April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental…
April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental…
The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year…
April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP…
April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be…
April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. …
April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its…
April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO)…
April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently…
April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission…
April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20…
April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic…
April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal.…
April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent…
April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on…
April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in…
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However, the officials are yet to verify the information. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper, 47, conquered the world's 10th highest peak at 12:07 PM on Sunday, according to the Chairman of Seven Summit Treks Company, Mingma Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company said tour guides Michael Sherpa and Nima Sherpa accompanied the Australian climber. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 17 years old Nepali mountaineer Rinzi Sherpa also scaled the same peak on April 12 without the use of supplemental oxygen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Tourism, Rakesh Gurung, said they received information on the successful ascent of Annapurna-I by two persons without the use of supplementary oxygen. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Climbing Mt Annapurna-I is happening in a large number after the success in rope fixing. We have received information about two persons climbing (Mt Annapurna-I) without the use of supplementary oxygen. We are yet to verify this officially," Gurung added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper plans to climb the world's 14 peaks above 8000 metres within two years and has successfully climbed three mountains so far including Mt Annapurna-I. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After her ascent of Mt Annapurna-I, Pepper is all set to scale Mt Kanchanjungha and Mt Makalu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She started climbing mountains in 2007 after scaling Mt Choyu then without oxygen from China's Tibet side. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, as many as 25 climbers including 11 women and 14 men of three expedition teams have taken permits to climb Mt Annapurna-I in this spring season. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20451', 'image' => '20240414080955_annapurna-I-visto-en-el-fondo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 20:06:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20723', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Records Minimal Loss on the First Trading Day of 2081', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 14: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session,320 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 59,041 transactions. A total of 7,795,023 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 3.6 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sanima Mai Hydropower Limited(SHPC) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 21 crores. Shrijanshil Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(SHLB) saw the highest gain of 10%, closing at Rs 1262.80 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(GLBSL) incurred the heaviest loss of 10%, closing at Rs 2106 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in red territory except Trading Index, Microfinance Index, Finance Index and Hydropower Index. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Microfinance Index experienced the most gain at 1.91%, while Non-Life Insurance incurred the highest loss of 1.03%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20450', 'image' => '20240414042134_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 16:19:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20722', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What's Behind the Spate of Recent Incidents on Boeing Planes?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The episodes point to production and maintenance issues, AFP said citing experts who don't see an obvious pattern behind the myriad incidents.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The US plane maker has been under scrutiny since January 5, when a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines made an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out, successfully resolving an incident that safety officials say could have been catastrophic, according to the French news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">United Airlines in particular has experienced recent issues, including cases where a plane lost a wheel shortly after takeoff, another that rolled onto the grass during taxiing and a third that returned to its departing airport following an engine fire, added the news report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Over the last week Southwest Airlines had two separate incidents involving Boeing planes, including an engine fire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a confluence of incidents is "pretty rare" within air travel, aviation expert Bertrand Vilmer told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation experts usually look to three possible explanations for problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There can be a design defect, as with the two fatal crashes on 737 MAX jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia that involved a flaw in a flight stabilizing system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation watchers have pointed to a production defect as the likely source of the Alaska Airlines incident, which entailed a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that had only been delivered in October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board published in February found that four bolts meant to help secure the panel that blew off were missing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A third possible cause would be insufficient maintenance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While design and production are the responsibility of the plane maker, the airline is in charge of keeping up the plane once it receives it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Once the aircraft is delivered, Boeing has nothing to do with it anymore" in relation to maintenance, said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, adding that "there is a maintenance issue all over the world."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Vilmer notes that airplane maintenance is under the purview of the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Safest form of transport?</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Notwithstanding the recent spate of incidents, aviation experts point to a strong safety record overall.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"We haven't had a single casualty in the entire US airline industry, in way over a decade, despite millions of people flown," said Aboulafia. "That's incredible."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aboulafia calls modern flying "the safest form of transport ever created by people," noting that "everyday, hundreds of people get killed on the roads."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Boeing's rival, Airbus, has not been completely spared of difficulty. Hundreds of planes produced by the European company are being taken out of service to check for microscopic "contamination" of metals in engines made by Pratt & Whitney, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Airbus also had a public dispute with Qatar Airways involving the degradation of exterior plane surfaces. But there have been fewer such issues at Airbus and not one incident that drew a comparable level of attention as Alaska Airlines, experts told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Every incident that has occurred on Boeing airplanes this year has made headlines, suggesting that Boeing airplanes are unsafe," said a note last month from equity research firm Bernstein.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20449', 'image' => '20240414030828_1710177882294.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 15:07:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20721', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Request WB to the Deadline of extend Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To improve the results of Nepal's employment services and labour market, the 'Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project' (YETI) was implemented in July 2020 with a concessional loan supported by the World Bank. The project’s term is ending in June this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat, an agreement was reached in 2019 where the World Bank agreed to provide about USD 120 million (about Rs 16 billion) to implement this project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Out of the money coming from the World Bank, Rs 4 billion have yet to be spent," Shobha Kumari Pokharel, under secretary at the Prime Minister's Employment Program, informed New Business Age, "That's why we are now lobbying to extend the deadline by a year."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to her, the implementation of the program could not be done properly in the initial year due to coronavirus pandemic. Because the skill training could not be conducted as expected, the budget could not be spent within the stipulated period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Now we have sent a proposal to get the approval of the Ministry of Finance to extend the program. No response has been received from there," said Pokharel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We are confident that the duration of this project will be extended by 1 year as discussions are ongoing with the related donor agencies. In that case, the unspent money will be utilized".</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This project is associated with the Prime Minister's Employment Program and aims to create employment opportunities and increase the access of the target group to available job opportunities, increase the income of the workers and improve the living conditions of the target group.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this program, the aim is to create jobs for 100,000 unemployed youth for the maintenance of public infrastructures and in the public service sector. There is a condition that 60 per cent of them should be women. The project is being implemented at the local level.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As mentioned on the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, more than 885,000 unemployed individuals are registered for the program in the hope of getting employment. At the end of 9 months of the current fiscal year, only 28,300 people have been employed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This program was launched to employ citizens in the age group of 18 to 59 years who have not been employed for at least 100 days in a year. The government has been saying that it will provide a subsistence allowance equal to 50 days' wages if it is not able to provide employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, there has been criticism that the budget under this is used for petty works and that there is no significant achievement in the economy and employment. Stakeholders have raised questions about the feasibility of the project, saying that the loan money was spent on works such as cutting roadside bushes, planting apples, cleaning drains, uprooting weeds, throwing soil from drains on the road, and sweeping temples and schools.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In this context, the finance ministry officials say that they will decide whether to request an extension or not only after studying the effectiveness of the project.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At a time when serious questions are being raised about the effectiveness of the program, the finance ministry has not shown much interest to renew the deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Recently, Labor Minister Dol Prasad Aryal met with the World Bank's Nepal Coordinator and senior officials and requested to extend the duration of the project, which will end on June 30th. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dilaram Giri, Information Officer of the Public Debt Management Office, said that if the project time is not extended, the World Bank will not send the remaining money to the account of the Nepal government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For the current year 2080/81, the government has allocated Rs 5.94 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While presenting the policy and program of the previous year to the Parliament, then-President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced that the program would be restructured so that it would be owned by all levels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, although a committee has been formed for restructuring the program, the committee has not yet submitted a report to the Labor Minister. Section Officer of the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat Pankajalav Karna said that the report has been roughly prepared and is ready to be submitted to the minister in a few days. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The committee has almost prepared the draft of the report, now it will be filed and submitted soon," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under the Prime Minister's Employment Program launched by the government led by KP Sharma Oli in the year 2075/76, billions of rupees have been used up in petty jobs. In the first year, the program was accused of exploiting billions of state funds in unproductive areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the year 2075/76, the government allocated a budget of Rs 3.1 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program. In the same way, Rs 5.1 billion were allocated in 2076/77, Rs 11.6 billion in 2077/78, Rs 12 billion in 2078/79 and Rs 7.5 billion in 2079/80. This budget has financial resources from both the government and the World Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Auditor General's report has repeatedly raised questions about the expenses incurred through the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20448', 'image' => '20240414015427_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:53:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20720', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Iran Attack on Israel 'Foiled': Israeli Army ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The Iranian attack was foiled," Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">None of the drones and cruise missiles that were launched towards Israel had entered its territory, Hagari said, and "only a few" ballistic missiles reached Israel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">One of them "lightly hit the Nevatim base", he added, noting that the military compound was "still functioning". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement: "Together with the United States and additional partners, we managed to defend the territory of the State of Israel." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The campaign is not over yet -- we must remain alert", Gallant added. – AFP/RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20447', 'image' => '20240414012643_IranMissileTests5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:26:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20718', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Officials Charged of Corruption Still Active in Government Task', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This situation directly conflicts with Section 33 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059, which mandates the automatic suspension of civil servants facing corruption charges until their cases are resolved. CIAA spokesperson Narahari Ghimire said that such officials would not be permitted to continue working in public institutions following the filing of corruption charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CIAA filed a case on April 4 against 32 individuals, including former secretary and committee coordinator Shankar Adhikari, as well as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and committee member Budhisagar Lamichhane, over allegations of corruption related to the procurement of wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite this, officials from the committee informed New Business Age that both Adhikari and Lamichhane have continued their engagement with the committee's work. Adhikari himself confirmed his ongoing participation, asserting that his term as committee chair had concluded before the case was registered. He said that, legally, he no longer holds a position of public responsibility, stating that he was merely assisting in the report preparation process after completing the study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on February 1 established a study committee under the leadership of former secretary Adhikari. This committee was tasked with providing recommendations for the operation and construction of international airports in Nepal under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework, with a deadline of one and a half months to submit its report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the expiration of the committee's term on March 16, it has yet to submit its report to the government. An official of the committee revealed that the report is nearing completion and is expected to be finalized within a few days. He further noted that the question of whether the officials would be suspended or not has become less relevant as CIAA filed the corruption case after the committee's term had ended.