It has been learnt that 430,000 people will receive the vaccine during first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Nepal, which will last for about ten days.

According to a recent report by BBC, Covishield is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which is being manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been found to be 62-90 percent effective, while two dosages of the jab has to be administered between four and 12 weeks apart.

India has donated 1 million dosage of the Covishield vaccine, which is the local name for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developed in the UK.

It has been learnt that during the first phase of the campaign those who are at high risk of the infection will be injected the vaccine, especially frontline workers including health workers and staffers, security personnel, ambulance drivers, those working in waste management and sanitation, among others.

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The decision was taken at the standing committee meeting held today as Oli failed to produce explanation to his recent moves as sought by party leadership.

Dahal-Nepal faction on Monday had dropped a letter at the PM’s residence in Baluwatar.

Oli had been accused of  violating party statute by the splinter group.

Earlier, the faction had removed Oli as the party chair.

Recently, leaders representing the two factions have been engaging in back-and-forth verbal accusations and slander in public.

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READ ALSO: Kathmandu valley logs 133 new coronavirus cases today

Till date, 2,043,255 tests through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method have been carried out wherein 4,413 tests were performed in the last 24 hours.

At present, there are 145 people under quarantine in various facilities across the country. The number of active cases in Nepal is 3,312.

270 new cases of the coronavirus infection were registered today taking the national tally to 269,450.

As many as 403 persons earlier diagnosed with the disease have tested negative in the last 24 hours. With the recent addition, the national COVID-19 recovery tally has now reached 264,137.

Meanwhile, seven more fatalities were confirmed by the Ministry today, with which the country’s COVID-19 death tally has reached 2,001.

As of today, the country has witnessed 269,450 cases of the coronavirus infection while 264,137 people have recovered from the disease. Meanwhile, 2,001 COVID-19 fatalities have been confirmed. 

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Liverpool are fourth with 34 points at the halfway stage of the league campaign, six points behind leaders Manchester United whom they face later on Sunday in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Klopp said he was baffled by Liverpool‘s setback against Burnley but said the result could spark the reigning league champions back to life.

“We lost that game and it was a really low point. It’s not that I thought, ‘Who cares?’,” Klopp told the British media ahead of the clash with United.

“When I think back, I can’t find a reason why we lost that game but we did. It happened and sometimes you need a really low point to change things properly and that’s for sure what we’ll go for now.

“If we would have won in a bad game, the world would have said, ‘OK, it’s not the football they usually play but they’re back on the result path’… In the long term it wouldn’t help. It can be a real help if we use it.”

Klopp said that he had full faith in his players after Liverpool‘s first loss at Anfield in nearly four years.

“I can imagine what a lot of people think about us in the moment. People don’t change overnight. People face challenges they’re not ready for and sometimes you don’t even know a challenge will come up,” Klopp added.

The players, he said, “are still brilliant people and brilliant characters, all of them. All of them made happen what happened in the last few years and they don’t change overnight. It’s still a really good group.”

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GALLE: Joe Root became the first England batsman to score over 150 in consecutive tests in 16 years as he tormented Sri Lanka and led his side to 339 for nine in their first innings at the close of play on day three of the second and final test in Galle.

However, the tired and cramping England captain was dismissed in the final over of the day for 186, run out after clipping the ball to short leg Oshada Fernando.

Root’s weariness saw him struggle to get back into his crease having pushed forward after playing the stroke.

England still trail by 42 runs and will seek to wipe out the deficit with Jack Leach and James Anderson at the crease on the fourth morning, although Sri Lanka spinner Lasith Embuldeniya has been excellent with career best figures of 7-132.

Root followed up his 228 in the first test to match the feat of Marcus Trescothick, who scored 194 and 151 in consecutive tests against Bangladesh in 2005.

His innings was again built around the impressive use of the sweep shot, which he has waged to take the attack to the Sri Lanka bowlers.

“It was an amazing innings,” Root’s team mate Jos Buttler told reporters. “To back up his double hundred in the first test was a challenge both physically and mentally, and it has been a masterclass in batting against spin.

“It’s a great education for all of us, Not just the tactical and technical aspects, but also the concentration to apply himself for so long.

“There were some amazing shots that show the confidence and skill level. He even played a late cut left-handed today. Everybody can learn a lot from watching Joe play spin.”

EMBULDENIYA STRIKES

The tourists resumed the day on 98 for two having lost their openers cheaply for the third time in as many innings in the series.

Jonny Bairstow never looked settled and fell on 28, an inside edge onto his pad off the dangerous Embuldeniya looping to Fernando at short leg.

Dan Lawrence was impressive on his debut in England’s seven-wicket win in the first test but made just three as he edged Embuldeniya to Lahiru Thirimanne at slip.

At 132 for four, England were teetering, but Root and Buttler (55) put on a fifth-wicket stand of 97 before the latter tried a reverse sweep that went straight into his boot and bounced to short leg, providing a first test wicket for debutant spinner Ramesh Mendis.

Sam Curran (13) was out in the final over of the afternoon session, caught at slip, before Dom Bess (32) put on a vital 81 with Root for the seventh wicket.

