UML for `larger deal` among major parties - Epaper

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UML for `larger deal` among major parties - Epaper
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Wednesday,July 20, 2016 (05-o4-2073)
N E PA L’ S L A R G E S T S E L L I N G E N G L I S H D A I LY
Vol XXIV No 153 | 12+4 Pages
page 8
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to continue staging
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after train axe attack
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Life & style
world
UML for ‘larger deal’
among major parties
sports
in the mecca of cricket
n Decides to face House n Wants to ensure smooth ‘political exit’ for PM
ANIL GIRI
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Prime Minister KP Sharma
Oli, who does not seem to be in
the mood to oblige to the
request of “stepping down
graciously” to pave the way
for a new government, seems
to be looking for a “larger
deal” among parties for a
“political exit”.
According to senior leaders, PM Oli and his party, the
CPN-UML, are in a bid to
ink a “larger political deal”
with the Nepali Congress, the
CPN (Maoist Centre) and
other
political
parties
before Parliament votes on
the no-confidence motion
against him.
The “larger political deal”
would mean understandings
on budget endorsement before
the House votes on the
no-trust motion, post-quake
reconstruction, implementation of the pacts signed with
India and China and constitution implementation, say the
leaders.
While the UML has been
harping on “constitutional
complexities” to make it a
point that there is no provision to elect a new prime minister, the party feels that the
same “complexities” could be
used [by other parties] to prolong the tenure of the subsequent government.
In the event of a new government continuing beyond
of
current
the
term
Parliament, which ends in
January 2018, the UML fears
the deals and appointments
made by the Oli government
Oli urges Speaker to play ‘balanced role’
KATHMANDU:
Prime
Minister KP Sharma Oli on
Tuesday urged Speaker
Onsari Gharti Magar to be
mindful of regulations and
parliamentary practices
before fixing the House
businesses.
Speaker Magar’s move of
listing the discussion on a
no-trust motion ahead of
the three subsidiary bills
related to the budget has
not gone down well with
PM Oli. During Tuesday’s
meeting, PM Oli also
expressed his dissatisfaction at Speaker Magar’s
decision, saying that her
move was biased and that
“it showed as though she
was working at the behest
of her party”. Magar was
elected the House Speaker
from the CPN (Maoist
Centre), a party which has
filed the no-trust motion
against PM Oli.
could be null and void.
If the two major parties,
which have brought the
no-trust motion against PM
Oli, fail to offer concessions, it
would mean taking the path
of confrontation, the party
leaders say.
A meeting of the Standing
Committee of the UML on
Tuesday dwelt on seeking consensus with other parties to
avoid confrontation. The
meeting also reiterated the
UML’s position that PM Oli
would face Parliament and
“The PM asked the
Speaker to keep the decorum of her position in mind
and to play a balanced role,”
said PM Oli’s Press Adviser
Pramaod Dahal. “He also
urged the Speaker to
table the three subsidiary
bills for voting before
introducing the no-trust
motion, as the bills were
incorporated as the House
business first.”
Speaker
Magar,
in
response, informed PM Oli
that she was ready to take
any of the issues first if
parties could reach consensus. “The Speaker informed
the PM that she was not
taking sides as she was
ready to move ahead based
on consensus among parties,” said Speaker Magar’s
press
adviser
Babin
Sharma. “Or else, discussion on the no-trust motion
will be held first.” (PR)
that he would not resign
before voting on the no-confidence motion. As of now, discussion on the motion has
been scheduled for Thursday,
to which the UML has taken
serious exception, saying
three subsidiary bills related
to the budget should be discussed first.
“There is a need of a larger
understanding among parties,” said UML leader Pradip
Gyawali. “But much depends
on whether the NC and
Maoists want to reach an ami-
cable accommodation.”
Gyawali added that “the
other side” needs to refrain
from drawing the President
into controversy and take forward the parliamentary hearing process of judicial and
other appointments.
Party leaders hope that
once Parliament resumes on
Thursday to discuss the
no-confidence motion and
other regular business, a fresh
round of political negotiations will begin.
“The business of the budget
should be discussed ahead of
the no-trust vote,” said UML
Standing Committee member
Chhabilal
Bishwokarma.
“Once the budget is approved,
we have to find ways to form
the next government as constitutional provisions are not
clear. We want to discuss ways
to devise a clear-cut political
and constitutional roadmap to
steer clear of uncertainty,”
Bishwokarma said.
PM Oli is said to have raised
the issue of amendment to the
constitution before paving the
way for the formation of new
government during his meeting with NC President Sher
Bahadur Deuba and CPN
(Maoist Centre) Chairman
Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Majority of the UML leaders who spoke during
Tuesday’s meeting stressed
that the budget should be
made the priority business of
the House. The meeting also
urged senior party leaders,
including party Chairman
and PM Oli, not to make provocative statements against
the NC and the Maoists.
n Nepali cricketer Gyanendra Malla plays a stroke during a 50-over friendly cricket match against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s
Post Photo: kaushal adhikari
in London on Tuesday. Nepal slides back into food deficit
SANGAM PRASAIN
Surplus and deficit (in tonnes)
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Nepal slid back into a food
deficit this fiscal year after
recording surpluses for the
last five years, largely due to a
sharp drop in cereal production triggered by multiple
environmental and political
stresses.
According to the statistics
of
the
Ministry
of
Agricultural Development,
the country has a food
deficit of 71,387 tonnes. Last
year’s edible grain output
totalled 5.27 million tonnes
against the requirement of
5.34 million tonnes.
Food deficit is calculated on
the basis of a country’s
total output that is unable to
feed the population. Nepal’s
overall cereal crop output
dropped for the second
943,161
789,890
408,442
334,468
155,558
’06-07
22,367
’08-09
’09-10
’10-11
’07-08
-179,910
’15-16
’11-12
’12-13
-132,910
’13-14
’14-15
-71,387
(Source: Ministry of Agricultural development )
-382,142
straight year to 8.61 million
tonnes last year, recording a
decline of 7 percent.
The country produced
652,000 tonnes less food grain
as severe droughts, floods,
earthquakes and fertilizer
and diesel shortages due to
unrest in the Tarai took their
toll on both summer and winter harvests.
>> Continued on page 2
12 supporters
of Dr KC held
n Police try to stop students and doctors demonstrating in support of
Dr Govinda KC, in Baluwatar, on Tuesday. Post Photo: angad dhakal
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
At least 12 persons, who were
staging a demonstration in
support of Dr Govinda KC—a
surgeon on hunger strike
demanding reforms in the
medical sector—were briefly
arrested from Baluwatar on
Tuesday.
Four doctors and eight students were rounded up by
police when they tried to enter
the prohibited zone near the
prime minister’s official residence.
DSP
Lokendra
Shrestha, chief
of
the
Metropolitan Police Circle,
Kamalpokhari, said, “We had
to arrest them because they
tried to break the barricades
and protest in the prohibited
area,” said DSP Shrestha.
“They were released later in
the evening.” Doctors and students had taken out a rally
from Tribhuvan University
Teaching
Hospital
to
Baluwatar to protest against
government’s apathy towards
Dr KC’s demands.
Badri Aryal, a fourth year
MBBS student at the Institute
of Medicine, said, “We will
stage demonstrations in
Baluwatar again. The govern-
‘Doc’s health fast
deteriorating’
KATHMANDU:
Doctors
attending Dr Govinda KC
said on Tuesday that the
fasting surgeon’s health
condition is fast deteriorating. “There has been
fluctuation in Dr KC’s
blood pressure and he is
having chest pain and
muscle cramps,” said Dr
Dibya Singh, a member
of the medical team
attending to Dr KC. “He
might need critical care
anytime,” Dr Singh
added. (PR)
see editorial
ment cannot remain silent on
issues put forth by Dr KC.”
Dr KC has been on a hunger
strike for the past 10 days
demanding reforms in the
medical education sector,
implementation of the past
agreements
and impeachment of Commission for
Investigation of Abuse of
Authority chief Lok Man
Singh Karki.
C M Y K
news digest
22 Nepalis
chosen for MTech
in IIT-Roorkee
KATHMANDU: Twenty-two
Nepalis have been selected for the two-year
MTech course at the
Indian Institute of
Technology in Roorkee.
According to a press
statement issued by the
Embassy of India in
Kathmandu, 11 have
been selected for Water
Resource Development,
six for Irrigation Water
Management, four for
Alternate Hydro Energy
Systems and one for
Hydrology courses. “This
represents yet another
high quality contribution of India in Nepal’s
capacity building,” said
the embassy in the statement. (PR)
Journalism award
to Thapa
BIRATNAGAR: The
Dadhiraj Subedi
Puraskar Pratishthan
has announced to confer
its journalism award to
Hari Bahadur Thapa, the
news editor of Kantipur
daily. The foundation
decided to award Thapa
in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of journalism in the
country. The award carrying a purse of Rs25,000
will be handed over after
two months. The foundation also decided to
award Prof Govinda
Bhattarai with the
Dadhiraj Subedi national
literary award. (PR)
Motorcyclist dies
in accident
BUTWAL: A motorcyclist,
who was injured in a
road accident at the
Tinau bridge along the
East-West Highway, died
while being rushed to
hospital on Tuesday.
Kumar Nagarkoti, 30, of
Chisapani of Chitwan,
was hit by a truck (Na 4
Kha 6332), said Regional
Traffic Police Office,
Butwal, adding that the
motorcyclist succumbed
to injuries while being
rushed to Lumbini Zonal
Hospital for treatment.
Police have detained the
driver and impounded
the vehicle.
Hospital faces
water crisis
NC leaders ask PM to
clear way for new govt
Sarin Ghimire
Kathmandu, July 19
A majority of the Nepali
Congress leaders on Tuesday
urged Prime Minister KP
Sharma Oli to resign immediately to pave the way for
the formation of a new government.
Coming down heavily on
Oli for “creating an unnecessary commotion by misinterpreting the constitutional provision”, several leaders speaking at the party’s Central
Working Committee (CWC)
meeting concluded that
Article 298 of the constitution
allowed them to form a new
government.
NC leader Bal Krishna
Khand said the meeting
declared that since a no-confidence motion had already
been registered in Parliament,
the party remained united to
pass the vote against the government and urged other parties to follow suit.
“Since Oli’s government is
already a caretaker one,
today’s meeting urged him to
stop creating hassles by bringing up unnecessary hurdles.
We are fully committed to supporting a government led by
the
Maoist
leadership,”
Khand told the Post.
Acknowledging the recent
agreement with the CPN
(Maoist Centre) to form a
majority government under
the leadership of Pushpa
Kamal Dahal for the first nine
months to hold the local polls
and to subsequently conduct
provincial and federal elections under the NC’s watch in
the remaining nine months,
leaders speaking at the meeting, however, cautioned the
party leadership to create a
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
n
A meeting of the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee on Tuesday. conducive environment for
the CPN-UML to participate
in the constitution implementation process.
“In terms of implementing
the constitution, we are
aware that all the major forces
need to come together for
national consensus. Only
then will we be able to move
ahead. Thus, we do not want
our relationship with the
UML to sour,” Khand quoted
leaders as saying.
Even if the NC, the Maoist
Centre and the Madhesi forces
come to a mid-point on the
demands put forth by the
Tarai-based parties and agree
on amending the constitution,
central committee meeting
the UML’s participation in the
process is a must since it
holds a significant number of
seats in Parliament.
Out of the 595 seats in
Parliament, the NC has 207,
the UML claims 183, the
Maoist Centre holds 83 and
the Samyukta Loktantrik
Madhesi Morcha, which has
seven Madhes-based parties
under it, has 39 seats. Madhesi
forces, among others, have
reservations about the demarcation of states, citizenship
issues and prospects of inclusive representation in the
Upper House. NC leader Guru
Raj Ghimire said several
options, including forming a
government team to hold discussions with the Madhesi
forces or, if possible, bringing
them on board the new government to facilitate dialogue,
were discussed by a majority
of the leaders. “Sher Bahadur
Deubaji has also repeatedly
stated that he would take
initiatives
for
dialogue
with the Madhesi forces,”
Ghimire said.
During the meeting, former
general secretary Krishna
Prasad Sitaula is said to have
apprised
the
Central
The Kathmandu Post Career
EduFair kicks off on Friday
First tranche
of housing
grant to be
doled out
‘by October’
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
n Mahesh Swar, assistant general manager of Kantipur Publications, briefs media about The Kathmandu Post Edufair 2016 at New Baneshwor,
Kathmandu on Tuesday. Also seen is Editor-in-Chief of the Post Akhilesh Upadhyay (second right). POST PHOTO: PRAKASH CHANDRA TIMILSENA
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
The Kantipur Publications is
all set to organise the fourth
The Kathmandu Post Career
EduFair in the Capital beginning on Friday. Over 140
domestic and international
colleges and universities will
provide overall information to
visitors about their courses at
the event.
As many as 130 stalls and 13
pavilions will be set for the
three-day fair to be held in the
Bhrikutimandap Exhibition
Hall. The education fair
is a calendar programme
of the Publications, which
has been organising it every
year since 2012 except
for 2015 when it was disrupted
due to the devastating
earthquakes.
Besides getting first-hand
information about the colleges, courses and the expenses,
students visiting the fair will
also get career counseling,
which helps them shape a
career path of their choice,
the organisers said.
“The fair will provide a
forum for fresh graduates to
gather information regarding
any course they want to pursue,” said Akhilesh Upadhyay,
editor-in-chief
of
The
Kathmandu Post, at a press
meet organised in the Capital
on Tuesday. “They can compare the colleges, fees and
courses and take their final
decision.” He said that the
Post has regularly been providing forum for educational
issues through its regular
pages—The Collegian and
Classroom.
Mahesh Swar, assistant
general manager at the
Publications, said the event
was the first of its kind as it
brings together both domestic
and foreign colleges for students to choose from.
Apart from regular events,
three seminars would be
organised every day where
distinguished personalities
and celebrities will interact
with visitors, he added.
A session for inspirational
speech by an entrepreneur
would be held at 11am and a
career and motivational
speech at 1pm.
Students
visiting
the
fair managed by Array
International can also get
scholarships from the Lord
Buddha
E d u c at i o n
Foundation (LBEF), Sharada
University, Quest College,
IHMS College and Reva universities, the organizers said.
There are also opportunities
for gift hampers selected
through lucky draws.
The LBEF is the title
sponsor of the event while
Herald College is the main
sponsor. It has also been sponsored by IST College and supported by the Association of
Pokhara University Affiliated
Colleges, Nepal.
Nepal slides back into food deficit
Wheat output plunged 12.1
percent to a six-year low of
1.73 million tonnes and paddy
output, the country’s major
cereal crop, fell 10.2 percent to
4.29 million tonnes.
“The food deficit has
already sent the import bill
soaring,”
said
Dinesh
Bhattarai, chief statistician
at the ministry. “Nepal’s food
imports have not been factored into the deficit.” He said
Committee members of his
meeting with PM Oli. On
Monday
night,
inviting
Sitaula for talks, PM Oli is
said to have urged the NC to
form a government under its
leadership with the backing
of the UML. In response,
Sitaula told the prime minister that the party had already
gone ahead with supporting a
government under Dahal’s
leadership.
Sources said that leaders
Ram Chandra Poudel and
Prakash Man Singh were also
separately invited for talks by
Oli. However, both were said
to have kept mum at the meeting about their visits.
Reconstruction
Microbus turns
turtle, six hurt
>> Continued from page 1
Post photo: Nimesh Jang Rai
post-quake
POST REPORT
that a good monsoon this year
has raised hopes for a fine
summer harvest this year.
The Trade and Export
Promotion Centre said the
country’s cereal import bill
jumped 9 percent to Rs35 billion in the first 11 months of
the last fiscal year.
According to the ministry,
36 districts in the country are
facing food deficit, meaning
that their output is unable to
feed their population.
Kathmandu has the highest
AI report
shows police
torturing
detainees
POST REPORT
JAJARKOT: Jajarkot
District Hospital is reeling under acute shortage
of drinking water. The
number of patients visiting the hospital has suddenly soared this rainy
season, but we are facing
problem as there is crisis
of drinking water, said
Dr Rajendra GC. The
water crisis has affected
other regular activities
at the hospital as well.
Drinking water supply to
the hospital was disrupted after a landslide
swept away the
pipelines.
RAJBIRAJ: At least six
people were injured
when a microbus met
with an accident at
Portaha of Saptari along
the East-West Highway
on Monday evening. The
microbus (Ba 3 Kha 8096)
en route from
Kathmandu to
Kakarvitta turned turtle
while trying to make way
for a bicycle coming from
the opposite direction.
Of the injured, condition
of Shanta Kumari Rai,
45, of Topgachhi-5, Jhapa
and Sunita Shrestha, 25
and Suman Kumar
Ghimire of Koteshwor,
Kathmandu is said to be
critical. They were
rushed to Biratnagar for
treatment, said Inspector
Gaurab Mahat. Other
injured are receiving
care at a clinic, added
Mahat. (RSS)
thekathmandu post 02
news
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
food deficit of 365,733 tonnes
among the country’s 75 districts. The capital produces
58,730 tonnes of cereal crops
while it requires 424,463
tonnes to feed its teeming population of
2.1 million.
Chitwan and Lalitpur districts have the second and
third highest food deficit in
the country. Chitwan produces 28,093 tonnes of food
against its requirement of
113,994 tonnes.
Likewise, Lalitpur produc-
es 38,978 tonnes compared to
its requirement of 107,200
tonnes. Region-wise, the
Eastern Region has the highest surplus food reserve of
206,642 tonnes. It produces
1.33 million tonnes while its
requirement is 1.12 million
tonnes. The Central Region
has a food deficit of 500,774
tonnes. It produces 1.49 million tonnes while it needs 1.99
million tonnes.
The Tarai belt has a surplus food reserve of 148,953
tonnes. The Tarai produces
2.73 million tonnes against its
requirement of 2.58 million
tonnes, according to the ministry’s statistics. During the
last 10 years, Nepal recorded a
food surplus for six years and
a deficit for four years. The
country saw the highest food
deficit of 485,000 tonnes in
1994-95, according to the ministry. The highest food surplus
of 943,161 tonnes was observed
in 2011-12 when the country
produced a bumper harvest.
The National Reconstruction
Authority is planning to complete the distribution of the
first instalment of the house
rebuilding aid by October to
all the displaced families in
the 14 districts worst affected
by the earthquake.
The meeting of the directive committee of the NRA in
June had come up with a work
plan that includes distribution of the first instalment
amounting to Rs50,000 within
four months to all of the beneficiaries identified after reassessment of the households in
affected districts.
“We have already mobilised
the
necessary
human
resource, technical teams and
local authorities to facilitate
fund distribution and rebuilding,” said Ram Prasad
Thapaliya, the NRA spokesperson.
According to Thapaliya,
coordination among all the
stakeholders including the
ministries and line departments working in reconstruction after the Gorkha
Earthquake is a must to
ensure timely distribution of
the house rebuilding aid.
The reassessment of the
damaged households in 11 districts and two villages in
Lalitpur district identified
533,155 households as eligible
for the housing grants.
Reassessment of the damaged
households in three Valley
districts started on Monday.
The teams mobilised for reassessment are expected to complete the work within 35 days
of the starting date.
Out of the total 252,832
households in 11 districts
that have signed tripartite
grant agreements with the
NRA, 35,292 have received
the first instalment as of
Tuesday. A total of 100,649
complaints have been lodged
at the local offices of the NRA
in 11 districts by the earthquake victims.
The Amnesty International
has revealed police mistreatment of the persons
held in connection with the
killings of eight security
personnel and a child in
Tikapur last year.
The incident took place
on August 24, 2015 during a
protest against the federal
boundaries proposed by the
government in the run-up
to the promulgation of the
new constitution.
Police had arrested
scores of villagers, prepared a chargesheet against
58 people with murder,
attempted murder and robbery. Two of the accused
are children, and the trial is
pending before the Kailali
district court.
The report titled ‘Nepal:
Torture
and
Coerced
Confession’ claims police
arrested villagers arbitrarily, tortured and coerced
them into signing confessions in connection with
the killings. “Eighteen of
the 19 detainees interviewed said they had been
tortured from the moment
the police took them into
custody,” read the report.
The detainees have
reported of beating and torture immediately after
arrest. Some said they were
thrashed until they fell
unconscious. One detainee
said that police came to his
house, asked for his name
and then began to beat him
up before putting him into
their vehicle.
“The police stopped their
vehicle at a police post and
beat me up there. Then they
stopped at another and hit
me there with lathis, rifle
butts, whatever they had,”
he said.
The detainees interviewed have reported police
beating them with bamboo
sticks, boots, plastic pipes,
and “whatever came to
their hand”.
Another detainee said
that police did not behave
as men. One of the policemen chewed tobacco and
spat it in his face.
The
Amnesty
International has interviewed over 30 people
including villagers, government officials, rights workers, teachers and lawyers to
prepare the report. In addition, the AI reviewed the
copies of legal documents,
including the chargesheets,
the interim court order, and
the submission on behalf
of the detainees to the Doti
appellate court.
“The Tharu community
has long suffered marginalisation and the denial of
their human rights in
kailali carnage
Report claims police
arrested villagers
arbitrarily, tortured
and coerced them into
signing confessions
Nepal. These cases are,
sadly, not an aberration
but form part of a longstanding pattern of police
abuse against the Tharu
community,” said Champa
Patel, the AI’s South Asia
director.
All the detainees said
they were then forced to
sign “confessions” admitting to their alleged crimes,
without even being allowed
to read the document. Ram
Prasad
Chaudhary,
a
detainee who was subjected
to extensive torture, said
that the police used force to
hold his hand for the “confession” signature.
The rights organisation
has urged Nepali authorities to carry out prompt,
independent, impartial and
effective investigations into
the allegations of torture
and other ill-treatment,
coerced confessions and
arbitrary arrests.
The detainees were also
deprived of their right to
health care and the required
treatment.
The rights watchdog
has also called on the government to provide redress
to the victims of torture
and other ill-treatment,
which includes an acknowledgment of the harm
inflicted to them, as well as
rehabilitation, compensation and guarantees of
non-repetition.
“These are merely the
first steps that Nepal’s
authorities must take to
begin effacing the shame of
this episode. What these
allegations underscore is
the urgent need for structural reforms to be introduced to once and for all put
an end to torture and other
police abuses,” said Patel.
MJF-L to vote
in favour of
ruling coalition
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
The Bijaya Kumar Gachhadarled Madhesi Janadhikar
Forum Loktantrik (MJF-L), a
key ally and the only Madhesbased party in the ruling alliance, has decided to stand by
Prime Minister KP Sharma
Oli as he faces a vote of
no-confidence in Parliament
later this week.
MJF-L General Secretary
Ram Janam Chaudhary, who
is also Minister for Health in
the incumbent Cabinet, told
the Post that the party would
vote against the no-confidence
motion lodged by the Nepali
Congress and the CPN (Maoist
Centre) last week.
“Our party will vote against
the no-confidence motion. We
will stand alongside other
partners in the ruling coalition,” said Chaudhary, adding
that the party has no immediate plan to withdraw support
to the government.
Sources said Gachhadar
was initially planning to quit
the government soon after the
Party has no immediate
plan to withdraw support
to the government, says
Gen Secy Chaudhary
CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew its support from the government. He had even met
Maoist Centre Chairman
Pushpa Kamal Dahal twice.
But Gachhadar reportedly
changed his mind after learning about Dahal and NC
President Sher Bahadur
Deuba’s plan to bring other
Madhes-based parties on
board. The NC and Maoist
Centre leadership are said
to
be
under
pressure
from other Madhes-based parties, including Samyukta
Loktantrik Morcha, to keep
Gachhadar out from the new
coalition in making.
The MJF-L, which has 14
seats in Parliament, has a long
standing rivalry with other
Madhes-based parties both on
the ground and the central
politics.
C M Y K
03
thekathmandu post
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
C M Y K
plane crash
survivors say
they’ve not
received any
compensation
from airlines
thekathmandu post 04
news
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
here comes the sun
POST REPORT
JUMLA, JULY 19
People who survived the Air
Kasthamandap plane crash on
February 27 have complained
that they have not received
compensation from the airlines company.
The survivors organised a
press meet in Jumla on
Tuesday to share their stories.