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20445', 'image' => '20240414010119_Akhtiyar-CIAA-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:59:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20717', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure in Third Quarter Stands at One-Third of Allocated Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the total budget of Rs 302.7 billion allocated under this heading, the government has spent only Rs 97.37 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the status of revenue collection in the country is also sluggish. The government has set a target of collecting Rs 1472.48 billion in revenue in the current fiscal year but the revenue collection so far is just Rs 773.3 billion, which is 52.5 per cent of the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected Rs 671.11 billion under the heading of tax revenue and Rs 76.92 billion in non-tax revenue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has received Rs 2.75 billion foreign grants in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which is just 5.52 per cent of the annual target of Rs 49.94 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20444', 'image' => '20240414120722_budgetttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:06:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20716', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '48 km of Beni-Jomsom-Korala Road Section Blacktopped ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped. This corridor serves as a vital link between the southern border of India and the northern border of China.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Kaligandaki Corridor, spanning 435 kilometers from Triveni at the Indian border to the Korala transit point in China, stands as a flagship project of national significance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2074 BS, the construction of this road project, comprising fourteen segments, has seen the completion of eight sections so far. Dhurba Kumar Jha, the project's head, reports that as of the end of 2080 BS, the physical progress has reached 78 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Within six segments, a total of 85 kilometers of gravel roads and 48 kilometers of blacktopped roads have been completed. Additionally, the construction includes the erection of 13 concrete bridges and three Bailey bridges, with motorable bridges currently being built at six locations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Jha notes that utilizing DBSD technology, sections such as Kaiku-Khanti in Mustang (16 km), Khanti-Tukuche-Marfa (9 km), Ghasa-Kaikukhola (2 km) in Mustang, Tiplyang-Tatopani (6 km) in Myagdi, Beni-Galeshwar (4 km), and Galeshwar-Begkhola (3 km) have been surfaced with blacktop.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Information officer Bishnu Chapagain affirms that construction companies have been directed to blacktop an additional 13 km stretch from Jomsom to Kagbeni, the Tatopani-Ghasa section, and 6 km of the Marfa-Jomsom section within the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The estimated cost for the project stands at Rs 10 billion, with approximately Rs 7 billion already spent.</span> -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20443', 'image' => '20240414112348_2024041308452Sharnikalopatresadak.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 11:23:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20715', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installed Capacity of Electricity Reaches 3,300 MW: Kulman Ghising', 'sub_title' => 'Power Generated from Middle Tamor Project Connected to the Koshi Corridor ', 'summary' => 'April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. <br /> The electricity produced by the project was successfully transmitted to the Koshi Corridor transmission line on Friday in the presence of the Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, Kulman Ghising. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, NEA MD Ghising confirmed that the installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts, which will bring great relief to the power supply. Stating that hydropower is the backbone of the country's economy, he called for cooperation from all sides concerned to power development projects across the country. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project built by Sanima Middle Tamor Hydropower Limited will conduct trial production in the next 15 days to be followed up by commercial production. The power produced by one of the four turbines of the project has connected to the transmission line of the Koshi Corridor at Basantpur in Tehrathum. <br /> During the dry season, power production of this hydropower project will however be limited to 25 to 30 MW. A 50-meter-long and 11-meter high dam has been built near Mitlung in Furumbu of Fungling municipality, and power was generated by guiding water through a 3,400-meter long tunnel to the power house based at Thumbabensi of Khokling. -- RSS </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20442', 'image' => '20240414105635_20240413085645_412225-01-02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 10:54:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cricketer Airee makes History by Smashing Six Sixes in an Over', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.<br /> According to Espn Cricinfo, Airee achieved the feat in the last over against Qatar in their ACC Men's Premier Cup match in Al Amerat on Saturday.<br /> Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) also confirmed the feat.<br /> Starting the over on 28 off 15 balls, with Nepal on 174 for 7, Airee smashed medium pacer Kamran Khan for sixes off each delivery to end on 64 from 21, and took Nepal to 210 for 7, Cricinfo wrote on its website.<br /> “That put his name on a list which only had Yuvraj Singh (off Stuart Broad in Durban in the 2007 T20 World Cup) and Kieron Pollard (off Akila Dananjaya in Coolidge in 2021) so far. In ODI cricket, the feat has been achieved by Herschelle Gibbs and USA's Jaskaran Malhotra.”<br /> Nepal defeated Qatar by 32 runs in the match. Qatar, chasing a target of 211 runs to win, could only gather 178 runs at the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs. <br /> Captain Muhammad Tanvir scored 63 runs in 33 balls with four fours and six sixes. Mohammad Ahnaf (23), Himanshu Rathore (22), Adnan Mirza (19) and Qamaran Khan (18) were the top contributors. The other batsmen of Qatar could not score significant runs. <br /> Nepali cricketers, Lalit Rajbanshi, Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulshan Jha, took two wickets each while Kushal Malla and Avinash Bohora took one wicket each. <br /> Earlier, Nepal opted to bat first after winning the toss and scored 210 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-13', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20439', 'image' => '20240413072656_GLC493ZXMAA2sFy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-13 19:26:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Chief Urges Policymakers to ‘Deal Decisively with Inflation and Debt’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The global environment has become more challenging. Geopolitical tensions increase the risks of fragmentation of the world economy," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech at the Atlantic Council, ahead of the 2024 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Referring to global economic activity as weak by historical standards, Georgieva said the global output loss since 2020 is around 3.3 trillion dollars, with the costs disproportionately falling on the most vulnerable countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva highlighted a growing divergence within and across country groups. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among advanced economies, the United States has experienced the strongest rebound, helped by rising productivity growth. By contrast, activity in the euro area is recovering much more gradually, reflecting the lingering effects of high energy prices and weaker productivity growth, the IMF chief said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"But the most striking divergence is for low-income countries for whom scarring has been the most severe. Among these nations, fragile and conflict-affected economies are bearing the heaviest burden," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first thing for policymakers, according to Georgieva, is to bring back price stability. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the final quarter of 2023, headline inflation for advanced economies was 2.3 percent, down from 9.5 percent just 18 months earlier. For the median emerging market and developing economy, inflation declined to 4.1 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We expect the trend to continue in 2024, creating the conditions for major advanced economy central banks to begin cutting rates in the second half of the year," she said, while noting that the pace and timing of the monetary pivot will vary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Where necessary, policymakers must resist calls for early interest rate cuts. Premature easing could see new inflation surprises that may even necessitate a further bout of monetary tightening," said Georgieva. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"On the other side, delaying too long could pour cold water on economic activity," she added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The IMF chief said that fiscal buffers are exhausted and debt levels in most countries are simply too high. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Higher interest rates are pushing up the cost of servicing debt, with the cost of servicing debt "most painful" in low-income countries, Georgieva said. "Their interest payments are set to average about 14 percent of government revenue-roughly double the level from 15 years ago," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva urged countries to reach sustainable debt levels and build stronger buffers to cope with future shocks. "For some, delay is simply not an option: consolidation must start now to avoid tipping into debt distress," she said. – Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20438', 'image' => '20240412063635_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 18:33:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Handicraft Exports to Europe Dwindle by 20 Percent ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. President of the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal, Prachanda Shakya said that handicraft exports to Europe have decreased by 20 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, goods like hand-made paper, pashmina, felt and other items are exported in large volumes to Europe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Handicraft items worth Rs 6 billion were exported to Europe last year. Shakya shared that the exports have gone down by 20 per cent this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The war in Europe has affected the handicraft trade of Nepal. However, handicraft exports to other countries remain moderate," Shakya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the federation's data, handicraft and sculpture items worth approximately Rs 12 billion are exported from Nepal. Handicraft exports in the two months – Mangsir and Poush – alone stood at Rs 8 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20437', 'image' => '20240412041312_20200720025203_20160802043332_meta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 16:12:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Apple Warns Users in 92 Countries of 'Mercenary Spyware' Attacks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These new alerts, also received by users in India, are part of cautionary measures warning owners about potential risks to their privacy and data security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In October 2023, Apple had sent a similar notification to political leaders across various parties in the country, including Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, and Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra. The alert warned of a "potential state-sponsored spyware attack" targeting their iPhones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In 2021, the Supreme Court had formed a committee of technical experts to look into allegations of unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software developed by Israeli firm NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In August 2022, the Supreme Court-appointed committee concluded that the spyware was not found in the 29 mobile phones examined by it, but malware was found in five mobile phones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple noted that according to public reporting and research by civil society organisations, technology firms and journalists, individually targeted attacks of such exceptional cost and complexity have historically been associated with state actors, including private companies developing mercenary spyware on their behalf, such as Pegasus from the NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It said, though deployed against a very small number of individuals - often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats - mercenary spyware attacks are ongoing and global. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Since 2021, Apple said that it has sent out threat notifications multiple times a year as it has detected these attacks, and to date the company has notified users in over 150 countries in total. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The extreme cost, sophistication and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks makes them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today. As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions," it said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The phone maker in its notification provides additional steps that users can take to help protect their devices, including enabling Lockdown Mode. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple advised its users to update their devices with the latest security patches and exercise caution while interacting with suspicious links or messages. – ANI/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20436', 'image' => '20240412020029_apple.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Climbs to Rs 139,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of the precious yellow metal has reached an all-time high of Rs 139,000 per tola with the latest increment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation wrote on its website that fine gold (hallmark gold) is being traded at Rs 139,000 per tola on Friday, up from Rs 136,600 per tola on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, standard gold (worked gold) is being traded at Rs 138,350 per tola on Friday against Rs 135,950 per tola on the previous day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The price of gold has been rising steadily in the past few weeks. In the Nepali month of Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), the price of gold has increased eleven times in the domestic market of Nepal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation fixes the price of gold and silver based on the price in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The recent geopolitical tension due to the Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war have led to investors to invest in gold considering it as a safe haven in times of turmoil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the price of silver also increased by Rs 50 per tola to reach Rs 1,750 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20435', 'image' => '20240412010233_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:01:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Ready to Facilitate Foreign Investors: PM Dahal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a meeting with the delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industries, PM Dahal informed that the government could bring policy reforms to facilitate foreign investment. The foreign investors would also get logistical support when they put money in potential areas in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The delegation also called on Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, and Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Damodar Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Finance Minister Pun stated that the Indian economy had huge role in Nepal's economy and he would do the best from his side to promote trade and investment between the two countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Industry Minister Bhandari pledged necessary support for the establishment of industries with foreign investment in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A delegation led by President of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Sanjeev Puri, came to Kathmandu to participate in the 58th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI). Puri was the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Chandra Dhakal and other officials were also present in the meeting. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20434', 'image' => '20240412122705_20160513034506_editor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 12:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20724', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Australian Mountaineer Scales Mt Annapurna-I without Supplemental Oxygen ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental oxygen', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental oxygen. However, the officials are yet to verify the information. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper, 47, conquered the world's 10th highest peak at 12:07 PM on Sunday, according to the Chairman of Seven Summit Treks Company, Mingma Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company said tour guides Michael Sherpa and Nima Sherpa accompanied the Australian climber. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 17 years old Nepali mountaineer Rinzi Sherpa also scaled the same peak on April 12 without the use of supplemental oxygen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Tourism, Rakesh Gurung, said they received information on the successful ascent of Annapurna-I by two persons without the use of supplementary oxygen. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Climbing Mt Annapurna-I is happening in a large number after the success in rope fixing. We have received information about two persons climbing (Mt Annapurna-I) without the use of supplementary oxygen. We are yet to verify this officially," Gurung added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper plans to climb the world's 14 peaks above 8000 metres within two years and has successfully climbed three mountains so far including Mt Annapurna-I. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After her ascent of Mt Annapurna-I, Pepper is all set to scale Mt Kanchanjungha and Mt Makalu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She started climbing mountains in 2007 after scaling Mt Choyu then without oxygen from China's Tibet side. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, as many as 25 climbers including 11 women and 14 men of three expedition teams have taken permits to climb Mt Annapurna-I in this spring season. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20451', 'image' => '20240414080955_annapurna-I-visto-en-el-fondo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 20:06:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20723', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Records Minimal Loss on the First Trading Day of 2081', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 14: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session,320 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 59,041 transactions. A total of 7,795,023 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 3.6 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sanima Mai Hydropower Limited(SHPC) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 21 crores. Shrijanshil Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(SHLB) saw the highest gain of 10%, closing at Rs 1262.80 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(GLBSL) incurred the heaviest loss of 10%, closing at Rs 2106 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in red territory except Trading Index, Microfinance Index, Finance Index and Hydropower Index. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Microfinance Index experienced the most gain at 1.91%, while Non-Life Insurance incurred the highest loss of 1.03%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20450', 'image' => '20240414042134_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 16:19:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20722', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What's Behind the Spate of Recent Incidents on Boeing Planes?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The episodes point to production and maintenance issues, AFP said citing experts who don't see an obvious pattern behind the myriad incidents.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The US plane maker has been under scrutiny since January 5, when a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines made an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out, successfully resolving an incident that safety officials say could have been catastrophic, according to the French news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">United Airlines in particular has experienced recent issues, including cases where a plane lost a wheel shortly after takeoff, another that rolled onto the grass during taxiing and a third that returned to its departing airport following an engine fire, added the news report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Over the last week Southwest Airlines had two separate incidents involving Boeing planes, including an engine fire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a confluence of incidents is "pretty rare" within air travel, aviation expert Bertrand Vilmer told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation experts usually look to three possible explanations for problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There can be a design defect, as with the two fatal crashes on 737 MAX jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia that involved a flaw in a flight stabilizing system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation watchers have pointed to a production defect as the likely source of the Alaska Airlines incident, which entailed a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that had only been delivered in October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board published in February found that four bolts meant to help secure the panel that blew off were missing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A third possible cause would be insufficient maintenance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While design and production are the responsibility of the plane maker, the airline is in charge of keeping up the plane once it receives it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Once the aircraft is delivered, Boeing has nothing to do with it anymore" in relation to maintenance, said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, adding that "there is a maintenance issue all over the world."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Vilmer notes that airplane maintenance is under the purview of the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Safest form of transport?</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Notwithstanding the recent spate of incidents, aviation experts point to a strong safety record overall.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"We haven't had a single casualty in the entire US airline industry, in way over a decade, despite millions of people flown," said Aboulafia. "That's incredible."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aboulafia calls modern flying "the safest form of transport ever created by people," noting that "everyday, hundreds of people get killed on the roads."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Boeing's rival, Airbus, has not been completely spared of difficulty. Hundreds of planes produced by the European company are being taken out of service to check for microscopic "contamination" of metals in engines made by Pratt & Whitney, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Airbus also had a public dispute with Qatar Airways involving the degradation of exterior plane surfaces. But there have been fewer such issues at Airbus and not one incident that drew a comparable level of attention as Alaska Airlines, experts told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Every incident that has occurred on Boeing airplanes this year has made headlines, suggesting that Boeing airplanes are unsafe," said a note last month from equity research firm Bernstein.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20449', 'image' => '20240414030828_1710177882294.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 15:07:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20721', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Request WB to the Deadline of extend Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To improve the results of Nepal's employment services and labour market, the 'Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project' (YETI) was implemented in July 2020 with a concessional loan supported by the World Bank. The project’s term is ending in June this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat, an agreement was reached in 2019 where the World Bank agreed to provide about USD 120 million (about Rs 16 billion) to implement this project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Out of the money coming from the World Bank, Rs 4 billion have yet to be spent," Shobha Kumari Pokharel, under secretary at the Prime Minister's Employment Program, informed New Business Age, "That's why we are now lobbying to extend the deadline by a year."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to her, the implementation of the program could not be done properly in the initial year due to coronavirus pandemic. Because the skill training could not be conducted as expected, the budget could not be spent within the stipulated period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Now we have sent a proposal to get the approval of the Ministry of Finance to extend the program. No response has been received from there," said Pokharel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We are confident that the duration of this project will be extended by 1 year as discussions are ongoing with the related donor agencies. In that case, the unspent money will be utilized".</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This project is associated with the Prime Minister's Employment Program and aims to create employment opportunities and increase the access of the target group to available job opportunities, increase the income of the workers and improve the living conditions of the target group.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this program, the aim is to create jobs for 100,000 unemployed youth for the maintenance of public infrastructures and in the public service sector. There is a condition that 60 per cent of them should be women. The project is being implemented at the local level.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As mentioned on the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, more than 885,000 unemployed individuals are registered for the program in the hope of getting employment. At the end of 9 months of the current fiscal year, only 28,300 people have been employed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This program was launched to employ citizens in the age group of 18 to 59 years who have not been employed for at least 100 days in a year. The government has been saying that it will provide a subsistence allowance equal to 50 days' wages if it is not able to provide employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, there has been criticism that the budget under this is used for petty works and that there is no significant achievement in the economy and employment. Stakeholders have raised questions about the feasibility of the project, saying that the loan money was spent on works such as cutting roadside bushes, planting apples, cleaning drains, uprooting weeds, throwing soil from drains on the road, and sweeping temples and schools.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In this context, the finance ministry officials say that they will decide whether to request an extension or not only after studying the effectiveness of the project.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At a time when serious questions are being raised about the effectiveness of the program, the finance ministry has not shown much interest to renew the deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Recently, Labor Minister Dol Prasad Aryal met with the World Bank's Nepal Coordinator and senior officials and requested to extend the duration of the project, which will end on June 30th. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dilaram Giri, Information Officer of the Public Debt Management Office, said that if the project time is not extended, the World Bank will not send the remaining money to the account of the Nepal government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For the current year 2080/81, the government has allocated Rs 5.94 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While presenting the policy and program of the previous year to the Parliament, then-President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced that the program would be restructured so that it would be owned by all levels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, although a committee has been formed for restructuring the program, the committee has not yet submitted a report to the Labor Minister. Section Officer of the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat Pankajalav Karna said that the report has been roughly prepared and is ready to be submitted to the minister in a few days. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The committee has almost prepared the draft of the report, now it will be filed and submitted soon," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under the Prime Minister's Employment Program launched by the government led by KP Sharma Oli in the year 2075/76, billions of rupees have been used up in petty jobs. In the first year, the program was accused of exploiting billions of state funds in unproductive areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the year 2075/76, the government allocated a budget of Rs 3.1 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program. In the same way, Rs 5.1 billion were allocated in 2076/77, Rs 11.6 billion in 2077/78, Rs 12 billion in 2078/79 and Rs 7.5 billion in 2079/80. This budget has financial resources from both the government and the World Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Auditor General's report has repeatedly raised questions about the expenses incurred through the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20448', 'image' => '20240414015427_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:53:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20720', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Iran Attack on Israel 'Foiled': Israeli Army ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The Iranian attack was foiled," Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">None of the drones and cruise missiles that were launched towards Israel had entered its territory, Hagari said, and "only a few" ballistic missiles reached Israel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">One of them "lightly hit the Nevatim base", he added, noting that the military compound was "still functioning". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement: "Together with the United States and additional partners, we managed to defend the territory of the State of Israel." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The campaign is not over yet -- we must remain alert", Gallant added. – AFP/RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20447', 'image' => '20240414012643_IranMissileTests5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:26:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20718', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Officials Charged of Corruption Still Active in Government Task', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This situation directly conflicts with Section 33 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059, which mandates the automatic suspension of civil servants facing corruption charges until their cases are resolved. CIAA spokesperson Narahari Ghimire said that such officials would not be permitted to continue working in public institutions following the filing of corruption charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CIAA filed a case on April 4 against 32 individuals, including former secretary and committee coordinator Shankar Adhikari, as well as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and committee member Budhisagar Lamichhane, over allegations of corruption related to the procurement of wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite this, officials from the committee informed New Business Age that both Adhikari and Lamichhane have continued their engagement with the committee's work. Adhikari himself confirmed his ongoing participation, asserting that his term as committee chair had concluded before the case was registered. He said that, legally, he no longer holds a position of public responsibility, stating that he was merely assisting in the report preparation process after completing the study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on February 1 established a study committee under the leadership of former secretary Adhikari. This committee was tasked with providing recommendations for the operation and construction of international airports in Nepal under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework, with a deadline of one and a half months to submit its report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the expiration of the committee's term on March 16, it has yet to submit its report to the government. An official of the committee revealed that the report is nearing completion and is expected to be finalized within a few days. He further noted that the question of whether the officials would be suspended or not has become less relevant as CIAA filed the corruption case after the committee's term had ended.