Kathmandu: Mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa has climbed Mt Everest for the 10th time, breaking her earlier record of a woman summiting the world’s highest peak for the most number of times.
The 48-year-old climber reached the summit on Thursday morning, according to Seven Summit Treks.
In 2000, she became the first Nepali woman to climb and descend Everest successfully. In 2016, she was listed as one of BBC’s 100 Women. Source: Nepal Live Today
SEOUL (Reuters): North Korea reported its first COVID-19 outbreak on Thursday, calling it the “gravest national emergency” and ordering a national lockdown, with state media saying an Omicron variant had been detected in the capital, Pyongyang.
North Korea had never confirmed a COVID infection before Thursday although South Korean and U.S. officials have said there could have been earlier cases in the isolated country, given its trade and travel with China before it sealed its border to block the virus in early 2020.
“The state’s most serious emergency has occurred: A break emerged in our emergency epidemic prevention front that had been firmly defended until now,” the official KCNA news agency said.
The first public admission of COVID infections highlights the potential for a major crisis in a country that lacks medical resources and has refused international help with vaccinations and kept its borders shut.
As of March, not only had no cases of COVID been reported, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), but there was no official record of any North Koreans being vaccinated.
KCNA said that samples taken on May 8 from people in Pyongyang who were experiencing fevers showed a sub-variant of the Omicron virus, also known as BA.2. It did not give the number of cases or say what the source might have been.
Earlier on Thursday, Chinese state television reported North Korea has imposed a stay-at-home order since Tuesday citing “suspected flu symptoms” among some people.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s powerful politburo, ordering a “strict lockdown” nationwide and the mobilisation of emergency reserve medical supplies.
“The state epidemic prevention work shall be switched over to the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system,” KCNA said.
State television showed Kim wearing a mask upon arrival for the meeting, before taking it off as it began. All other attendees wore masks.
In past footage of such meetings, everyone but him wore a mask. There was no sign of masks in pictures of a recent big military parade. Click here to read more.
LOME/Reuters: Eight soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in an attack in northern Togo on Wednesday, the government said, marking potentially the first deadly raid on its territory by Islamist militants who have killed thousands in neighbouring countries.
Before dawn, a group of heavily armed gunmen ambushed an army post in the Kpendal prefecture near the border with Burkina Faso, the government said in a statement.
No one had yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The government blamed “terrorists”, without providing specifics.
Groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda have carried out hundreds of attacks across the Sahel region of West Africa in recent years, focusing mainly on the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.
Togo has so far been spared the violence, which has forced millions to flee their homes, but security experts have raised flags about the potential for a spread in operations that could encompass coastal states like Togo.
Cambodia: The French Development Agency (AFD) has committed to providing over 300 million euros (316 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia to support development projects for three years, said its press statement on Wednesday.
The pledge was made during an annual meeting on Monday between Cambodia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) Secretary of State Hem Vanndy and the AFD’s southeast Asia regional director Yazid Bensaid, as well as AFD country director for Cambodia Ophelie Bourhis.
“The 2022-2024 project pipeline was at the core of the discussions, leading to an agreement between the MEF and the AFD of more than 300 million euros prioritizing the sectors of water and sanitation, agriculture, water resources management, energy and vocational training,” the statement said.
With this annual target commitment of an average of 100 million euros of highly concessional loans and grants in Cambodia, the AFD has also reiterated its support for inclusive and sustainable growth in the country, it said.
In particular, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, the AFD reaffirmed the priority given to the fight against climate change in its existing and future project portfolio.
“With 75 percent of projects having climate co-benefits, the AFD is committed to answering the needs expressed by the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia while integrating climate awareness in our common strategy,” Bourhis said.
In parallel, the AFD signed an agreement on a grant for air quality improvement this week with the country’s Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the statement said.
The program is designed on a regional scale with a 5.5 million euros grant from the AFD, it said.
“It will contribute to a greater awareness on air quality issues, a better knowledge and monitoring of air quality on their territory, and the strengthening of local capacities,” the statement said.
Colombo: The Indian High Commission today categorically dismissed speculative media reports about New Delhi sending troops to Colombo, saying India is fully supportive of Sri Lanka’s democracy, stability and economic recovery.