One of the passengers
Meghraj Giri, who was on
board the plane with his wife
and their son, said they are
receiving treatment on their
own. “We have already spent
Rs 400,000 for treatment,” said
Giri, informing that the Air
Kasthmandap had only provided Rs 20,000 after the crash.
The survivors of
Air Kasthamandap plane
crash say they only
received Rs 20,000 after
the incident
Another survivor Laxman
Khadka said the airlines people went out of contact after
he called them repeatedly.
“I have multiple fractures
in my face for which I have to
see the doctor regularly.
I contacted the airlines
several times to ask for compensation. They have stopped
taking my calls,” said Khadka.
The survivors said even the
insurance company was not
giving them clear answers
about the compensation
process.
The chartered flight of Air
Kasthamandap, en route to
Jumla from Nepalgunj, had
crashed landed in Chilkhaya
in Kalikot.
Two
crew
members,
Captain Dinesh Neupane and
his co-pilot Santosh Rana,
died in the crash. All nine
passengers survived with
injuries.
n
The sun greets the historic Dattatraya Square at the ancient town of Bhaktapur as the overcast sky opens up on Tuesday afternoon.
In northern Dhading,
elderly face daunting
task of rebuilding
weather watch
Forecast: Mostly cloudy in the eastern
and central regions and generally cloudy
in the rest of the country.
Places
Max MIN Rainfall
Temp (0C) Temp (0C)(mm)
Dadeldhura26.4 18.2 0.0
Dipayal 34.324.00.1
Dhangadi 34.125.50.0
Birendranagar31.7 22.5 37.0
Nepalgunj 32.9 25.066.6
Jumla 24.316.80.4
Dang 30.323.26.2
Pokhara 31.5 23.2Traces
Bhairahawa34.5 26.0 3.4
Simara 32.225.60.2
Kathmandu30.1 21.224.3
Okhaldhunga22.6 18.5 2.4
Taplejung 24.8 18.914.9
Dhankuta 26.521.51.5
Biratnagar33.026.35.4
Jomsom 22.6 13.00.0*
Dharan 30.5 25.44.8*
Source: Meteorological forecasting Division, Department of
Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu
n With most of the young population either out of the district or abroad for employment, many VDCs in
northern Dhading are left with elderly citizens, women and children.
HARIHAR SINGH RATHOUR
DHADING, JULY 19
Many youths from the earthquake-hit VDCs in northern
Dhading are either out of the
district or abroad for employment. The have left behind
their elderly parents, who
now face a daunting task of
rebuilding their homes.
According to the District
Administration Office (DAO),
the number of youth population in the VDCs of Tipling,
Jharlang, Sertung, Ree and
Lapa VDCs is very few.
“The youths who are still
around are also in the process
of going abroad for employ-
ment,” said Toran Parajuli,
the administrative officer.
“Around 50 youths from northern Dhading obtain passports
on daily basis.”
If this trend continues,
Parajuli says, the northern
Dhading will soon be without
its young population who are
wanted now, more than ever,
to rebuild their villages.
Many elderly citizens are
already feeling the pressure
of rebuilding homes, well
before the actual task has
even started. They do not
know how or where to go
about to rebuild their
quake-ravaged homes using
the government grant of Rs
200,000.
Eighty-seven-year-old Dhan
Maya Tamang, of Tipling
VDC-5, has been living alone
in a temporary shelter since
the earthquake of 25 April
2015.
“Both my sons separated
after the earthquake. They
don’t live in Dhading anymore. I don’t know how I will
be able to build a house,” she
said.
Like Dhan Maya, there are
many elderly people in Tipling
and other VDCs in northern
Dhading whose children have
separated from them and
moved to other places with
their families.
According to the District
Development
Committee,
there are around 2,000 elderly
citizens in northern Dhading
who receive social security
allowance. Many of them are
living all by themselves.
“They cannot rebuild their
homes, so we must come up
with a solution to help them
in the reconstruction process,” Chief District Officer
Bishwo Prakash Subedi said.
POST PHOTO: SANDESH DUMARU
Flood destroys seven
houses in Tikapur
n
Security personnel use sandbags to plug a breach at an irrigation canal in Tikapur.
POST REPORT
TIKAPUR, JULY 19
Seven houses have been
destroyed after flood water
entered a settlement in
Ekatangar,
Tikapur
on
Monday.
According to the Tikapur
Red Cross, seven houses of
Kamaiyas (bonded labourers)
were inundated after an irrigation canal burst on the
north-east of Tikapur.
Around 25 displaced families are taking shelter at Naya
Nepal Primary School, said
police. DSP Gautam Mishra of
the Area Police Officer in
Tikapur said a majority of
houses have been waterlogged
in
Gidarpur,
Phadela,
Jawalpur villages due to poor
drainage. Around 100 people
have been displaced by the
floods, police added.
In Pyuthan, vehicular
movement along the BhringriSorgadwari road has been
obstructed due to landslides at
Rumale area for the past two
weeks. Local Ishwori Regmi
said they have faced hardship
after landslides also blocked
Bijubar and Badula roads.
In Taplejung, a house
belonging to Bir Bahadur
Labung and Jiban Labung
near Mitlung area collapsed
on Monday.
The house was inundated
after a landslide dammed the
Tamor river at Sawadin VDC
in the district.
In Kanchanpur, the raging
Mahakali river burst its banks
at four places between Bhujela
and Dodhara Chandani area.
Engineer Karbir Saud of the
People’s
Embankment
Programme
in
Mahendranagar said the flood
POST PHOTO: GANESH CHAUDHARY
had already swept away levee
in four different places and
the rising water levels since
Saturday has put locals of
Bhujela at high risk.
Three persons drown
KATHMANDU: Three persons
were swept away by swelling
streams on Tuesday. Sixtyyear-old man and his son of
Bhrikuti Municipality in
Kapilvastu district drowned
as they were trying to cross
the flooded Gudarud stream,
according to Area Police
Office in Gorusinghe. In
another incident, a 10-year-old
school student died after
being swept away by a rivulet
in Gulmi district on Tuesday.
Police said the body of Subash
Bhandari, the fourth grader
of Adarsha Boarding School
at Resunga-4, was found 500
metres downstream.
3 die in separate attacks
POST REPORT
RUKUM/PANCHTHAR, JULY 19
Three persons were murdered
in separate incidents in
Rukum and Panchthar districts on Tuesday.
A 26-year-old man from
Rugha-5, Rukum, bludgeoned
his wife and mother-in-law to
death. Jagat Bahadur Khadka
murdered his wife Naumati
and mother-in-law Opi Oli,
said police. The motive behind
the crime was not immediately clear. Jagat Bahadur, who
was taken to custody, had
returned from India two
weeks ago. In Panchthar,
Manoj Tumbapo, 18, attacked
Debraj Ingwa Limbu following a dispute. Debraj’s son and
daughter were left injured in
the incident that took place in
Phidim, the district headquarters. Police said Debraj was
slashed multiple times with a
Khukuri. He died at Panchthar
District Hospital.
Debraj’s son Aindra and
daughter Sabitra were also
attacked. They were taken to
Dharan for treatment. Police
said they arrested Manoj from
the neighbouring district of
Tehrathum.
C M Y K
world
kathmandu post
the
PG 05 | Wednesday,July20,2016
NKorea test-fires 3 missiles
North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles on
Tuesday, in further defiance of the international
community and in apparent reaction to the
planned deployment of a US defence system in
the South. The US and Japan have vowed a
coordinated response to Pyongyang’s repeated violations of UN sanctions.
news digest
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
Army rescues Pak judge’s son
Philippines ex-prez Arroyo freed
Pakistani security forces have rescued the
kidnapped son of a top judge in a raid in the
country’s restive northwest, the military said.
Awais Ali Shah, a lawyer himself, was abducted last month from the southern port city of
Karachi. Shah was found in Tank, which lies
close to tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The Philippines’ Supreme Court has dismissed
a plunder case against former President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo and ordered her immediate
release after five years under hospital arrest.
Arroyo, 69, ruled the archipelago nation from
2001 to 2010 but her presidency was
plagued by allegations of corruption.
Generals jailed
as PM warns
against revenge
marking teacher’s day
26 die in Taiwan
bus inferno
TAIPEI: A Taiwan bus taking mainland Chinese
tourists to the airport for
their flight home caught
fire and crashed Tuesday,
killing all 26 on board as
desperate passengers
struggled in vain to
escape. The disaster was
the latest in a series that
have called into question
Taiwan’s safety record.
Media footage showed
the bus, with flames
shooting from the front,
had rammed into an
expressway barrier near
Taipei. The images
showed thick plumes of
smoke and burned-out
wreckage at the roadside.
A police spokesman said
the bus had caught fire
before it crashed into
the barrier but gave no
reason.
Maoist ambush
in east India
kills 10 policemen
NEW DELHI: Suspected
Maoist rebels have killed
10 paramilitary commandos in eastern India after
ambushing their convoy
and exploding a series of
bombs, police said
Tuesday, in the deadliest
such attack since 2014.
Rebels detonated the
homemade bombs on
Monday afternoon as
more than 100 police
were conducting an
anti-Maoist operation in
dense forests in Bihar
state, a senior officer
said. Attackers then fired
indiscriminately from
hilltops into the group
from the Central Reserve
Police Force, Bihar IGP
Kundan Krishnan said.
China HIV leak
violates patients’
rights: WHO
BEIJING: A leak of HIV
carriers’ identities in
China was a violation of
their “fundamental
right”, the World Health
Organization said, after
reports that hundreds of
infected people were
approached by telephone
swindlers. A total of 313
HIV-positive people have
been contacted by callers
claiming to be government officials offering
financial allowances in
exchange for their banking information, the
Southern Weekly newspaper reported Monday,
citing campaign group
Baihualin. (Agencies)
Agence France-Presse
ANKARA, July 19
n Hindu devotees put their hands on their heads as they pray to seek blessings from their spiritual leader during the annual festival of
‘Guru Purnima’ inside an ashram in Ahmedabad, India, on Tuesday.
REUTERS
German police kill Afghan
teen after train axe attack
Agence France-Presse
berlin, July 19
German police shot dead a
17-year-old Afghan refugee
late Monday after he attacked
train passengers with an axe
and a knife, seriously wounding three people in what one
official said was a “probable”
Islamist attack.
Several other people were
also injured in the assault on a
regional train near the southern city of Wuerzburg, police
said, adding that the teenager
was killed as he tried to flee.
Joachim Herrmann, the
interior minister of Bavaria
state, said the assailant
had arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Germany
and was living nearby
Ochsenfurt.
“It is quite probable that
this was an Islamist attack,”
said a ministry spokesman,
adding that the attacker had
shouted “Allahu akbar” (God
is greatest).
The
attack
happened
around 9:15 pm (1915 GMT) on
the train, which runs between
Treuchlingen and Wuerzburg
in Bavaria.
“Shortly after arriving at
Wuerzburg, a man attacked
passengers with an axe and a
knife,” a police spokesman
said.
“Three people have been
seriously injured and several
others
lightly
injured.”
Fourteen people were treated
for shock.
He added: “The perpetrator
was able to leave the train,
police left in pursuit and as
n Police officers stand by a regional train in Wuerzburg, Germany,
after a man attacked train passengers with an axe on Monday evening.
afp/rss
part of this pursuit, they shot
the attacker and killed him.”
There were no further
details on the circumstances
of the teenager’s death.
Germany had thus far
escaped the kind of largescale jihadist attacks seen in
the southern French city of
Nice last week, in which
31-year-old
Mohamed
Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a
truck to mow down people
leaving a Bastille Day fireworks display, killing 84 people in an attack claimed by
Islamic State.
In May in Germany, a mentally unstable 27-year-old man
carried out a knife attack on a
regional train in the south,
killing one person and injuring three others.
Early reports suggested he
had yelled “Allahu akbar” but
police later said there was no
evidence pointing to a religious motive. He is being held
in a psychiatric hospital.
Germany let in a record
nearly 1.1 million asylum
seekers last year, with Syrians
the largest group followed by
Afghans fleeing ongoing turmoil and poverty in their
country.
The number of refugees
arriving in Germany has fallen sharply as a result of the
closure of the Balkans migration route and an EU deal with
Turkey to stem the flow.
Philippines
rejects China
offer of South
China Sea talks
Reuters
MANILA, July 19
The Philippines has turned
down a Chinese proposal to
start bilateral talks, its foreign minister said on Tuesday,
because of Beijing’s pre-condition of not discussing a
court ruling that nullified
most of its South China Sea
claims.
Perfecto Yasay said he had
met his Chinese counterpart
Wang Yi on the sidelines of a
summit of
Asian and
European leaders on the
weekend and after raising the
topic of last week’s ruling, it
became clear that was a no-go
area.
China has angrily rejected
the verdict by the Permanent
Court of Arbitration and the
initial case as illegal and farcical. It has repeatedly said it
will not change its approach
or its sovereignty claims in
the South China Sea.
Yasay said Yi had proposed
bilateral talks but only on
issues “outside, or (in) disregard of, the arbitral ruling,”
which he declined because it
was not in the Philippines’
national interests.
China claims most of the
South China Sea, through
which more than $5 trillion of
trade moves annually.
Turkish Prime Minister
Binali Yildirim on Tuesday
warned against exacting
revenge on supporters of the
failed coup, as Ankara arrested top generals in a relentless
crackdown that has sparked
global alarm.
Erdogan has denounced the
coup bid, which left more than
300 dead on all sides, as a
treacherous bid to oust him
from power devised from the
US compound of his arch-enemy, exiled Islamic preacher
Fethullah Gulen.
But with the authorities
detaining over 7,500 people so
far in a massive legal crackdown and sacking almost 9,000
people, Turkey’s EU and Nato
allies have urged Ankara to
keep the rule of law in place.
Erdogan’s suggestion that
the death penalty could be
reinstated has sent shudders
through Europe and sparked
warnings such a move would
be the nail in the coffin of its
already embattled bid to join
the EU.
An Ankara court late on
Monday placed under arrest
26 former generals suspected
‘Vast majority of military had no links’
ISTANBUL: The Turkish
army said Tuesday that the
vast majority of its members had no links with
Friday’s attempted coup
and warned that the putschists would face severe punishment.
overwhelming
“The
majority of our members
who love their people,
nation and flag have absolutely nothing to do” with
turkey turmoil
of planning Friday’s attempted power grab, including former air force chief General
Akin Ozturk, whom some
Turkish media have painted
as the mastermind of the plot.
The generals have now
been put behind bars ahead of
their trials, a date for which
has not been sent.
They have been charged
with crimes including seeking
to overturn the constitutional
order, leading an armed group
and seeking to assassinate the
president. Turkey’s treatment
of the suspects has alarmed
this coup “attempted by
traitors,” it said in a statement.
The army said the plooters would be punished
severely for the “humiliation and disgrace” on the
Turkish republic.
“Believers of the rule of
law, democracy and the
high value of our nation
and its noble aims were the
victors,” it added.
its allies especially after some
were paraded before the
media and shown being subjected to rough treatment.
“Nobody can have a feeling
of revenge. This is unacceptable in a state governed by
rule of law,” Yildirim said
after meeting secular opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP) leader Kemal
Kilicdaroglu.
The interior ministry said
almost 9,000 people, including
nearly 8,000 police but also
municipal governors and
other officials, had also been
dismissed in a widening
purge.
Melania embroiled
in plagiarism row
n Melania Trump
Agence France-Presse
CLEVELAND, July 19
Portions of Melania Trump’s
prime-time speech to the
Republican
National
Convention
on
Monday
appear to have been plagiarized, tarnishing what should
have been her big moment to
introduce herself to the
American public.
The apparent plagiarism
came to light shortly after the
46-year-old former model took
to the stage with husband
Donald Trump on Monday
night to offer an eloquent testimonial of his strengths as a
husband, father, and potential
leader of the United States.
A section of the speech
describing the values that
shaped her life strongly
resembled a passage from
Michelle Obama’s speech to
the 2008 Democratic convention. “My parents impressed
on me the values: that you
work hard for what you want
n Michelle Obama
in life. That your word is your
bond and you do what you say
and keep your promise. That
you treat people with respect.
They taught me to show the
values and morals in my daily
life. That is the lesson that I
continue to pass along to our
son,” Melania Trump said.
“And we need to pass those
lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we
want our children in this
nation to know that the only
limit to your achievements is
the strength of your dreams
and your willingness to work
for them.”
In her speech, Michelle
Obama said: “And Barack and
I set out to build lives guided
by these values, and pass them
on to the next generation.
Because we want our children
-- and all children in this
nation -- to know that the only
limit to the height of your
achievements is the reach of
your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
C M Y K
thekathmandu post 06
editorial
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Where are we headed?
Since 1993
ED I T OR I A L
Prachanda and Deuba do not appear to have a plan or the resources to resolve new challenges
Do it already
The govt must put an end to its apathy
towards Dr KC’s demands and his health
A
s Dr Govinda KC’s hunger strike reaches its eleventh day today, concerns about his deteriorating
health are mounting. He is having difficulty
breathing and is being given continuous oxygen,
according to a member of the medical team attending to him. Yet the government has been maintaining
an eerie silence on the matter.
It was only on Monday that some members of the
parliamentary Social Justice and Human Rights
Committee met Dr KC, and even that came after widespread public outrage over the intransigence of the
political class. The parliamentary committee has
instructed the government to address KC’s demands
and implement the agreements it had reached with him
during his previous hunger strikes. It remains to be
seen if the government will comply.
The issue here is the continued defiance of successive governments to honour the agreements reached
with Dr KC. For example, despite an agreement to
impose a moratorium on opening new medical colleges
in the Valley for the next 10 years, the current CPNUML-led government has been trying to find a backdoor to allow a party-backed medical academy.
This is the eighth time the orthopaedic surgeon has
launched a hunger strike demanding reforms in the
country’s medical education sector. It is regretful that a
citizen has been compelled to repeatedly resort to a form
of protest that is detrimental to his health in order to
pressure the government to honour its past deals and
address issues that serve the greater public good.
Dr KC’s demands have resonated with a sizeable section of the population and have garnered wide support.
Resident doctors at the Tribhuvan University Teaching
Hospital (TUTH) have stopped providing outpatient
services to exert pressure on the government to address
the demands. Other associations of medical doctors
have also launched various forms of protest, or are
preparing to do so, to show solidarity with Dr KC. A
statement issued by 15 prominent civil society members and academics has expressed concern over the
government’s indifference to KC’s demands and asked
it to hold talks with him to resolve the issue.
There have also been protests against some of Dr
KC’s demands or the way he is making them. His strike
has affected the normal functioning of the TUTH.
Concerns have also been raised about one of his new
demands, namely the impeachment of Lokman Singh
Karki, head of the Commission for Investigation of
Abuse of Authority (CIAA), for interfering in the country’s medical education sector.
As we wrote in our editorial on July 12, whether individuals should demand impeachment of the head of a
constitutional body and that too through a hunger
strike is questionable. But the important thing is to not
be distracted by one debatable point. The larger issues
about the country’s medical education that Dr KC has
been raising for the last four years deserve serious
attention. And his steadfast fight against a “medical
mafia”, which has had huge influence on institutions
like the Nepal Medical Council and the TU Institute of
Medicine and which is distressed about KC’s strikes
leading to regulations that will stop its unbridled profiteering, commands sincere respect.
AJAYA BHADRA KHANAL
[email protected]
E
xtreme political partisanship has clouded our judgment about the recent political events. Oli has refused to facilitate
the transition of power despite knowing
too well that he no longer enjoys a majority in Parliament. Rather than resigning, Oli called up the Nepali Congress (NC)
leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist
Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to his residence and demanded an explanation. When
he did not like it, he issued a threat.
Obviously, he has reasons to be piqued.
First, it was the NC that encouraged him to
push forward the current constitution at the
cost of alienating many. Then it was
Prachanda who goaded him to move
forward on the path of “bicycle nationalism”. Incidentally, it was Prachanda who
pulled the rug out and ushered us into a
phase of reversal.
Oli’s current posturing, whether we find it
funny or not, has significant implications
for our political future. We need to evaluate
the current political development with our
end goal in mind, which is to embark on a
path of development by ending the current
political conflict and implementing a new
constitution. There are two significant questions. First, was it necessary to remove Oli to
achieve these objectives? Second, will Oli’s
departure help us achieve them?
Removing Oli
Oli’s politics is a divisive one. It has exacerbated a national divide between the Madhesis
and Pahades. The Madhes movement has
functioned as an umbrella movement for
other resistance groups that had so far
refused to be lumped with the Madhesi identity. Oli created a sharp division between
those who oppose China and those who
oppose India, a foreign policy conundrum
that will now take a generation to overcome.
On top of that, he embarked on a path of
fiscal indiscipline and crony capitalism that
fractured relations with its main constitutional partner, the NC.
Extreme politics demands extreme vocabulary, and Oli has contributed to our metaphorical understanding of political processes. But then it only serves to show how the
country’s mindset is divided, usually into
two binary opposites. The last several
months, the popularity of different words in
Twitter and Facebook have come to signify
the nature of our political conflict.
Hanumanji is one, and it usually refers to
people who blindly defend Oli, sometimes at
the cost of being trapped in self-contradictory statements. It also refers to people who
Children at the border
T
T
A new obstacle course
Oli’s dialogue with Deuba and Prachanda
has now become famous: “You register a
vote of no-confidence. Then you also ask for
my resignation. What do you want? Decide.”
Resigning and facing the vote of no-confidence, apparently, are two different things.
According to Oli, resigning while there is a
no-confidence motion in Parliament is
unconstitutional. Then there is also the
veiled threat that he will not cooperate with
them on resolving constitutional deadlocks
if he is not allowed to dictate the terms of
the current power transition.
Oli is reluctant to believe that his government is in a minority as it has not been
proved in Parliament. He is taking up this
pet peeve with the Speaker as well as other
party leaders. However, in a parliamentary
party system, party decisions are significant, and since the NC and Maoists
have officially decided to withdraw their
support and informed the PM, there is no
doubt that Oli has lost
majority in
Parliament. In addition, he is trying to raise
constitutional questions over the possibility
of a change in government.
Even if we surmount that temporary confusion, we will face another challenging
prospect. Oli’s departure does not solve
Nepal’s problems. In fact, it creates new ones.
Oli will continue to have an upper hand if
he remains in control of the UML’s parlia-
mentary party. The single reason is that a
constitutional amendment is necessary to
fulfil some of the key demands of the
Madhes and resolve Nepal’s political conflict. For example, resolving the Madhes
conflict will require addressing questions
over federal boundaries, provinces’ oversight of local bodies, inclusion, and population-based representation.
Oli can still play the role of a spoiler in
resolving political hurdles. First, he can
block any attempt at constitutional amendment, as it requires a two-thirds majority.
Second, the implementation of the new constitution requires a smooth functioning of
Parliament. In order to implement the new
constitution, Parliament needs to revise
more than 300 laws and enact more than 150
new ones before the transition period
expires in January 2018. However, Oli can
continue to create hurdles by disrupting
parliamentary proceedings.
India’s stance toward Oli is being portrayed as the determining factor in Nepal’s
political process. The UML and Oli are trying to rev up the psychology of nationalism
to resist regime change. India will be happy
at Oli’s departure, although many ministers
in recent months had been pushing decisions to please India. India perceived that
Oli was using China as a strategy to antagonise it rather than as part of an independent
foreign policy. Oli, like Prachanda in the
past, will continue to trump up Nepali
nationalism and work together with groups
on the extreme left and right.
Given these factors, an attempt to amend
the constitution will generate a new type of
conflict. Prachanda and Deuba do not appear
to have a plan or resources to resolve this
new conundrum.
Low trade volumes must rise if South Asia is to reduce its number of impoverished people
The privately run and unlicensed
lockups are no place for children
What
is life
India, but he would not be willing to let go of
his “nationalism.”
The only other political course is to
remove Oli and try to see if a compromise
can be worked out with the Madhes. The
current political transition allows for such a
possibility but does not guarantee it.
800 million reasons
w orld v ie w
he family detention centers the Obama
administration has been operating in Texas
and Pennsylvania have been an expedient
way to handle the soaring numbers of
Central Americans, many of them young children, who have arrived at the Southern border
since 2014. They give a sense that Homeland
Security has the border situation under control.