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20445', 'image' => '20240414010119_Akhtiyar-CIAA-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:59:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20717', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure in Third Quarter Stands at One-Third of Allocated Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the total budget of Rs 302.7 billion allocated under this heading, the government has spent only Rs 97.37 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the status of revenue collection in the country is also sluggish. The government has set a target of collecting Rs 1472.48 billion in revenue in the current fiscal year but the revenue collection so far is just Rs 773.3 billion, which is 52.5 per cent of the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected Rs 671.11 billion under the heading of tax revenue and Rs 76.92 billion in non-tax revenue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has received Rs 2.75 billion foreign grants in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which is just 5.52 per cent of the annual target of Rs 49.94 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20444', 'image' => '20240414120722_budgetttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:06:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20716', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '48 km of Beni-Jomsom-Korala Road Section Blacktopped ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped. This corridor serves as a vital link between the southern border of India and the northern border of China.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Kaligandaki Corridor, spanning 435 kilometers from Triveni at the Indian border to the Korala transit point in China, stands as a flagship project of national significance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2074 BS, the construction of this road project, comprising fourteen segments, has seen the completion of eight sections so far. Dhurba Kumar Jha, the project's head, reports that as of the end of 2080 BS, the physical progress has reached 78 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Within six segments, a total of 85 kilometers of gravel roads and 48 kilometers of blacktopped roads have been completed. Additionally, the construction includes the erection of 13 concrete bridges and three Bailey bridges, with motorable bridges currently being built at six locations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Jha notes that utilizing DBSD technology, sections such as Kaiku-Khanti in Mustang (16 km), Khanti-Tukuche-Marfa (9 km), Ghasa-Kaikukhola (2 km) in Mustang, Tiplyang-Tatopani (6 km) in Myagdi, Beni-Galeshwar (4 km), and Galeshwar-Begkhola (3 km) have been surfaced with blacktop.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Information officer Bishnu Chapagain affirms that construction companies have been directed to blacktop an additional 13 km stretch from Jomsom to Kagbeni, the Tatopani-Ghasa section, and 6 km of the Marfa-Jomsom section within the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The estimated cost for the project stands at Rs 10 billion, with approximately Rs 7 billion already spent.</span> -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20443', 'image' => '20240414112348_2024041308452Sharnikalopatresadak.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 11:23:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20715', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installed Capacity of Electricity Reaches 3,300 MW: Kulman Ghising', 'sub_title' => 'Power Generated from Middle Tamor Project Connected to the Koshi Corridor ', 'summary' => 'April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. <br /> The electricity produced by the project was successfully transmitted to the Koshi Corridor transmission line on Friday in the presence of the Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, Kulman Ghising. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, NEA MD Ghising confirmed that the installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts, which will bring great relief to the power supply. Stating that hydropower is the backbone of the country's economy, he called for cooperation from all sides concerned to power development projects across the country. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project built by Sanima Middle Tamor Hydropower Limited will conduct trial production in the next 15 days to be followed up by commercial production. The power produced by one of the four turbines of the project has connected to the transmission line of the Koshi Corridor at Basantpur in Tehrathum. <br /> During the dry season, power production of this hydropower project will however be limited to 25 to 30 MW. A 50-meter-long and 11-meter high dam has been built near Mitlung in Furumbu of Fungling municipality, and power was generated by guiding water through a 3,400-meter long tunnel to the power house based at Thumbabensi of Khokling. -- RSS </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20442', 'image' => '20240414105635_20240413085645_412225-01-02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 10:54:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cricketer Airee makes History by Smashing Six Sixes in an Over', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.<br /> According to Espn Cricinfo, Airee achieved the feat in the last over against Qatar in their ACC Men's Premier Cup match in Al Amerat on Saturday.<br /> Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) also confirmed the feat.<br /> Starting the over on 28 off 15 balls, with Nepal on 174 for 7, Airee smashed medium pacer Kamran Khan for sixes off each delivery to end on 64 from 21, and took Nepal to 210 for 7, Cricinfo wrote on its website.<br /> “That put his name on a list which only had Yuvraj Singh (off Stuart Broad in Durban in the 2007 T20 World Cup) and Kieron Pollard (off Akila Dananjaya in Coolidge in 2021) so far. In ODI cricket, the feat has been achieved by Herschelle Gibbs and USA's Jaskaran Malhotra.”<br /> Nepal defeated Qatar by 32 runs in the match. Qatar, chasing a target of 211 runs to win, could only gather 178 runs at the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs. <br /> Captain Muhammad Tanvir scored 63 runs in 33 balls with four fours and six sixes. Mohammad Ahnaf (23), Himanshu Rathore (22), Adnan Mirza (19) and Qamaran Khan (18) were the top contributors. The other batsmen of Qatar could not score significant runs. <br /> Nepali cricketers, Lalit Rajbanshi, Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulshan Jha, took two wickets each while Kushal Malla and Avinash Bohora took one wicket each. <br /> Earlier, Nepal opted to bat first after winning the toss and scored 210 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-13', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20439', 'image' => '20240413072656_GLC493ZXMAA2sFy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-13 19:26:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Chief Urges Policymakers to ‘Deal Decisively with Inflation and Debt’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The global environment has become more challenging. Geopolitical tensions increase the risks of fragmentation of the world economy," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech at the Atlantic Council, ahead of the 2024 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Referring to global economic activity as weak by historical standards, Georgieva said the global output loss since 2020 is around 3.3 trillion dollars, with the costs disproportionately falling on the most vulnerable countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva highlighted a growing divergence within and across country groups. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among advanced economies, the United States has experienced the strongest rebound, helped by rising productivity growth. By contrast, activity in the euro area is recovering much more gradually, reflecting the lingering effects of high energy prices and weaker productivity growth, the IMF chief said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"But the most striking divergence is for low-income countries for whom scarring has been the most severe. Among these nations, fragile and conflict-affected economies are bearing the heaviest burden," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first thing for policymakers, according to Georgieva, is to bring back price stability. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the final quarter of 2023, headline inflation for advanced economies was 2.3 percent, down from 9.5 percent just 18 months earlier. For the median emerging market and developing economy, inflation declined to 4.1 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We expect the trend to continue in 2024, creating the conditions for major advanced economy central banks to begin cutting rates in the second half of the year," she said, while noting that the pace and timing of the monetary pivot will vary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Where necessary, policymakers must resist calls for early interest rate cuts. Premature easing could see new inflation surprises that may even necessitate a further bout of monetary tightening," said Georgieva. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"On the other side, delaying too long could pour cold water on economic activity," she added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The IMF chief said that fiscal buffers are exhausted and debt levels in most countries are simply too high. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Higher interest rates are pushing up the cost of servicing debt, with the cost of servicing debt "most painful" in low-income countries, Georgieva said. "Their interest payments are set to average about 14 percent of government revenue-roughly double the level from 15 years ago," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva urged countries to reach sustainable debt levels and build stronger buffers to cope with future shocks. "For some, delay is simply not an option: consolidation must start now to avoid tipping into debt distress," she said. – Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20438', 'image' => '20240412063635_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 18:33:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Handicraft Exports to Europe Dwindle by 20 Percent ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. President of the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal, Prachanda Shakya said that handicraft exports to Europe have decreased by 20 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, goods like hand-made paper, pashmina, felt and other items are exported in large volumes to Europe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Handicraft items worth Rs 6 billion were exported to Europe last year. Shakya shared that the exports have gone down by 20 per cent this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The war in Europe has affected the handicraft trade of Nepal. However, handicraft exports to other countries remain moderate," Shakya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the federation's data, handicraft and sculpture items worth approximately Rs 12 billion are exported from Nepal. Handicraft exports in the two months – Mangsir and Poush – alone stood at Rs 8 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20437', 'image' => '20240412041312_20200720025203_20160802043332_meta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 16:12:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Apple Warns Users in 92 Countries of 'Mercenary Spyware' Attacks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These new alerts, also received by users in India, are part of cautionary measures warning owners about potential risks to their privacy and data security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In October 2023, Apple had sent a similar notification to political leaders across various parties in the country, including Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, and Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra. The alert warned of a "potential state-sponsored spyware attack" targeting their iPhones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In 2021, the Supreme Court had formed a committee of technical experts to look into allegations of unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software developed by Israeli firm NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In August 2022, the Supreme Court-appointed committee concluded that the spyware was not found in the 29 mobile phones examined by it, but malware was found in five mobile phones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple noted that according to public reporting and research by civil society organisations, technology firms and journalists, individually targeted attacks of such exceptional cost and complexity have historically been associated with state actors, including private companies developing mercenary spyware on their behalf, such as Pegasus from the NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It said, though deployed against a very small number of individuals - often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats - mercenary spyware attacks are ongoing and global. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Since 2021, Apple said that it has sent out threat notifications multiple times a year as it has detected these attacks, and to date the company has notified users in over 150 countries in total. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The extreme cost, sophistication and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks makes them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today. As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions," it said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The phone maker in its notification provides additional steps that users can take to help protect their devices, including enabling Lockdown Mode. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple advised its users to update their devices with the latest security patches and exercise caution while interacting with suspicious links or messages. – ANI/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20436', 'image' => '20240412020029_apple.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Climbs to Rs 139,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of the precious yellow metal has reached an all-time high of Rs 139,000 per tola with the latest increment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation wrote on its website that fine gold (hallmark gold) is being traded at Rs 139,000 per tola on Friday, up from Rs 136,600 per tola on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, standard gold (worked gold) is being traded at Rs 138,350 per tola on Friday against Rs 135,950 per tola on the previous day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The price of gold has been rising steadily in the past few weeks. In the Nepali month of Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), the price of gold has increased eleven times in the domestic market of Nepal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation fixes the price of gold and silver based on the price in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The recent geopolitical tension due to the Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war have led to investors to invest in gold considering it as a safe haven in times of turmoil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the price of silver also increased by Rs 50 per tola to reach Rs 1,750 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20435', 'image' => '20240412010233_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:01:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Ready to Facilitate Foreign Investors: PM Dahal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a meeting with the delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industries, PM Dahal informed that the government could bring policy reforms to facilitate foreign investment. The foreign investors would also get logistical support when they put money in potential areas in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The delegation also called on Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, and Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Damodar Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Finance Minister Pun stated that the Indian economy had huge role in Nepal's economy and he would do the best from his side to promote trade and investment between the two countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Industry Minister Bhandari pledged necessary support for the establishment of industries with foreign investment in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A delegation led by President of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Sanjeev Puri, came to Kathmandu to participate in the 58th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI). Puri was the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Chandra Dhakal and other officials were also present in the meeting. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20434', 'image' => '20240412122705_20160513034506_editor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 12:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20724', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Australian Mountaineer Scales Mt Annapurna-I without Supplemental Oxygen ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental oxygen', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental oxygen. However, the officials are yet to verify the information. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper, 47, conquered the world's 10th highest peak at 12:07 PM on Sunday, according to the Chairman of Seven Summit Treks Company, Mingma Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company said tour guides Michael Sherpa and Nima Sherpa accompanied the Australian climber. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 17 years old Nepali mountaineer Rinzi Sherpa also scaled the same peak on April 12 without the use of supplemental oxygen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Tourism, Rakesh Gurung, said they received information on the successful ascent of Annapurna-I by two persons without the use of supplementary oxygen. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Climbing Mt Annapurna-I is happening in a large number after the success in rope fixing. We have received information about two persons climbing (Mt Annapurna-I) without the use of supplementary oxygen. We are yet to verify this officially," Gurung added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper plans to climb the world's 14 peaks above 8000 metres within two years and has successfully climbed three mountains so far including Mt Annapurna-I. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After her ascent of Mt Annapurna-I, Pepper is all set to scale Mt Kanchanjungha and Mt Makalu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She started climbing mountains in 2007 after scaling Mt Choyu then without oxygen from China's Tibet side. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, as many as 25 climbers including 11 women and 14 men of three expedition teams have taken permits to climb Mt Annapurna-I in this spring season. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20451', 'image' => '20240414080955_annapurna-I-visto-en-el-fondo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 20:06:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20723', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Records Minimal Loss on the First Trading Day of 2081', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 14: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session,320 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 59,041 transactions. A total of 7,795,023 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 3.6 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sanima Mai Hydropower Limited(SHPC) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 21 crores. Shrijanshil Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(SHLB) saw the highest gain of 10%, closing at Rs 1262.80 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(GLBSL) incurred the heaviest loss of 10%, closing at Rs 2106 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in red territory except Trading Index, Microfinance Index, Finance Index and Hydropower Index. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Microfinance Index experienced the most gain at 1.91%, while Non-Life Insurance incurred the highest loss of 1.03%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20450', 'image' => '20240414042134_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 16:19:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20722', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What's Behind the Spate of Recent Incidents on Boeing Planes?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The episodes point to production and maintenance issues, AFP said citing experts who don't see an obvious pattern behind the myriad incidents.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The US plane maker has been under scrutiny since January 5, when a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines made an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out, successfully resolving an incident that safety officials say could have been catastrophic, according to the French news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">United Airlines in particular has experienced recent issues, including cases where a plane lost a wheel shortly after takeoff, another that rolled onto the grass during taxiing and a third that returned to its departing airport following an engine fire, added the news report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Over the last week Southwest Airlines had two separate incidents involving Boeing planes, including an engine fire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a confluence of incidents is "pretty rare" within air travel, aviation expert Bertrand Vilmer told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation experts usually look to three possible explanations for problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There can be a design defect, as with the two fatal crashes on 737 MAX jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia that involved a flaw in a flight stabilizing system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation watchers have pointed to a production defect as the likely source of the Alaska Airlines incident, which entailed a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that had only been delivered in October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board published in February found that four bolts meant to help secure the panel that blew off were missing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A third possible cause would be insufficient maintenance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While design and production are the responsibility of the plane maker, the airline is in charge of keeping up the plane once it receives it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Once the aircraft is delivered, Boeing has nothing to do with it anymore" in relation to maintenance, said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, adding that "there is a maintenance issue all over the world."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Vilmer notes that airplane maintenance is under the purview of the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Safest form of transport?</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Notwithstanding the recent spate of incidents, aviation experts point to a strong safety record overall.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"We haven't had a single casualty in the entire US airline industry, in way over a decade, despite millions of people flown," said Aboulafia. "That's incredible."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aboulafia calls modern flying "the safest form of transport ever created by people," noting that "everyday, hundreds of people get killed on the roads."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Boeing's rival, Airbus, has not been completely spared of difficulty. Hundreds of planes produced by the European company are being taken out of service to check for microscopic "contamination" of metals in engines made by Pratt & Whitney, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Airbus also had a public dispute with Qatar Airways involving the degradation of exterior plane surfaces. But there have been fewer such issues at Airbus and not one incident that drew a comparable level of attention as Alaska Airlines, experts told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Every incident that has occurred on Boeing airplanes this year has made headlines, suggesting that Boeing airplanes are unsafe," said a note last month from equity research firm Bernstein.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20449', 'image' => '20240414030828_1710177882294.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 15:07:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20721', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Request WB to the Deadline of extend Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To improve the results of Nepal's employment services and labour market, the 'Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project' (YETI) was implemented in July 2020 with a concessional loan supported by the World Bank. The project’s term is ending in June this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat, an agreement was reached in 2019 where the World Bank agreed to provide about USD 120 million (about Rs 16 billion) to implement this project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Out of the money coming from the World Bank, Rs 4 billion have yet to be spent," Shobha Kumari Pokharel, under secretary at the Prime Minister's Employment Program, informed New Business Age, "That's why we are now lobbying to extend the deadline by a year."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to her, the implementation of the program could not be done properly in the initial year due to coronavirus pandemic. Because the skill training could not be conducted as expected, the budget could not be spent within the stipulated period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Now we have sent a proposal to get the approval of the Ministry of Finance to extend the program. No response has been received from there," said Pokharel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We are confident that the duration of this project will be extended by 1 year as discussions are ongoing with the related donor agencies. In that case, the unspent money will be utilized".</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This project is associated with the Prime Minister's Employment Program and aims to create employment opportunities and increase the access of the target group to available job opportunities, increase the income of the workers and improve the living conditions of the target group.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this program, the aim is to create jobs for 100,000 unemployed youth for the maintenance of public infrastructures and in the public service sector. There is a condition that 60 per cent of them should be women. The project is being implemented at the local level.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As mentioned on the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, more than 885,000 unemployed individuals are registered for the program in the hope of getting employment. At the end of 9 months of the current fiscal year, only 28,300 people have been employed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This program was launched to employ citizens in the age group of 18 to 59 years who have not been employed for at least 100 days in a year. The government has been saying that it will provide a subsistence allowance equal to 50 days' wages if it is not able to provide employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, there has been criticism that the budget under this is used for petty works and that there is no significant achievement in the economy and employment. Stakeholders have raised questions about the feasibility of the project, saying that the loan money was spent on works such as cutting roadside bushes, planting apples, cleaning drains, uprooting weeds, throwing soil from drains on the road, and sweeping temples and schools.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In this context, the finance ministry officials say that they will decide whether to request an extension or not only after studying the effectiveness of the project.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At a time when serious questions are being raised about the effectiveness of the program, the finance ministry has not shown much interest to renew the deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Recently, Labor Minister Dol Prasad Aryal met with the World Bank's Nepal Coordinator and senior officials and requested to extend the duration of the project, which will end on June 30th. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dilaram Giri, Information Officer of the Public Debt Management Office, said that if the project time is not extended, the World Bank will not send the remaining money to the account of the Nepal government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For the current year 2080/81, the government has allocated Rs 5.94 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While presenting the policy and program of the previous year to the Parliament, then-President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced that the program would be restructured so that it would be owned by all levels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, although a committee has been formed for restructuring the program, the committee has not yet submitted a report to the Labor Minister. Section Officer of the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat Pankajalav Karna said that the report has been roughly prepared and is ready to be submitted to the minister in a few days. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The committee has almost prepared the draft of the report, now it will be filed and submitted soon," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under the Prime Minister's Employment Program launched by the government led by KP Sharma Oli in the year 2075/76, billions of rupees have been used up in petty jobs. In the first year, the program was accused of exploiting billions of state funds in unproductive areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the year 2075/76, the government allocated a budget of Rs 3.1 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program. In the same way, Rs 5.1 billion were allocated in 2076/77, Rs 11.6 billion in 2077/78, Rs 12 billion in 2078/79 and Rs 7.5 billion in 2079/80. This budget has financial resources from both the government and the World Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Auditor General's report has repeatedly raised questions about the expenses incurred through the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20448', 'image' => '20240414015427_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:53:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20720', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Iran Attack on Israel 'Foiled': Israeli Army ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The Iranian attack was foiled," Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">None of the drones and cruise missiles that were launched towards Israel had entered its territory, Hagari said, and "only a few" ballistic missiles reached Israel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">One of them "lightly hit the Nevatim base", he added, noting that the military compound was "still functioning". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement: "Together with the United States and additional partners, we managed to defend the territory of the State of Israel." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The campaign is not over yet -- we must remain alert", Gallant added. – AFP/RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20447', 'image' => '20240414012643_IranMissileTests5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:26:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20718', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Officials Charged of Corruption Still Active in Government Task', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This situation directly conflicts with Section 33 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059, which mandates the automatic suspension of civil servants facing corruption charges until their cases are resolved. CIAA spokesperson Narahari Ghimire said that such officials would not be permitted to continue working in public institutions following the filing of corruption charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CIAA filed a case on April 4 against 32 individuals, including former secretary and committee coordinator Shankar Adhikari, as well as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and committee member Budhisagar Lamichhane, over allegations of corruption related to the procurement of wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite this, officials from the committee informed New Business Age that both Adhikari and Lamichhane have continued their engagement with the committee's work. Adhikari himself confirmed his ongoing participation, asserting that his term as committee chair had concluded before the case was registered. He said that, legally, he no longer holds a position of public responsibility, stating that he was merely assisting in the report preparation process after completing the study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on February 1 established a study committee under the leadership of former secretary Adhikari. This committee was tasked with providing recommendations for the operation and construction of international airports in Nepal under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework, with a deadline of one and a half months to submit its report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the expiration of the committee's term on March 16, it has yet to submit its report to the government. An official of the committee revealed that the report is nearing completion and is expected to be finalized within a few days. He further noted that the question of whether the officials would be suspended or not has become less relevant as CIAA filed the corruption case after the committee's term had ended.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20445', 'image' => '20240414010119_Akhtiyar-CIAA-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:59:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20717', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure in Third Quarter Stands at One-Third of Allocated Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the total budget of Rs 302.7 billion allocated under this heading, the government has spent only Rs 97.37 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the status of revenue collection in the country is also sluggish. The government has set a target of collecting Rs 1472.48 billion in revenue in the current fiscal year but the revenue collection so far is just Rs 773.3 billion, which is 52.5 per cent of the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected Rs 671.11 billion under the heading of tax revenue and Rs 76.92 billion in non-tax revenue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has received Rs 2.75 billion foreign grants in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which is just 5.52 per cent of the annual target of Rs 49.94 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20444', 'image' => '20240414120722_budgetttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:06:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20716', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '48 km of Beni-Jomsom-Korala Road Section Blacktopped ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped. This corridor serves as a vital link between the southern border of India and the northern border of China.