Bess and Mark Wood (1) were both also caught at slip by Thirimanne off Embuldeniya, the first time a Sri Lanka fielder had taken five catches in an innings.

READ ALSO: 

• England lose openers after Anderson takes six Sri Lanka wickets

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Mountaineer Nirmal Purja today released a new video of the K2 winter expedition team singing the Nepali national anthem, minutes before reaching the peak.

“Brother to brother, shoulder to shoulder, we walked together to the summit whilst singing the Nepali national anthem. We all stopped around 10m before reaching the summit to huddle and make our final steps together as a team to mark this historical feat,” Purja, popularly knows as Nimsdai, shared on his social media.

Watch the video:

On January 16, ten Nepali climbers scripted history in mountain-climbing by making the first ever winter ascent of the world’s second highest peak.

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Seen in the pictures below are protesters objecting the government’s decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the agricultural sector of the country.

The government had published a notice in the Nepal Gazette on January 4, paving the way for foreign investors to invest in large agricultural industries with a mandatory provision of exporting at least 75 per cent of their production.

According to the notice, FDI had been allowed for livestock farming, fisheries, bee farming, vegetables and fruits farming, oil, pulses, dairy industry, among other agricultural sectors.

However, the Supreme Court issued an interim order on Tuesday, January 19, directing the government not to implement the decision to allow foreign investment in the country’s agricultural sector.

Photos captured by photojournalist Balkrishna Thapa for The Himalayan Times –

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Among the newly infected, 61 are females while 72 are males.

Of the total 270 new cases in the country, Kathmandu district reported 103 infections while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur registered 25 and five cases respectively.

Currently, there are 1,862 active infections in Kathmandu, 152 in Lalitpur, and 27 in Bhaktapur. The total number of active cases throughout Nepal, as of today, is 3,312.

So far, 492 fatalities from Covid-19 have been reported in Kathmandu, 115 in Bhaktapur, and 158 in Lalitpur. The nationwide death-toll has advanced to 2,001 with seven Covid-related fatalities logged today.

Meanwhile, a total of 98,413 people have recovered from the infection in Kathmandu, 15,619 in Lalitpur, and 9,038 in Bhaktapur.

Kathmandu is the only district with over 500 active cases in the country. On the contrary, Kalikot, Rukum West, and Mugu are the three districts with zero live infections, as of today.

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that three-quarters of the U.K.’s over-80s have received a vaccine shot. He said three-quarters of nursing home residents have also had their first jab. Almost 5.9 million doses of vaccine had been administered by Saturday.

Health officials aim to vaccinate 15 million people, including everyone over 70, by Feb. 15.

Britain’s vaccination campaign is a rare success in a country with Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak. The U.K. has recorded 97,329 deaths among people who tested positive.

Another 1,348 deaths were reported Saturday, and the U.K. is set within days to become the fifth country in the world to record 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

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In the last 24 hours, 133 cases surfaced in Kathmandu valley. The capital hosts the highest number of active cases.

Likewise, 403 people who were earlier infected with the virus are reported to have recovered in the past 24 hours as per the latest data provided by health ministry. As of today, 264,137 individuals have recovered from the novel coronavirus infection. The recovery rate, as such, is 98 per cent.

Nepal’s active Covid-19 case count currently stands at 3,312.

Meanwhile, seven more fatalities from the disease have taken the total death-toll to 2,001.

According to the health ministry, 4,413 PCR tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. With this, a total of 2,043,255 PCR tests have been carried out in Nepal till date.

Currently, there are 145 individuals in various quarantine facilities across Nepal.

Globally, over 98.5 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus while 2.1 million people have lost their lives to Covid-19. Likewise, over 70.5 million people have recovered from the disease and over 25 million cases are still active.

On Saturday, Nepal’s coronavirus case count reached 269,180 with 232 newly confirmed cases.

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As many as seven new deaths were reported from across the country in the past 24 hours taking the fatality tally to 2,001.

Globally, 2.1 million people have lost their lives to Covid-19 while more than 98.5 million people have been infected by the disease.

Today, 270 new coronavirus cases surfaced after which Nepal’s total cases of coronavirus infection have reached 269,450.

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According to the Non-Resident Nepali Association, four Nepalis died in the UK, three in Kuwait, one each in Portugal and Malaysia last week.

The health committee of NRNA said, the death-toll of Nepalis living abroad has climbed to 327 in 20 countries.” Dr Sanjeev Sapkota, coordinator of NRNA health committee said, a total of 56,026 Nepalis in 50 foreign countries have tested positive for Covid-19 till date. As many as 53,432 have recovered. The recovery rate is 97.5 percent.

The health committee has further informed that 2,000 Nepalis get infected on average every week. Similarly, higher number of Nepalis tested positive for the infection in the UK, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Malaysia, Japan, and the Gulf countries.

So far, 1,994 persons have lost their lives in Nepal due to the coronavirus.

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Yangdu Gurung from Pisang in the district shared that the village used to witness snowfall in the first week of Mangshir of the Nepali calendar, however, it has not been the case this year and terraces are dry and snow-less.

