2,046 people underwent antigen tests, of which 66 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 354 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 7, 971 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 7, 773 people are staying in home isolation while 198 are in institutionalized isolation.

CPN (Unified Socialist) party Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal accused KP Oli and company of spreading rumours about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) among the people.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the CPN (Unified Socialist) in the Capital on Tuesday, Chairman Nepal said that Oli has no concern for the nation and people.

“Oli and the company neither supported nor rejected the MCC. Oli and his party had taken head amany things about the MCC. He remained a mute spectator while endorsing the compact from the Parliament,” Nepal said, adding, “Our party was established in a legal way. That is why, no one can take action against us.”

“The ministers of KP Oli talked about the IPS. But, none of them protested against the MCC,” he said.

The main opposition CPN-UML accused the CPN (Maoist Centre) of endorsing the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to remain in power.

The party said so by organizing a press conference after the endorsement of the MCC on Tuesday.

“Some parties in the ruling coalition had been claiming that they would stand against the MCC, saying that it was not in the interest of the nation. But, at the end they stood in favour of the compact. The parties made the MCC a geopolitical issue,” UML Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali said.

He said that a sensational decision was taken by keeping the largest party of the Parliament outside.

Leader Gyawali said that in the meantime rumours were also spread against the party.

Saying that the ruling coalition leaders have shown irresponsibility, he said, “The parties ratified the MCC just to fulfill their vested interest.”