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Kaligandaki Corridor, spanning 435 kilometers from Triveni at the Indian border to the Korala transit point in China, stands as a flagship project of national significance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2074 BS, the construction of this road project, comprising fourteen segments, has seen the completion of eight sections so far. Dhurba Kumar Jha, the project's head, reports that as of the end of 2080 BS, the physical progress has reached 78 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Within six segments, a total of 85 kilometers of gravel roads and 48 kilometers of blacktopped roads have been completed. Additionally, the construction includes the erection of 13 concrete bridges and three Bailey bridges, with motorable bridges currently being built at six locations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Jha notes that utilizing DBSD technology, sections such as Kaiku-Khanti in Mustang (16 km), Khanti-Tukuche-Marfa (9 km), Ghasa-Kaikukhola (2 km) in Mustang, Tiplyang-Tatopani (6 km) in Myagdi, Beni-Galeshwar (4 km), and Galeshwar-Begkhola (3 km) have been surfaced with blacktop.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Information officer Bishnu Chapagain affirms that construction companies have been directed to blacktop an additional 13 km stretch from Jomsom to Kagbeni, the Tatopani-Ghasa section, and 6 km of the Marfa-Jomsom section within the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The estimated cost for the project stands at Rs 10 billion, with approximately Rs 7 billion already spent.</span> -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20443', 'image' => '20240414112348_2024041308452Sharnikalopatresadak.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 11:23:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20715', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installed Capacity of Electricity Reaches 3,300 MW: Kulman Ghising', 'sub_title' => 'Power Generated from Middle Tamor Project Connected to the Koshi Corridor ', 'summary' => 'April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. <br /> The electricity produced by the project was successfully transmitted to the Koshi Corridor transmission line on Friday in the presence of the Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, Kulman Ghising. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, NEA MD Ghising confirmed that the installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts, which will bring great relief to the power supply. Stating that hydropower is the backbone of the country's economy, he called for cooperation from all sides concerned to power development projects across the country. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project built by Sanima Middle Tamor Hydropower Limited will conduct trial production in the next 15 days to be followed up by commercial production. The power produced by one of the four turbines of the project has connected to the transmission line of the Koshi Corridor at Basantpur in Tehrathum. <br /> During the dry season, power production of this hydropower project will however be limited to 25 to 30 MW. A 50-meter-long and 11-meter high dam has been built near Mitlung in Furumbu of Fungling municipality, and power was generated by guiding water through a 3,400-meter long tunnel to the power house based at Thumbabensi of Khokling. -- RSS </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20442', 'image' => '20240414105635_20240413085645_412225-01-02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 10:54:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cricketer Airee makes History by Smashing Six Sixes in an Over', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.<br /> According to Espn Cricinfo, Airee achieved the feat in the last over against Qatar in their ACC Men's Premier Cup match in Al Amerat on Saturday.<br /> Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) also confirmed the feat.<br /> Starting the over on 28 off 15 balls, with Nepal on 174 for 7, Airee smashed medium pacer Kamran Khan for sixes off each delivery to end on 64 from 21, and took Nepal to 210 for 7, Cricinfo wrote on its website.<br /> “That put his name on a list which only had Yuvraj Singh (off Stuart Broad in Durban in the 2007 T20 World Cup) and Kieron Pollard (off Akila Dananjaya in Coolidge in 2021) so far. In ODI cricket, the feat has been achieved by Herschelle Gibbs and USA's Jaskaran Malhotra.”<br /> Nepal defeated Qatar by 32 runs in the match. Qatar, chasing a target of 211 runs to win, could only gather 178 runs at the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs. <br /> Captain Muhammad Tanvir scored 63 runs in 33 balls with four fours and six sixes. Mohammad Ahnaf (23), Himanshu Rathore (22), Adnan Mirza (19) and Qamaran Khan (18) were the top contributors. The other batsmen of Qatar could not score significant runs. <br /> Nepali cricketers, Lalit Rajbanshi, Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulshan Jha, took two wickets each while Kushal Malla and Avinash Bohora took one wicket each. <br /> Earlier, Nepal opted to bat first after winning the toss and scored 210 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-13', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20439', 'image' => '20240413072656_GLC493ZXMAA2sFy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-13 19:26:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Chief Urges Policymakers to ‘Deal Decisively with Inflation and Debt’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The global environment has become more challenging. Geopolitical tensions increase the risks of fragmentation of the world economy," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech at the Atlantic Council, ahead of the 2024 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Referring to global economic activity as weak by historical standards, Georgieva said the global output loss since 2020 is around 3.3 trillion dollars, with the costs disproportionately falling on the most vulnerable countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva highlighted a growing divergence within and across country groups. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among advanced economies, the United States has experienced the strongest rebound, helped by rising productivity growth. By contrast, activity in the euro area is recovering much more gradually, reflecting the lingering effects of high energy prices and weaker productivity growth, the IMF chief said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"But the most striking divergence is for low-income countries for whom scarring has been the most severe. Among these nations, fragile and conflict-affected economies are bearing the heaviest burden," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first thing for policymakers, according to Georgieva, is to bring back price stability. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the final quarter of 2023, headline inflation for advanced economies was 2.3 percent, down from 9.5 percent just 18 months earlier. For the median emerging market and developing economy, inflation declined to 4.1 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We expect the trend to continue in 2024, creating the conditions for major advanced economy central banks to begin cutting rates in the second half of the year," she said, while noting that the pace and timing of the monetary pivot will vary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Where necessary, policymakers must resist calls for early interest rate cuts. Premature easing could see new inflation surprises that may even necessitate a further bout of monetary tightening," said Georgieva. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"On the other side, delaying too long could pour cold water on economic activity," she added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The IMF chief said that fiscal buffers are exhausted and debt levels in most countries are simply too high. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Higher interest rates are pushing up the cost of servicing debt, with the cost of servicing debt "most painful" in low-income countries, Georgieva said. "Their interest payments are set to average about 14 percent of government revenue-roughly double the level from 15 years ago," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva urged countries to reach sustainable debt levels and build stronger buffers to cope with future shocks. "For some, delay is simply not an option: consolidation must start now to avoid tipping into debt distress," she said. – Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20438', 'image' => '20240412063635_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 18:33:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Handicraft Exports to Europe Dwindle by 20 Percent ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. President of the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal, Prachanda Shakya said that handicraft exports to Europe have decreased by 20 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, goods like hand-made paper, pashmina, felt and other items are exported in large volumes to Europe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Handicraft items worth Rs 6 billion were exported to Europe last year. Shakya shared that the exports have gone down by 20 per cent this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The war in Europe has affected the handicraft trade of Nepal. However, handicraft exports to other countries remain moderate," Shakya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the federation's data, handicraft and sculpture items worth approximately Rs 12 billion are exported from Nepal. Handicraft exports in the two months – Mangsir and Poush – alone stood at Rs 8 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20437', 'image' => '20240412041312_20200720025203_20160802043332_meta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 16:12:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Apple Warns Users in 92 Countries of 'Mercenary Spyware' Attacks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These new alerts, also received by users in India, are part of cautionary measures warning owners about potential risks to their privacy and data security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In October 2023, Apple had sent a similar notification to political leaders across various parties in the country, including Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, and Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra. The alert warned of a "potential state-sponsored spyware attack" targeting their iPhones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In 2021, the Supreme Court had formed a committee of technical experts to look into allegations of unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software developed by Israeli firm NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In August 2022, the Supreme Court-appointed committee concluded that the spyware was not found in the 29 mobile phones examined by it, but malware was found in five mobile phones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple noted that according to public reporting and research by civil society organisations, technology firms and journalists, individually targeted attacks of such exceptional cost and complexity have historically been associated with state actors, including private companies developing mercenary spyware on their behalf, such as Pegasus from the NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It said, though deployed against a very small number of individuals - often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats - mercenary spyware attacks are ongoing and global. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Since 2021, Apple said that it has sent out threat notifications multiple times a year as it has detected these attacks, and to date the company has notified users in over 150 countries in total. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The extreme cost, sophistication and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks makes them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today. As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions," it said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The phone maker in its notification provides additional steps that users can take to help protect their devices, including enabling Lockdown Mode. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple advised its users to update their devices with the latest security patches and exercise caution while interacting with suspicious links or messages. – ANI/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20436', 'image' => '20240412020029_apple.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Climbs to Rs 139,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of the precious yellow metal has reached an all-time high of Rs 139,000 per tola with the latest increment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation wrote on its website that fine gold (hallmark gold) is being traded at Rs 139,000 per tola on Friday, up from Rs 136,600 per tola on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, standard gold (worked gold) is being traded at Rs 138,350 per tola on Friday against Rs 135,950 per tola on the previous day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The price of gold has been rising steadily in the past few weeks. In the Nepali month of Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), the price of gold has increased eleven times in the domestic market of Nepal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation fixes the price of gold and silver based on the price in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The recent geopolitical tension due to the Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war have led to investors to invest in gold considering it as a safe haven in times of turmoil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the price of silver also increased by Rs 50 per tola to reach Rs 1,750 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20435', 'image' => '20240412010233_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:01:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Ready to Facilitate Foreign Investors: PM Dahal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a meeting with the delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industries, PM Dahal informed that the government could bring policy reforms to facilitate foreign investment. The foreign investors would also get logistical support when they put money in potential areas in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The delegation also called on Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, and Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Damodar Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Finance Minister Pun stated that the Indian economy had huge role in Nepal's economy and he would do the best from his side to promote trade and investment between the two countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Industry Minister Bhandari pledged necessary support for the establishment of industries with foreign investment in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A delegation led by President of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Sanjeev Puri, came to Kathmandu to participate in the 58th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI). Puri was the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Chandra Dhakal and other officials were also present in the meeting. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20434', 'image' => '20240412122705_20160513034506_editor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 12:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20724', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Australian Mountaineer Scales Mt Annapurna-I without Supplemental Oxygen ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental oxygen', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: Australian mountaineer, Alliee Pepper, successfully scaled Mt Annapurna-I without the use of supplemental oxygen. However, the officials are yet to verify the information. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper, 47, conquered the world's 10th highest peak at 12:07 PM on Sunday, according to the Chairman of Seven Summit Treks Company, Mingma Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The company said tour guides Michael Sherpa and Nima Sherpa accompanied the Australian climber. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 17 years old Nepali mountaineer Rinzi Sherpa also scaled the same peak on April 12 without the use of supplemental oxygen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Tourism, Rakesh Gurung, said they received information on the successful ascent of Annapurna-I by two persons without the use of supplementary oxygen. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Climbing Mt Annapurna-I is happening in a large number after the success in rope fixing. We have received information about two persons climbing (Mt Annapurna-I) without the use of supplementary oxygen. We are yet to verify this officially," Gurung added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pepper plans to climb the world's 14 peaks above 8000 metres within two years and has successfully climbed three mountains so far including Mt Annapurna-I. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After her ascent of Mt Annapurna-I, Pepper is all set to scale Mt Kanchanjungha and Mt Makalu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She started climbing mountains in 2007 after scaling Mt Choyu then without oxygen from China's Tibet side. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, as many as 25 climbers including 11 women and 14 men of three expedition teams have taken permits to climb Mt Annapurna-I in this spring season. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20451', 'image' => '20240414080955_annapurna-I-visto-en-el-fondo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 20:06:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20723', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Records Minimal Loss on the First Trading Day of 2081', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 14: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index witnessed a minimal loss of 2.35 points or 0.11%, closing at a 2023.25 on the first trading of the New Year 2081.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session,320 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 59,041 transactions. A total of 7,795,023 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 3.6 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sanima Mai Hydropower Limited(SHPC) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 21 crores. Shrijanshil Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(SHLB) saw the highest gain of 10%, closing at Rs 1262.80 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(GLBSL) incurred the heaviest loss of 10%, closing at Rs 2106 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in red territory except Trading Index, Microfinance Index, Finance Index and Hydropower Index. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Microfinance Index experienced the most gain at 1.91%, while Non-Life Insurance incurred the highest loss of 1.03%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20450', 'image' => '20240414042134_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 16:19:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20722', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What's Behind the Spate of Recent Incidents on Boeing Planes?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Boeing has been in the headlines a lot lately following a series of incidents after the January Alaska Airlines near-miss in which a door panel came off mid-flight, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The episodes point to production and maintenance issues, AFP said citing experts who don't see an obvious pattern behind the myriad incidents.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The US plane maker has been under scrutiny since January 5, when a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines made an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out, successfully resolving an incident that safety officials say could have been catastrophic, according to the French news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">United Airlines in particular has experienced recent issues, including cases where a plane lost a wheel shortly after takeoff, another that rolled onto the grass during taxiing and a third that returned to its departing airport following an engine fire, added the news report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Over the last week Southwest Airlines had two separate incidents involving Boeing planes, including an engine fire.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a confluence of incidents is "pretty rare" within air travel, aviation expert Bertrand Vilmer told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation experts usually look to three possible explanations for problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There can be a design defect, as with the two fatal crashes on 737 MAX jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia that involved a flaw in a flight stabilizing system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aviation watchers have pointed to a production defect as the likely source of the Alaska Airlines incident, which entailed a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that had only been delivered in October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board published in February found that four bolts meant to help secure the panel that blew off were missing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A third possible cause would be insufficient maintenance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While design and production are the responsibility of the plane maker, the airline is in charge of keeping up the plane once it receives it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Once the aircraft is delivered, Boeing has nothing to do with it anymore" in relation to maintenance, said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, adding that "there is a maintenance issue all over the world."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Vilmer notes that airplane maintenance is under the purview of the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Safest form of transport?</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Notwithstanding the recent spate of incidents, aviation experts point to a strong safety record overall.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"We haven't had a single casualty in the entire US airline industry, in way over a decade, despite millions of people flown," said Aboulafia. "That's incredible."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Aboulafia calls modern flying "the safest form of transport ever created by people," noting that "everyday, hundreds of people get killed on the roads."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Boeing's rival, Airbus, has not been completely spared of difficulty. Hundreds of planes produced by the European company are being taken out of service to check for microscopic "contamination" of metals in engines made by Pratt & Whitney, AFP further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Airbus also had a public dispute with Qatar Airways involving the degradation of exterior plane surfaces. But there have been fewer such issues at Airbus and not one incident that drew a comparable level of attention as Alaska Airlines, experts told AFP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Every incident that has occurred on Boeing airplanes this year has made headlines, suggesting that Boeing airplanes are unsafe," said a note last month from equity research firm Bernstein.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20449', 'image' => '20240414030828_1710177882294.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 15:07:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20721', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Request WB to the Deadline of extend Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 14: Even though the term of a project under the Prime Minister's Employment Program is about to expire, the officials of the Ministry of Labor have decided to extend the deadline of the project as a quarter of the budget received as foreign aid has yet to be spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To improve the results of Nepal's employment services and labour market, the 'Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project' (YETI) was implemented in July 2020 with a concessional loan supported by the World Bank. The project’s term is ending in June this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat, an agreement was reached in 2019 where the World Bank agreed to provide about USD 120 million (about Rs 16 billion) to implement this project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Out of the money coming from the World Bank, Rs 4 billion have yet to be spent," Shobha Kumari Pokharel, under secretary at the Prime Minister's Employment Program, informed New Business Age, "That's why we are now lobbying to extend the deadline by a year."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to her, the implementation of the program could not be done properly in the initial year due to coronavirus pandemic. Because the skill training could not be conducted as expected, the budget could not be spent within the stipulated period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Now we have sent a proposal to get the approval of the Ministry of Finance to extend the program. No response has been received from there," said Pokharel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We are confident that the duration of this project will be extended by 1 year as discussions are ongoing with the related donor agencies. In that case, the unspent money will be utilized".</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This project is associated with the Prime Minister's Employment Program and aims to create employment opportunities and increase the access of the target group to available job opportunities, increase the income of the workers and improve the living conditions of the target group.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this program, the aim is to create jobs for 100,000 unemployed youth for the maintenance of public infrastructures and in the public service sector. There is a condition that 60 per cent of them should be women. The project is being implemented at the local level.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As mentioned on the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, more than 885,000 unemployed individuals are registered for the program in the hope of getting employment. At the end of 9 months of the current fiscal year, only 28,300 people have been employed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This program was launched to employ citizens in the age group of 18 to 59 years who have not been employed for at least 100 days in a year. The government has been saying that it will provide a subsistence allowance equal to 50 days' wages if it is not able to provide employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, there has been criticism that the budget under this is used for petty works and that there is no significant achievement in the economy and employment. Stakeholders have raised questions about the feasibility of the project, saying that the loan money was spent on works such as cutting roadside bushes, planting apples, cleaning drains, uprooting weeds, throwing soil from drains on the road, and sweeping temples and schools.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In this context, the finance ministry officials say that they will decide whether to request an extension or not only after studying the effectiveness of the project.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At a time when serious questions are being raised about the effectiveness of the program, the finance ministry has not shown much interest to renew the deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Recently, Labor Minister Dol Prasad Aryal met with the World Bank's Nepal Coordinator and senior officials and requested to extend the duration of the project, which will end on June 30th. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dilaram Giri, Information Officer of the Public Debt Management Office, said that if the project time is not extended, the World Bank will not send the remaining money to the account of the Nepal government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For the current year 2080/81, the government has allocated Rs 5.94 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While presenting the policy and program of the previous year to the Parliament, then-President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced that the program would be restructured so that it would be owned by all levels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Program, although a committee has been formed for restructuring the program, the committee has not yet submitted a report to the Labor Minister. Section Officer of the Prime Minister's Employment Program Secretariat Pankajalav Karna said that the report has been roughly prepared and is ready to be submitted to the minister in a few days. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The committee has almost prepared the draft of the report, now it will be filed and submitted soon," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under the Prime Minister's Employment Program launched by the government led by KP Sharma Oli in the year 2075/76, billions of rupees have been used up in petty jobs. In the first year, the program was accused of exploiting billions of state funds in unproductive areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the year 2075/76, the government allocated a budget of Rs 3.1 billion for the Prime Minister's Employment Program. In the same way, Rs 5.1 billion were allocated in 2076/77, Rs 11.6 billion in 2077/78, Rs 12 billion in 2078/79 and Rs 7.5 billion in 2079/80. This budget has financial resources from both the government and the World Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Auditor General's report has repeatedly raised questions about the expenses incurred through the Prime Minister's Employment Program.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20448', 'image' => '20240414015427_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:53:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20720', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Iran Attack on Israel 'Foiled': Israeli Army ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The Israeli military said Sunday that Iran's attack using hundreds of drones and missiles had been "foiled", with 99 percent of them intercepted overnight. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The Iranian attack was foiled," Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">None of the drones and cruise missiles that were launched towards Israel had entered its territory, Hagari said, and "only a few" ballistic missiles reached Israel. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">One of them "lightly hit the Nevatim base", he added, noting that the military compound was "still functioning". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement: "Together with the United States and additional partners, we managed to defend the territory of the State of Israel." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The campaign is not over yet -- we must remain alert", Gallant added. – AFP/RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20447', 'image' => '20240414012643_IranMissileTests5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 13:26:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20718', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Officials Charged of Corruption Still Active in Government Task', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has initiated a graft case against officials of a committee established by the government to provide recommendations for operating international airports through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, some members of the committee remain actively involved in its work.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This situation directly conflicts with Section 33 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059, which mandates the automatic suspension of civil servants facing corruption charges until their cases are resolved. CIAA spokesperson Narahari Ghimire said that such officials would not be permitted to continue working in public institutions following the filing of corruption charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CIAA filed a case on April 4 against 32 individuals, including former secretary and committee coordinator Shankar Adhikari, as well as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and committee member Budhisagar Lamichhane, over allegations of corruption related to the procurement of wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite this, officials from the committee informed New Business Age that both Adhikari and Lamichhane have continued their engagement with the committee's work. Adhikari himself confirmed his ongoing participation, asserting that his term as committee chair had concluded before the case was registered. He said that, legally, he no longer holds a position of public responsibility, stating that he was merely assisting in the report preparation process after completing the study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on February 1 established a study committee under the leadership of former secretary Adhikari. This committee was tasked with providing recommendations for the operation and construction of international airports in Nepal under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework, with a deadline of one and a half months to submit its report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the expiration of the committee's term on March 16, it has yet to submit its report to the government. An official of the committee revealed that the report is nearing completion and is expected to be finalized within a few days. He further noted that the question of whether the officials would be suspended or not has become less relevant as CIAA filed the corruption case after the committee's term had ended.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20445', 'image' => '20240414010119_Akhtiyar-CIAA-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:59:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20717', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure in Third Quarter Stands at One-Third of Allocated Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 14: The capital expenditure of the country stood at just 32.24 percent of the total allocation as of the third quarter of the current fiscal year that ended on April 12, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the total budget of Rs 302.7 billion allocated under this heading, the government has spent only Rs 97.37 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the status of revenue collection in the country is also sluggish. The government has set a target of collecting Rs 1472.48 billion in revenue in the current fiscal year but the revenue collection so far is just Rs 773.3 billion, which is 52.5 per cent of the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected Rs 671.11 billion under the heading of tax revenue and Rs 76.92 billion in non-tax revenue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has received Rs 2.75 billion foreign grants in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which is just 5.52 per cent of the annual target of Rs 49.94 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20444', 'image' => '20240414120722_budgetttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 12:06:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20716', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '48 km of Beni-Jomsom-Korala Road Section Blacktopped ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">April 14: A 48-kilometer stretch of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala route within the Kaligandaki Corridor has been recently blacktopped. This corridor serves as a vital link between the southern border of India and the northern border of China.