The snowfall is essential for cultivation in the mountainous district but it has not occurred regularly for some years. “This time in the past, all the surrounding areas used to be blanketed with snow, but now, it is arid,” said the farmer.

The mountains have turned dry and dark. Along the Annapurna ridges, Annapurna I, II, III and IV, Gangapurna and Lamjung peaks would have glittered in snow.

Mountains such as Annapurna, Gangapurna and Lamjung were snow-less as snowfall has been delayed this year. Photo: RSS

Photo: RSS

Another farmer, Ram Bahadur Gurung, also stressed that temperature is increasing here, with the glaciers melting. Although the upper belt in the district saw the snowfall sparsely, the lower belt has not got it since January 5.

It is already time to cultivate for potatoes and buckwheat, but without snowfall, that would be a challenge, said Binod Lama from Koto of Chame Rural Municipality-2. “Snow is essential as it determines the quality of apples, wheat, potatoes, and other mountain crops,” he added.

The farmers have further said the lack of snowfall on time would also adversely affect the production of medicinal herbs including Yarshagumba.

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According to Chief District Officer, Surendra Poudel, “The blocked bank account of Agrawal has around Rs 17.3 million meant to clear the outstanding dues in payment to sugarcane farmers. However, the payment has yet to take place as he has gone out of contact.”

The mill is yet to clear the due of Rs 170 million to the sugarcane farmers, said the mill.

So far, the mill has paid Rs 111 million to the sugarcane farmers, said Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh Rathaur.

Senior leader of Nepali Congress, Ram Chandra Paudel, meeting sugarcane farmers who came to Kathmandu from Sarlahi district demanding that the government fulfil its commitment to make sugar mills clear the farmers’ dues, on Friday, December 18, 2020. Photo: Skanda Gautam/THT File

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Leaders belonging to the Dahal-Nepal faction of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) — Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Shashi Shrestha, Rajkumari Jhankri, among others — filed the application at the constitutional bench presently hearing the case at the apex court.

The Office of the Attorney General on Friday submitted the copy of Nepal Gazette that has printed the notification about HoR dissolution. The notification was posted on the website of the Department of Printing on Thursday.

Information Officer at the Department, Padma Raj Pathak, said, “Often the rule is that a decision taken by the government does not take effect unless it is published in the gazette, but sometimes the government’s decision takes effect even before it is published there.” It was not unusual for the government to send the government’s decision for printing in the Nepal Gazette after the work has already been completed.

Constitutional bench of Supreme Court had asked the Office of the Attorney General to produce the Nepal Gazette to see whether or not the presidential order on dissolution of HoR was published in it, on Thursday, January 21.

Earlier, advocates Tikaram Bhattarai and Om Prakash Aryal — who argued on behalf of the petitioners challenging the dismantling of the House — had pleaded before the constitutional bench saying that the dissolution order issued by the President’s Office was illegal as it was not published in the Nepal Gazette.

Bhattarai said Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives on December 20 was unconstitutional and that President Bidya Devi Bhandari had erred by endorsing it swiftly.

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Police forces backed off, and within days, former President Hosni Mubarak agreed to demands to step down.

But events didn’t turn out the way many of the protesters envisioned. A decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi that is considered even more oppressive. The significant loss of academics, artists, journalists and other intellectuals has, along with a climate of fear, hobbled any political opposition.

Dr. Mohamed Aboelgheit was among those jailed in the southern city of Assiut in 2011 after joining calls for revolt against police brutality and Mubarak. He spent part of the uprising in a cramped cell.

Released amid the chaos, he reveled in the atmosphere of political freedom in the Arab world’s most populous country — protesting, working as a journalist and joining a campaign for a moderate presidential candidate. But it did not last.

Interim military rulers followed Mubarak. In 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a member of Egypt’s most powerful Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected as the first civilian president in the country’s history. But his tenure proved divisive. Amid massive protests, the military — led by then-Defense Minister el-Sissi — removed Morsi in 2013, dissolved parliament and eventually banned the Brotherhood as a “terrorist group.” A crackdown on dissent ensued, and el-Sissi won two terms in elections that human rights groups criticized as undemocratic.

“I began to feel, by degree, more fear and threats,” Aboelgheit said. Friends were jailed, his writings critical of the government drew attention, and “I wasn’t going to wait until it happened to me,” he added.

After el-Sissi came to power, Aboelgheit left for London, where he’s published investigative reports on other parts of the Arab world.

At his former home in Egypt, national security agents asked about him. When Aboelgheit’s wife last returned to visit relatives, she was summoned for questioning about his activities. The message was clear.

No one knows exactly how many Egyptians like Aboelgheit have fled political persecution.

Data from the World Bank shows an increase in emigres from Egypt since 2011. A total of 3,444,832 left in 2017 — nearly 60,000 more than in 2013, the years for which figures are available. But it’s impossible to tell economic migrants from political exiles.

They relocated to Berlin, Paris and London. Egyptians also have settled in Turkey, Qatar, Sudan and even Asian countries like Malaysia and South Korea.

Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that there were 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Egypt third, behind China and Turkey, in detaining journalists.