But these privately run, unlicensed lockups
are no place for children. Or mothers. Their
existence belies President Obama’s oft-professed concern for the humane treatment of
people fleeing crime and violence.
And the centers stand on dubious legal ground.
Last year, a district judge ruled that the administration was violating a 1997 court-ordered settlement that governs the treatment of underage
migrants who seek asylum or enter the country
illegally. The administration appealed, saying that
the agreement applied only to children who had
crossed the border alone. On July 6, the Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disagreed. But it said
the administration could still detain their parents.
If the Obama administration took its principles to heart, it would be closing its family prisons and abandoning its emphasis on border
crackdowns in favor of greater efforts to connect Central Americans with pro bono lawyers
and to provide family- and community-based
alternatives to detention. Much money and
effort have been spent to deter and detain them,
to speed them through court, to hunt down
those who are later found to be deportable.
Legislation introduced this month in
Congress seeks to attack the problem at its root,
with funds for combating human trafficking
and resettling refugees within Central America
and Mexico. But Congress is unlikely to pass it,
which leaves the crisis in the president’s hands.
Mr. Obama can add strength to his words by
ensuring greater protection for those who
arrived, defenseless, at the Southern border.
are protesting against Dr Govinda KC.
Interestingly, Dr KC’s fast-unto-death has
caused a sharp polarisation in the country—
you are either “corrupt” or you are “crazy”.
Similarly, power transition in Nepal is
now usually associated with charged or
depleted “battery” which has replaced earlier terms like “remote control” and “radio
transmission”. These terms are related to
“bicycle nationalism”, a phrase that came
out of Prachanda’s anti-India posturing
before his battery of nationalism ran out. If
you go to the Madhes, you will frequently
hear the phrase, aar-par ko rajniti. You are
either on this side or on that side. When it
comes to political agreements, they are of
two types, cash or credit. As is obvious, the
Madhesis are fed up with the credit system.
Moving ahead with Oli’s current policy of
nationalism and pushing forward the current constitutional provisions were one
option. However, repressing the sentiments
of the Madhes and moving forward under
conditions of negative peace would have
only generated latent conflict. Such conflict
would have flared up during the implementation of federal provinces and made future
elections difficult. With India supporting the
Madhes, such course would have been untenable in the long run, allowing us neither
peace nor economic development.
Another option was to change Oli’s
politics and make him flexible in accommodating the demands of the Madhesis.
However, the most important feature of Oli’s
nationalism and anti-India posturing is the
refusal to allow greater political powers to
the Madhes, whether through demarcation
of new provinces or by allowing the provinces to have oversight over local bodies. It was
clear that Oli would be willing to appease
Hun Kim
S
outh Asia is set to become the fastest
growing region in Asia. Led by a booming India, which is expected to grow by
nearly eight percent in 2017, the region
is expected to expand at a blistering rate
of 7.3 percent next year.
As growth flags in some other
parts of Asia and the Pacific, in South
Asia there are more jobs being created
and more opportunities to do business than
ever before.
But this sunny forecast does not tell the
whole story. A quarter of the world’s population live in South Asia and more than 800
million of them are poor, living on less than
$3.10 a day—a fairly typical poverty line for
low and middle income countries.
Or, to put it another way, more than 800
million people in South Asia survive daily
on less than the cost of a cappuccino in
New Delhi or Dhaka.
Fruits of partnership
Faced with this stark reality, six of the
region’s countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka—have
concluded that they have a better chance of
lifting people out of poverty if they work
together. In 2001, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, and Nepal formed the South Asia
Subregional Economic Cooperation
Program (SASEC), which Maldives and Sri
Lanka joined in 2014.
The fruits of that partnership can be
SANJOG KARKI
he realities of this world are really
astounding. The more I try to find
out about this world, the less I understand it. For some people, life is so
interesting while for others it is just
a curse. Not all people are lucky to experience fabulous adventures and joyful
lives. Unemployment, corruption, terrorism, exploitation, discrimination and
violence are the scourge of the modern
generation. All these barbaric acts are
the outcomes of the human nature of
selfishness. I have encountered many
people who say that honesty and sinceri-
seen today in the region’s prosperity.
With the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
as its secretariat, these countries have
worked together to build power plants,
highways, rail systems, and fiber optic networks to expand and improve internet
access. They are further cooperating to
make it easier to cross borders, do business
and share information.
The reason for this cooperation is simple.
The SASEC comprises countries with varying market sizes, geographies and abilities
of governments to promote business. When
economies work together, they can cover
any deficiencies by tapping into the
strengths of their neighbours.
The SASEC is playing a vital role in
propelling South Asia’s economic growth
in an uncertain regional and global economic climate. All told, the grouping’s six
member countries have undertaken 37 projects worth more than $6.75 billion in the
last 15 years.
But much work remains to be done.
Lack of integration
Regional cooperation works and, if promoted even more enthusiastically, could deliver
huge gains to economies across Asia,
including South Asia. According to one
study, closer cooperation between Asian
economies could generate an additional
$176 billion to $285 billion per year for the
region. According to another study, upgrading trading systems in South Asia to international standards would increase trade
within the region by 75 percent and trade
with the rest of the world by 22 percent.
Despite enormous efforts in linking its
economies, South Asia remains one of the
least integrated regions of the world. It
accounts for just two percent of world trade
and 1.7 percent of foreign direct investment
worldwide. Trade within the region makes
ty will lead people towards the way of the
footpath. Such negative logic is pointless.
Bad things happen to good people. This is
the harsh reality of life. Nonetheless, one
must never follow the path of negativity.
Some people are so obsessed with negativity that they forget their own magnificent
talent and ability as a result of which
they sink into illegal activities.
The journey to success is tedious and
full of setbacks. It is said that half way
to success is 50 percent closer to failure.
There’s truth in this statement. One
must relentlessly move forward in the
course of achieving excellence in any
field. You must taste many bitter things
up less than six percent of its total trade.
Compare that to its neighbouring region
of East Asia, where more than half of all
trade (55 percent) is within the region. In
Latin America, the figure is 17 percent.
A new roadmap
These comparatively low trade volumes
must rise if South Asia is to significantly
reduce its number of impoverished people.
Representatives of the SASEC countries
met in New Delhi in May and will meet
again in Colombo later this year to map out
how best to take regional cooperation in
South Asia to the next level.
At the meeting in New Delhi, they developed a 10 year plan—the SASEC
Operational Plan 2016-2025—that could
change the lives of hundreds of millions of
to make yourself better. One must focus
only on one’s strengths and neglect one’s
weaknesses for viable outcomes. What is
the purpose of life? Can I make my life
meaningful just by listening to my
heart? Or will it be viable if I listen to
my guardians or beloved ones and follow
their ideologies? I’m
still seeking an answer
to these complicated questions.
It is said that hope never dies. An optimist never ignores this fact. However, I
often rationalise the perception of those
who believe in this statement. This
doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m a pes-
simist who never anticipates viable outcomes. The fact is that I sometimes get
distracted in my career path in the
course of reaching my ultimate destination and achieving my dream. Finally,
I’ve come to the conclusion that hope
dies only when the
heart shatters. In my
case, I have yet to
encounter a real heartbreaking moment.
Some people believe in luck while others say that one witnesses outcomes as
per one’s deeds. Nowadays, I’m going
through mental turmoil. I’ve not been
able to realise the meaning of life. May
postplatform
people. The plan combines hard infrastructure—ports, roads, bridges, industrial corridors, power generation units and transmission links—with the crucial “software”
components such as agreements, harmonised rules and regulations needed for the
countries to share fully in the benefits.
And most importantly, the plan takes a
hard-nosed approach to ensuring it has a
direct impact on people’s lives. New transport links, for example, are routed through
areas where poverty is highest.
The leaders of the SASEC countries recognise the importance of this new plan.
They have 800 million urgent reasons to
make it work.
Kim is Director General of ADB’s
South Asia Department
be I’m not mature enough to understand
this philosophical issue. I often feel
quite nostalgic. Sometimes, I tend to
blur the difference between my responsibility and my deeds, as a result of which
I take audacious and arbitrary decisions
and don’t even hesitate to perform ruthless acts. I’m lost in my own world.
Sometimes, I don’t even feel my own body.
This is a statement of my helplessness.
I’m still waiting for a miracle. I believe
that my limited life is not enough for the
worthy realisation of the meaning of
life. Hence, I would like to say again that
the more I try to find out about this
world, the less I understand it.
C M Y K
07 the kathmandu post
Peter Beaumont
n Bastille Day truck attack
A
fter attacks such as Nice, we
demand answers. A requirement to understand is necessary both to protect ourselves in the future and to
deal with the consequences
of horror. What was the motivation? Are there links to other individuals? How did the killer arrive
at the decision to kill?
That desire to understand is
hardly a new phenomenon,
although modern media have
made it more pervasive. Joseph
Conrad, in the complex character
of Verloc—the anarchist bomber,
double agent and provocateur of
the The Secret Agent—was an
early explorer of this territory.
White people who buy guns to
shoot up cinemas and schools are
put into one category: “lone
wolves”. And inevitably the focus
is on psychological and social
problems. Individuals from a
Muslim background are instantly
placed in another category: “terrorists”. But when it comes to
attacks such as those in Nice and
Orlando, the distinction is
increasingly unclear.
If those two attacks—as seems
very possible—were as much
about the inadequacies of the
attackers as about Islamic State;
if Isis, or simply the fact of the
attention given to such mass killings claimed by Isis, is no more
than a nudge that legitimises, in
the perpetrator’s mind, mass killing—then perhaps there is no
meaningful distinction.
Part of the problem is that we
have come to expect to see in
these attacks, especially jihadi-in-
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
A new kind of terror
As the distinction between organised Isis terror and lone wolf attacks fades,
we face increasing difficulties in predicting and preventing similar atrocities
spired events, certain attributes.
But like the proverbial generals
always fighting the last war, there
is a time lag in our understanding
of the patterns of violence.
There is the inevitable search
for evidence that these are thoroughly organised murders—leaving behind an email trail, evidence of contact and warnings of
intent on social media. There is
an expectation of a familiar path
to radicalisation or membership
of a group. It should have a coherent justification.
This is the model of 9/11 and
al-Qaida: violence marked by a
certain fastidiousness of purpose, and long in the planning.
That path was understood: individuals were recruited, travelled
to training camps in foreign warzones and drawn into plans that
were sometimes years in the making. The new kind of outrage,
though, appears very different.
A key innovation of Isis has
been to reverse the polarity of
responsibility: encouraging acts
of violence that it accepts as
bloody tributes thrown at its feet.
That has best been summed up in
statements by Isis spokesmen
such as Abu Muhammad
al-Adnani, who in 2014 encouraged ad hoc attacks using whatever tools are easily available,
including vehicles.
And while Isis is organised in
places where it is strong, and is
capable of setting up cells outside
its own territory, it has also recognised that all it needs to do
to widen its impact is to provide a
lethal context for attacks—a
convenient peg for the angry
and alienated.
The crucial point that many
have missed is that it does not
actually matter to Isis whether
there is any real connection:
whether the new “soldiers” it
claims after the fact are more disturbed than ideological. What
matters is the fact of the act alone
and its power to frighten, divide
and destabilise—and that the
attack is understood to be
inspired by Isis.
The problem for western governments and security forces is
that even if that is actually understood, it is hard to convey to a
frightened population for whom
such subtleties are meaningless.
It is also a risky argument. To say
that “radicalisation” can be so
instantaneous plays into the
hands of individuals such as
Donald Trump who would present
all Muslims as a risk. Then there
is the practical issue of what this
means for law enforcement if
what we are talking about is an
individualistic and post-ideological attraction to violence looking
for a model to copy, then that is
close to impossible to counter.
If there is a parallel that should
serve as a warning—and I make
the comparison extremely carefully and with many caveats—it is
to be found in some of the incidents that have occurred during
the so-called “knife intifada” in
the occupied territories. There,
smarter Israeli security officials,
if not the political cadre, were
quick to recognise that one category of those involved in attacks
were those with personal problems for whom the act of violence, emulating others, gave a
retroactive meaning to their
deaths. Again, a common feature
in many incidents was a lack of
n Kashmir
n Turkey coup attempt
India is blinding young Kashmiri protesters
After Turkey’s
failed coup
Steel pellets used are officially a ‘non-lethal weapon’, but those wounded will live in partial or total darkness
Mirza Waheed
T
wo sets of images have haunted me
these last few days. One is a series
of photos of people splashing bucketloads of water to wash away
blood from the streets of Kashmir,
where Indian forces have shot dead at
least 45 people since 9 July. Thousands
came out to protest and mourn the
death of a rebel leader who was killed
in an encounter with the Indian army
and police.
The other set of images is that of
scores of young men with bandages on
their eyes, before or after undergoing
surgery to remove tiny steel pellets
from their retinas. Indian forces
deployed in Kashmir now routinely
use pellet guns to stymie roadside
demonstrations.
The first image is of something I
have witnessed nearly all my life. The
Indian troops and state police who
enforce India’s rule over Kashmir have
been shooting at Kashmiri protesters
for as long as there have been protests.
And that is a long, long time: 27 years
if you count from the start of the
armed and popular uprising against
India in 1989; 70 if you chart the history of the subcontinent from 1947 when
Kashmir was left unresolved as the
British departed; and more than eight
decades if you go back to July 1931,
when the then king’s troops killed 22
protesters.
The second set of images is relatively new, as it’s the fruit of “non-lethal”
weapons introduced in Kashmir in
2010. But the pictures haunt you nonetheless, as you peer into the bloodied,
plum-sized eyes of those who suspect
they may never see again.
Such is the ferocity of the response
of the Indian military occupation to
the latest uprising that nearly 2,000
people suffered grievous or moderate
injuries in just two days. In some kind
of revanchist frenzy, paramilitaries
attacked ambulances, shattered windows and cut off intravenous drips.
The government of India and its loyalist representatives have clamped down
on communications, social media and
civil liberties; there is a near-total curfew everywhere. Phones don’t ring in
south Kashmir, where most of the kill-
n
servile media, that there is no dispute,
that it’s an internal matter—and whatever troubles there are in the idyllic
valley are the work of jihadis from
Pakistan. This gives the state easy
demons to portray and then slay.
The Indian state now appears to
believe its own fantasies, which it acts
out by shooting its way out of a crisis
every time Kashmiris voice their anger
or political demands. It’s as though
A Kashmiri youth with an eye injury sustained after he was hit by pellets fired by Indian security forces.
ings took place, and the internet is
mostly blocked. A friend who’s visiting
Kashmir reported that the “gravely ill
can’t get to hospitals and can’t find
medicines”. In short, yet another
crushing siege in the decades-long
relay of sieges. The world doesn’t need
to know. India is a democracy.
In its intransigence over Kashmir,
the Indian state has, among other
things, waged a narrative war, in
which it tells itself and its citizens via
India must perform rituals of brutal
violence on the Kashmiri body to keep
it tamed. In 2008, 60 people were shot
when Kashmiris protested at the grant
of hundreds of acres of land to a temple trust, because they believed this
was an Indian attempt to change the
demographic of their Muslim-majority
region. In 2009, protests raged for weeks
after the rape and murder of two female
family members from Shopian in northern Kashmir was dismissed by the
authorities as a drowning.
In 2010, 120 people, including teenagers, were butchered on the streets.
Hundreds of families were devastated,
gifted eternal grief by a draconian
state. Not one member of the armed
forces was charged, let alone convicted,
for those killings. And that’s precisely
why the soldiers kill again and again.
That summer, when scores of adolescents were slain in the alleys, people
gasped at the sheer scale of mayhem, but
some also believed it might not happen
again. It’s too much, I heard said.
Policymakers in Kashmir and Delhi
then deliberated upon what kind of
weapon to deploy on a people the
majority of whom quite simply don’t
want to be with India. They never have.
The state came up with something that
might thwart and injure protesters, but
not kill them. A buckshot gun, a pellet
grenade, a “non-lethal weapon”, we
were told. The lexicon of conflict in a
place such as Kashmir engenders normalisation of even the most ghastly
thing. It felt to me then that many were
relieved that Kashmir’s young would
no longer face full-size deathly bullets,
but tinier steel pellets instead. At least
they won’t die, it was said.
Over the last week, doctors in
Kashmir have performed about 150 eye
surgeries to try to remove pellets from
retinas. Most of the patients will lose
their eyesight, one doctor said. “It’s a
fate worse than death,” said another.
No other country has wilfully blinded
scores of youths.
Meanwhile the dead have been
interred in martyrs’ graveyards. Most
localities, in city and country, have one
so as to remember their slain. Those
wounded will live in partial or total
darkness all their lives.
Kashmiris say Azadi—or independence—is an infinitely better option.
n Donald Trump
Angry America sees red
Donald Trump’s
nomination is more
than just another
example of the politics
of alienation
L
ater this week, Donald Trump will
be endorsed by the US Republican
party as its presidential nominee.
This is not hot news, because Mr
Trump dominated the primaries
and comes to the party convention
which opened in Cleveland today with
an unassailable lead over a divided
field of unimpressive rivals. Talk of a
stop-Trump move at a brokered convention evaporated weeks ago. But Mr
Trump’s nomination is still both an
extraordinary and a significant event,
not just for the politics of the United
States, but for the politics of the western democracies generally.
Mr Trump’s victory comes at a time
when America is a nation on edge, the
divide over policing and the shootings
of black men worsening, while Barack
Obama struggles to hold the ring. This
week’s killings of three officers in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is unlikely to
be the last in a summer spiral of gun
violence. Baton Rouge had been tense
since two white officers killed a black
man, Alton Sterling, two weeks ago.
Anti-police protests followed. The
chief suspect had a complex
radical history. But the fear is that
in the current mood of anger, further
deaths are just a hair-trigger away in
many cities.
The other fear is that Mr Trump
will deliberately try to make
things even worse because he thinks
anger is a winning strategy. He has
spent the campaign attacking and denigrating
whole
categories
of
Americans—from Latino immigrants
to women he deems unattractive, to
Muslims and Hollywood liberals.
Hiding behind a campaign to rid the
US of what he calls political correctness, Mr Trump has in fact made a
systematic
and
unprecedented
attempt to deny millions of Americans
their human dignity.
This is a conscious break with
America’s post-civil rights political
consensus. Its consequences are not
hard to see. Extreme racist groups
have become more active. Previously
taboo views like Holocaust denial
have been openly promoted. And Mr
Trump himself has sometimes
encouraged violence by saying he
wants to punch opponents. These are
not casual remarks and they could
easily get worse. Presented with
an opportunity this week both to
insult the groups whom his core supporters blame for their belief that
they have been cheated, there is a real
danger that Mr Trump will pour petrol on the simmering embers in places
like Baton Rouge, Dallas and
Minneapolis because, in the end, he
thinks it will help his chances against
Hillary Clinton.
Mr Trump has toned down some of
his attacks on the Republican establishment lately. He said at the weekend that he was nominating the
Indiana governor Mike Pence as his
running-mate partly to help party
unity—though it is also to help raise
funds. But Mr Trump remains fundamentally a divider not a uniter. Many
senior Republicans and some corporate backers are boycotting Cleveland.
These are all signs of the Republican
party’s decline, but the biggest of all is
Mr Trump’s nomination.
Mr Trump has capitalised on the
working-class insecurity that is a
force across the western world. To the
familiar post-factual assertiveness he
has mixed his own cocktail of egomania, prejudice and destructiveness.
But what happens in the US shapes
the whole world. That’s why the
Cleveland convention matters so
much and why Mr Trump faces such
an important test in the words he
chooses later this week.
Editorial
any warnings and few if any connections to groups that might
afterwards have praised the
attacks.
What this means is that there
will have to be a fundamental
rethinking of how we seek to
describe such events. It is an
issue that has become all the
more urgent as the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve,
said today that no links have been
established yet between the
attacker and Isis.
But what if, in this context, that
idea of radicalisation is essentially meaningless and what we mean
is something more vague, akin to
an emotional response? Where an
unstable individual—perhaps
already prone to grandiose, deadly and narcissistic thoughts—borrows the forms and ideas of a
certain kind of mass killing
because they are familiar?
And the tragic reality—and the
twisted genius of Isis’s pitch—is
that it does not matter. They have
supplied permission, mediated
both via their own outlets and
conventional media and through
the acts they claim.
And what that implies is that
the already false distinction
between the disturbed “lone
wolf ” individual and organised
“terror” as we have understood it,
has broken down. Our tools for
understanding motive have failed.
Returning to Conrad, all we
really have left is the name-tag
tied to Stevie—the young man
with learning disabilities Verloc
sends to deliver his explosives
and who dies in the act. A violence whose shape increasingly
appears unknowable.
The president will take this chance to weaken media,
judiciary and military. He has one-man rule in his sights
H
Yavuz Baydar
ow heavily the bloody coup
attempt in Turkey has traumatised the country may be beyond
anyone’s imagination. Needless
to say, the perpetrators, in what
seemed like an ill-planned, fast-forward action, have delivered a deadly
stab to the country’s already wounded democratic system, which had
been sending an SOS out to the world
for some time.
It is the blood spilled that is the
greatest cause for concern. According
to the prime minister, Binali
Yıldırım, 161 people—mainly police
officers—were killed, and 2,840 were
wounded in the course of 12 hours—
and these figures exclude civilians
who died during the clashes overnight on Friday. Such bloodshed is
bound to trigger further rage and
violence, and many fear that the persistent calls by AKP figures for the
pro-Erdogan crowds to demonstrate
in the streets will fuel the tensions.
Attempted lynchings were a stark
reminder of this.
Around 6,000 people (including
many officers and soldiers) have
been taken into custody and more
will follow. Among them are generals, and large numbers of mid-ranking officers across the country. We
know that they will be charged with
high treason, and we also hear that
the AKP is considering bringing
back capital punishment—only abolished in 1999.
The drama erupted unexpectedly,
and its progress during the course of
Friday night left many perplexed. It
seemed that the action was badly
orchestrated, patchy, and undecided.
But when the news of bombings in
Ankara broke, the questions became
ever more serious. Observers were
left wondering who was really in
charge of the country—and that
question still lingers.
Troops seized the state broadcaster and forced a presenter to read a
long manifesto that pledged a battle
against corruption and a return to
democratic order. But when the parliament building was bombed, confusion hit a peak.
Who were these army officers? All
fingers pointed to a coup designed by
the Gülen movement. Yet, given the
wide spectrum of those involved
and the content of their manifesto,
it is highly likely that the plotters
had several affiliations. It is known
that the Syrian crisis and the war
against the PKK caused fissures
within the army.
Reports have suggested that a wave
of arrests were in place for early
Sunday morning, targeting alleged
Gülen-backing officers—giving the
coup the appearance of a pre-emptive
move set in motion by these fears. If
true, it explains why the action was
so sloppy and faded so swiftly.
Whatever the motivation, the attempt
has doubtlessly been used as a pretext for Erdogan to do whatever he
intended to do in any case—pushing
for one-man rule by a total cleansing
of all opposition.
The early signs in the aftermath
suggest just that: in a hasty move,
2,745 judges and prosecutors—nearly
a fifth of the total—were suspended
on Sunday and arrest warrants were
issued for 188 high court judges. So
the attempted coup has given a green
light for seizing control of not just
the media, but for launching a purge
in the judiciary and the military.
Therein lies the trauma for this
unfortunate nation, whose aspirations for a decent democratic order
have been more or less buried by this
historic folly. Its severest consequences may just be beginning.
C M Y K
life&style
kathmandu post
the
PG 08 | Wednesday,July 20, 2016
Arnie not divorced
BORN TODAY
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
still haven’t divorced—despite splitting up five
years ago. The former couple broke up in July
2011 after it emerged the Terminator actor had
fathered a son with their housekeeper and
although they have both moved on with their
lives, neither are keen to make the split official.
Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen is 36
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
Kher gushes over Pele
Anupam Kher has praised Pelé: Birth of a
Legend, an American biographical film about
the Brazilian football legend Pele by calling
it brilliant and inspirational.”Watched Pele
in the flight. Brilliant,moving and inspirational. Highlight of the movie was music
by our own AR Rahman,” he tweeted.