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Kaligandaki Corridor, spanning 435 kilometers from Triveni at the Indian border to the Korala transit point in China, stands as a flagship project of national significance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2074 BS, the construction of this road project, comprising fourteen segments, has seen the completion of eight sections so far. Dhurba Kumar Jha, the project's head, reports that as of the end of 2080 BS, the physical progress has reached 78 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Within six segments, a total of 85 kilometers of gravel roads and 48 kilometers of blacktopped roads have been completed. Additionally, the construction includes the erection of 13 concrete bridges and three Bailey bridges, with motorable bridges currently being built at six locations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Jha notes that utilizing DBSD technology, sections such as Kaiku-Khanti in Mustang (16 km), Khanti-Tukuche-Marfa (9 km), Ghasa-Kaikukhola (2 km) in Mustang, Tiplyang-Tatopani (6 km) in Myagdi, Beni-Galeshwar (4 km), and Galeshwar-Begkhola (3 km) have been surfaced with blacktop.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Information officer Bishnu Chapagain affirms that construction companies have been directed to blacktop an additional 13 km stretch from Jomsom to Kagbeni, the Tatopani-Ghasa section, and 6 km of the Marfa-Jomsom section within the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The estimated cost for the project stands at Rs 10 billion, with approximately Rs 7 billion already spent.</span> -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20443', 'image' => '20240414112348_2024041308452Sharnikalopatresadak.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 11:23:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20715', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installed Capacity of Electricity Reaches 3,300 MW: Kulman Ghising', 'sub_title' => 'Power Generated from Middle Tamor Project Connected to the Koshi Corridor ', 'summary' => 'April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 14: The installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts after the power generated from the 73 MW Middle Tamor hydropower project was connected to the Koshi Corridor transmission line. <br /> The electricity produced by the project was successfully transmitted to the Koshi Corridor transmission line on Friday in the presence of the Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, Kulman Ghising. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, NEA MD Ghising confirmed that the installed capacity of electricity in the country has reached now 3,300 megawatts, which will bring great relief to the power supply. Stating that hydropower is the backbone of the country's economy, he called for cooperation from all sides concerned to power development projects across the country. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project built by Sanima Middle Tamor Hydropower Limited will conduct trial production in the next 15 days to be followed up by commercial production. The power produced by one of the four turbines of the project has connected to the transmission line of the Koshi Corridor at Basantpur in Tehrathum. <br /> During the dry season, power production of this hydropower project will however be limited to 25 to 30 MW. A 50-meter-long and 11-meter high dam has been built near Mitlung in Furumbu of Fungling municipality, and power was generated by guiding water through a 3,400-meter long tunnel to the power house based at Thumbabensi of Khokling. -- RSS </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-14', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20442', 'image' => '20240414105635_20240413085645_412225-01-02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-14 10:54:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cricketer Airee makes History by Smashing Six Sixes in an Over', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 13: Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's big-hitting finisher, entered the record books as the third man to hit six sixes in an over in an international T20 game.<br /> According to Espn Cricinfo, Airee achieved the feat in the last over against Qatar in their ACC Men's Premier Cup match in Al Amerat on Saturday.<br /> Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) also confirmed the feat.<br /> Starting the over on 28 off 15 balls, with Nepal on 174 for 7, Airee smashed medium pacer Kamran Khan for sixes off each delivery to end on 64 from 21, and took Nepal to 210 for 7, Cricinfo wrote on its website.<br /> “That put his name on a list which only had Yuvraj Singh (off Stuart Broad in Durban in the 2007 T20 World Cup) and Kieron Pollard (off Akila Dananjaya in Coolidge in 2021) so far. In ODI cricket, the feat has been achieved by Herschelle Gibbs and USA's Jaskaran Malhotra.”<br /> Nepal defeated Qatar by 32 runs in the match. Qatar, chasing a target of 211 runs to win, could only gather 178 runs at the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs. <br /> Captain Muhammad Tanvir scored 63 runs in 33 balls with four fours and six sixes. Mohammad Ahnaf (23), Himanshu Rathore (22), Adnan Mirza (19) and Qamaran Khan (18) were the top contributors. The other batsmen of Qatar could not score significant runs. <br /> Nepali cricketers, Lalit Rajbanshi, Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulshan Jha, took two wickets each while Kushal Malla and Avinash Bohora took one wicket each. <br /> Earlier, Nepal opted to bat first after winning the toss and scored 210 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-13', 'modified' => '2024-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20439', 'image' => '20240413072656_GLC493ZXMAA2sFy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-13 19:26:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Chief Urges Policymakers to ‘Deal Decisively with Inflation and Debt’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: With global growth outlook well below the historical average, and a growing divergence in economic fortunes, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged policymakers to deal decisively with inflation and debt, and promote economic transformation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The global environment has become more challenging. Geopolitical tensions increase the risks of fragmentation of the world economy," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech at the Atlantic Council, ahead of the 2024 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Referring to global economic activity as weak by historical standards, Georgieva said the global output loss since 2020 is around 3.3 trillion dollars, with the costs disproportionately falling on the most vulnerable countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva highlighted a growing divergence within and across country groups. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among advanced economies, the United States has experienced the strongest rebound, helped by rising productivity growth. By contrast, activity in the euro area is recovering much more gradually, reflecting the lingering effects of high energy prices and weaker productivity growth, the IMF chief said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"But the most striking divergence is for low-income countries for whom scarring has been the most severe. Among these nations, fragile and conflict-affected economies are bearing the heaviest burden," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first thing for policymakers, according to Georgieva, is to bring back price stability. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the final quarter of 2023, headline inflation for advanced economies was 2.3 percent, down from 9.5 percent just 18 months earlier. For the median emerging market and developing economy, inflation declined to 4.1 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"We expect the trend to continue in 2024, creating the conditions for major advanced economy central banks to begin cutting rates in the second half of the year," she said, while noting that the pace and timing of the monetary pivot will vary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Where necessary, policymakers must resist calls for early interest rate cuts. Premature easing could see new inflation surprises that may even necessitate a further bout of monetary tightening," said Georgieva. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"On the other side, delaying too long could pour cold water on economic activity," she added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The IMF chief said that fiscal buffers are exhausted and debt levels in most countries are simply too high. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Higher interest rates are pushing up the cost of servicing debt, with the cost of servicing debt "most painful" in low-income countries, Georgieva said. "Their interest payments are set to average about 14 percent of government revenue-roughly double the level from 15 years ago," she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Georgieva urged countries to reach sustainable debt levels and build stronger buffers to cope with future shocks. "For some, delay is simply not an option: consolidation must start now to avoid tipping into debt distress," she said. – Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20438', 'image' => '20240412063635_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 18:33:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Handicraft Exports to Europe Dwindle by 20 Percent ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: The war in Europe has had its impact on the handicraft industry here in Nepal. President of the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal, Prachanda Shakya said that handicraft exports to Europe have decreased by 20 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, goods like hand-made paper, pashmina, felt and other items are exported in large volumes to Europe. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Handicraft items worth Rs 6 billion were exported to Europe last year. Shakya shared that the exports have gone down by 20 per cent this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The war in Europe has affected the handicraft trade of Nepal. However, handicraft exports to other countries remain moderate," Shakya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the federation's data, handicraft and sculpture items worth approximately Rs 12 billion are exported from Nepal. Handicraft exports in the two months – Mangsir and Poush – alone stood at Rs 8 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20437', 'image' => '20240412041312_20200720025203_20160802043332_meta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 16:12:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Apple Warns Users in 92 Countries of 'Mercenary Spyware' Attacks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 92 countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These new alerts, also received by users in India, are part of cautionary measures warning owners about potential risks to their privacy and data security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In October 2023, Apple had sent a similar notification to political leaders across various parties in the country, including Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, and Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra. The alert warned of a "potential state-sponsored spyware attack" targeting their iPhones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In 2021, the Supreme Court had formed a committee of technical experts to look into allegations of unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software developed by Israeli firm NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In August 2022, the Supreme Court-appointed committee concluded that the spyware was not found in the 29 mobile phones examined by it, but malware was found in five mobile phones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple noted that according to public reporting and research by civil society organisations, technology firms and journalists, individually targeted attacks of such exceptional cost and complexity have historically been associated with state actors, including private companies developing mercenary spyware on their behalf, such as Pegasus from the NSO Group. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It said, though deployed against a very small number of individuals - often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats - mercenary spyware attacks are ongoing and global. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Since 2021, Apple said that it has sent out threat notifications multiple times a year as it has detected these attacks, and to date the company has notified users in over 150 countries in total. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The extreme cost, sophistication and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks makes them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today. As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions," it said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The phone maker in its notification provides additional steps that users can take to help protect their devices, including enabling Lockdown Mode. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Apple advised its users to update their devices with the latest security patches and exercise caution while interacting with suspicious links or messages. – ANI/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20436', 'image' => '20240412020029_apple.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Climbs to Rs 139,000 per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 12: The price of gold continues to rise in the domestic market of Nepal with an increase of Rs 2,400 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of the precious yellow metal has reached an all-time high of Rs 139,000 per tola with the latest increment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation wrote on its website that fine gold (hallmark gold) is being traded at Rs 139,000 per tola on Friday, up from Rs 136,600 per tola on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, standard gold (worked gold) is being traded at Rs 138,350 per tola on Friday against Rs 135,950 per tola on the previous day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The price of gold has been rising steadily in the past few weeks. In the Nepali month of Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), the price of gold has increased eleven times in the domestic market of Nepal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation fixes the price of gold and silver based on the price in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The recent geopolitical tension due to the Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war have led to investors to invest in gold considering it as a safe haven in times of turmoil.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the price of silver also increased by Rs 50 per tola to reach Rs 1,750 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20435', 'image' => '20240412010233_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 13:01:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Ready to Facilitate Foreign Investors: PM Dahal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 12: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the government is ready to facilitate foreign businesspersons who want to invest in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a meeting with the delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industries, PM Dahal informed that the government could bring policy reforms to facilitate foreign investment. The foreign investors would also get logistical support when they put money in potential areas in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The delegation also called on Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, and Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Damodar Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Finance Minister Pun stated that the Indian economy had huge role in Nepal's economy and he would do the best from his side to promote trade and investment between the two countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Industry Minister Bhandari pledged necessary support for the establishment of industries with foreign investment in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A delegation led by President of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Sanjeev Puri, came to Kathmandu to participate in the 58th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI). Puri was the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Chandra Dhakal and other officials were also present in the meeting. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-04-12', 'modified' => '2024-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20434', 'image' => '20240412122705_20160513034506_editor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-04-12 12:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