El-Sissi maintains Egypt has no political prisoners. The arrest of a journalist or a rights worker makes news roughly every month. Many people have been imprisoned on terrorism charges, for breaking a ban on protests or for disseminating false news. Others remain in indefinite pretrial detentions.

El-Sissi maintains Egypt is holding back Islamic extremism so it doesn’t descend into chaos like its neighbors.

“Sissi wants to abrogate the rights of the opposition and prevent any critical voice from being uttered,” said Khaled Fahmy, an Egyptian professor of modern Middle Eastern History at Cambridge University.

Fahmy believes this is the worst period in Egypt’s modern history for personal rights.

“It’s much more serious, it’s much deeper and much darker, what Sissi has in mind,” he said.

Those abroad who could challenge el-Sissi have chosen to not return.

Taqadum al-Khatib, an academic who also worked in the nascent political scene after 2011, was researching Egypt’s former Jewish community in Germany when he learned that returning to his homeland was no longer an option.

The Egyptian cultural attaché in Berlin summoned al-Khatib for a meeting, and an official questioned him about his articles, social media posts and research. He was asked to hand over his passport but refused. Shortly thereafter, he was fired from his job at an Egyptian university. He feels lucky to be able to work toward his doctorate in Germany but misses Cairo’s bustle.

“It’s a very difficult situation. I couldn’t go back to my home,” al-Khatib said.

Fahmy said he’s seen outspoken expatriates have their Egyptian citizenship revoked.

A government press officer did not respond to a request for comment on targeting and intimidating Egyptians — either abroad or at home — based on their work as journalists, activists or academics, or for expressing political opinions.

Journalist Asma Khatib, 29, remembers the heady days of 2011, when young people thought they could bring change.

A reporter for a pro-Muslim Brotherhood news agency, Khatib covered Morsi’s short presidency amid criticism the group was using violence against opponents and seeking to monopolize power to make Egypt an Islamic state. After Morsi’s ouster, his supporters held sit-ins for his reinstatement at a square in Cairo. A month later, the new military leaders forcibly cleared them out, and more than 600 people were killed.

Khatib documented the violence. Soon, colleagues started being arrested, and she fled Egypt — first to Malaysia, then to Indonesia and Turkey.

She was tried in absentia on espionage charges in 2015, convicted and sentenced to death. Now, she and her husband Ahmed Saad, also a journalist, and their two children are seeking asylum in South Korea.

They expect they’ll never return, but also realize they’re lucky to be free. On the day the ruling was announced, the journalist remembers telling herself: “You don’t have a country anymore.”

“I know that there are lots of others like me. I’m not any different from those who are in prison,” she said.

The exiles have had ample time to think about where Egypt’s uprising failed. The broad alliance of protesters — from Islamists to secular activists — fractured without a common enemy like Mubarak, and the most extreme voices became the loudest. The role of religion in society remained largely unanswered, and liberal secular initiatives never gained traction. No one accounted for how many people would embrace former regime figures, especially in a crisis.

Most Egyptians abroad have not been politically active, fearing for family and friends back home. But some have continued on the path begun on Jan. 25, 2011.

Tamim Heikal, working in the corporate world when the protests erupted, had doubted the government could ever reform. But he soon became a communications manager for an emerging political party. Later, he watched others being locked up, and knew his turn had come when he got an invitation from intelligence officers in 2017 to “come have coffee.”

He booked a ticket to Paris and hasn’t gone back.

Now, at age 42, he wants to educate himself and others for when a popular movement re-emerges in Egypt. He makes ends meet by editing, translating and doing consulting work for rights groups, and tries to network among the diaspora.

“It’s as if I was infected with a virus, after the revolution,” he said. “I don’t know how to go back. I won’t be able to relax until change happens.”

Others try to cope in strange lands. Asma Khatib and her husband aren’t sure what to say to their young children when they ask where they’re from.

Abouelgheit, the doctor-turned-journalist, worries his son won’t speak Arabic after so much time in the United Kingdom.

He hopes to go home one day, but in the meantime, he’s considering returning to the medical profession.

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Footage showed the first miner to be rescued, a black blindfold across his eyes, being lifted out of a mine shaft in the morning.

The miner was extremely weak, CCTV said on its Weibo site. Rescue workers wrapped the barely responsive man in a blanket before taking him to hospital by ambulance.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers carry a miner who was trapped in a gold mine in Qixia City in east China’s Shandong Province, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. Photo: Luan Qincheng/Xinhua via AP

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers carry a miner who was trapped in a gold mine in Qixia City in east China’s Shandong Province, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. Photo: Luan Qincheng/Xinhua via AP

Over the next few hours, 10 miners from a different section of the mine, who had been receiving food and supplies from rescue workers last week, were brought out in batches.

One was injured but several of the others were shown walking, supported by rescue workers and wearing black cloth over their eyes, before leaving the site in ambulances.

Twenty-two workers were trapped about 600 metres (2,000 feet) underground in the Hushan mine by the Jan. 10 blast in Qixia, a major gold-producing region under the administration of Yantai in coastal Shandong province.

One miner has died.