American actor Josh Holloway is 47
Mexican leader Enrique Neito is 50
American basketball player Ray Allen is 41
Mexican guitarist Carlos Santana is 68
Upiyanko Nibandha
to continue staging
Wrestlers
sue WWE
over
injuries
Post Report
Kathmandu, July 19
A
The case was filed on behalf of more than 50 retired wrestlers and performers
Reuters
Connecticut, July 19
W
orld Wrestling Entertainment
Inc (WWE.N) was sued on
Monday by Jimmy “Superfly”
Snuka and dozens of other
retired male and female wrestlers seeking to hold it responsible for neurological injuries they
claimed to suffer by participating in
its bouts.
The complaint was filed on behalf
of more than 50 plaintiffs who have
performed with WWE or its predecessors since the 1970s, including Joseph
“Road Warrior Animal” Laurinaitis
and Paul “Mr Wonderful” Orndorff.
It accused Stamford, Connecticut-
Mubarak Begum
dead at 80
Indo-Asian News Service
Mumbai, July 19
L
egendary Bollywood playback
singer and ghazal maestro
Mubarak Begum Shaikh
passed away after prolonged
illness at her residence late
Monday night, a family member
said.
Known simply as Mubarak
Begum, the Rajasthan-born singer
was a widow and breathed her last
at 80. “She breathed her last
around 10 pm on Monday night at
her Jogeshwari home. She had
been ailing and hospitalised frequently since over a year with
various health problems,” her
daughter-in-law Zarina Shaikh
said on Tuesday.
Born in Sujangarh, with proficiency in both Hindi and Urdu,
Mubarak Begum launched her
career with the All India Radio
(AIR) with singing programmes
and light musical recitals.
She moved to Mumbai 70 years
ago and sang her first playback
song in 1949 for the film Aaiye for
which the music was composed by
the late music director Nashad.
That was the launch of a notable singing career spanning over
110 films over four decades till the
early 1980s. Besides playback singing, she used to give regular stage
performance and musical concerts. Over the years, Mubarak
Begum was beset with financial
difficulties and her family had to
appeal for monetary help to take
care of her medical bills.
A few people, including Bharat
Ratna Lata Mangeshkar and
Bollywood superstar Salman
Khan helped her out in times of
dire need. Recently the Indian
Education Minister sanctioned
her hospitalisation expenses.
based WWE and Chairman Vince
McMahon of intentionally classifying wrestlers as “independent contractors” rather than employees, as a
means to avoid liability under applicable worker protection laws.
“WWE placed corporate gain over
its wrestlers’ health, safety, and financial security, choosing to leave the
plaintiffs severely injured and with no
recourse to treat their damaged minds
and bodies,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory
and punitive damages, as well as
improved medical monitoring.
WWE, in a statement, called the
lawsuit another attempt to hold it
liable by a lawyer who had two earlier
lawsuits dismissed and added that
“we’re confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate”. WWE has won the
dismissal of some claims in other
lawsuits accusing it of hiding the
risks of head trauma from wrestling.
The National Football League and
National Hockey League have also
been sued by retired players over
head injuries. Monday’s complaint
was filed with the federal court in
New Haven, Connecticut.
The plaintiffs accused WWE of
concealing the risks of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic
encephalopathy and other traumatic
brain injuries attributable to wrestling, including through “scripted”
moves it choreographed.
Konstantine Kyros, a lawyer for
Speilberg
desperately
wanted to
direct Bond
the plaintiffs, in an email said WWE’s
“exploitative business model” kept
his clients from learning their rights
under laws such as the federal
Occupational Safety and Health Act.
According to the complaint,
Laurinaitis, 55; Snuka, 72; and
Orndorff, 66, suffer from cognitive
difficulties including headaches, dizziness and memory loss, while Snuka
and Orndorff also experience confusion, depression and mood swings.
The plaintiffs also include former
referees and identical twins Earl and
Dave Hebner, 66, who according the
complaint have experienced cognitive difficulties. Dave Hebner has also
been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the complaint said.
Kapil Dev: 1983 an
inspiration for all
Indo-Asian News Service
Mumbai, July 19
L
egendary cricketer Kapil Dev, who
is putting his weight behind a
Hindi film on the 1983 Indian
World Cup team, says the journey
to victory is a “story of inspiration” that must be told.
Vishnu Induri, founder of
Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), has
joined hands with Phantom Films to
produce the yet-untitled film, which
will go on the floors in March 2017.
According to a statement from the
makers, the producers have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with
the 1983 cricket team for an official
biopic of their journey to winning
what was India’s first Cricket World
Cup. As per this MOU, the producers
Press Trust of India
Los Angeles, July 19
F
ilmmaker Steven Spielberg has
revealed that he was turned down
to direct a Bond film—not once—
but twice.
Speaking on The Michael Ball
Show on Radio BBC 2, The BFG director revealed that he offered his services to direct a Bond film twice but
producers didn’t feel he was right for
the part, reported Digital Spy.
“I called Cubby Broccoli (Albert—
Barbara’s late father) twice, and after
Jaws which was such a huge success
I thought, ‘hey people are giving me
final cut now.’
“So, I called up Cubby and offered
my services but he didn’t think I was
right for the part,” Spielberg, 69, said.
The director tried again after
another blockbuster success, but got
rejected once again.
“Then even after Close
Encounters came out
and was a big hit—
once again—I tried
to get on a Bond
film. And they
still didn’t think
I was right for
fter winning rave reviews from
audiences and critics alike, the
play Upiyanko Nibandha is now
slated to host several booked
shows for schools and colleges in
the Capital, before embarking on a
nationwide tour. The play has been
staged at the Theatre Mall for a
month, often putting in extended
shows on the audience’s demand.
The play, written and directed by
Kedar Shrestha, traces the psyche of
students and teachers in a traditional
Nepali classroom. In it, the two central characters: a tyrannical teacher
identified as the “Nepali Sir” and a
unassertive
schoolboy
named
Mahesh, get entangled in a hilarious
tussle over an imaginative essay
penned by the student for a classroom assignment. Upiya ko Nibandha
has been described as a comedy, capable of twisting bellies with laughter
but also leaving the audience to pause
for serious thought.
The play has been produced jointly
by Theatre Mall and the Theatre
Centre for Children (TCC Nepal).
The play marks the theatrical
comeback for actor Abhay Baral.
Along with Baral, the play also features actors Sanjita Sanji, Jeevan
Bhattarai, Rajendra Bhatta, Bijaya
Tamrakar, Binita Gurung and Laxmi
Bardewa, among others.
will get to use the actual names of the
players and true incidents from their
lives. “The Journey of the 1983 team
is a story of inspiration which proves
that one can achieve anything if they
aim for it and work for it no matter
what the world thinks,” former
Indian captain Kapil Dev said in the
statement.
The film’s team members are
upbeat about the project.
“We are super excited about making of the 1983 movie and it’s a huge
responsibility on our shoulders to get
it right as we don’t get to tell stories
like this often,” read the statement
issued jointly by Induri and Phantom
Films’ Madhu Mantena.
India won the 1983 Cricket World
Cup defeating reigning champions
the West Indies in a pulsating final.
Lamichanne
crowned Miss
Culture
the part.
“Twice I tried to get on a Bond film
and now they can’t afford me. So
Barbara (Broccoli), forget it.”
During the interview, Spielberg
was also asked who his next choice
for Bond would be. The acclaimed
director gave his backing to Luther
star Idris Elba, if Daniel Craig retires
from the role before the next movie,
as suggested previously.
“If Daniel (Craig) doesn’t
continue, I would love to
see a Bond of colour for
the next Bond movie. If
Daniel decides not to
come back, Idris would
be my first choice.
Ehrenreich to play
young Han Solo
BBC
Los Angeles, July 19
A
lden Ehrenreich will play the
young Han Solo in a Star Wars
spin-off movie.
The news was confirmed at the
Star Wars Celebration fan event in
London, where the 26-year-old actor
made a surprise appearance.
He told the audience he was “very,
very excited” about being cast in the
role made famous by Harrison Ford.
Ehrenreich’s casting has been
rumoured for months. Earlier this
year he appeared in the Coen brothers’ comedy Hail, Caesar!.
The American was chosen to play
the space smuggler after the filmmakers saw around 3,000 actors for
the part.
“I auditioned for about six
months,” Ehrenreich revealed on
stage. “The coolest part of the audition process was I went on the
[Millennium] Falcon.”
The as-yet-untitled movie will
begin filming in the UK in early 2017.
It will cover events in Han Solo’s
life before his appearance in the original 1977 Star Wars film, A New Hope.
It will be directed by Phil Lord and
Chris Miller, whose previous films
include The Lego Movie.
Post Report
Kaski, July 19
P
okhara-resident
Pavitra
Lamichanne has bagged top honours at of Miss Culture Nepal2016 held Pokhara on Sunday.
Organised by Puspanjali Fashion
and Events, this was the third edition
of the talent show.
The winner Lamichanne was
awarded a scholarship at the Pokhara
Multiple Campus along with the
crown. She has also won a six-month
beautician training and the opportunity to appear in a music video and a
movie. Lamichanne also won the title
for best dance, best performance and
the Miss Popular at the event.
Meanwhile, Jyoti Gurung and
Subima Pun were adjudicated as the
first and second runner-ups respectively. The cultural pageant was organised
under the theme “Our Culture, Our
Identity, Our Aim to Save Endangered
Culture”, had saw two dozen participants compete for the crown.
C M Y K
thecollegian
kathmandupost
the
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
PG 09 | Wednesday, July 20, 2016
The earth beneath
our feet
Writer and political analyst Jhalak Subedi has authored a
plethora of books including Aadha Joon, Gorkha Samrajyaka
Nepali Mohara, and Vidyarthi Andolan ko Adha Satapdi. With the
release of his latest book Bhumi, Kisaan ra Rajya, Marissa Taylor
caught up with him for a chat about his recent release, his
favourite books and upcoming literary ventures. Excerpts:
Can you tell us something about
your latest book?
My recently released book—
Bhumi, Kisaan ra Rajya—is an
attempt to bring to light select communities of farmers in our country
and their relationship with their
land and the country. Traditional
farming communities like Majhi,
Chepang, Gurung, and the likes,
have been highlighted in the book.
The book attempts to bring to light
how the country’s changing political scenario over the years and the
diversification of the market have
brought about changes in the lives
of these traditional farmers.
How did your book take shape?
So, while writing this book I conversed with a lot of farmers and
took notes from their point of view
and compiled them. I have tried to
Photo coutesy: Satish Pokhrel
keep the book as true as possible to
those conversations. In addition, in order to make the
book accessible to a larger audience I have also tried
to bring in as much information as I could about land
reforms in Nepal, its context and its history.
How difficult/different is writing nonfiction from
fiction?
I find it easier to write nonfiction than fiction, maybe
because I am a keen student of politics, economics
and history. However, when writing fiction you get the
liberty to develop characters and the background
with your own pacing, a luxury not available to nonfiction writers.
How you first come to love books?
bookworm babbles
As a young boy, I loved listening to my mother’s folk
stories and the tales that she would weave herself.
Those tales always transported me to another time
and place. Once I discovered books, I learned that
they had much the same power and that’s how I fell in
love. I was already reading novels as a young teenager, often picking them over my course books.
What was the last book you read and how did you
like it?
The last book I read was Mahesh Chandra Regmi’s
Imperial Gorkha: An Account of Gorkhali Rule in
Kumaun (1791-1815). For those who want to understand the roots of the current political system in
Nepal, Regmi’s book is a must read. I was also reading
Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore along with it.
Currently I am reading Francis Fukuyama’s Origin
of Political Order.
What is your favourite genre and why?
I like reading both fiction and nonfiction equally. I
also like to delve into poetry. If I were to pick one, I
would say I get more intellectual and philosophical
stimulation out of fiction and it also helps me empathise more with the world.
Friends
of ours
In this race called life, we need company—people
with whom we can share our joys and sorrows
Sarthak Byanjankar
I
n a journey that’s filled with descents
and ascents, where the same road leads
to different destinations and different
roads join to form a single road, where
sometimes even with a flat tyre one has
to gain speed, where even in the highway one must travel as slow as a snail, one
needs warnings, signals, road blocks,
directions, speed breaks, auto shops and
most importantly, a companion to pursue
what lays beyond the horizon. The uncertain voyage termed as life needs all those
and more, if a person is to successfully
complete the race unscathed and on time.
But we need company in this big race of
ours—people with whom we can share
our joys and sorrows.
We come across different types of
people. Many have their own agenda
who just wave at us as they continue
on their own expedition, few share
common goals with us, but they
depart after a certain point, never
to return again. Only a handful
joins us with no hidden interest of
their own, aiding us much as they
can in fulfilling our vision. The
first kind of people are acquaintances, the second kind are friends
and the third are best friends or
your better half, without whom
you feel lost even in a vacant
one storey single room.
Friendship is multi-laned.
Each lane has its own shade.
Effort makes life beautiful
By progressing and being less tearful
Creative minds achieve their goals
By doing well and playing their roles
Footsteps which head towards a destination
Lead to satisfied completion
Our minds feel pleasant and become practical
Such a process should be natural
Are you planning on writing a new book?
I am planning two new publications. One will be a
collection of essays and the other will be a nonfiction
book on contemporary Nepali political history.
write to usyour
words. Send us e
We value your
for th
ions and view
articles, opin
page
the collegian
y) to
da
es
Tu
ry
ve
(e
.n p
@ km g.co m
th ec ol le gi an gm ai l.c om
s@
tk pf ea tu re
Pokharel is pursuing his Bachelor’s degree at
Kantipur Engineering College
you are still mortal and able to bleed.
During any project, they bicker about
things going wrong but never take initiation and action. They lurk around for the
accidents to happen not to aid, but to shout
“I told you so”. Even in a clear sunny
spring filled with aroma they see the
unforeseen black thunderous cloud with a
salty scent. They lower your self-respect to
the extent where even the depths of hell
feel like the heights of heaven.
With this mixed group, one must carry
on a carriage if one is to ever reach the
finish line. But we must know when to tune
out and when to tune in, how to maintain a
balance between the three partners of the
carriage or else it’s just another accident
waiting to happen, making the auto
mechanic brim with joy.
Byanjankar is a student of Pulchowk
Engineering Campus
Ranjan Patel
Challenges and promises
Come day by day
All the things that we are compelled to do
I know my duty
What I need to do
Cowardice is not for me
If teasing others
If embarrassing others
If destroying myself
Is being brave
I proudly say that I’m not
Because for me to be brave
Is to do well
Never make your mind dull
Keep a healthy interest in all
We have freedom to exercise
So let us not ever compromise
With skillful effort make yourself busy
To make our society what we want it to be
With skillful effort make yourself busy
To make our society what we want it to be
The second type is present
whenever and wherever
you need them. They are at
your beck and call
Coward
Sachin Pokharel
Far too broken
Aashriti Shrestha
Too hard to hold on
Can’t be mended as it’s too broken
Piece by piece it’s falling apart
But there’s nothing to be done
My, this little heart is far too broken
Often I pick my books by just word of mouth. I also
keenly follow book reviews and the works of the
authors that I like. It is obvious that we cannot read
all the books that are out there and for that reason I
never tell anybody to read or not to read any book. In
the end it is all personal preferences. What appeals to
someone may not necessarily do the trick for someone else.
Books have deeply affected me. A lot of my personality and character has been directly affected by my
reading habit. Out of which, The Communist
Manifesto, and the writers Maxim Gorky, Chinghiz
Aitmatov and Mikhail Sholokhov have had the most
lasting impact on my life.
you when you least expect it and that too
with a decisive voice. So when they do
voice out the group tends to listen.
The second type is present whenever
and wherever you need them. They are at
your beck and call. They stay for the
whole project and you forget to
appreciate them when the project’s
done. They see the silver lining
when the rest of us see a pitch
black sky covered with rumbling
clouds and hear the thunderous
roar with storm beating against
the sail. Even when the rest
mark you for doom, they stick
around with an eraser at hand,
ready to charge. They perceive
your failures as stepping stones
for your goal. They pump up
your morale so much that even
when it’s wrongly placed, it
feels right. The downfall feels
like the culmination of the sins
of your previous life.
The third one is one whom
you call gloomy. They too are
omnipresent regardless of
your need for them. They pop
at times when you’re feeling
invincible to remind you that
Effort
How do you select books to read?
How have books affected your life?
They are of three types: a silent partner, an
active, behind the scene optimist and a
reactive showman.
The silent partner is the one who
remains invisible throughout the project
and pops up at the very last, only to rip the
sweet fruit of labour. When faced with
juncture, they disappear only to reappear
once the bridge has been crossed. They
voice no opinion of their own and sway
where the group
is
swaying.
But they pull
through for
I pity myself
I feel sorry for this pathetic life
Still can’t give up or let this life be
gone
Too tired, this little head
And to serve the rest.
Patel is a class 12 student at
Xavier International College
Don’t even want to figure things out
If I could fly away and I would never
look back down
But my this little heart is far too broken
Too many scars, too many marks
And this heart is far too broken
Scattered everywhere
Too many fragments
Even if every fragment could be
brought together
Still my little heart is far too broken
Shrestha is a student of National
College of Engineering
Once in life but always in memory
The serene breeze, rich with moisture,
travelled from the west carrying untold news
Rozesh Gautam
uncle, going to temple today. With curiosity,
I asked him why we were going. God always
o far in my life, I’ve experienced differ- wants us to meet Him once in a while, he
ent times: times anonymous to me, said, with a dim smile. There was nature
belligerent times with a mask of
like gravity on his face. He tried to conceal
friendliness, times which cannot something, but his face revealed it and his
be forgotten and times which cannot eyes could not and would not lie.
be remembered. It was the year, as
As I held his muscular and bold hand
far as I can remember and calculate and walked down the aisle of the trees, I
precisely, 1995. Yes, of course,
felt safe—from the naked vulgar
before that year, there were four
With curiosity, I goddess incarcerated within the
more years in my life, but I canstone, from the monkeys climbnot recall them; they are faint, asked him why we ing the trees making the leaves
blurred images between my
were going. God rustle, from the long haired,
eyes and I feel like I have never
bearded, and half naked people,
always wants us and, from the sound of conch
existed in those years.
It was a melancholy day. The to meet Him once shells roaring from a distance,
pale amber sun was hidden
which became more distinct as
somewhere behind the scat- in a while, he said we approached closer to the place.
tered, guileless and impotent
Walking with timid steps, he
rays of the white misty fumes, which threw coins to those variously positioned
enshrouded the blue ether and, many nude goddesses, sadhus, and beggars lying
times, made us believe that the blue empti- on the floor on the way to the temple.
ness never prevailed above us. Nature hintWe reached the bank of the river after
ed and we predicted—deadly downpour passing through many temples. The
down the dale was waiting for us as much bizarre smell, maybe it was of the river,
as we were dreading it. The serene breeze, was awful and there was no escape from
rich with moisture, travelled from the west it, even as I tightly pressed by nostrils
carrying untold news, with grief to share with two fingers. My uncle pointed
and happiness to bury. I was, with my with the tip of his finger. There he was: my
S
father. I ran to him like a lover separated
for epochs. As I was ran, the ashes on the
floor slowly and swiftly rose high up in the
sky. He hugged me, and, tears trickled
down from his eyes.
There were numbers of people with the
same seriousness and bellow on their
faces. In front of them, there was a wellmanaged pyre, with an intensely yellow
object in it. A slender man draped in
yellow, lined clothes was blowing the
conch shells furiously, perhaps to send the
notes to heaven. The echoes reverberated in
the walls of the temple. The logs, the motionless trees, and the translucent water avoided
us and ran way. Another man was murmuring some vague and incomprehensible language. I didn’t know what was going on,
but they knew it, even nature knew of it.
After a while, the same slender man
asked me to hold a long stick with a vigorous fire glistening at the top. I denied.
However, I carried the heavy stick after my
father told me to. After a whisper between
them, finally, my father told me—light the
wood. I did, obediently. The pile of logs was
burning now, without fuel. But then, the
yellow, straight object melted hurriedly
and encouraged the fire.
With my hands around my father’s
broad leg, I asked, “Papa, what is that?
Why are we burning it?”
“Your mother. She is dead!”
Gautam is an A-Level student at
Bridgewater International Academy
C M Y K
variety
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
thekathmandu post
10
TODAY’SHOROSCOPE
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
*****
You have an incredible energy, so you need to figure out a great
way to use up all that enthusiasm! It’s a wonderful time to dive
head first into projects or adventures that involve a lot of other
people—and the more diverse the group is, the better.
u
d
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
****
Someone has a good story to tell you today, so if you’ve got
the time, they’ve got the tale! Listen to what they have to say
with a grain of salt, though—keep in mind that all that glitters is
definitely not gold.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21)
****
Are you worried about a friend or family member but afraid
to say something because you fear they will get defensive?
Have more faith in them—they are waiting for someone to reach
out to them.
CANCER (June 22-July 22)
****
Your more self-nurturing instincts are coming to the forefront
today, and while it might send you down an anti-social path for a
while, in the end it’s a very good thing to start listening to your
own needs right now.
LEO (July 23-August 22)
**
Today you’re going to have to accept a few things that
you don’t really like—whether it’s an inconvenient meeting
time, the nutty opinions of a co-worker, or uncooperative
weather.
VIRGO (August 23-September 22)
****
Some recent and extremely good news has you eager
to rush ahead on a goal, but slow down there! Now is not the
time to act in haste and get lazy about covering all the
important details.
Yesterday’s Solution
s
o
k
u
c
r
o
WORD GAME
GRAFFITI
s
s
w
o
r
d
LIBRA (September 23-October 22)
****
Today, your intellectual energy is extremely strong, and it will be
impossible to find someone who is smarter than you! But there
are different kinds of intelligence, and you will get a big charge
out of someone who might not be able to beat you in one area.
SCORPIO (October 23-November 21)
****
Some recent good news has gotten you all excited, but you need
to be careful that your enthusiasm doesn’t get the best of you
today. Not everyone understands why you’re in such a good
mood.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21)
****
Dates, names, addresses, and similar small details will be a big
part of this day for you. Luckily, your mind is so razor sharp right
now that you’ll have no trouble organizing them and remembering them right when you need to.
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)
***
Today, the way you react to some shocking news could surprise a
few of your friends. They never knew you felt that way about
things—and you might have to give them some time to get used
to it!
DILBERT
RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT
AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18)
***
The problems you are having with a new member of your circle of
friends or a new member of your family are nowhere near as
awful as you think they are, so cheer up!
PISCES (February 19-March 20)
****
Your luck is about to change today—and that could be a good
thing or a bad thing, depending on how pleasantly your life has
been going. But change is always good, even if it brings some
clouds into your sunny day.
L
A
U
G
H
O
U
T
L
O
U
D
K
A
N
T
I
P
U
R
T
V
K
A
N
T
I
P
U
R
F
M
A drunk staggers out of a bar and runs into two priests. He goes over
to the first priest and says, “Dude, I’m Jesus Christ!” And the priest
says, “No son, you’re not.” So the drunk goes over to the second
priest and says, “Man, I’m Jesus Christ!” Then the priest says, “No
son, you’re not.” Finally, the drunk had enough and said, “Here, I’ll
prove it.” He walks back into the bar with both priests and the
bartender looks up and sees the drunk and says, “Jesus Christ,
you’re back AGAIN?”
nnn
There were three men in the desert. They all wanted something to
cool them down. One brought a pail of water. The second brought an
umbrella. The third took out a car door. The other two said, “Why do
you have a car door?” The person said, “So we could roll the windows
down when we get hot!”