The denial from the Indian mission came a day after it refuted as “fake and blatantly false” local social media speculation that former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family members have fled to India.
The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa has been speculated since his resignation on Monday. It was reported that Mahinda had left his office-cum-official residence, Temple Trees.
India on Tuesday said it is “fully supportive” of the island nation’s democracy, stability and economic recovery.
“The High Commission would like to categorically deny speculative reports in sections of media and social media about #India sending her troops to Sri Lanka. These reports and such views are also not in keeping with the position of the Government of #India,” the Indian mission said on Twitter.
“The Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India clearly stated yesterday that India is fully supportive of Sri Lanka’s democracy, stability and economic recovery,” it said in another tweet.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Tuesday: “India will always be guided by the best interests of the people of Sri Lanka expressed through democratic processes”.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, 76, resigned as Prime Minister amid unprecedented economic turmoil in the country, hours after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters, prompting authorities to impose a nationwide curfew and deploy troops in the capital. The attack triggered widespread violence against pro-Rajapaksa politicians. Source: NDTV
Jerusalem (CNN): Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was fatally shot while on assignment in the West Bank Wednesday, the network said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said she was shot in the head by a live bullet in Jenin, and confirmed her death shortly afterwards. A second journalist, Ali Al Samudi, was also shot and is in a stable condition, the ministry said.
Al Jazeera has accused Israeli security forces of deliberately targeting and killing Abu Akleh and called on the international community to condemn and hold Israel accountable.
The Israel Defense Forces said its security forces had been operating in the area “to arrest suspects in terrorist activities,” and both Palestinian suspects and Israeli forces were firing at the time.
“As part of the activity in the Jenin refugee camp, suspects fired heavily at the force and threw explosives. The force responded by firing. Hits were detected,” the IDF said.
“The possibility that journalists were hit, possibly by Palestinian gunfire, is being investigated. The event is being examined,” the IDF added.
Al Jazeera journalist, Al-Samudi, who was with Abu Akleh when she was killed, said there were no Palestinian gunmen in the area at the time. “The Israeli army shot us,” said Al-Samudi who was also shot. “There was no Palestinian gunman in the place.”
In response to the shooting, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Twitter his government had offered to conduct a joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation, adding: “Journalists must be protected in conflict zones and we all have a responsibility to get to the truth.”
Tributes have started pouring in for Abu Akleh as news of her death spread.
Abu Alkeh’s colleague, Nida Ibrahim, said she was a “very well respected journalist” who had been working with Al Jazeera since the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000, according to the network.
“As you can imagine, this is a shock to the journalists who have been working with her,” Ibrahim said, in tears.
Abu Akleh was born and raised in Jerusalem and belonged to a Christian family, according to Bir Zeit University, where she was a teacher. She was 51, according to the university.
“She initially studied architecture at the University of Science and Technology in Jordan, then moved to the written journalism specialization, and obtained a bachelor’s degree from Yarmouk University in Jordan,” according to her university bio.
She had worked with UNRWA, Voice of Palestine Radio, Amman Satellite Channel, the Miftah Foundation and Monte Carlo Radio before joining Al Jazeera. Source: CNN
SINGAPORE/Reuters: Singapore has banned a controversial Indian film about the exodus of Hindus from Muslim-majority Kashmir, citing concerns over its “potential to cause enmity between different communities”.
“The Kashmir Files” has been praised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Hindu nationalist followers, and has proved a box office hit, but critics say it is loose with facts and fans anti-Muslim sentiment. read more
“The film will be refused classification for its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and the depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the ongoing conflict in Kashmir,” the Singapore government said in a statement on Monday in response to media queries.
“These representations have the potential to cause enmity between different communities, and disrupt social cohesion and religious harmony in our multi-racial and multi-religious society,” the statement added.
Singapore’s 5.5 million population is made up mainly of ethnic Chinese, Malays and Indians. The Southeast Asian city-state has strict laws that punish any attempts to disrupt inter-racial and religious harmony.
Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Hindus, fled from Kashmir after a violent uprising against Indian rule began in 1989.