Officials said on Thursday it could take another two weeks to clear “severe blockages” before they could drill shafts to reach the group of 10 who had been receiving supplies of food from the rescue team.

State media said earlier however that the more than 600 rescuers on site were hoping to reach the men in the mine’s fifth section on Sunday.

The men were said to be in good physical condition and had been receiving normal food since Saturday, after several days of living off nutrient solutions, according to Xinhua.

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The UK, which has Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, adopted the policy in order to give as many people as possible a first dose of vaccine quickly. So far almost 5.9 million people in Britain have received a shot of either a vaccine made by US drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech or one developed by UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

AstraZeneca has said it believes a first dose of its vaccine offers protection after 12 weeks, but Pfizer says it has not tested the efficacy of its jab after such a long gap.

The British Medical Association on Saturday urged England’s chief medical officer to “urgently review the U.K.’s current position of second doses after 12 weeks.”

In a statement, the association said there was “growing concern from the medical profession regarding the delay of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as Britain’s strategy has become increasingly isolated from many other countries.”

“No other nation has adopted the U.K.‘s approach,” Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA council, told the BBC.

He said the WHO had recommended that the second Pfizer vaccine shot could be given up to six weeks after the first but only “in exceptional circumstances.”

“I do understand the trade-off and the rationale, but if that was the right thing to do then we would see other nations following suit,” Nagpaul said.

Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, defended the decision as “a reasonable scientific balance on the basis of both supply and also protecting the most people.”

Researchers in Britain have begun collecting blood samples from newly vaccinated people in order to study how many antibodies they are producing at different intervals, from 3 weeks to 24 months, to get an answer to the question of what timing is best for the shots.

The doctors’ concerns came a day after government medical advisers said there was evidence that a new variant of the virus first identified in southeast England carries a greater risk of death than the original strain.

Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said Friday “that there is evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new variant,” which is also more transmissible than the original virus. He said the new strain might be about 30% more deadly, but stressed that “the evidence is not yet strong” and more research is needed.

Research by British scientists advising the government said although initial analyses suggested that the strain did not cause more severe disease, several more recent ones suggest it might. However, the number of deaths is relatively small, and fatality rates are affected by many things, including the care that patients get and their age and health, beyond having COVID-19.

Britain has recorded 97,329 deaths among people who tested positive, the highest confirmed virus toll in Europe and the fifth-highest in the world.

The U.K. is in a lockdown to try to slow the latest surge of the virus, and the government says an end to the restrictions will not come soon. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, entertainment venues and many shops are closed, and people are required to stay largely at home.

The British government is considering tightening quarantine requirements for people arriving from abroad. Already travelers must self-isolate for 10 days, but enforcement is patchy. Authorities are considering requiring arrivals to stay in quarantine hotels, a practice adopted in other countries including Australia.

“We may need to go further to protect our borders,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday.

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An estimated 40,000 people braved the streets where police charged heavily upon them to break the rallies.

In Moscow alone, police detained 1,100 people whoop more than 3,000 people were arrested across the country.

Moscow this afternoon. Estimates suggest some 40,000 people braved the streets. 1100 detained in Moscow alone. pic.twitter.com/Gu0vyg5Q3X

— Arkady Ostrovsky (@ArkadyOstrovsky) January 23, 2021

Social media, including Twitter, is flooded with posts, tweets, comments with videos on this dramatic scene where people from around the globe posted slogans such as “Be Brave for freedom”, “Keep fighting, citizens of Russia”, “Best wishes, truly”, and more.

Meanwhile, a video of people showering snow upon the police showed the intensity of the current scenario in Russia.

Video of the day. #Protesters in #Moscow pelt police with snowballs as demonstrations continue across #Russia#RussiaProtests pic.twitter.com/z29ji8v7aP

— Sandeep Seth (@sandipseth) January 24, 2021

People attend a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia January 23, 2021. Photo: Reuters

People attend a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia January 23, 2021. Photo: Reuters

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The first match between Sudurpaschim Province and Province 2 begun at 9:00 am at the TU cricket ground, Kirtipur.

Harishankar Shah from Province 2. Photo Courtesy: Cricket Association Nepal/Twitter

Sudurpaschim decided to field first after winning the toss. It may be noted that both the teams have already been out of the tournament, as they failed to progress to the semi-finals.

The APF Club and Tribhuvan Army Club qualified from this group.

Likewise, the second match is taking place between Bagmati Province and Lumbini Province at Mulpani cricket ground in Kathmandu. Bagmati chose to bat first after winning the toss. Bagmati will qualify to the semi-finals if it secures a win against Lumbini today. It leads the group as of today, winning all its three matches so far.

Till now, Province 2 posted 176 runs at the loss of 8 wickets in 38/50 overs in the match between Province 2 and Sudurpaschim. Smilarly, Bagmati Province has made 156 runs at 6 wickets in 40/50 overs.

Lumbini too has a chance to qualify but has to secure a win with a very high margin.

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In a Friday call with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Biden outlined his plan to create new legal pathways for immigration and improve the process for people requesting asylum, according to an account of the call released by the White House.