05:00 Bhaktisur/ Amrit
Bani
06:00 Jeevan Bigyan/
Jyotish MAnthan
06:40 Sky Shop
07:00 Kantipur Samachar
08:00 Kantipur News
08:30 Rise N Shine
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09:05 Marga Darshan
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10:30 Market Updates
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11:05 Music Summit
11:30Uddhyam
12:00 Kantipur Samachar
12:30MNS
01:00 Headline News
01:05 Kilo Tango Mike
01:30 Ukali Orali
02:00 Kantipur Samachar
02:30 Rise N Shine
03:00 Headline News
03:05Sarokar
04:00 Kantipur Samachar
04:30 New Entry
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Reloaded
06:00 Kantipur News
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Samachar
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02:30 Cinema Fest
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03:30 Tough Talk
04:30 Harke Haldar
00:00 Non-stop songs
01:00 Non-stop Hindi
songs
02:00 Non-stop Nepali
Pop/Adhunik songs
04:00 Non-stop Bhajan
05:00 Bhakti Anusthan
Janardan
06:30 Kantipur Diary
07:00 The Headliners
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Aawas
08:00 Kantipur Diary
08:05 Mid-week Music
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09:10 Traffic Update
09:30 Radio Talk
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12:10 Music Box
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13:05 Ke chha
Nepal
15:00 Kantipur Diary
15:15 Ke chha Nepal
16:00 Kantipur Diary
16:05 Happy Hour
17:00 Kantipur Diary
17:05 Education Talk
18:00 Bal Adhikar Ra
Sarokar
18:30 Kantipur Diary
18:55Khoj
19:00 Then Impression
20:00 Kantipur Diary
20:05 I Love It
Hate It
21:00 Kantipur Diary
21:30Indreni
21:30Sanchai
Hunuhunchha
3:00 11th Hour
Savour the cardamom and saffron spice,
slow-cooked kebabs and kormas at Indian
restaurant serving Awadhi cuisine.
contact: 427399, at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
E
V
E
N
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
S PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
T
R
I
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S
GARFIELD
SULTAN
F
I
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QFX LABIM Mall: 11:45/14:45/15:30/19:15
QFX Civil Mall: 11:45/15:15/17:30/19:00
QFX Kumari: 11:30/15:15/19:00
QFX Jai Nepal: 12:00/15:45/19:30
…
ICE AGE: COLLISION
COURSE 3D
QFX LABIM Mall: 09:00/12:30/14:00/16:15
/18:30/19:30
QFX Civil Mall: 11:30/13:45/16:30/18:45
QFX Kumari: 11:45/14:00/16:15/18:30
…
ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE
QFX Civil Mall: 15:00
…
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN 3D
QFX LABIM Mall: 11:15
QFX Civil Mall: 12:00
Dip yourself at probably the best pool in the
town at Park Village Resort. Rate: Rs. 1500
for adults & 1300 for children and includes
french fries, free Wi-Fi & 20% discount on
Food & Beverage. Contact: 9801033114
Weekends brunch @ Hyatt Regency—treat
yourself with a lavish buffet lunch, splash by
the swimming pool or laze around outdoor,
Jacuzzi, all for just Rs 2300 plus taxes per
person. Contact: 4491234
Sandwich and Crepes: Taste the sandwiches and crepes at The Lounge from 11 am to 6
pm everyday. For further details call Hyatt
Regency at 4491234.
Enjoy live DJ nights, on every Sunday chill out/
ambient, Wednesday tech/ funk house & Friday
psy/ proggy/ full on from 6:00 pm to 10 pm at
garden and 7:00 pm onwards at club at Funky
Buddha Resturant & Bar, contact: 4700091
Krishnarpan—a specialty Nepali Restaurant
at Dwarika’s, 6 courses to 22 courses Nepali
meal served. Opening Time: 6 pm-11 pm. Prior
reservations required, contact: 4479448
China Garden offers delectable dishes from
across Asia, including Japanese, Korean,
Vietnamese and Chinese. Timings: Lunch:
1230-1445 hrs, Dinner: 1900-2245 hrs,
contact: 427399 at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
Relax and Unwind this summer at
Waterfront Resort, Sedi Height, Pokhara @
Rs. 6000 Nett per night on Bed & Breakfast
basis. Contact: 9801133378 / 9849143552
We serve nothing but the finest Arabica
coffees at great value prices at Barista
Lavazza Coffee Restaurant, Lazimpat,
Contact: 4005123/4005124
Rosemary Kitchen and Coffee shop,
Thamel, opening hours: 7:00 am to 10:00
pm offers an International cuisine in reasonable prices. Contact 01-4267554
Enjoy snacks and drinks from 4:00 pm to
11:00 pm every day and nightly live music
from “The Corner Band” except Tuesday and
Saturday from 7 pm to 11:00 pm at Corner
Bar, Radisson Hotel. Contact: 4411818
Set within the historic Garden of Dreams, the
Kaiser Cafe Restaurant and Bar, Thamel, offers
a continental menu and serves as an atmospheric
venue for anything from a quiet coffee or intimate
meal. Contact: 442534
Jasmine Fitness Club and Spa, Fully
equipped gym and spa; Zumba, aerobics and
cardio classes; therapeutic massage; beauty
parlour and men’s salon. Tripureshwor;
Contact: 4117120
The Italian restaurant serves authentic
Italian cuisines in an elegant ambience for
both lunch and dinner. Timings: Lunch:
1230-1445 hrs, Dinner: 1900-2245 hrs,
Contact: 427399, at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
Garden Terrace offers an authentic world
cuisine, providing diners with the unique
experience of observing their selected dishes being prepared by chefs. Contact:
427399 at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
Mako’s offers traditional Japanese food
served. Don’t miss out on Mako’s special
Tempuras, and green tea ice cream, Time: 11:
30-14:30 & 19:00-22:00, contact: 4479448
Bourbon Room, Lal Durbar Marg is open for
lunch from 12 noon. Enjoy affordable and delicious meals starting from Rs 99! We are currently offering Indian & chinese combos along
with momos. Call: 4441703
Out-of-Africa Lunch amid rural splendor:
Sat & Sun from 1130 to 1630 hours at The
Watering Hole, Indrawati River Valley.
For prior reservation contact: [email protected]
Every Friday BBQ from 7:00 pm at Fusion
Bar & Pool side at Dwarika’s Hotel with live
band “Dinesh Rai and Sound of Mind”. Price Rs
1600/ includes BBQ dinner and a can of beer
or a soft drink. Contact: 4479448
Trisara offers food and drinks along
with good music and great times. Sunday- Live
Music by Barbeque Night, Monday, Wednesdayby Positive vibes, Tuesday, Saturday-By Jyovan
Bhuju, Friday-Live Music by Dexterous
Ayurveda Health Home has been providing
ayurvedic treatments/ massages,
sirodhara & counseling for stress, detox &
rehabilitation. Dhapasi, Kathmandu:
01-4358761, Lakeside Pokhara 061-463205
Every Friday evening enjoy Starry Night
BBQ from 7 pm onwards at Shambala
Garden Café at Hotel Shangri La with live
musical performance by Ciney Gurung.
Contact: 4412999
Kaiser Cafe Restaurant & Bar at The
Garden of Dreams, opening time: 9 am till 9
pm, offers an international cafe menu serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, specialty tea’s,
coffees and pastries, contact: 4425341
Manny’s Eatery and bar introduces a special lunch package that is affordable, tasty,
nutritious and quick enough to fit your lunch
break, Jawalakhel, Shaligram complex,
5536919
Enjoy a Barbecue Buffet at the Radisson
Hotel, wide selection of mixed fresh grills and
vegetables together with a choice of salads and
a delicious dessert buffet at a rate of Rs. 1,350
plus taxes per person. Contact: 4411818
Make your weekend more exciting with
family and friends with sumptuous Satey,
Dimsums, Mangolian Barbecue and Pasta at
The Cafe from 12:30 noon to 4:00 pm. Call:
Hyatt Regency, at 4491234
Hotel Narayani Complex, Pulchowk, Lalitpur
presents Shabnam & Cannabiz Band every
Wednesday and Rashmi & Kitcha Band every
Friday, 7:30 PM onwards @ Absolute bar P Ltd;
Contact: 5521408
Enjoy Bubbly Brunch every Saturday from 11
am to 3 pm at Shambala Gardena and Club
Sundhara. Contact: 4412999
Embers Bar, Pulchowk, in all its sophistication and glory is happy to announce
Happy Hours every 6-7pm. It will be
hosting a Barbeque night every Friday from
6:30-9:30pm
The Toran, an ideal location for all day lounging and informal dining offers multi-cuisines.
Contact: Dwarika’s Hotel, 4479488
Latin—Gypsy Jazz at The Corner Bar,
Radisson Hotel, Kathmandu with Hari
Maharjan feat Monsif Mzibiri, 7 pm onwards,
Wednesdays & Fridays. Contact: 4411818
The most delightfully awesome chicken
momos & yummy rich chocolate cake on this
part of the planet @ Just Baked Bakery &
Cafe, Battisputali, offering much more specialties at affordable price.
Starry Night BBQ—every Friday Evening from
7:00 pm at Shambala Garden Café, Hotel,
Shangri~La only @ Rs 1799 net per person
and live performance by Ciney Gurung.
Contact: 4412999
Revolution Cafe, AmritMarg, Thamel, away
from busy crowed street, offers great
music, fast wi-fi and wide menu with reasonable prices. Operation hours: 7 am to 10
pm, contact: 4433630
Learn cardio, gym, aerobics, zumba, spa,
boxing, kick-boxing, b-boying, bollywood
dance at Oyster Spa and Fitness Club,
Sinamangal. Time: Sunday to Friday from 5
am to 8 pm. Contact: 4110554
Experience The Last Resort, the perfect
place for family fun adventure and relaxation.
Special packages for residents. Contact:
4700525/ 4701247 or mail us at
[email protected]
Asia World Travel Pvt Ltd presents fascinating luxury escapades to amazing destinations:
Prague, Ladakh, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala
Lumpur, Mount Kailash and Panchpokhari in
North East Nepal. Contact: 6222604
Jungle Safari Lodge, Sauraha Chitwan
offers 2 Nights 3 Days package only for Rs
6500 per person. Suman 9851008399
Much needed getaway—1 night/2 day package
@ Hyatt Regency. Enjoy luxury stay of a five
star hotel for a couple with breakfast and
access to spa facilities for just Rs 9999 plus
taxes per person only. Contact: 4491234
Experience the Gyakok @ Shambala
Garden, Hotel Shangri~la only @ Nrs.1700
Nett per person and Nrs.3000 Nett for couple. For more details and reservation:
4412999
Enjoy Gourmet Saturday Brunch with
your family and friends at the Sunrise
Restaurant , Hotel Yak & Yeti from 12-7 pm
every Saturday. Contact: 4248999
Escape, relax and get in shape @ Hyatt
Regency. Embark on a personal well-being at
Club Oasis. Remember us for Tennis, sauna,
Jacuzzi, swimming, fitness centre and Beauty
Salon. Contact: 4491234
Yoga detox and Ayurveda treatments and
retreats every day at Himalayan Peace &
Wellness Centre, Park Village Hotel. Get 10%
discount on all Ayurvedic treatments.
Contact: 980106661
C M Y K
sports
kathmandu post
the
PG 11
sports digest
Wednesday,July20,2016
Torino sign Ljajic from Roma
Stenson back into top five in ranking
Torino have signed striker Adem Ljajic from AS
Roma for 8.5 million euros and brought his teammate Iago Falque in on loan, the Serie A club said.
The Serbia international joined the Rome-based club
in 2013 but had a one-year loan spell at Inter Milan
last season, during which he scored three goals in
25 league appearances.
Henrik Stenson moved back into the top five of
the world golf rankings on Monday, after sealing
his first major title with a thrilling victory over Phil
Mickelson in the British Open on Sunday. Australian
Jason Day retains his lead over Dustin Johnson as
world number one, after both failed to contend at
Royal Troon.
PARIS: Frenchman
Richard Gasquet has
pulled out of next
month’s Rio Olympics
because of a back injury
with Benoit Paire taking
his place, the French
Tennis Federation (FFT)
said on Monday. It is the
second time the 30-yearold, who won doubles
bronze with Julien
Benneteau in London
four years ago, has
pulled out of the Games
after he also missed
Beijing in 2008. (AFP)
Agence France-Presse
LONDON, July 19
England coach Trevor Bayliss
has said it’s possible the team
could field two specialist spinners at home after Yorkshire
leg-break bowler Adil Rashid
was called into the squad for
the second Test against
Pakistan.
Joining Rashid in an unusually large 14-man party
were the fit-again duo of
James Anderson and allrounder Ben Stokes, with
England looking to bounce
back after last week’s 75-run
defeat by Pakistan in the first
Test at Lord’s. Pace bowler
Anderson, England’s all-time
leading wicket-taker, is now
set to make his Test return on
his Lancashire home ground
when the second of a fourmatch series starts at Old
Trafford on Friday.
Anderson and Stokes have
been proving their fitness following respective shoulder
and knee injuries in the ongoing County Championship
match between Lancashire
and Durham at Southport
near Liverpool. The more
intriguing selection was that
Le Guen named
new Nigeria boss
ABUJA: Nigeria have
appointed Frenchman
Paul Le Guen to lead
their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World
Cup, where they are
drawn in a difficult
group along with
Algeria, Cameroon and
Zambia. Former Cameroon coach Le Guen was
chosen ahead of Belgian
Tom Sainfiet and Salisu
Yusuf, who has been the
country’s caretaker
coach since May. “Paul
Le Guen has been
appointed Nigeria coach
and he will be assisted by
Yusuf and Imma
Amakapabo of Enugu
Rangers,” said technical
committee member
Paul Bassey. (AFP)
LONDON: Australian goalkeeper Mark Birighitti
signed for Premier
League side Swansea on
Monday to become the
fourth senior stopper on
the club’s books. The
25-year-old signed a twoyear contract with the
“Swans” after leaving
A-League outfit
Newcastle Jets. He faces
a battle for No 1 spot
with Lukasz Fabianski,
Kristoffer Nordfeldt and
Gerhard Tremmel having played under one of
Swansea manager
Francesco Guidolin’s
assistant coaches,
Gabriele Ambrosetti,
in Italy. (AFP)
Vrsaljko relishing
Atletico move
MADRID: Croatia international Sime Vrsaljko is
eager to take his game to
the next level in Spain
after joining Atletico
Madrid from Sassuolo.
The 24-year-old signed a
five-year contract with
Atletico earlier this
month after playing for
his country at Euro
2016, where Croatia
reached the last 16 before
losing to Portugal.
Vrsaljko added that he
made his decision to join
Atletico as soon as he
heard that Diego
Simeone was interested
in bringing the
right-back. (AFP)
Ronaldo vows to come back stronger
Cristiano Ronaldo said on Monday that he intends
to come back stronger for the upcoming season
despite the injury he sustained while playing for
Portugal in their victorious Euro 2016 final. The
Real Madrid striker limped off in tears with a knee
injury in the first half of the final against hosts
France earlier this month.
Bayliss ponders spin
options for 2nd Test
hit for four
Injured Gasquet
out of Rio Games
Swansea sign
goalkeeper
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
england-pakistan test series
n Trevor Bayliss
of Rashid, all of whose three
Test appearances to date came
in ‘spin-friendly’ conditions
against Pakistan in the United
Arab Emirates last year.
England have long been reluctant to field two spinners at
home, where pitches in recent
years have tended to favour
faster bowlers.
Moeen Ali, who for most of
his career has been better
known as a batsman, was
effectively
‘milked’
by
Pakistan in their first innings
339 at Lord’s and there are
those who believe Rashid
could
replace
him
as
England’s front-line spinner.
But while neither Ali nor
Rashid are in the class of
Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir
Shah, Bayliss said it was not
impossible both men to feature in the same England side.
“I’ve always thought of
playing two spinners (at
home), at some stage,” he said.
“Pakistan have three left-arm
pace bowlers, who created
rough outside the off stump
for Moeen,” the Australian
added. “So looking ahead, if
we did happen to have two
spinners, they could both play
an important part for us.”
But the biggest immediate
problem England have to solve
after Lord’s is how to bat better against Shah, who knocked
Anderson off the top of the
rankings. “Our batters have to
play their spin a lot better,”
said Bayliss. “Especially in
England squad
Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Alex Hales
(Nottinghamshire), Joe Root
(Yorkshire), James Vince (Hampshire),
Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Jonny
Bairstow (Yorkshire, wkt), Ben Stokes
(Durham), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire),
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Stuart
Broad (Nottinghamshire), James
Anderson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid
(Yorkshire), Steven Finn (Middlesex),
Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire)
the first innings, I felt we gifted him a few wickets with
shots I’m sure the boys would
like to replay.”
Hampshire batsman James
Vince was retained despite a
lowly average of under 19
after four Tests, with his 42 in
the second innings at Lord’s
his highest score. But he
seemed unaware he was being
drawn
ever
wider
by
Pakistan’s seamers in the
hope of being caught in the
slip cordon, which is exactly
how he fell.
England backed Chris
Woakes after some unconvincing early displays and saw the
Warwickshire
paceman
return match figures of 11-102
at Lord’s.
n Australia captain Steven Smith plays a stroke against Sri Lankan XI during the second day of their
three-day practice match at the P Sara Oval Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday. AFP/RSS
Hull boss Bruce holds
talks over England job
Agence France-Presse
LONDON, July 19
Steve Bruce is definitely a
runner in the race to be
England football manager as
several media outlets reported on Tuesday the Hull City
coach had held talks with the
Football Association.
The
5 5 - ye a r- o l d
Englishman—who like older
compatriot and rival Sam
Allardyce has yet to win any
silverware during a long time
in club management—said
prior to the talks he thought
the job should go to a homegrown talent. “I think the top
of the FA in my opinion
should be English. I’ve always
said that, there’s nobody more
patriotic than I am,” he told
BBC Radio Humberside. “I’m
honoured to be linked with it.
It’s the pinnacle to go and
manage your country. What
bigger job in the world is
there?” added Bruce, who has
also managed, among other
clubs, Wigan and Sunderland.
Hull, who Bruce guided to
an immediate return to the
Premier League with a playoff final win over Sheffield
n Steve Bruce
Wednesday in May, issued a
statement confirming he had
spoken with the FA. “The club
can confirm that manager
Steve Bruce has held informal
discussions regarding the
England vacancy, although no
official approach has been
received from the FA,” read
the statement. “We would
hope to see the FA conclude
their business quickly in
order to avoid further speculation regarding Steve ahead of
what is a season of huge
importance for the club fol-
lowing our return to the
Premier League.”
Bruce, who enjoyed a successful playing career captaining Manchester United
although without being
capped internationally, and
Sunderland boss Allardyce
are thought to be on a fourman short list also comprising young Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe and the
experienced USA coach and
former
German
striker
Jurgen Klinsmann. The threeman FA panel — which is
made
up
of
former
Manchester United chief
executive David Gill, FA technical director Dan Ashworth
and chief executive Martin
Glenn — are seeking to find a
successor to Roy Hodgson.
Hodgson stepped down
after England’s latest failure
at a major finals, losing 2-1 to
minnows Iceland in the last 16
of Euro 2016. England have
failed to make it past the first
knockout stage of a major
finals since Sven-Goran
Eriksson guided them to the
2006 World Cup quarter-finals,
where they lost on penalties to
Portugal.
pulsar sports award: people’s choice
Mali the star of Nepali volleyball
Post Report
Kathmandu, July 19
The 15-year-old national team
volleyball player Prativa Mali
has established herself as
shining star in the Nepali
sporting arena.
Her rise in the national
team belies her tender age as
he was instrumental in
Nepal’s runner-up finish during the South Asian Women’s
Volleyball Championship held
in Kathmandu two years ago.
She was just 13 then.
Since then she has matured
a lot despite her age and also
helped Nepal claim bronze
medal in the 12th South Asian
Games in India. Since star
player Ramila Tandukar left
New Diamond Academy, Mali
has been the star player for
the club. New Diamond participated in five national-level
tournaments over the past
one year and the club made it
to the finals in four of them.
Mali played a pivotal role in
the club’s run to those finals.
She was named the best player
as New Diamond won the
Open Volleyball Championship in Pokhara. She also
walked away with the best
player award in two other
events while also winning the
best spiker honour in two others meaning she never
returned empty handed in
any of the five tournaments.
She was rewarded for the
sparkling performance with a
nomination in the prestigious
Pulsar Sports Award this year.
Mali is one of the five nominees in the People’s Choice
Award. She is contesting for
the honour with table tennis
player Nabita Shrestha,
weightlifter Tara Devi Pun,
c r i cke t e r
Sandeep
Lamichhane and footballer
Nawayug Shrestha.
The
award function is on Thursday.
NSJF annually honours the
sports personalities in eight
categories, evaluating on
their achievements over the
past one year. It had also
announced five nominees
each in the male, female,
youth and coach of the year
awards. The winners of lifetime achievement, special and
para-athlete of the year award
will be declared directly during the award function on
July 21.
C M Y K
sports
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
thekathmandu post
12
IOC weighs Russia ban
enjoying a rare moment
Agence France-Presse
LAUSANNE, July 19
n Nepali fans cheer their team during a 50-over friendly cricket match against Marylebone Cricket
Club at Lord’s in London on Tuesday. Nepal set MCC a 218-run target. (C.R.P.D.) - 3/052/053
Post Photo: Kaushal Adhikari
The International Olympic
Committee (IOC) held emergency talks on Tuesday on
whether to ban Russia from
the Rio Games after an investigation found rampant staterun doping at the 2014 Sochi
Winter Games and other
events.
A damning report commissioned by the World AntiDoping Agency (Wada)
detailed an elaborate cheating scheme that affected 30
sports with help from the
FSB state intelligence agency. After the report was
released by lead investigator
Canadian law professor
Richard McLaren, top sport
figures from across the
globe called for all Russian
competitors to be banned
from Rio Games which start
on August 5.
IOC president Thomas
Bach said Russia’s actions
were “a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the
Olympic Games.” He said the
organisation “will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any
individual or organization
implicated,” including with
respect to Rio de Janeiro.
Bach led a phone conference on Tuesday with the
IOC’s powerful executive
board. If the panel calls for
Russia’s exclusion from Rio,
it would mark the first time a
country has been banned
from an Olympic Games over
doping. Wada led calls in support of Russia’s ban, a position backed by the German
Olympic body (DOSB) as well
as anti-doping institutions
from Canada to New Zealand.
But others called for caution, pointing to the ethical
issues of punishing aspiring
Olympians who have never
tested positive for drug use.
Bach raised those concerns
himself over a ban previously imposed against Russia by
international athletics governing body IAAF because of
doping in the country’s track
and field programme.
The Olympics chief and
some international federations have called for a way for
Russian athletes proved to be
clean to compete in Rio.
Reacting to the McLaren
report, the Association of
Summer
O ly m p i c
Federations said it was
“important to focus on the
need for individual justice”
while noting “the gravity
alleged doping cover-up
n IOC President Thomas Bach
If the IOC panel calls for Russia’s exclusion from Rio, it
would mark the first time a country has been banned
from an Olympic Games over doping
and extent” of the alleged
cheating.
In China, the state-owned
Global Times newspaper
took the view that “Banning
Russia will tarnish Olympic
spirit”. The Russian Olympic
Committee (ROC) vowed to
fight to “protect the rights of
clean athletes,” while seeking to undermine the credibility of McLaren’s key witness, the dismissed former
boss of Russia’s anti-doping
lab Grigory Rodchenkov, who
admits he was central to the
cheating scheme.
The ROC insisted that collectively
punishing
all
Russian competitors based
on Rodchenkov’s evidence
left “the integrity of the
Olympic Movement...endangered.”
McLaren said his team
uncovered forensic evidence
that proved Rodchenkov’s
claims. The Canadian lawyer
said the coverup started in
2010 after Russia’s “abysmal”
results at the Vancouver
Winter Olympics and continued until 2015 after the Sochi
Games. It included the
2013
World
Athletics
Championships in Moscow
and 2013 World University
Games in Kazan.
At Sochi, the FSB helped
Rodchenkov’s staff destroy
supposedly tamper-proof
urine samples that would
have seen a Russian athlete
caught doping and swapping
them for clean ones, according to the report. The ploy
involved a “clean urine
bank” that was full of
Russian competitors’ samples and later secretly transported by the FSB from
Moscow to an FSB building
located handily next to the
Sochi Olympic testing laboratory, the report said.
McLaren said Russia’s
sport ministry “directed,
controlled and oversaw,” the
scheme, which he termed
“state-dictated failsafe system” designed to let the country’s competitors cheat. The
Kremlin said officials named
in the report would be suspended, but also denounced
the “dangerous” interference
of politics in sport.
Granit Xhaka a
‘perfect signing’
Reuters
London, July 19
Defender Per Mertesacker
expects Granit Xhaka to set
the tempo from the Arsenal
engine room this season and
described him as the “perfect
signing” for the club.