Supporters of the 170-minute Hindi-language movie say it shines a light on an often-overlooked chapter of Kashmir’s history while others see it as evidence of the growing religious polarisation Modi’s critics say he has fostered since coming to power in 2014.
Kathmandu: Nepal, a country of nearly 30 million people, is holding local elections on May 13. With a little over 17.73 million registered voters, the elections are supposed not only to give a picture of Nepal’s political landscape but also test the strength of major political parties.
This is the second local-level election after the country formally adopted the federal republic system after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015.
Spheres of governments and local bodies
On May 28, 2008, the newly-elected Constituent Assembly declared Nepal the Federal Democratic Republic, abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy. Following the regime change, the 2015 Constitution set out a new federal structure for Nepal with three spheres of government–federal, provincial and local.
In the new federal setup, Nepal has established seven provinces and 753 local government units with six metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities and 460 rural municipalities [popularly known as Gaun Palika].
Other numbers at a glance
Nepal’s law requires that a person should be 18 years to be eligible to vote in federal, provincial, and local elections. And every eligible voter should have their names registered with the Election Commission.
Out of 17.73 million total registered voters, 8.74 million are females, 8.99 million are males, and 183 have been registered in the ‘other’ category.
Nepalis living abroad will not be able to vote. Four years back in 2018, the Supreme Court issued a directive order to the government for ensuring voting rights for Nepalis living abroad but it has not been implemented yet, the main reason why Nepalis living abroad cannot vote in the local elections.
Though Nepal’s latest population census 2021 shows that women make up 51.04 percent of the country’s total population, fewer females are registered as voters.
According to a bulletin published by the Election Commission of Nepal on May 5, a constitutional election management body, as many as 145,007 candidates are contesting in the elections. Out of total candidates, the number of women is significantly less than men–55,695 compared to 89,312 men.
According to the Election Commission, there will be 10,756 polling stations and 21,955 voting booths across the country.
Use of paper ballots
Though the use of electronic voting machines becomes the subject of discussion every election time, EVMs are not going to be used during the local polls.
EVMs had been used in Kathmandu Constituency-1 during the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008.
This time, voters in the local elections will use the same old system: paper ballots that are cast in person and counted by hand. As always, voters get their fingers marked with indelible ink before they get ballot paper.
Major political parties and alliances
In Nepal, two major political parties–the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML)–are trying to show their strength.
Democrat versus Communist dichotomy has been deconstructed. The ruling coalition has continued their togetherness.
The grand old party Nepali Congress has formed an alliance with Maoist and other three political parties, all of them are either communist or with domination by Communist leaders.
This many fear will have costly consequences for Nepal’s democracy. With alliances with radical Communist forces, Nepali Congress leaders have compromised fundamental values of democracy: justice, press freedom, and human rights among others.
On the other hand, Nepal’s largest communist party–CPN-UML–has joined hands with what is seen as right-wing and pro-monarchist political formations such as Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and Nepal Pariwar Dal. UML has been building coalitions based on where its interests meet. In Tanahun, for example, UML has forged an alliance with rival factions of the Nepali Congress.
In a nutshell, alliances are formed on the basis of opportunism. Ideological differences and vision of development could not be an issue of any alliance or political parties.
Popularity test of major political parties
The vote in the country is expected to be a crucial strength test for major political parties of the country. The results will not only indicate the popularity of major political parties but also give a sense of people’s choice in the upcoming polls to elect new provincial and federal parliaments.
It is likely that Nepal will hold provincial and federal elections around the end of this year.
Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned amid mass protests, as per the officials.
The move came as a curfew was imposed on the island after violent clashes between Rajapksa supporters and anti-government protesters in Colombo.
According to a local hospital, at least 78 people have been injured in the violence in the capital.
Rajapaksa, 76, sent his resignation letter to his younger brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The island nation is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.
Ukraine: Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday. She held a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with first lady Olena Zelenska as a symbol of US support for the nation shattered due to the Russian invasion.
Biden visited under the cloak of secrecy, turning out to be the latest high-profile American to reach Ukraine during its 10-week-old war with Russia.
“I wanted to visit on Mother’s Day,” the US first lady told Zelenska. “I thought it was crucial to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”
Biden spent about two hours in Ukraine.