Priorities include “reversing the previous administration’s draconian immigration policies,” the White House said.

The two leaders agreed to work together towards reducing “irregular migration,” the White House release said.

Mexico has a major role to play in Biden’s plans for immigration reform. Earlier this month, Mexico helped coordinate efforts in Central America to contain a large caravan of migrants heading for the United States.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry also said it had begun talks with Washington about a COVID-19-related order signed by Biden to establish firmer health protocols for people entering U.S. territory.

The call was “pleasant and respectful,” López Obrador said in a brief Twitter post.

“Everything indicates relations will be good and for the benefit of our people and nations,” López Obrador said.

Nevertheless, Biden’s inauguration comes at a time of simmering tension over a now-dropped U.S. investigation into former Mexican defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos.

Cracking down on both legal and illegal immigration was a core focus of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden, meanwhile, has made an early push for a bill that would open a path for citizenship for the roughly 11 million people living in the United States illegally, though even his allies in Congress acknowledge that may be “a Herculean task.”

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According to District Police Office, Dhading, a team of 35 police personnel under the command of Superintendent of Police (SP) Mahendra Khadka, Chief of Dhading Police, visited various locations including Jurung, Simtar, and Jyawa of Benighat Rorang and destroyed the prohibited opium plants.

Police have been destroying illegal farms of marijuana and opium in Dhading every year, however, the smuggling and selling of brown sugar, marijuana and other drugs have not decreased in the district.

Dhading Police have been arresting and seizing illegal drugs in the district almost every month.

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Senior Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudel has reiterated his stance that the dissolved House of Representatives must be reinstated.

Dissolving the HoR due to intra-party feud in the ruling party is in no way logical and just, he said while handing over awards and prizes to literary figures at a programme organised by Dadhiraj Subedi Award Foundation in Biratnagar today.

Paudel argued that going for elections by dissolving the HoR before its five-year term would give rise to corruption and poverty in the country.

Noting that the judiciary should listen to the voice of the people, he suggested that leaders of political parties should engage in the country’s development by rising above petty concerns.

The foundation has honoured and awarded four literary writers on the occasion.

Poet and lyricist SP Koirala was feted with ‘Dadhiraj Subedi National Language Literature Award’ for the year 2020 and poet Bishnu Bibhu Ghimire for the year 2019.

The Dadhiraj Subedi Award Foundation has been annually presenting the award carrying a purse of Rs 51,000.

Likewise, ‘Dadhiraj Subedi National Journalism Award, 2077’ was given to senior journalist Harihar Birahi and the same award for the year 2019 was presented to senior journalist Mohan Bhandari.

The award holds a cash prize of Rs 25,000.

The awards were managed from the interest received from a revolving fund of Rs 1.5 million set up by the two sons of critic Subedi, Sharadraj and Rupakraj.

Also speaking on the same occasion, NC central member Minendra Rijal highlighted the need to wage struggle against the HoR dissolution.

Likewise, NC central member duo — Gururaj Ghimire and Dila Sangraula — called for adapting politics to the process of law.

Similarly, NCP central member Mahesh Regmi said that political parties and the people had hit the streets due to the present political situation.

Biratnagar Metropolitan City Mayor Bhim Prasad Parajuli stressed the need to acknowledge literature and literary figures as the ornaments of the country.

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PM Suga further said that the national government would cover the expenses necessary to receive the vaccination.

“We will swiftly deliver safe and effective vaccines to the public, bring infections to an end at the earliest possible time, and restore daily lives in which we live with peace of mind,” Suga said. “The entire government will work together to achieve this.”

Around 5,000 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported in Japan, according to national broadcaster NHK.

An adviser to Japan’s pandemic response said on Friday that the domestic tourism campaign promoted by Suga could be a reason behind the sharp increase in the country’s coronavirus infection cases.

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On social media, King was remembered by a number of figures and fans, including singers Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler, entertainer 50 Cent and actors Reese Witherspoon, George Takei and Albert Brooks.

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“I enjoyed my 20+ interviews with Larry King over the years. He had a great sense of humor and a genuine interest in people. He gave a direct line to the American people and worked hard to get the truth for them, with questions that were direct but fair. Farewell, my friend,” former President Bill Clinton wrote on Twitter.

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“It was always a treat to sit at your table. And hear your stories. Thank you Larry King,” Oprah Winfrey tweeted.

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“He was one of a kind! May he Rest In Peace. #LarryKing,” singer Barbra Streisand wrote on Twitter.

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“When I was a young morning DJ, I listened to Larry King’s overnight radio show every night on my way to work. He was one of the greats and I am glad to have known him ‘Bethesda, Maryland you’re on the air…,’” talk show host Jimmy Kimmel tweeted.

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“I’ve known Larry King since I arrived in LA 42 years ago. Larry King Live changed CNN in the 80s blending entertainment with news & I loved being on the show,” former NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson wrote on Twitter. “Larry was one of the best interviewers on TV. Always well prepared, asked intelligent questions, & always made the interviews fun, serious, & entertaining!”