The 23-year-old, who joined
Arsenal in May, captained
Borussia Moenchengladbach
to fourth place last season and
also helped Switzerland reach
the last 16 of the Euro 2016.
British
media
reported
Xhaka’s transfer fee at about
£30 million ($43.95 million),
which would make the midfield enforcer Arsenal’s third
most
expensive
signing
behind Mesut Ozil and Alexis
Sanchez.
“He’s a leader and that
is really important, especially
in midfield. He has got a
very good attitude, is very
composed on the ball and
contributes
a
lot,”
Mertesacker told the club’s
website. “He is a good passer
as well, so he will set the
tempo. I am looking forward
to how he does it, how composed he will be in training
and in the games. He will be
the perfect signing for us.”
Francis Coquelin, who
played 26 league games last
campaign, said Arsenal
n Granit Xhaka
needed to dig deep in big
games and must pay closer
attention to details in order to
push for the title after finishing second to champions
Leicester City.
“It was a really tight season
last season and it was a
strange one. I think it was
unexpected that Leicester
would win it but they did terrifically. We had a strong season, but it’s going to be about
details,” Coquelin said. “The
games all the people expect us
to win, we have to win them
and respond as well in the big
games. I think that’s what
we’ve done in the last couple
of years so we have to carry
on doing this.”
The London side open their
2016-17 league campaign at
home against Liverpool on
August 14.
Ibra set to miss
Utd’s China tour
Agence France-Presse
LONDON, July 19
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss
Manchester United’s pre-season tour of China as the
Sweden striker takes an
extended break following
Euro 2016.
Ibrahimovic joined Jose
Mourinho’s side on a free
transfer after leaving French
champions
Paris
Saint
Germain (PSG) at the end of
last season, but the Premier
League club’s legion of fans in
China won’t get a first glimpse
of the marquee signing in a
United
shirt.
Although
United’s 25-man squad for the
trip includes Wayne Rooney,
Marcus Rashford, Chris
Smalling, David De Gea and
Paddy McNair, who all exited
Euro
2016
later
than
Ibrahimovic, the former
Barcelona and Inter Milan forward was granted extra time
off by Mourinho and is currently sunning himself in Los
Angeles.
Ibrahimovic’s first United
appearance is likely to come
against
Galatasaray
in
Gothenburg on July 30. The
35-year-old’s absence won’t
slow the clamour to see
United’s glamour friendlies
against Borussia Dortmund
in Shanghai on Friday and
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester
City in Beijing on Monday.
Ibrahimovic’s
fellow
close-season arrivals Eric
Bailly, an Ivory Coast defend-
n Zlatan Ibrahimovic
er signed from Villarreal, and
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a former Borussia Dortmund midfielder, are on the plane to
Asia for the week-long trip.
Also included is England leftback Luke Shaw, who will continue to step up his fitness
after making his return from
long-term injury in the 2-0
friendly win at Wigan on
Saturday.
Youngsters Axel Tuanzebe,
Will Keane and Andreas
Pereira will get a chance to
impress after being named in
the group. France internationals Anthony Martial and
Morgan
Schneiderlin,
Ger many’s
Bastian
Schweinsteiger and Italy’s
Matteo Darmian are not going
to the Far East following their
Euro 2016 campaigns.
Striker James Wilson started against Wigan but is not
included, nor are Cameron
Borthwick-Jackson, Tyler
Blackett and Guillermo
Varela.
Published and Printed by Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd., Central Business Park, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal, P. B. No. 8559, Phone: 5135000, Fax: 977-1-5135057, e-mail: [email protected], Regd. No. 32/048/049, Chairman & Managing Director : Kailash Sirohiya, Director : Swastika Sirohiya, Editor-in-Chief : Akhilesh Upadhyay
money
kathmandupost
the
F ORE X
cross currency
US Dollar
USDEUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD INR NR
INR67.178773.97700.6310 88.1020 68.0410 51.4910 50.2720
GBP0.7620 0.8395 0.0072
JPY 106.4400117.3300
EUR0.9073
USD
finance&economy
107.76
Euro119.29
NR 107.7600119.290010.1600142.2500109.680082.8300 80.8200 1.6015
Pound Sterling
0.6244
0.7715 0.5842 0.5697 0.0114 0.0070
138.8889 107.8800 81.5700 79.5900 1.5848 0.0984
0.0085 1.1912 0.9193 0.6955 0.6788 0.0135 0.0084
1.1022 0.0094 1.3123 1.0143 0.7670 0.7481 0.0149 0.0093
How to read the table
The chart shows the rates of nine world currencies. Move across the table to find rates of exchange between any two
currencies. One unit of the currency mentioned vertically is worth that amount in the currency mentioned horizontally.
142.25
Japanese Yen
10.16
Chinese Yuan
16.10
Qatari Riyal
29.59
Australian Dollar
80.82
Malaysian Ringit
26.92
Saudi Arab Riyal
28.73
Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank
WEDNESDAY,JULY 20, 2016 (05-04-2073) kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
India to inject $3.4b into state banks
Page III India will inject IRs229.15 billion ($3.41 billion) into 13 state-run banks to help shore up the cash-strapped lenders and revive loan
growth that has hit a two-decade low.
Revenue collection Ministry invites
EoI to appoint
tops target by Rs7b consultant
ktm-tarai fast track project
Inside
Nepse records Rs2.14b
single-day transaction
Despite political wrangling, the share
market has continued a brisk business, with transaction volume on the
Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) crossing Rs2.14 billion on Tuesday. This is
the first time that the daily turnover
has crossed the Rs2 billion mark in
the new fiscal and second highest
overall since hitting Rs2.19 billion on
June 15. Nepse has enjoyed the bullrun since the onset of the fiscal year
2016-17 as the capital market gained
82.32 points over the first three days
of trading. Pg: II
IMF slashes global
growth forecast
The uncertainty created by Britain’s
vote to leave the European Union will
slow the global economy into next
year, the International Monetary
Fund predicted on Tuesday. Last
month’s populist victory in the
British referendum has darkened the
skies in that country and across the
euro area, according to the global crisis lender, forcing it to cut April’s
growth forecasts and rattling what
had already been a fragile recovery.
Britain’s relations to the 28
member EU single market were
thrown into confusion following the
June 23 vote.
Pg: III
Samsung launches new
Galaxy J2 smartphone
Samsung has launched the Galaxy J2
2016 with two new innovations—
Turbo Speed Technology and Smart
Glow—in the Nepali market. The J2
2016 is an upgraded version of the J2
unveiled last year which is the top
selling smartphone in Nepal today.
The new Galaxy J2 is also an addition
to Samsung’s 4G-enabled smartphone
portfolio. The new Galaxy J2 has been
re-engineered, re-designed and
re-loaded with new features such as
Turbo Speed Technology (TST), a revolutionary innovation which results
in superior device performance. Pg: IV
POST REPORT
Revenue Collection (in billions of rupees)
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Revenue collection overshot the
target by Rs7 billion in the last fiscal year despite a four-and-a-halfmonth-long Indian blockade that
brought Nepal’s economy to a near
standstill.
The government raked in Rs482
billion against its goal of Rs475 billion, a pleasant surprise even for
the Finance Ministry. The amount
is equivalent to 21.4 percent of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
which is the highest ever, the
Finance Ministry said.
The ministry had projected a revenue collection deficit of Rs45 billion while unveiling the mid-term
review of the budget for the last
fiscal year.
Finance Ministry officials cited
administrative efforts, higher customs valuation of imports and
harder work to recover dues for the
surge in revenue despite an adverse
situation.
The payment of Rs10 billion in
capital gains tax on the sale of
Ncell, the largest corporate sector
deal in Nepal, besides the receipt of
Rs6.5
billion
from
the
Telecommunications Fund collected by the Nepal Telecommunications
Authority (NTA) also swelled revenue collection.
“This incident of revenue collection exceeding the target serves as
a lesson that things considered as
impossible can be possible if there
is conviction and dedication to
achieve things,” said Finance
Minister Bishnu Poudel while
Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel
addresses a press meet in Kathmandu
on Tuesday. Post Photo
n
speaking at a press meet on
Tuesday.
According to him, measures
such as recovery of tax dues, monitoring of the non-tax sector,
improvement in valuation of goods
at customs points, control of smug-
gling and risk mitigation initiatives to tackle tax evasion, among
others, helped collection to surpass
the goal. “During the first half of
the fiscal year, revenues fell short
of the target by Rs52 billion, and
the deficit still stood at Rs50 billion
in the third quarter of the fiscal,”
said the minister. “But after border
obstructions were removed in
February, economic activities
began to recover and revenue collection began to rise.”
When the government was preparing the budget for the current
fiscal year, Finance Ministry officials were still expecting a revenue
deficit of Rs10 billion, but eventually it even surpassed the target.
Responding to charges that the
government depended on non-tax
revenues like recovery of resources
from the Telecommunication Fund
and unplanned revenue collection
such as capital gains tax from
Ncell, Revenue Secretary Rajan
Gas bottlers allowed to buy bullets
RAJESH KHANAL
Khanal said that collecting revenue
from various inactive funds was
part of the strategy pursued to
meet the revenue target after the
blockade.
He added that allowing various
funds to remain inactive was
against the law. “We have asked the
Financial Comptroller General’s
Office (FCGO) to determine the status of various inactive funds so
that we can collect such funds in
our revenue account,” he said.
Although the loan repayment of
Rs12 billion by Nepal Oil
Corporation is said to have been
added to revenue, such monies are
put under the ‘Financing’ heading
and not revenue, said Joint
Secretary Laxman Aryal of the
Finance Ministry.
“In fact, consistent efforts by the
revenue administration are mainly
responsible for the higher revenue
collection,” he said.
A surge in imports towards the
end of the fiscal year also contributed to the jump in revenue despite
prolonged obstruction at the border points during the blockade.
Imports had plunged sharply during the blockade, but they swelled
after the blockade was lifted and
reached close to the figure of the
previous fiscal year, according to
the ministry.
Meanwhile, the contribution of
income tax to total revenue
increased by 3 percentage points to
27.52 percent from 24.85 percent in
the previous fiscal year. However,
the share of customs duty and
value added tax (VAT) decreased by
1 percentage point.
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
The Ministry of Physical
Infrastructure and Transport
on Tuesday issued a notice,
inviting
Expression
of
Interest (EOI) from consulting
firms to conduct a geo-technical investigation for the
design of bridges, flyovers,
grade separated intersections
and preliminary design of the
Kathmandu-Terai/Madhes
Fast Track Road Project.
According to the notice, the
consulting work for the 76km
road project has been divided
into five packages.
The project office issued the
latest notice after the Supreme
Court quashed a writ that
demanded annulment of the
previous government’s plan to
hand over the project to an
Indian consortium company
after the incumbent government announced to develop
the project on its own.
According to the notice,
interested firms should submit their EOIs by August 2. A
ministry source said a competent firm will be shortlisted
and invited to submit the
Request for Proposal (RFP).
“We published the notice as
per the government’s policy to
construct the project on its
own,” said a project official.
The government has allocated Rs10 billion for this fiscal year for the project.
Previous government led
by Sushil Koirala had signed a
memorandum of understanding to prepare a detailed
report with an Indian company named Infrastructure and
Lease and Financing Services
(IL&FS) Limited in March
2015.
However, the plan landed in
controversy due to provisions
requiring the government to
ensure minimum revenue
guarantee, promise low interest loan worth Rs75 billion to
the developer and Rs15 billion
in equity investment.
tourist destination
Purchase Quota
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)
officially allowed LPG bottlers
to acquire gas bullet trucks.
The
state-owned
oil
monopoly
on
Tuesday
allowed the bottlers to purchase 600 bullets. NOC had
been preparing to allow the
bottlers to acquire the bullets
since India imposed a trade
blockade on Nepal.
During the embargo, Indian
gas bullets had refused to
transport LPG to Nepal citing
security reasons.
Currently, neither NOC nor
private sector companies possess LPG bullets, leaving
Nepal at the mercy of Indian
transporters for the shipment
of cooking gas.
According to NOC, more
than 523 Indian bullets are
currently used to import LPG.
Gas bottlers have been paying
around Rs3.5 billion annually
to the Indian transporters for
the service.
There are 53 LPG bottlers
operating in the country.
Shiva Ghimire, president of
Nepal LP Gas Industry
Association, acknowledged
More than 523 Indian
bullets are currently
used to import LPG
the receipt of the official NOC
letter permitting them to purchase 600 gas bullets. “We had
actually planned to acquire
775 gas bullets in total,” said
Ghimire.
NOC has delegated authority to the association to allocate the bullet purchase quota
to the gas companies. Ghimire
said they have already
assigned the quota.
Companies
No. of bullets
Nepal Gas
50
45
Koshi Gas
Sagarmatha Gas
25
23
Everest Gas
Griha Laxmi Gas
21
20
Nepal Gas Narayani
Om Gas
17
Maruti Gas
16
15
Bheri Gas
15
Bhanu Gas Janaki Gas 15
15
Shree Ram Gas
14
Manoj Gas
14
Manakamana Gas
Mechi Gas
14
14
Narayani Gas
14
Prima Gas
Royal Multi Look
12
Kankai Gas
10
Nobal Gas
10
Pancha Mahalaxmi Gas
10
Parajuli & Brother Gas
10
10
Rijal ko Bhanchha Sahara Gas
10
Satyanarayan Gas
10
Sugam Kamakhya 10
Sugam Gas
10
Gita Gas
9
Leo Gas
9
Super Gas
9
Triveni Gas
9
Chandeshwori Gas
9
Butwal Gas
9
Rapti Gas
8
Aarati Gas
7
Jagadamba Gas
5
n Tourists
visit Yehliu Geopark in New Taipei of southeast China’s Taiwan on Monday. The geopark features stunning geological landscape
formed by wave attack, rock weathering, earth movement and crustal movement, which make it a famous destination for tourists. Xinhua
(Source: Nepal LP Gas Industry Association)
freezing salaries
Exodus of professional workers reshaping Qatar
REUTERS
DOHA, JULY 19
Five years ago Samer Habib left
the United Arab Emirates and
moved to Qatar where he opened
a restaurant that turned a profit
serving Lebanese salads and
sandwiches to expats. In June,
the business folded.
The European lawyers and
Indian clerks who for years frequented Habib’s restaurant have
been leaving the country in
recent months, he said, many laid
off in sweeping cuts to public and
private companies hastened by a
fall in energy prices. “Customers
keep coming to me and saying:
‘Samer, this is my last sandwich’,” he said. “They say it’s
been a tough year.”
Like other Gulf states heavily
dependent on energy sales,
Qatar—the world’s top liquefied
natural gas exporter—has sought
to cushion the impact of lower
oil prices on its finances by raising utility bills and slashing
spending.
Many of the foreign workers
who make up the bulk of the 2.5
million-strong population have
been affected. Companies in
Qatar that rely on government
contracts are feeling the pinch
and are freezing salaries and terminating contracts of expatriate
engineers, lawyers and consultants from countries including
Britain, France, the United States
and India.
This trend risks increasingly
polarising the country between
wealthy Qataris at the top and
Asian blue-collar workers at the
bottom. Businesses that rely on
the custom of professional for-
eign workers with their tax-free
salaries and disposable income,
including restaurants like
Habib’s, private schools, car dealerships and shopping malls,
could struggle to survive.
In 2015 state-run Qatar
Petroleum let more than 1,000 foreign workers go as part of
restructuring, according to the
energy minister. Al-Jazeera, the
pan-Arab satellite news network
owned by Qatar, closed its
American channel in April and
has laid off 500 staff, most of
them in Doha. Vodafone’s Qatar
subsidiary said in May it would
cut about 10 percent of its workforce. It is unclear exactly how
many of Qatar’s 1.6 million foreign workers are departing, and
the country’s population is still
growing due to an influx of Asian
workers building highways and
Qatar has sought to cushion
the impact of lower oil prices
on its finances by raising utility
bills and slashing spending
stadiums for the 2022 soccer
World Cup. But industry sources,
including three company CEOs,
told Reuters that job cuts were
widespread and tens of thousands of white-collar workers
had been laid off in the last two
years.
A Facebook group set up in
March for departing expatriates
in Qatar selling cars and second-hand furniture has over
50,000 members and is updated
hourly. The small country is
astonishingly wealthy—one of
the richest in the world per capi-
ta—but faces a $12.8 billion
budget deficit this year, its first in
over a decade. The government in
December halved its forecasts for
economic growth and last month
said it expects to run a deficit for
at least three years as low natural
gas and oil prices strain revenues. The layoffs could further
weigh on the economy.
Hotels, malls and private
schools—projects conceived when
oil prices were high and Qatar’s
winning of the 2022 World Cup
was driving infrastructure and
population growth—now compete
for the custom of a dwindling
middle class of professionals.
Mohammed al-Emadi, a real
estate tycoon who has developed
a $1 billion luxury shopping centre in Doha that will open in
September, said the mall’s cafés
and fashion boutiques will have
no trouble drawing customers.
But he concedes were it not for
the project’s eye-catching
design—a marble structure modelled on a 19th century Italian
galleria with shops tailored to
super-rich Qataris, whose jobs
have survived the austerity—his
business might be in trouble.
“Ten to 12 malls are currently
being built in Qatar and soon
they will open,” Emadi said, adding that some mall owners were
having to drop rent prices to
attract tenants. “This is not a
good sign. In the current economy ... the market can’t handle
any more malls.”
Two other malls are set to open
later this year—the Doha Festival
City and the Mall of Qatar, a
building equivalent in size to 50
football pitches with over 500
stores. Both projects have delayed
their opening dates. Hotel owners, too, have concerns about an
oversupply with government
spending cuts affecting business
tourism and leading to a 19 percent decline in hotel room prices
in dollar terms this year, according to Ernst and Young.
Qatari politicians dismiss as
scaremongering the notion of a
capital flight. They say new facilities, including Doha’s Hamad
International Airport, US university campuses, and world-class
swimming pools and stadiums,
will continue to lure residents
and visitors to the country,
regardless of oil prices.
“Building will drive demand.
We are thinking long term,
beyond 2022 (World Cup), and
looking at areas of growth like
regional tourism from the Gulf,”
said a Qatari government official.
C M Y K
news digest
German investor
sentiment down
FRANKFURT: Investor confidence in Germany fell
to its lowest level in nearly four years in July on
concerns about the fallout from the British vote
to quit the European
Union, a leading survey
showed on Tuesday. The
investor confidence
index calculated by the
ZEW economic institute
plunged by a bigger-than-expected 26
points to minus 6.8
points in July, its lowest
level since November
2012, the think tank said
in a statement. “The
Brexit vote has surprised
the majority of financial
market experts.
Uncertainty about the
vote’s consequences for
the German economy is
largely responsible for
the substantial decline in
economic sentiment,”
said ZEW president
Achim Wambach. “In
particular, concerns
about the export prospects and the stability of
the European banking
and financial system are
likely to be a burden on
the economic outlook,”
he said. (AFP)
Militants bomb
Nigeria pipeline
LAGOS: Militants bombed
a state-run oil pipeline in
southern Nigeria
Monday causing massive
spills, in the latest attack
on the country’s oil infrastructure, said an industry official. “The pipeline
is operated by the
Pipelines and Products
Marketing Company
(PPMC) at Batan near
Warri. It was blown up
early yesterday
(Monday),” a senior official of a major oil firm
told AFP Tuesday. PPMC
is a subsidiary of the
Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation,
which runs a joint venture with firms such as
Anglo-Dutch giant Shell,
US firms Chevron and
Exxon, Italy’s Eni and
France’s Total. The official, who asked not to be
identified, said the pipeline was repaired only
recently after it was
bombed last month. The
latest attack had caused
“massive spills of
crude in the area”. (AFP)
British inflation
climbs to 0.5pc
LONDON: Britain’s annual
inflation rate rose last
month from May, official
data showed on Tuesday,
and faces further gains
as a weak pound caused
by the Brexit vote raises
import prices. The
12-month Consumer
Price Index rose by 0.5
percent in June, the
Office for National
Statistics said in a statement. CPI had risen by
0.3 percent in the year to
May, the ONS added.
“Rises in air fares, prices
for motor fuels and a
variety of recreational
and cultural goods and
services were the main
contributors to the
increase in the rate,” the
ONS said. “These
upward pressures were
partially offset by falls in
the price of furniture
and furnishings and
accommodation services.” Howard Archer at
IHS Markit said the
pound’s weakness
appeared “set to increasingly feed through over
coming months. (AFP)
money
economy
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 | the kathmandu post
Nepse records Rs2.14b
single-day transaction
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Despite political wrangling,
the share market has continued a brisk business, with
transaction volume on the
Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse)
crossing Rs2.14 billion on
Tuesday. This is the first time
that the daily turnover has
crossed the Rs2 billion mark
in the new fiscal and second
highest overall since hitting
Rs2.19 billion on June 15.
Nepse has enjoyed the bullrun since the onset of the fiscal year 2016-17 as the capital
market gained 82.32 points
over the first three days of
trading.
On Tuesday, the secondary
market surged 13.9 points to
close at 1,800.47 points--a new
record.
Surge in transactions of
commercial
banks--which
hold major stake in the capital
market--was the major driving
force behind the growth.
Tuesday’s trading witnessed
the index of the banking subgroup rise 35.48 points on the
back of share transaction
worth Rs1.22 billion.
Stockbrokers attributed the
growth to investors’ expectations of dividends from the
commercial banks at the start
of the new fiscal year. Despite
a prolonged blockade last
fiscal year, the banks have
been performing admirably
well.
Pralhad Kumar Oli, managing director of Pragyan
Securities, said expectations
that most of the banks would
post good profits in the last
fiscal had wooed investors in
the segment. “Similarly, the
investors are also attracted
towards stocks of those banks
that have come up for trading
after completing their merger
process,” he said.
In addition, the Nepal
Rastra
Bank’s
recently
unveiled monetary policy has
also
propelled
Nepse.
According to stockbrokers,
setting the limit on direct
lending to the micro-finance
institutions (MFIs) has made
the investors switch to the
commercial banks.
Through the monetary policy, the central bank has asked
the MFIs to maintain spread
rate at 7 percent. Similarly, the
NRB has also directed commercial banks to directly
invest 2 percent of their
total loan portfolio to the
deprived sector. Earlier, the
banks used to invest 5 percent
of their total lending through
the MFIs.
Machhapuchhre Bank dominated Tuesday’s trading with
a turnover of Rs302.51 million, followed by Nepal Bank
Limited at Rs106.35 million.
With a rise in Nepse, the market capitalisation has reached
close to Rs2 trillion for the
first time.
Private sectors ‘Ensure better access to
sign agreements investment for women’
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Nepali and Chinese private
sectors have signed three
memoranda of understanding
(MoU) on tourism, cultural
exchange and construction
materials.
During the 13th NepalChina
Non-Governmental
Cooperation Forum held at Yu
Zhong District of ChongQing,
representatives from the
Federation
of
Nepalese
Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FNCCI) and AllChina Federation of Industry
and Commerce (ACFIC)
signed the agreements.
According to an FNCCI
statement,
it
signed
“Tripartite
Framework
Agreement on Strategic
Cooperation”, with the China
Chamber of Tourism and
Global Tourism Economy
Research Centre for partnership in tourism promotion.
An agreement on ChineseNepalese Cultural Exchange
Centre was signed between
Nepal Cycling Association
and China Chamber of
Tourism. Another pact was
signed between the FNCCI
and Dazu Logistics Chamber
on cooperation between on
construction materials.
Ne pal-China
NonGovernmental Cooperation
Forum was formed to enhance
cooperation to increase investment and trade and cultural
exchange between the apex
private sector bodies of the
two countries. The meeting
takes place every two years.
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Women entrepreneurs have
urged planners and policymakers to introduce policies
and programmes that ensure
better access to investment for
the women at fair interest
rates.
During
an
Advocacy
Workshop
on
Women’s
Economic Development held
here on Monday, they underscored the need for ensuring
women entrepreneurs’ right
to information and its dissemination and capacity-building
at grassroots level so that
women can take advantage of
banking facilities.
They sought women-friendly technology, particularly in
agriculture, increasing the
cap of the Women’s Enterprise
Milk supply disrupted
due to blocked roads
AGANDHAR TIWARI
PARBAT, JULY 19
Dairy farmers are having a
hard time shipping milk to the
district headquarters Kusma
as the roads have been blocked
for the past one month.