China: China’s total imports and exports expanded 7.9 percent year on year to 12.58 trillion yuan in the first four months of 2022, official data showed Monday.
In U.S. dollar terms, total foreign trade came in at 1.98 trillion U.S. dollars in the period, up 10.1 percent year on year, according to the General Administration of Customs.
Exports grew 10.3 percent year on year to 6.97 trillion yuan, while imports rose 5 percent to 5.61 trillion yuan in the January-April period, leading to a trade surplus of 1.36 trillion yuan, the data showed.
In April alone, the country’s foreign trade volume edged up 0.1 percent year on year to 3.16 trillion yuan, with the exports up 1.9 percent year on year while imports dropped by 2 percent from a year ago. (Xinhua)
Colombo: The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is considering granting $100 million in emergency support to Sri Lanka, the country’s finance ministry said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has requested foreign-exchange liquidity support for state banks from the lender, it said in a statement.
Hit hard by the pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the South Asian island’s economy is in crisis, with usable foreign reserves down to $50 million, finance minister Ali Sabry said last week.
Shortages of imported food, fuel and medicines have brought thousands onto the streets in over a month of mostly peaceful protests. Rajapaksa declared a second state emergency in five weeks on Friday.
The multilateral AIIB, founded in 2014 to promote infrastructure investment throughout Asia, draws most of its funding from China.
China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender, with an outstanding balance of $6.5 billion mostly lent over the past decade for large infrastructure projects, including highways, a port, an airport and a coal power plant.
Beijing has extended Sri Lanka a $1.3 billion syndicated loan and a $1.5 billion yuan-denominated swap to boost its reserves. The two countries are in talks for a $1.5 billion credit line and a fresh syndicated loan of up to $1 billion.
Colombo said this month that talks had started on refinancing Chinese debt after Sri Lanka suspended some of the external debt repayments in April.
(Times of India)
Kathmandu: Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Mt Everest for the 26th time on Saturday, breaking his own record of summiting the world’s highest peak for the most number of times.
According to Seven Summit Treks, Sherpa made the successful ascent of Mt Everest at 6:55 pm as a leader of the rope fixing team along with 10 other Sherpas.
The seasoned mountaineer scaled Mt Everest for the first time on May 13, 1994. Till date, he has summited Everest 26 times, Mt K2 and Mt Lhotse once each, Mt Manalsu thrice, and Mt Cho Oyu eight times.
In 2019, he reached the summit of Mt Everest twice in one month. He holds the record for ‘most climbs over 8,000 meters’.
Kathmandu: A Russian climber died at Camp I on Mount Everest on Saturday evening.
According to the Department of Tourism, 55-year-old Pavel Kostrikin breathed his last at around 7:15 pm on Saturday when he fell ill at Camp I.
“He [The Russian climber] died of altitude sickness,” confirmed Bhisma Raj Bhattarai, a section officer at the Mountaineering Section of the Department of Tourism.
The rescue operation will be carried out once the weather is clear, he said.
Source: Nepal Live Today
Kathmandu: The Yale University Art Gallery in Connecticut, USA, is returning to Nepal a 9th century stone statue of Parvati.
The statute remained in the permanent collection of the Gallery. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Nepali Consulate General in New York and Yale University Art Gallery on Friday to return the statue to Nepal, according to the Consulate General.
The idol had gone missing from the Birbhadreshwar Mahadev Temple at Golmadi in Bhaktapur in 2032 BS. The sculpture was reportedly donated to the Yale University Art Gallery by a donor seven years ago.
The gallery and Nepal’s Department of Archeology had conducted separate investigations to ensure whether the statue belonged to Nepal. The Consulate General in New York will return the sculpture to Nepal in coordination with the Art Gallery and the Department of Archeology. RSS
CNN: Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on Friday, after prolonged protests and a general strike shuttered schools, businesses, and transport services.
The state of emergency will allow for the arrest of protesters blocking roads. The measure must be approved by Sri Lanka’s parliament within 14 days. The country has been rocked by civil unrest since March, with protests at times turning violent as anger builds over the government’s apparent mishandling of the country’s economic crisis. Read more at CCN