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“Larry King was a Brooklyn boy who become a newsman who interviewed the newsmakers. He conducted over 50,000 interviews that informed Americans in a clear and plain way,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted. “New York sends condolences to his family and many friends.”

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“I’m sad to learn about Larry King’s passing. He was such a kind gentleman, and he made all of us feel as though we were speaking with a lifelong friend. There will never be anyone like him, and he will be missed by many. My sincerest condolences to his family & friends. Celine xx…,” singer Celine Dion wrote on Twitter.

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“Goodbye and Godspeed to Larry King; a great interviewer and a great listener, and they are not the same thing. He always made me feel as though I were the only person in the room. Condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world,” Bette Midler wrote on Twitter.

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“Oh no!!! RIP Larry King…what a Titan you were! One of our true icons. You are no longer in pain. Rest well,” actor Viola Davis wrote on Twitter.

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“So sad to hear the news about Larry King today. I was lucky enough to be interviewed by him and see his unique interview style first hand. He was a deeply thoughtful, intelligent, kind man… Sending love to his family & all of his many fans,” actor Reese Witherspoon tweeted.

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“R.I.P. Larry King. I loved his all night radio show in the 80’s. You could call in at 1 in the morning and just riff for hours. His radio show made a great opening for Lost In America. Rest easy Larry,” actor Albert Brooks tweeted.

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“My friend Larry King has died,” news commentator Keith Olbermann wrote on Twitter. “It is literally true that thousands of us can make that sad statement this morning. While he was easily caricatured, I’ve never known anybody who made a bigger deal out of the slightest kindness afforded him.”

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“I lost a dear friend and mentor. Truly an American treasure. Rest in peace, Larry King,” TV personality Ryan Seacrest tweeted.

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“R.i.P To the legend Larry King God bless him,” entertainer 50 Cent wrote on Twitter.

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“Thanks for the countless interviews and insights, Larry King. You understood human triumph and frailty equally well, and that is no easy feat. There was no one else like you, and you shall be missed. Rest with the heavens now,” actor George Takei tweeted.

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“It is with emotion and affection that I remember #LarryKing, king of the talk show and legendary face of @CNN, a remarkable individual, a great journalist and a good man who loved life deeply,” singer Andrea Bocelli wrote on Twitter.

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“RIP Larry King!!!! I loved the easy breezy format of his CNN show, and his amazing voice,” Bravo TV Producer and Executive Andy Cohen wrote on Twitter.

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“Larry King was my @CNN colleague and good friend. He was an amazing interviewer and a mentor to so many of us. He loved what he did and all of us loved him. He was a real mensch. My Deepest Condolences to his loving family. May He Rest In Peace and May His Memory Be A Blessing,” CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer tweeted.

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“I mourn the passing of Larry King whom I have known for nearly 40 years. He was a great interviewer – sensitivity, humorous and witty. And he actually let you talk! An all around mensch. Millions around the world shall miss him, including myself,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

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“The Los Angeles Dodgers are saddened by the passing of Larry King and offer their deepest condolences to his family and friends,” the baseball team tweeted.

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“I’ve had the honor of being interviewed by Larry King multiple times in my life. It was always a joy and a pleasure. He truly was the King of Talk. On a personal level, I’ll miss him. Professionally, we’ll all miss him. Rest In Peace, my friend,” Jesse Ventura, former governor of Minnesota, wrote on Twitter.

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Various programmes were organised to mark the death anniversary of late Gajendra Narayan Singh in various Tarai districts today.

In Rajbiraj, Saptari, Gajendra Narayan Singh Research Centre, Saptari, organised different programmes on the 19th death anniversary of Singh, who was the founding chairperson of the then Nepal Sadbhawana Party.

Today itself, inaugurating the newly-built Gajendra Narayan Singh Research Centre on the premises of District Coordination Committee at a programme, chief guest senior Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal leader Rajendra Mahato dwelt on the late leader’s contribution to the struggle for the rights of the Madhesi and marginalised communities.

“The contribution that he (Singh) had made for the sake of the identity and rights of the Madhesi, indigenous, Muslims, and marginalised communities will always be remembered by posterity,” Mahato observed.

Various other leaders, including National Assembly members Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav and Shekh Kumar Singh, Provincial Assembly members Manish Suman, Bindeshwor Yadav, and Netra Bikram Sah also spoke on the occasion.

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The senator from Vermont, who was photographed with him bundled in his winter gear including mittens, went on to be part of memes in thousands of social media posts by people worldwide.

During his appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers”, Sanders said that he had no idea he was going to go viral during the inauguration. “I was trying to pay attention to what was going on.”

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau joins the internet in sharing the viral Bernie Sanders memes. Photo: Justin Trudeau/Twitter

The mittens, worn by Sanders in the photograph was made by a Vermont school teacher, Jen Ellis, who according to Sanders was overwhelmed by the kind of attention that was being shown to her mittens.

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About 10 metric tonnes of waste was managed from the Bagmati River today.

Today is the 402nd week of the Bagmati Clean-up Mega Campaign. As part of the campaign, about 100 volunteers gathered on the Bagmati River banks near Minbhawan area and collected garbage, Govinda Kafle, a volunteer in the campaign, said.