This is the main season for
milk production, and farmers
from rural areas send around
2,000 litres of milk to Kusma
daily.
“As rural roads have
remained obstructed from
mid-June, delivering milk to
the district headquarters has
become difficult,” said a representative of the Chisapani
Dairy
A g r i c u l t u re
Cooperative in Kuargha.
Farmers are forced to walk
up to two hours to deliver
milk to the district headquarters. According to Shova
Chhetri, secretary of the
cooperative, milk used to be
transported by motor vehicle
half of the way and by porter
the rest of the way.
“However, it has been three
weeks since deliveries were
stopped completely.” Around
300 litres of milk goes to waste
daily as a result, Chhetri
added.
Farmers are forced to walk
up to two hours to deliver
milk to headquarters
Baikuntha Bhushal of
Shanker Pokhari, who produces around 100 litres of
milk daily, said that he was
finding it difficult to deliver
his products to market.
Farmers associated with the
cooperative are under stress.
Moreover, as electricity
supply has been irregular for
the last two months, farmers
fear that the milk being
brought to the cooperative
may become spoiled as it cannot be chilled properly.
The Rural Agriculture
Cooperative, which has been
marketing local products for
the last two years, announced
that it had stopped collecting
milk from last month.
“We used to sell milk collected in Silmi, however, we
have not been receiving adequate quantities from farmers,” said the cooperative
chairman Raju Poudel.
Similarly, Kali Gandaki
Namuna Krishi Sahakari in
Balewa Narayansthan said
that its milk production had
dropped to half in recent days.
According to the cooperative,
it used to sell 800 litres of milk
daily collected from a dozen
village development committees in Parbat and Baglung
districts.
The total requirement of
milk in the district headquarters amounts to 3,500 litres
daily. Due to supply disruptions, shortages have started
to appear in Kusma. Local output fulfils the requirement for
eight months. According to
cooperatives here, farmers
have started giving up milk
production due to obstructions in supply.
Development Fund from
Rs150,000 to at least Rs2 million and making bank
accounts accessible to all.
Bina Pradhan, advisor to
the Federation of Business
and Professional Women, in
her presentation on “Women
are Worthwhile Investments”,
drew the attention towards
the lived experience of women
entre preneurs
with
nation’s socioeconomic and
financial constraints ensuring that women remain at the
peripheries.
The workshop was conducted with financial support
from the Australian Embassy.
Ambassador Glenn White
concluded the workshop stating the 24 percent interest
charged by some financial
institutions was an “abomination” and “if women can suc-
ceed even with that 24 percent
tied to their ankles, what they
could do if the interest was 4
percent?”
Bharati Silawal Giri, working on gender equality and
social inclusion issues, highlighted the need for inclusive
growth, for all sections of
society especially for poor
women, marginalized and the
youth. “In parts of Nepal, if a
cow dies, the man cries, if his
wife dies, he doesn’t. This is
because the cow is purchased
on loans, which he has to
repay. But he can always get
another wife”.
Vice-chair of the National
Planning Commission Yuba
Raj Khatiwada alerted participants on issues of positive discrimination and resulting regulatory arbitrage and the
need for social reform.
traffic jam
n A photo
shows heavy traffic congestion on Huayuan Road in
Zhengzhou, capital of central China’s Henan Province. Storms hit
Zhengzhou on Tuesday, causing traffic congestion in many parts
of the city. Xinhua
s t r at e g i c o p t i o n s
Yahoo studies bids for assets as losses mount
Agence France-Presse
SAN FRANCISCO, July 19
Yahoo offered no definitive word on
Monday on bids for the key assets of
the faded Internet star, as it
reported widening losses in the
past quarter.
In its quarterly earnings update,
Yahoo made no comment on the
results of the widely reported bidding efforts for its core Internet
operations. Chief executive Marissa
Mayer said in the earnings webcast
that “we have no announcement
today” on the bidding, but noted
that “we are deep into the process of
evaluating all the proposals.”
Some media reports said the
deadline for bids was Monday and
that Yahoo would decide soon on its
course of action. The earnings
report, which according to some
analysts may be the last for Yahoo
under its current structure, showed
its loss in the second quarter widened to $440 million from $22 million
a year earlier.
Revenue rose slightly to $1.3 billion from $1.24 billion a year earlier,
the company said. The results
reflected its “lowest cost structure
and headcount in a decade,” Mayer
said in a statement. “We continue to
make solid progress against our
2016 plan.
Through disciplined expense
management and focused execution,
we delivered Q2 results that met
guidance across the board and in
some areas exceeded it.”
Mayer said that even with a bidding process ongoing, she is
hoping to revive growth in key
areas and cut costs, saying “it is
important to maximize the value of
Yahoo in any scenario”.
She said this effort involves “simplifying the business and efficiently
aligning our resources.”
Yahoo’s loss in the second
quarter widened to
$440 million from
$22 million a year earlier
But Yahoo’s future is far from certain, amid intense speculation about
efforts to sell its main assets.
The company has been pursuing
its strategic review amid pressure
from shareholders to salvage what
is left of a company that was once a
leader in the online space but has
been overtaken by Google and
Facebook.
In April, Yahoo averted a proxy
battle for control of the company
with a compromise Wednesday that
added four new board members,
including a hedge fund chief who
has been critical of management.
The deal was reached with
Starboard Value, which had
launched a bid to replace the entire
board of the Internet giant.
Yahoo has not commented on any
specific bidders for the core
business, but much of the
speculation centers around Verizon,
the telecom giant which recently
acquired another faded Internet
star, AOL.
Another likely bidder is Quicken
Loans founder Dan Gilbert, backed
by billionaire Warren Buffett. In
February, Yahoo said it was
cutting 15 percent of its workforce
and narrowing its focus as it
explored alternatives.
Mayer has simultaneously been
working to revive growth and made
priorities of what she refers to as
“Mavens”—mobile, video, native
advertising and social media. But
according to the research firm
eMarketer, Yahoo will earn just 1.5
percent of net digital ad revenues
worldwide this year, down from 2.1
percent in 2015.
The company is not only losing
share of the market, but is also
raking in fewer ad dollars in
absolute terms, according to the
research firm.
BGC analyst Colin Gillis said in a
research note last week that
Yahoo’s core assets would be sold for
relatively little. “We expect any offer
in the range of $5-plus billion
should be accepted by the Yahoo
board to bring the process to a
close,” he said. “Yahoo is over
in our eyes.”
II
shares
Nepse
1,800.47pts
0.78%
highest gainers
SBL KMFL KBBLGDBL PFL MBL
10% 9.98% 9.84%8.91% 8.88% 8.51%
moderate gainers
BNT ADBL FBBLCSDBL NBL RLFL
8.21% 6.60% 6.33%6.02% 5.82% 5.64%
moderate losers
SLICL NICL NLICGLICL OHL NLBBL
-3.50%-3.55% -3.97% -4.01% -4.11% -4.52%
highest losers
ALICL SIC ILFCMHIDCL MMFDBNUBL
-4.55%-5.09% -5.48% -6.15% -6.22% -10%
Nepal Stock Exchange
Singhadurbar Plaza, Kathmandu
July 19, 2016
Trading Information
Trading Price
SN CompanyMaxMinClosingNo Shares
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
Ace Development Bank Ltd
434
Agriculture Development Bank Ltd
899
Alpine Development Bank Ltd
480
Api Power Company Ltd
846
Araniko Development Bank Ltd
398
Arun Valley Hydropower Development Co. Ltd
424
Asian Life Insurance Co. Ltd
1930
Barun Hydropower Co. Ltd
500
Bhargav Bikash Bank Ltd
585
Bottlers Nepal (Terai) Ltd
7771
Butwal Power Company Ltd
926
Century Commercial Bank Ltd
510
Chhimek Laghubitta Bikas Bank Ltd
2120
Chilime Hydropower Company Ltd
1410
Citizen Bank International Ltd
761
Citizen Investment Trust
5300
Cosmos Development Bank Ltd
493
Deprosc Development Bank Ltd
2966
Dev Bikas Bank Ltd
346
Everest Bank Ltd
3468
Everest Insurance Co. Ltd
2050
Excel Development Bank Ltd
754
Fewa Bikas Bank Ltd
660
First Micro Finance Development Bank Ltd
1978
Gandaki Bikas Bank Ltd
506
Global IME Bank Ltd
565
Global IME Samunnat Scheme-1
12.15
Goodwill Finance Co. Ltd
346
Guheshowori Merchant Bank & Finance Co. Ltd
390
Gurans Life Insurance Company Ltd
1050
Himalayan Bank Ltd
1650
Himalayan General Insurance Co. Ltd
1548
ICFC Finance Ltd
382
ILFCO Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
1370
Jalabidyut Lagani tatha Bikas Co. Ltd
464
Janaki Finance Ltd
400
Janata Bank Nepal Ltd
520
Janautthan Samudayic Laghubitta Bikas Bank Ltd 807
Jebils Finance Ltd
288
Kailash Bikas Bank Ltd
435
Kalika Microcredit Development Bank Ltd
2220
Kanchan Development Bank Ltd
624
Kankai Bikas Bank Ltd
501
Karnali Development Bank Ltd
295
Kasthamandap Development Bank Ltd
456
Kisan Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
1972
Laxmi Bank Ltd
900
Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
3020
Laxmi Value Fund-1
13.02
Life Insurance Co. Nepal
3700
Lumbini Finance Ltd
410
Lumbini General Insurance Co. Ltd
1695
Machhapuchhre Bank Ltd
900
Manaslu Bikas Bank Ltd
570
Manjushree Financial Institution Ltd
390
Mega Bank Nepal Ltd
629
Mirmire Microfinance Development Bank Ltd
2739
Mission Development Bank Ltd
680
Miteri Development Bank Ltd
950
Mithila LaghuBitta Bikas Bank Ltd
2550
Muktinath Bikas Bank Ltd
1400
Nabil Balance Fund 1
22.95
Nabil Bank Ltd
2450
NABIL Bank Ltd Promotor Share
1887
NagBeli LaghuBitta Bikas Bank Ltd
4000
National Hydro Power Company Ltd
200
National Life Insurance Co. Ltd
3550
Neco Insurance Co. Ltd
2150
Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd
966
Nepal Bank Ltd
532
Nepal Community Development Bank Ltd
338
Nepal Doorsanchar Comapany Ltd
689
Nepal Grameen Bikas Bank Ltd
1020
Nepal Insurance Co. Ltd
1290
Nepal Investment Bank Ltd
1195
Nepal Investment Bank Ltd Promoter Share
985
Nepal Life Insurance Co. Ltd
4430
Nepal SBI Bank Ltd
2040
Nerude Laghubita Bikas Bank Ltd
2429
NIBL Samriddhi Fund 1
13.24
NIC Asia Bank Ltd
910
NIDC Capital Markets Ltd
748
Nirdhan Utthan Bank Ltd
2372
NLG Insurance Company Ltd
2186
NMB Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
3835
NMB Bank Ltd
851
NMB Sulav Investment Fund-1
14.57
Om Development Bank Ltd
676
Oriental Hotels Ltd
584
Pokhara Finance Ltd
383
Prabhu Insurance Ltd
1689
Premier Insurance Co. Ltd
2344
Prime Commercial Bank Ltd
836
Prime Commercial Bank Promoter Share
285
Prime Life Insurance Company Ltd
2494
ProgressiveFinance Ltd
220
Prudential Insurance Co. Ltd
1625
Purnima Bikas Bank Ltd
670
Raptibheri Bikas Bank Ltd
350
Rastriya Beema Company Ltd Promoter Share 15999
Reliable Development Bank Ltd
484
Reliable Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
596
Reliance Lotus Finance Ltd
318
Ridi Hydropower Development Company Ltd
390
Rural Microfinance Development Centre Ltd
1240
Sagarmatha Finance Ltd
504
Sagarmatha Insurance Co. Ltd
2631
Sajha Bikas Bank Ltd
331
Sana Kisan Bikas Bank Ltd
2238
Sanima Bank Ltd
825
Sanima Mai Hydropower Ltd
1060
Saptakoshi Development Bank Ltd
551
Seti Finance Ltd
459
Sewa Bikas Bank Ltd
602
Shangrila Development Bank Ltd
502
Shikhar Insurance Co. Ltd
3590
Siddhartha Bank Ltd
1155
Siddhartha Equity Orineted Scheme
13.50
Siddhartha Insurance Ltd
2540
Sindhu Bikash Bank Ltd
600
Soaltee Hotel Ltd
385
Standard Chartered Bank Ltd
3701
Sunrise Bank Ltd
843
Surya Life Insurance Company Ltd
1032
Swabalamban Bikas Bank Ltd
2525
Swarojgar Laghu Bitta Bikas Bank Ltd
2550
Synergy Finance Ltd
175
Taragaon Regency Hotel Ltd
271
Tinau Development Bank Ltd
729
Tourism Development Bank Ltd
459
Triveni Bikas Bank Ltd
414
Union Finance Co. Ltd
193
Unique Finance Ltd
312
United Finance Ltd
420
United Insurance Co. (Nepal) Ltd
1426
Vijaya laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
1560
Western Development Bank Ltd
515
Womi Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd
3100
Yeti Development Bank Ltd
340
Total Amount Rs.
Total Quantity
Total No of Transactions
2,140,860,485
2,902,127
9,730
Index Current Pts Change%Change
NEPSE 1,800.47
13.9
0.78
Sensitive 388.10
3.58
0.93
Float132.50 1.54 1.18
Sub-Indices
Banking
Hotels
Dev Bank
HydroPower
Finance
Insurance
424
830
460
819
375
405
1785
490
576
7324
895
495
2000
1390
743
5201
474
2880
326
3435
1864
720
612
1866
469
546
12.01
334
381
980
1590
1440
366
1260
421
380
495
807
280
403.92
2220
600
500
290
440
1828
884
2796
13
3577
403
1540
838
540
364
604
2620
630
915
2420
1349
22.20
2390
1812
3860
192
3350
2060
920
489
330
677
966
1220
1139
932
4125
1975
2250
13.01
863
721
2178
2040
3650
812
14
640
559
349
1507
2202
803
285
2290
218
1505
642
339
15798
473
596
307
370
1151
485
2401
320
2110
795
1040
525
444
565
470
3450
1071
13.47
2310
590
372
3650
770
990
2475
2450
168
252
703
435
400
191
295
412
1305
1450
500
2931
327
434
12628
888 53355
460
1253
830
4592
393
18894
420 38058
1800
7339
500
310
585
400
7771
40
895
7215
505 80036
2035
6698
1408
7528
749 43370
5270
1253
493
169
2930
6987
345 43554
3465
9713
1920
4442
739
2235
638
31658
1899
2997
501
16425
565 104945
12.15
50115
340
3094
385
2270
980
7149
1610
11032
1460
6674
378 14000
1276
1949
427 139774
400
2714
509
66744
807
10
283
7915
435
11859
2220
40
612
11444
500
177
295
20
450
11301
1972
120
894
21168
2950
3819
13.02
13538
3600
515
410
750
1569 23956
892 347038
542
11888
381
14490
618
65881
2620
240
680
187
950
1804
2550
963
1380
18316
22.95 44026
2415
16715
1887
6011
4000
709
195
51650
3430
14798
2095
4638
948 79409
527 209898
338
135
689
9815
985
2153
1220
3405
1150 57049
955
14013
4130
2587
2010
19390
2320
3918
13.01
31500
898
80145
721
1314
2178
380
2085
6829
3835
590
838
29176
14.57 22220
676
4680
559
1338
380 22238
1560
9633
2245
5363
824 49476
285
17200
2400
30153
218
3360
1530
9172
650
3858
350
828
15999
270
477 22828
596
20
318
3736
390
1379
1170
13946
492
6956
2401
2019
325
1021
2154
1896
796 37986
1050 10420
540
1235
450
2361
584
9465
489
11079
3545
22331
1155 28079
13.50 263658
2405
9777
590
2136
385
6671
3690
8043
838
59754
990
8424
2500
6833
2450
540
168
12683
255
5660
703
3282
455 28003
410
11294
193
600
308
16745
412
1995
1310
8311
1451
1319
515
8791
3020
1596
335
10165
Current Pts Change%Change
1,699.95
35.48
2.13
2,058.07
35.33
1.75
1,753.71
15.77
0.91
2,669.51
9.93
0.37
852.27
8.81
1.04
9,052.45240.19 2.58
Base: 16/07/2006, (Adjusted on 10/04/2007) = 100
C M Y K
III
money
news digest
Goldman Sachs
earnings jump
NEW YORK: Goldman
Sachs reported a big
jump in second-quarter
earnings Tuesday as a
decline in expenses more
than compensated for
sluggish activity in
merger advising and
some other areas.
Earnings jumped 78.4
percent to $1.6 billion,
while revenues fell 12.5
percent to $7.9 billion.
The results for the big
US investment bank
reflected gains from
lower expenses for staff
pay and for mortgage-related litigation compared
with the year-ago period.
Total staff on the bank’s
payroll decreased five
percent compared with
the year-ago period.
Revenues were down for
financial advisory services due to a decline in
advising for mergers and
acquisitions. “Despite
the uncertainties created
by Brexit, we achieved
solid results by continuing to serve our clients
across our diversified
franchise and by managing our business
efficiently,” said chief
executive Lloyd
Blankfein. (AFP)
Truck cartel faces
record fine
BRUSSELS: The EU
slapped a record fine of
nearly three billion euros
on Europe’s biggest
truckmakers, accusing
them of colluding to fix
prices and dodge the
costs of stricter pollution
rules. Senior managers
from Daimler, DAF,
Iveco, MAN and Volvo/
Renault hatched the plan
in a “cosy” Brussels
hotel and kept it going
for 14 years, EU
Competition
Commissioner
Margrethe Vestager said.
“We are imposing the
highest fine ever for a
single cartel, but there
are good reasons for
this,” Vestager told a
press conference. “In
particular this cartel
involves a very large
market and continued for
a very long time.”
Germany’s MAN tipped
off the European
Commission about the
collusion at the highest
level, triggering an investigation that began with
raids on large truck manufacturers in 2011. (AFP)
Russia to fight
Yukos appeal
THE HAGUE: Russia
vowed Tuesday to
“use all legal means”
to fight an appeal by
former shareholders
of now-dismantled
Russian oil giant Yukos,
after a Dutch court in
April overturned a decision to award them
record compensation.
Former shareholders
filed the appeal in the
complex multi-country
legal battle on Monday
after a Hague-based
court overturned a decision by an international
arbitration court to
award them $50 billion in
compensation. “The
Russian Federation will
strongly oppose the
appeal,” Moscow said in
a statement issued to
AFP in The Hague. It
“will implement all legal
means at its disposal to
prevent the oligarchs
from Yukos to take
advantage of Russian
taxpayers’ money,” the
statement said. (AFP)
world
the kathmandu post | Wednesday, July 20, 2016
IMF slashes global EU takes China to
WTO over duties
growth forecast
Agence France-Presse
BRUSSELS, July 19
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, July 19
The uncertainty created by
Britain’s vote to leave the
European Union will slow the
global economy into next year,
the International Monetary
Fund predicted on Tuesday.
Last month’s populist victory in the British referendum
has darkened the skies in that
country and across the euro
area, according to the global
crisis lender, forcing it to cut
April’s growth forecasts and
rattling what had already
been a fragile recovery.
Britain’s relations to the 28
member EU single market
were thrown into confusion
following the June 23 vote,
raising the possibility of sudden, new trade barriers and at
least initially causing a selloff
in global financial markets.
Analysts have predicted this
will weigh on consumption
and investor confidence.
In an update to its April
forecast, the IMF said global
economic growth was likely to
be 3.1 percent this year and 3.4
percent in 2017, a downward
revision of 0.1 percent for
both years. Brexit was liable
to cost the British economy
nearly a full percentage point
of growth in 2017 as demand
will likely be significantly
lower than it would have been
had the remain camp been
victorious.
“Continuing uncertainty is
likely to weigh on consumption and especially investment,” the IMF said.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest
economy, saw unusually painful revisions as dropping oil
prices have hurt oil revenues,
power production and investor confidence. Its economy is
now expected to contract by
1.8 percent rather than grow
by 2.3 percent, a sharp revision that has followed the
steep devaluation of the country’s currency.
In a bright spot, stronger
activity in the euro area has
seen this year’s growth forecast revised upward by 0.1 percent to 1.6 percent. But possible drops in consumer and
business confidence as well as
strain on banks means 2017
will likely see a slowdown
after the Brexit referendum.
Brexit’s consequences for
the United States were likely
to be “muted,” with growth
steady at 1.8 percent this year
and next, representing a
downward revision of 0.2 percent in 2016. However, the IMF
warned of possibly greater
risks for global growth. Nonperforming loans and the poor
profitability of Greek, Italian
and Portuguese banks as well
as enduring market turbulence were among factors that
“could have severe macroeconomic repercussions,” according to the Fund.
While the short-term prospects for the Chinese economy
were unchanged or even
improved due to interventions
by central authorities—driving this year’s forecast up 0.1
to 6.6 percent—the heavy reliance on credit to drive growth
could create instability.
The recent appreciation of
the yen is likely to counteract
an announced two-year delay
in hiking a consumption tax
in Japan. This has slowed the
forecast growth in that country’s already anemic economy,
with the IMF revising it downward to just 0.3 percent, to be
followed by a bare 0.1 percent
expansion in 2017.
The European Union on
Tuesday followed the United
States to launch a new legal
challenge at the World Trade
Organization over duties and
quotas China imposes on its
raw materials exports.
The EU said China is violating WTO rules with restrictions on exports of key materials such as graphite, cobalt,
chromium and magnesia
which help Chinese industry
at the expense of European
companies and consumers.
“We cannot sit on our hands
seeing our producers and consumers being hit by unfair
trading practices,” the EU’s
top trade official Cecilia
Malmstroem said in a statement.
The EU launched similar
successful actions against
China in 2012 and 2014 over
rare earths and raw materials
like bauxite, zinc and coke.
The new challenge targets
export
restrictions
on
graphite, cobalt, copper, lead,
chromium, magnesia, talcum,
tantalum, tin, antimony and
indium.
“The past two WTO rulings
on Chinese export restrictions
have been crystal clear—these
measures are against international
trade
rules,”
Malmstroem said. “As we do
not see China advancing to
remove them all, we must take
legal action,” she added.
In filing a similar action
last week before the WTO, the
US government said that
when China joined the WTO
in 2001, it agreed to eliminate
such export duties but had
failed to follow through on the
commitment.
The US action covered nine
of the 11 materials mentioned
in the EU action, excluding
chromium and indium. These
raw materials are essential for
a broad range of industry,
from aerospace and car manufacturing to electronics and
chemicals.
In Washington, the US
trade representative’s office
said China’s export duties
ranged from five to 20 percent,
raising prices for overseas
buyers while Chinese compa-
India to inject $3.4b into state banks
Brexit spurs
bid to revive credit growth
London startups
to investigate
Berlin move
REUTERS
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, JULY 19
REUTERS
BERLIN/LONDON, JULY 19
Ten London start-ups have
made inquiries about moving
to Berlin since Britain voted
to leave the European Union,
business development group
Berlin Partner said on
Monday.
Along with other European
cities, Berlin is jostling for a
piece of London’s financial
technology industry and has
stepped up efforts to promote
the German capital as an
affordable and creative alternative to other centres.
The fintech start-ups that
have made inquiries employ
between 10 and 18 people each
and have expressed interest in
matters such as commercial
property prices, the local
labour market and accommodation availability, Berlin
Partner Director Stefan
Franzke said.
“The most concrete inquiries are coming from London
fintechs. They are considering
a move to Berlin so as not to
lose access to the European
single market,” Franzke told a
news conference.
Berlin’s
Senator
for
Economics, Technology and
Research, Cornelia Yzer, has
sent hundreds of letters to
British businesses and has
travelled to London Fintech
Week to lobby start-up founders. “There is no doubt these
companies will be interested
in being in the European
Union,” Yzer told Reuters at
Fintech Week.
More than a hundred companies have been in touch
with Berlin since the Brexit
vote, though not all fintech,
and the German capital will
open a London office in
September, she said. “Berlin is
a boom town for companies
focusing on fintech. Every 20
hours a new start-up is created ... There is no need to speak
German,” Yzer said.
Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy
Mayor of London responsible
for business, told Fintech
Week that the UK capital is a
thriving fintech sector but
acknowledged the challenge
posed by Britain’s Brexit vote.
“The outcome of the EU referendum is bad news for
London and for fintech, it’s
not what we wanted,” Agrawal
said. “We are very clear about
what we need. We need access
to the EU single market and
protection of our passporting
rights,” Agrawal said.
Maintaining passporting
rights for British firms to
offer services across the EU
must go hand in hand with
allowing EU citizens to work
unhindered in Britain, EU
leaders have said.
Eileen Burbidge, Britain’s
fintech envoy, said the UK government will re-evaluate its
fintech support programmes
but she expects passporting
rights to be maintained.
“Even in the worst case,
where people have to get a
second licence to operate in
other European countries ...
it’s not a deal breaker, it’s not
going to stop momentum,”
Burbidge said.
Berlin attracted almost 2
billion euros ($2.2 billion) in
venture capital investment in
start-ups in 2014, outpacing
London, Ernst and Young said
in a report last year. The
German capital has about 100
fintech start-ups, including
German mobile financial services
firm
Number26.
Affordable living costs, access
to talent and the widespread
use of English are among its
advantages, Berlin Partner’s
Franzke said.
India will inject IRs229.15 billion ($3.41 billion) into 13
state-run banks to help shore
up the cash-strapped lenders
and revive loan growth that
has hit a two-decade low.
The capital infusion is part
of New Delhi’s plans to invest
IRs700 billion in state lenders
over four years to March 2019.
For the current fiscal year,
Finance
Minister
Arun
Jaitley has budgeted 250 billion rupees for bank recapitalisation, but he has committed
to more if required.
Under
the
details
announced on Tuesday, top
lender State Bank of India
will get the biggest share of
IRs75.75 billion, according to a
statement from the finance
ministry. Indian Overseas
Bank, which has the worst
bad-loan ratio, is set to get
IRs31.01 billion.
The finance ministry said
in a statement it was releasing
three quarters of the amount
set aside for each bank “to
provide liquidity support for
lending” and “to enable banks
to raise funds from the market”, adding the remainder
will be allocated based on the
banks’ performance.
SBI Chairman Arundhati
Bhattacharya called the capital infusion “very timely”.
“We are hopeful that such
provision of capital will help
the banks in increasing lending, raising additional funding and cleaning up their balance sheets,” she said in a
statement.
A surge in bad loans and
the full implementation of
global Basel III bank capital
rules mean Indian banks need
billions of dollars of new capital. While relatively better
balance sheets are expected to
make it easier for private
lenders tap financial markets,
most state-run lenders—
struggling with a pile of
stressed assets and lower profits—rely heavily on the government for funds.
Rating agency Fitch reckons Indian banks need $90 billion in new capital to meet
Basel III requirements, with
about two dozen state-run
banks accounting for 80 percent of that figure. Fourthbiggest state-run lender
Punjab National Bank, which
reported a record loss in the
March quarter, will get
IRs28.16 billion, the finance
ministry said.
deal done
Malaysia’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan (right) and Singapore’s Minister of Transport Khaw Boon
Wan (left) sign documents as Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak (second right) and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
(second left) look on during a ceremony concerning a new Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail link, at Najib’s official residence in
Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday. Malaysia and Singapore signed an agreement on July 19 to build an ambitious high-speed
rail link touted as a first for Southeast Asia that will knit the historically fractious neighbours more closely together. AFP/rss
n
nies paid much less and had
more secure supplies.
In addition, the export
duties put pressure on
non-Chinese manufacturers
to shift production, technologies and jobs to China, it said.
As with the US challenge,
the EU action launches
formal consultations with
China as a first step to settle
the dispute.
If the two sides fail to reach
a settlement in 60 days, the EU
may decide to ask the WTO to
establish a panel to determine
whether China’s measures are
compatible with the Genevabased body’s rules.
The European Commission,
the executive arm of the
28-nation
EU,
is
due
Wednesday to review trade
links with China ahead of a
December deadline whereby,
under the terms of its WTO
accession, the country should
be regarded as a normal market economy, not one where
the state plays a central role.
Malaysia,
Singapore
team up on
bullet-train
project
Agence France-Presse
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19
Malaysia and Singapore
signed an agreement Tuesday
to pursue an ambitious highspeed rail link touted as a first
for Southeast Asia that would
knit the historically fractious
neighbours more closely
together.
The 350-kilometre (217mile) bullet-train line from
the regional financial hub of
Singapore to Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur is expected
to slash travel times to 90 minutes from the five or more
hours by road today.
The price tag is not yet
known but analyst estimates
have been as high as $15 billion, a potential bonanza for
foreign railway contractors
and other businesses expected
to feed off development
spurred by the project.
At a meeting in Malaysia’s
administrative
capital
Putrajaya, officials from each
side signed a non-binding
memorandum to pursue the
project, which paves the way
for detailed talks and a call for
international tenders.
Authorities hope to get
trains rolling by 2026. The
signing was overseen by
Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak and his Singapore
counterpart Lee Hsien Loong,
who proposed the idea together in 2013. “One can have
breakfast in Kuala Lumpur,
lunch in Singapore, and be
back in time for dinner in
Kuala Lumpur,” Najib said in
a joint news appearance.
Singapore was booted from
the Malaysian Federation in
1965 over ethnic issues, and
relations in subsequent decades were punctuated by occasional bickering.
But they have remained
important economic partners
and relations have warmed
significantly in recent years
under Najib and Lee.
cost cutting measures
Hauling cash, replacing cards, fixing ATMs: Stubborn costs banks can’t erase
REUTERS
NEW YORK, JULY 19
Even after years of lean times,
big US banks are coming under
new pressure to cut costs. But
management teams are finding
some expenses simply won’t
budge—like the $1 billion a year
it costs Bank of America Corp to
shuffle papers around and transport money in armoured trucks.
Other stubborn costs—ranging
from mailing paper account statements to replacing lost credit
cards and repairing broken
ATMs—show just how hard it
will be for banks to boost earnings in the near-term if interest
rates do not rise.
They also show how long it
might take to reach the digital
banking revolution that bank
executives and consultants speak
about optimistically. After years
of reducing staff in branches and
bragging about technology that
allows consumers to bank by
smartphone or ATM, JPMorgan
Chase & Co recently had to start
hiring tellers because of customer complaints.
“There are fundamental costs
associated with running a broad
retail franchise,” said Bob
Hedges, who leads consulting
firm AT Kearney’s financial institutions practice. “You can move
to part-time help, you can let the
carpet get a little more worn, but
these are just short-term tactics.”
Over the past week, the country’s four biggest banks—
JPMorgan, Bank of America,
Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup
Inc—each reported profit
declines, ranging from 1 percent
to 19 percent, because low interest rates put pressure on how
much revenue they can produce
from lending or investing deposits in “safe” securities like
Treasury bonds. That top-line
challenge has created pressure to
cut costs to bolster profits.
At least five analysts prodded
Wells Fargo executives about its
operating expenses on a conference call last week. Bank of
America, whose expenses are
higher relative to revenue, avoided some of that scrutiny by saying it would reduce annual
expenses by roughly $3.3 billion.
Big banks started announcing
multi-billion-dollar expense initiatives in 2011, and some have
since expanded them.
Bank executives and
consultants say the first wave
of cost cuts was straight-forward:
Layoffs, bonus reductions, curbing employee travel, reducing
excess real estate, renegotiating
vendor contracts. Some banks
Bank of America Corp spends
$1 billion a year to shuffle
papers around and transport
money in armoured trucks
have started making employees
pay for their own mobile phones
and have cut back on perks like
free food for those who have to
work late.
But as time marches on, it’s
become increasingly difficult to
find fat to trim. Long-suffering
shareholders have gotten excited
about these initiatives only to
find they do not move the needle
much. Banks are still struggling
to meet targets they set, ranging
from net interest margins to efficiency ratios and returns on
equity. “It’s tough to take out
costs meaningfully from here,”
said Patrick Kaser, a portfolio
manager at Brandywine Global
who invests in bank stocks.
As a result, bank executives
are being forced to fundamentally
rethink the way they operate and
staff their businesses to make
them less expensive—without
also limiting the amount of revenue they can produce.
As they hold the magnifying
glass up to the expense ledger—
especially in retail banking—they
are finding some costs to be particularly rigid.
“Near as we can tell, we spend
about $1 billion a year just moving cash around in our company,”
Bank of America CEO Brian
Moynihan said on a conference
call earlier this year.
BofA executives describe that
cost as a particularly frustrating
one. In a world where digital
banking is possible, moving
paper around should be a thing
of the past, they say. But many
customers are resisting the shift,
as JPMorgan found out the hard
way. The bank had to add branch
employees in response to negative customer feedback about
long waits.
“We’re paying attention to
what our customers are telling us
about the experience in branches,” JP Morgan CFO Marianne
Lake told reporters last week.
“We’ve added some tellers there,
and a few bankers.”
Stiff costs go beyond employees. Each lost, stolen or corrupted
debit or credit card costs 20 cents
to replace, according to AT
Kearney. Sending out paper
checking account statements for
one customer costs $9 a year.
ATM maintenance runs $165 a
month, according to Deloitte. And
each new ATM costs $15,000 to
$65,000, depending on how sophisticated the technology, says
Diebold Inc, which sells the
machines to banks and other
businesses.
Those costs may seem insubstantial, but with millions of customers and tens of thousands of
ATMs, they add up—even for a
bank that produces $6.2 billion in
quarterly profit, as JPMorgan did
in the second quarter.
Some banks are getting creative to reduce costs. Fifth Third
Bancorp, for example, has sold
“smart safes” to depositors whose
businesses handle a lot of cash,
like ball parks.
When employees put cash in
the safe, they receive deposit
credit just as if they were putting
it directly into the bank. This
does not cost Fifth Third anything; in fact, it charges an extra
fee for the service.
C M Y K
bizline
‘NMB Ek Ghar Ek Khata’ campaign
KATHMANDU: NMB Bank
has launched a campaign
named “NMB Ek Ghar Ek
Khata”. The campaign is
the bank’s endeavour to
reach every citizen of the
country and help in inculcating savings habit and
bringing the same into the
banking channel for a better future, it said in a statement, adding it is an extension of the Bank’s corporate
campaign “Aatmanirbharta”, promoting self reliance for
a stronger economy. “On a broader perspective, it is an
effort to bring every Nepali household financially literate whereby accelerating economic well being at a macroeconomic scale. The campaign will run across the
country and will be supported by various financial literacy programs,” read the statement. (PR)
Hyundai awards contest winners
KATHMANDU: Laxmi Intercontinental, sole authorised distributor of Hyundai, has distributed prizes to the winners of UEFA Euro 2016 prediction game. Soyoj Rana,
Mahesh Regmi, and Abhi Gupta were announced grand
winners, while Ashok Sapkota Prthivi, Anisa Bataju and
Ashish Manandhar were announced tournament winners. The online-based prediction game was held from
June 6 to July 10 on the website of Laxmi Hyundai. The
game attracted around 25,000 unique players. “Hyundai
has been promoting several international and national
football events through various schemes and participation in related activities and has been organizing such
prediction contests for several major sporting events,”
read a statement. (PR)
Qatar, FC Barcelona sign pact
KATHMANDU: Qatar
Airways has
reached an agreement with FC
Barcelona to renew
the partnership
with FC Barcelona’s
first team until June
2017. The agreement
will allow the
award-winning carrier and the world’s best football club to partner together
for another season of world-class football. Qatar Airways
Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Three
years ago, the joining of FCB and Qatar Airways was
truly history in the making, as this was the first time we
entered into such a landmark sports partnership. We feel
very proud of the milestones achieved by the team during the last few years and it is a great honour to have the
opportunity to remain standing side by side with the
club. This new agreement shows the world how strongly
we stand behind FC Barcelona, and we look forward to a
great upcoming season together.” Qatar Airways entered
into a strategic three-year partnership with FC
Barcelona in July 2013 which has seen the airline develop
a multitude of activations together with the club that
have gone well beyond simply having the name of the
carrier on the team jerseys. (PR)
Eurozone bank sector improves
FRANKFURT: Europe’s financial sector is showing further
signs of mending and banks are increasingly competing
for custom by easing credit standards, a key European
Central Bank survey showed on Tuesday. The ECB said
its quarterly bank lending survey (BLS) showed banks
are easing credit standards for loans to companies, an
encouraging sign, since the chronic weakness of credit
activity in the euro area has previously been blamed for
the absence of any noticeable recovery in the 19 countries that share the single currency. “Euro area banks
reported a further net easing of credit standards on
loans to enterprises in the second quarter of 2016. This
was slightly more pronounced than banks had expected
in the previous survey round,” the ECB wrote.
“Competitive pressure remained the main factor driving
this easing,” it said. (AFP)
money IV
bazaar
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 | the kathmandu post
Samsung launches new
Galaxy J2 smartphone
VegetablesUnit Price (Rs)
POST REPORT
ture has been developed based on
the insight that smartphones tend
to get cluttered with notifications.
The Smart Glow consists of an
LED ring around the rear camera
which can be customized for priority notifications of any
app or contact. While
up to four alerts can
be set, consumers can create and
KATHMANDU, JULY 19
Samsung has launched the Galaxy
J2 2016 with two new innovations—Turbo Speed Technology
and Smart Glow—in the Nepali
market. The J2 2016 is an upgraded version of the J2 unveiled last
year which is the top selling
smartphone in Nepal today. The
new Galaxy J2 is also an addition
to Samsung’s 4G-enabled smartphone portfolio.
The new Galaxy J2 has been
re-engineered, re-designed and
re-loaded with new features such
as Turbo Speed Technology (TST),
a revolutionary innovation which
results in superior device performance, and Smart Glow, a nextgen colour LED notification system for the convenience of users.
The TST is a revolutionary
innovation which results in superior device performance including
native apps loading up to 40 percent faster than devices with double the RAM. It also proactively
shuts down idle processes running in the background and
declutters RAM using its intelligent memory system to ensure
resources like RAM and processor
are free and ready to take on new
tasks, thereby extending the fastest in-class experience.
“With Turbo Speed Technology,
Samsung engineers have made a
breakthrough in optimizing the
operating system and hardware to
provide the best-in-class performance. The Samsung Galaxy J2
2016 also comes with an innovative ‘Smart Glow’ notification system which has a wide range of
utility benefits while also adding
a fresh new design element to the
device,” said Pranaya Ratna
Sthapit, Head - HHP Division,
Samsung Nepal.
The innovative Smart Glow in
the new J2 is a next-gen colour
LED notification system. This fea-
choose
their own
colour for the
Smart Glow. It
also alerts users if
they are running low on battery,
internal memory or mobile data.
Users can also use the Smart Glow
LED ring to position the rear camera for higher megapixel selfies
with the Selfie Assist feature.
The phone also features Ultra
Data Saving, Ultra Power Saving
modes, Selfie Assist and Quick
Launch Apps making them the
most differentiated offerings in
the affordable segment. The Ultra
Data Saving mode provides up to
50 percent mobile data savings by
blocking unnecessary background applications from consuming data. It also has a proprietary data compression technology,
which ensures the most cost-efficient internet experience.
The phone comes with a 5-inch
HD Super AMOLED screen.
Measuring just 8 mm in thickness,
the Galaxy J2 is a sleek device
which is further complemented by
soft rounded edges that ensure a
comfortable grip. The phone is
available in black, silver, and gold
colours.
Powered by a 1.5 GHz Quad
Core processor, 1.5 GB
RAM for smoother and
seamless multitasking, the J2 supports 128 GB
expandable memory to ensure consumers never run
out of space. The battery
capacity has been expanded
with a larger 2600 mAh battery.
The new J2 has the latest Android
Marshmallow 6.0.1.
The new Galaxy J2 comes with
a significant camera upgrade over
the earlier version with the primary camera going from 5 megapixel to 8 megapixel. The front
camera has also been upgraded
from 2 megapixel to a powerful 5
megapixel for high quality, crisp
and detailed photographs. The
new Galaxy J2 is available in
Nepal for Rs15,900.
Nintendo worth more than Sony
Agence France-Presse
TOKYO, July 19
Nintendo on Tuesday shot past
Sony in market value after
shares in the video game giant
more than doubled following the
release of its wildly popular
Pokemon Go game.
The shares surged more than
14 percent to end at 31,770 yen
($300), up 120 percent from their
July 6 close. That put Nintendo’s
market capitalisation at 4.5 trillion yen ($42.5 billion),—making
it more valuable than Sony, one
of Japan’s best-known companies, by about 400 billion yen.
On Friday, Nintendo, creator
of the 20-year-old Pokemon franchise, set a record for the most
shares ever traded daily in
Japan. Since its launch two
weeks ago, the game for mobile
gadgets has sparked a worldwide
frenzy among users who have
taken to the streets with their
smartphones.
The free app uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on realworld settings,
challenging
players to capture and train the
creatures for battles.
Investors are betting its popularity is a good sign for
Nintendo’s nascent push into
mobile gaming, a major U-turn
for a company that long insisted
on a consoles-only policy.
The Pokemon craze has also
boosted other shares in Tokyo.
McDonald’s Japan—which has
been struggling to get past a
series of food safety scandals—
soared as much as 23 percent in
the morning after it started on
Friday giving away with some
meals figurines based on the
game’s characters such as
Pikachu. It ended up 5.26 percent
at 3,200 yen.
“ I nve s t o r s
are flocking to
Pokemon-related stocks and
McDonald’s Japan is one of those
benefiting from the boom,” said
Mitsushige Akino, executive
officer at Ichiyoshi Asset
Management.
“The boom came at a time
when McDonald’s business has
already started recovering and
there’s expectation that the
pokemon rally
Pokemon toy offering will further increase customer traffic to
their shops.”
The game was launched in the
United States, Australia and New
Zealand. Since the weekend it
has been released in more than
two dozen more countries but
has yet to be available in Japan.
Nintendo declined to say
when the app would be
released in its home market,
and
N i a n t i c — wh i c h
developed
the
game
for
Nintendo—did not reply to
requests for comment.
Forbes cited Niantic chief
executive John Hanke as saying
the reason for the delay is that
Japan’s server capacity is not
powerful enough to keep up with
expected demand.
market watch
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gasoline watch
Fiat Chrysler faces investigations
NEW YORK: US authorities are investigating Fiat
Chrysler’s reporting of US sales, the auto giant said on
Monday. FCA pledged to “cooperate fully” with the
probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and
the Justice Department which, according to Bloomberg,
are examining whether the carmaker violated US securities laws. In January a Fiat Chrysler auto dealers group
accused FCA US of financially rewarding dealerships
that falsely reported higher car sales, inflating the auto
giant’s results. Dealers of the Napleton group in Illinois
and Florida sued FCA US for racketeering and fraud and
said the company’s practices unfairly harmed their businesses, which declined the payments. The lawsuit also
challenged the validity of FCA sales figures that have
shown rapid growth. (AFP)
SoftBank buys ARM for $32 billion
LONDON: Japanese mobile giant SoftBank on Monday
snapped up iPhone chip designer ARM Holdings for £24.3
billion, the pair announced in a major boost for
post-Brexit Britain. Conservative Prime Minister
Theresa May declared that the record Asian investment
proved “Britain is open for business”, just three weeks
after Britons voted to leave the European Union. The allcash deal, worth the equivalent of $32 billion or 29 billion
euros, was unanimously backed by ARM management,
the two companies revealed in a statement. “We have
long admired ARM as a world renowned and highly
respected technology company that is by some distance
the market-leader in its field,” said SoftBank chairman
and chief executive Masayoshi Son. (AFP)
bullion
Hallmark Gold
n
People gather around a gamer dressed up like a Pokemon as they use the Pokemon Go application on their mobiles in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday.
Oil market extends losses
Agence France-Presse
LONDON, July 19
World oil prices pulled back
Monday as the global glut
returned to focus as worries
eased about the effects of
Turkey’s failed coup on shipments.
At about 1030 GMT, Brent
North Sea crude for delivery
in September was down 24
cents at $46.72 a barrel. US
benchmark
West
Texas
Intermediate for August shed
24 cents to $45.71 a barrel compared with Monday’s close.
“The withdrawal of financial
investors and an oversupply
of oil products are putting
prices under pressure,” said
Commerzbank
analyst
Carsten Fritsch.
Crude futures had declined
Monday on fading market jitters following the failed coup
in Turkey over the weekend.
Turkey is a strategic conduit
for exports from Russia and
Iraq to the Mediterranean and
there had been fears that the
bid to grab power by a military faction at the weekend
would disrupt flows.
The coup, however, was
quickly crushed. The Turkish
Straits,
including
the
Bosphorus and Dardanelles,
are among the world’s major
Price Per tola
choke points for seaborne
crude, with about 2.9 million
barrels passing through daily
in 2013.
No shipments have been
stopped since large tankers
were barred from sailing in
the Bosphorus near Istanbul
for several hours on Saturday,
Bloomberg News reported,
quoting a port agent.
Analysts said that downside risks for prices remain.
“Global inventories remain
very high, and the potential
impact of growing Iranian
exports, Saudi-Iranian competition for market share and
weaker global economic
growth are some of the factors that could cause oil prices
to slip from their current
level,” Moody’s Investors
Service said in a note.
“Our medium-term outlook
(for crude prices) remains
unchanged, and we continue
to view this as a challenging
time for oil market participants.”
the
Output
from
Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting
Countries
climbed 300,000 barrels per
day in June, close to an eightyear high of 32.73 million,
according to Energy information provider S&P Global
Platts.
AFP/RSS
Fitness trackers leak
personal data: Study
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, July 19
Security weaknesses on many popular fitness trackers may allow hackers
to access or potentially manipulate
user data, a study showed on Monday.
The study of seven Androidpowered trackers by the security firm
AV-Test showed vulnerabilities similar to that found in its research from a
year earlier—with many devices lacking secure connections or tamper protection. The researchers said the
Apple Watch, which was evaluated
using different criteria because of its
operating system, had a “high security rating” despite some “theoretical
vulnerabilities.”
The seven Android devices showed
varying levels of security, with some
allowing hackers the ability to access
or tamper with user data. “As already
witnessed in the initial test of fitness
wristbands last year, many manufac-
turers are also committing similar
errors in the current test,” the report
said. “They often don’t pay sufficient
attention to the aspect of security.”
The highest risk came from devices
made by Runtastic, Striiv and Xiaomi,
with seven to eight potential vulnerabilities out of 10. “These products can
be tracked rather easily, use inconsistent or no authentication or tamper
protection, the code of the apps is not
sufficiently obfuscated (to secure
data), and data traffic can be manipulated and monitored with root certificates,” the report said. “Worst of all,
Xiaomi even stores its entire data
unencrypted on the smartphone.”
The researchers noted security
should be taken more seriously as fitness trackers move beyond the casual
athlete, and health insurers use such
devices to set rates or offer discounts.
According to research firm IDC, the
number of fitness trackers sold worldwide topped 75 million in 2015.
Rs 58,600
Tejabi Gold
Rs 58,350
Silver
Rs 900
Source: FENEGOSIDA
Int’l market
EnergyPrice (US$)%Change
Brent Crude Futr (Bbl)
Gas Oil Fut (Ice) (Mt)
Gasoline Rbob Fut (Gal)
Natural Gas Futr (Mmbtu)
47
413
138.1
2.76
0.09
0.24
-0.45
1.47
AgriculturePrice (US$)%Change
Cocoa Future (Mt)
Coffee ‘C’ Future (Lb)
Corn Future (Bu)
Cotton No. 2 Futr (Lb)
Rough Rice (Cbot) (Cwt)
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Soybean Meal Futr (T)
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Sugar #11 (World) (Lb)
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Industrial Metals
Copper Future (Lb)
Precious Metals
Gold 100 Oz Futr (T Oz)
Silver Future (T Oz)
3,012.00
147.55
354.75
73.79
10.53
1057.25
366.3
31.42
19.31
423.25
-2.37
-3.02
-2.34
-0.22
-0.78
-0.47
-0.52
0.74
-3.01
-1.46
Price (US$)%Change
225.4
0.76
Price (US$)%Change
1,329.30
19.96
0.00
-0.60
C M Y K