The campaign was being regularly conducted for the past seven years every Saturday, but was disturbed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and its risk.

The campaign was later extended to clean other rivers in the valley, including Bishnumati, Manohara, Rudramati and the Ring Road areas as well.

Bagmati Beautification Programme that is under way with the loan assistance of Asian Development Bank too has not yet concluded. Work related to this programme has been hampered by delay in providing compensation for land and removing the slums constructed by squatters, who had encroached the land on the river banks.

Board member of the High-powered Bagmati Committee Mala Kharel said river beautification works were to be carried out after reaching understanding with the slum dwellers on the banks of the Bagmati River in Naya Baneshwor and Sinamangal areas.

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The protests in scores of cities in temperatures as low as minus-50 C (minus-58 F) highlighted how Navalny has built influence far beyond the political and cultural centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

In Moscow, an estimated 15,000 demonstrators gathered in and around Pushkin Square in the city center, where clashes with police broke out and demonstrators were roughly dragged off by helmeted riot officers to police buses and detention trucks. Some were beaten with batons.

Navalny’s wife Yulia was among those arrested.

Police eventually pushed demonstrators out of the square. Thousands then regrouped along a wide boulevard about a kilometer (half-mile) away, many of them throwing snowballs at the police before dispersing.

Some later went to protest near the jail where Navalny is held. Police made an undetermined number of arrests there.

The protests stretched across Russia’s vast territory, from the island city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk north of Japan and the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk, where temperatures plunged to minus-50 Celsius, to Russia’s more populous European cities. Navalny and his anti-corruption campaign have built an extensive network of support despite official government repression and being routinely ignored by state media.

“The situation is getting worse and worse, it’s total lawlessness,” said Andrei Gorkyov, a protester in Moscow. “And if we stay silent, it will go on forever.”

The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests, said at least 1,167 people were detained in Moscow and more than 460 at another large demonstration in St. Petersburg.

Overall, it said 3,068 people had been arrested in some 90 cities, revising the count downward from its earlier report of 3,445. The group did not give an explanation for its revision. Russian police did not provide arrest figures.

Undeterred, Navalny’s supporters called for protests again next weekend.

Navalny was arrested on Jan. 17 when he returned to Moscow from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a severe nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin and which Russian authorities deny. Authorities say his stay in Germany violated terms of a suspended sentence in a 2014 criminal conviction, while Navalny says the conviction was for made-up charges.

The 44-year-old activist is well known nationally for his reports on the corruption that has flourished under President Vladimir Putin’s government.

His wide support puts the Kremlin in a strategic bind — officials are apparently unwilling to back down by letting him go free, but keeping him in custody risks more protests and criticism from the West.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department condemned “the use of harsh tactics against protesters and journalists this weekend in cities throughout Russia” and called on Russian authorities to immediately release Navalny and all those detained at protests.

Navalny faces a court hearing in early February to determine whether his sentence in the criminal case for fraud and money-laundering — which Navalny says was politically motivated — is converted to 3 1/2 years behind bars.

Moscow police on Thursday arrested three top Navalny associates, two of whom were later jailed for periods of nine and 10 days.

Navalny fell into a coma while aboard a domestic flight from Siberia to Moscow on Aug. 20. He was transferred from a hospital in Siberia to a Berlin hospital two days later. Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to the Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.

Russian authorities insisted that the doctors who treated Navalny in Siberia before he was airlifted to Germany found no traces of poison and have challenged German officials to provide proof of his poisoning. Russia refused to open a full-fledged criminal inquiry, citing a lack of evidence that Navalny was poisoned.

Last month, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he said he made to a man he described as an alleged member of a group of officers of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, who purportedly poisoned him in August and then tried to cover it up. The FSB dismissed the recording as fake.

Navalny has been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side for a decade, unusually durable in an opposition movement often demoralized by repressions.

He has been jailed repeatedly in connection with protests and twice was convicted of financial misdeeds in cases that he said were politically motivated. He suffered significant eye damage when an assailant threw disinfectant into his face. He was taken from jail to a hospital in 2019 with an illness that authorities said was an allergic reaction but which many suspected was a poisoning.

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The statement response comes after China sent bombers and fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.

“The United States notes with concern the pattern of ongoing PRC attempts to intimidate its neighbours, including Taiwan. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected representatives.” Ned Price, spokesperson at the US Department of State said in the statement.

“We will stand with friends and allies to advance our shared prosperity, security, and values in the Indo Pacific region — and that includes deepening our ties with democratic Taiwan,” Price added.

The statement further states that the United States will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues, consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan. The United States maintains its longstanding commitments as outlined in the Three Comminiques, the Taiwan Relations Act, and the Six Assurances.

The department claimed that the US will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defence capability and further reiterated that US commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region.

Relations between the China and US are at their lowest level in decades due to their disagreements on issues including Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, the coronavirus pandemic, the South China Sea, trade and espionage.

As per China, Taiwan is the most important and sensitive issue in its relationship with the US, and has previously announced sanctions on US companies selling weapons to Taiwan, though it has not been clear how, or if, they were enforced.

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