December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall.…
December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall.…
December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on…
December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on…
December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one…
December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya…
December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of…
A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport,…
December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective…
The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on…
December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD 1.38 billion (about NPR 143 billion) in 2016, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD 50 million (about Rs 6.68 billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few…
December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient…
December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal…
December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake…
December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding…
December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the…
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Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A health worker at Halji health post located at Namkha rural municipality-6, Lokesh Bohara, said that snowfall has been taking place at the lower belt along with Simkot and snow up to around one feet has piled up at the northern areas of the district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People are facing problem to commute due to the snowfall, he shared.</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"">Air service has also been affected due to the snowfall and passengers heading out of the district have been stranded in Simkot. Simkot has witnessed up to four inches of snow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the other hand, farmers are elated with snowfall as they hope it would be good for different types of crops—wheat, barley and others. </span><br /> <strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang sees season's first snowfall </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Snowfall took place in Mustang for first time this season. The snowfall started since Monday morning. It is snowing in all areas including the district headquarters, Jomsom, said Ram Prasad Adhikari, the Assistant Chief District Officer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, although it is raining since the morning, offices are open and the means of transport are also operating. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although life has been affected due to cold, the farmers are elated with the snowfall. The crops cultivated by farmers had started to wilt away due to drought. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The crops and vegetables are going to prosper due to the precipitation this season. Although the sky used to be cloudy, there was no rain before this. It's good that it snowed today," he said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19361', 'image' => '20231204013138_DB_Simkot-IMG_20231204_082534_437.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:30:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Hits New Record ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of hallmark gold has increased by Rs 800 per tola on Monday as compared to Sunday. It was traded at Rs 120,800 on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, price of worked gold has been determined at Rs 121,000 per tola on Monday against Rs 120,200 on Sunday. Silver is being traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Monday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19360', 'image' => '20231204011852_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:18:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Aviation Refueling Centre Established at Simara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Simara Airport, the second oldest airport after the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport, did not have refueling facility until now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rijal, on the occasion, said that the NOC had been providing the LPG gas cylinders to the consumers at a cheap price despite incurring loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC Spokesperson Manoj Thakur said the newly inaugurated centre would facilitate internal flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The operation of the centre has ended the situation of diverting flights towards Bhairahawa or Biratnagar in case of bad weather or pressure of air traffic in Kathmandu, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The flight time from Kathmandu to Simara is 15 minutes in average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The refueling centre is expected to benefit both the aviation industry and air travelers by strengthening the connectivity and accessibility of air travel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is the first refueling centre established in this fiscal year. More such centres would be established in the coming days, according to the state-owned oil monopoly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Plans are afoot to establish such centres at Bharatpur Airport and Jumla Airport within this fiscal year, informed Umesh Prasad Thani, executive director of the NOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, around 900 to 1,000 passengers are availing services from the Simara Airport operating some 9 flights to and from it on a daily basis. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19359', 'image' => '20231204092404_Simara-Airport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:23:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19630', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Large Tomatoes Imported from India Increases by 76 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Committee confirmed that the price of Indian tomatoes has increased by 76.74 percent in one month. According to the committee, last month Indian tomatoes were sold at Rs 53 per kg, which has increased to Rs 95 per kg now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Traders say that the demand for this large tomatoes, which is used as a salad in banquets during feasts, has also increased with the onset of winter. They say that there is a lot of demand for such tomatoes during weddings and therefore the price has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The price of big tomatoes produced in Nepal has also increased by 15 percent in a month. Last month, locally-produced big tomatoes were sold at Rs 65 per kg, but has increased to Rs 75 per kg at present. Meanwhile, the price of small local tomatoes has decreased by 59 percent and small tomatoes produced through tunnel farming has dropped by 42 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19358', 'image' => '20231204090333_20230818115845_Product-IMG_TOV-rev2.original.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19629', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'ADB to Extend Support for Climate Resilience in Hindu Kush Himalayas ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Sunday, the ADB said it would undertake deep analysis of multi-hazard risks which include landslides, earthquakes, and floods—including glacier lake outbursts—and vulnerabilities in Bhutan and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This will help to strengthen the two governments’ capacities to conduct risk assessments in priority river basins. These assessments will be used to develop early warning systems and risk management options for future infrastructure development," the statement reads, adding that the Hindu Kush Himalayas – home to the largest ice reserves outside of the polar regions – feed 10 major rivers which sustain the livelihoods of 240 million people in the mountains and more than 1.6 billion people downstream. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The region is warming faster than the global average and if global temperature rise hits 3°C, 75% of glaciers in Bhutan and Nepal could melt by the end of this century. That would place unprecedented stress on access to water, threaten food and energy security, and result in significant biodiversity loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The roof of the world is melting,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, “The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is critical to the well-being and economic security of more than a billion people across our region. This initiative will help equip Bhutan and Nepal with essential information and enable them to invest in effective climate adaptation—which is now critical to managing climate risk.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, from 1985 to 2014, economic losses resulting from disasters in the Hindu Kush Himalayas region totaled $45 billion, much higher than those of any other mountain region. Since then, the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster events have pushed up economic losses and the number of people killed or displaced by such events. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">ADB’s assistance will help the governments, private sector, and local communities to understand the risks they face so they can decide on disaster risk reduction and adaptation measures, as well as risk transfer solutions including insurance. The technical assistance will set the stage for advancing knowledge across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region on climate resilient investment planning, development, and risk management, added the statement. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19357', 'image' => '20231204090133_Slope-view.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:59:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19628', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Sets New Record on Sunday, Surges to Rs 120, 800 Per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal. The price of gold increased by Rs 1,800 per tola (11.66 grams) on Sunday to reach an all-time high record of Rs 120,800 per tola. The price of gold had surged for three consecutive trading days during last week, breaking previous records on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The price of gold remained unchanged on Thursday but fell by Rs 300 per tola on Friday</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Associations, the price of gold had reached a record high of Rs 117,400 per tola on Monday, Rs 117,700 per tola on Tuesday and Rs 119,300 per tola on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation, fine gold was traded at Rs 120,800 per tola on Sunday against to Rs 119,000 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Compared to last Sunday, the price of gold has increased by Rs 3,900 per tola this Sunday. Last Sunday, gold was traded at Rs 116,900 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Sunday. Silver was traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Sunday against Rs 1,540 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19356', 'image' => '20231204081533_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:13:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19627', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NA Aircraft Grounded at Rara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December 4: A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The twin otter plane with flight number 9N-ABU had landed at Rara Airport at 11:00 am on Sunday by taking three passengers and crew members from Nepalgunj Airport. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The plane was scheduled to make its flight to Nepalgunj by taking 13 passengers but was grounded following some issues with its battery, Rara Station In-charge of Nepal Airlines Netra Bham said. Engineers from Nepalgunj were immediately brought to Mugu to confirm the status of the plane. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Bham shared that the plane would make its flight to Nepalgunj on Monday after bringing the battery from Nepalgunj. The passengers, who had bought the ticket to Nepalgunj from Mugu, are staying in the hotels at Talcha in Mugu. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19355', 'image' => '20231204060355_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 06:02:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19624', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministry Directs NEA to seek Clearance of Electricity Dues from Local Levels ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This directive aligns with the ministry's decision on November 8. It wants the NEA to settle the electricity dues from the respective offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dues of 331 local levels for street lamps till mid-July amounted to Rs 6.8 billion and a significant portion of these dues has accrued after the fiscal year 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA had previously proposed to reconcile the unpaid tariff with the government's account. However, the Finance Ministry declined to entertain the proposal and instead instructed NEA to pursue the collection of payments directly from the respective local offices. "We have proceeded with the clearance of dues accordingly," said NEA managing director Kulman Ghising. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA on October 8 issued a public notice seeking the payment of dues for streetlamps within the next 45 days and on November 22 called on local governments for the payment through a public notice. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19352', 'image' => '20231203045418_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19623', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Drops 7.29 Points to Close at 1851.23', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">December 3: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The market has been on the bearish mode for quite a long time for various reasons. Seasoned investors and stock analysts attribute to the today’s fall to the negative psychology prevalent among the investors. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Veteran investor Prem Oli said, “The stock market may witness sideways for one more year if the Nepal Rastra Bank does not shift its policy on the stock market”. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Oli held the regulators including the NRB for the scary fall of the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">A total of 3,419,073 units of shares exchanged their hands through 36,977 transactions. As many as 293 scrips were traded during today’s trading session, amounting to Rs 96 crores. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited(SONA) had the highest turnover of 6.95 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 295 per unit of share. Similarly, Three star Hydropower Limited(TSHL) experienced the highest gain of 9.63%, closing at Rs 387.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mountain Energy Nepal(MEN) and United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited(UMRH) lost 9.99% and closed at Rs 530 and Rs 273 respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Across sector indices, all sectors except Microfinance Index closed in the red territory. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mutual Fund lost the highest 1.25%, while Manufacturing and Processing lost the lowest by 0.22%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19351', 'image' => '20231203042346_collage (16).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:22:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19622', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Selling Shares Purchased for Rs 143 billion at Throw-Away Price of Rs 6 Raises Suspicion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD 1.38 billion (about NPR 143 billion) in 2016, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD 50 million (about Rs 6.68 billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">about NPR </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion) in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">50</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6.68</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It seems that the purchase and sale of Ncell’s share will court controversy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Malaysian company has cited lack of working environment in Nepal for its decision to exit Nepal while the government officials suspect that selling a profitable company at a much lower price than the purchase price may be for ‘tax evasion’.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunication Authority has sent a letter to Axiata telling the company that it did not acquire permission to sell the shares of Ncell. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the news of Axiata's withdrawal from Ncell became public, the authority had written to Ncell on Friday to follow legal procedures to sell its stakes in the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NTA, Rule </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the Telecommunication Regulations </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2054</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> states that a telecommunication service provider company must obtain approval from the authority when transferring share ownership. Axiata has not revealed anything about this issue.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aziata said it has sold </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares to </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK Ltd, a company registered in the UK. Axiata has informed that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">will receive USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">668.1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million) from the sale of shares in six months and the remaining amount after </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">48</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> months. </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK has expressed its pleasure to purchase the shares of Ncell. The company director Satishlal Acharya stated that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK is happy to announce the agreement for the acquisition of Ncell's shares and said that it will work with Ncell's management to use its experience in the telecommunication sector for innovation, investment and to provide services to the Nepalese people. Acharya is a citizen of Nepali origin living in Singapore. Sunivera Capital Ventures already has a </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent stakes in Ncell. Acharya is the director of Sunivera Capital Ventures. With the involvement of </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK,<span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Acharya now owns </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> shares of Ncell.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata bought the ownership of Ncell in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from the Swedish company TeliaSonera. At that time, Ncell was valued at around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Ncell's license period is expiring in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the agreement between Axiata and </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK, Axiata will receive the dividend received by Ncell until </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ncell's net profit was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5.16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion during the last fiscal year (FY) when the operating income was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">39.72</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, Ncell has earned more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">44</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion (unaudited report). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Government officials have been critical towards Axiata’s decision to sell a profit-making company at a scrap value.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Axiata states that if the government claims any taxes from Ncell in the future, it will be borne by the buyer </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A corporate law expert argued that Axiata may have decided to exit due to the double taxation of Ncell and the risk of the company's license expiring by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claimed that the government imposed taxes repeatedly and complying with the regulation meant the company was subject to double taxation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata said it paid Capital Gains Taxes or Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">47</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for the purchase of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> although the seller was liable to pay the amount</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claims it fulfilled all its tax obligations to the Government of Nepal as per the law.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, the Large Taxpayers Office has determined an additional tax of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">57</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for Ncell. Not satisfied with this, Ncell has filed a writ in the Supreme Court. The matter is sub judice.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the statement issued by the company that Ncell has contributed greatly to the economic and social development of Nepal. The statement also mentions that Ncell has directly and indirectly provided employment to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">000 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">people and served </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million customers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19350', 'image' => '20231203022354_ncell.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 14:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19621', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Changunarayan to be Made Disaster-Resilient Municipality', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality. The municipality has formed a quick response team at the ward level and prepared skilled human resources for the purpose. The skilled human resources have been trained to prepare 'one community, one first responder team' to declare the municipality a disaster-resilient municipality, said Mayor Jeevan Khatri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality handed over basic search and rescue materials to each ward on Saturday. Disaster management programs and activities have been prioritized to minimize the loss of life and property caused by any disaster in the municipality. The municipality has also formed one ward, one rapid response team in addition to one community, one first responder team for disaster response. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Administrative Officer of Changunarayan Municipality, Chudamani Panthi informed that the Nexus Project has helped to provide the necessary materials for search and rescue to the municipality. He said that the municipality has also identified the disaster-prone areas and made necessary preparations to mitigate the risks.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19349', 'image' => '20231203015046_5a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19620', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 900,000 Tourists Visit Nepal in 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had announced in the budget statement for the current financial year (FY) </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2080/81</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> that it would bring one million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> With the arrival of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">918</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">308</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">in eleven months of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, it seems that the goal of the government will be achieved. In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2022</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">614</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">148</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists had visited Nepal after the end of Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists is satisfactory this year as more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal in the last two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deepak Raj Joshi, former executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board, says that the government has set a low target of welcoming tourists after improving and developing capacities in air infrastructure, hotel services and other aspects than before. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had set a target to welcome two million tourists in Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2020</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> but the outbreak of the global pandemic dented the efforts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2019</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, the year before the pandemic, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists visited Nepal. If we had tried a little bit more, we could have brought </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists this year,” Joshi said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has not worked hard to achieve the goals and has not made proper evaluation of the country's capacity and the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of tourists has increased compared to last year as the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and the capacity of Nepal’s airports has increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Joshi, Nepal can attract </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2024</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> if the current situation prevails</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most tourists visiting Nepal this year were from India. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">24</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">443 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists came from India in November alone followed </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">461 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from America, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">601 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from China and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">138 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19348', 'image' => '20231203122831_1701577425.KK_Beni-DSC_0119_1701502836.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 12:27:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19619', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 240 Million for Temporary Housing in Quake-Hit Districts ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) Dhruba Bahadur Khadka shared that almost Rs 240 million was released on Friday for the quake survivors' housing. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first installment has been released for 18,328 out of 28,527 verified beneficiaries. The beneficiaries receiving the amount include 3,309 in Jajarkot, 214 in Bajura, 14,224 in Rukum West and 577 in Bajhang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NDRRMA Spokesperson Khadka, funds are yet to be disbursed for 1,485 beneficiaries of Salyan and will be disbursed soon. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19347', 'image' => '20231203114838_20231104083356_HKC-Jajarkot-4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:47:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19618', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN to Award Ground Handling Services at TIA based on Competitive Bidding ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Any airline company can compete for taking responsibility of ground handling services at the international airport. The bidding process will start from December 3, said CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service at TIA is currently being provided by the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation. With the bidding service in effect, the NAC is likely to lose the responsibility. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN decided to provide ground handling services at the TIA through competitive bidding according to Rule 5 (2) of the Service Tariff Regulations 2078 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service is one of the major sources of income of the ailing state-owned NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "Any airlines that meet the criteria can take part in the ground handling service bidding process, " said spokesperson Niraula. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19346', 'image' => '20231203111026_20220509064759_A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19617', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Possibility of Light Snowfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Saroj Pudasaini of the Weather Forecasting Division, there will be partial rainfall in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces this afternoon while the weather will remain generally clear in the rest of the provinces. There is a possibility of light snowfall in one or two places in the high hills and mountainous areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature in Kathmandu today will be 7.5 degrees and the maximum temperature will be between 20 and 22 degrees centigrade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tonight, the weather will be generally clear in the hill areas of Bagmati, Sudur Paschim and Koshi provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Weather Forecasting Division, there is possibility of light rain in one or two places in the hill areas of Gandaki and Karnali Provinces as well as Lumbini Province tonight. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19345', 'image' => '20231203103531_20190208014800_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 10:34:49', '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' => '19633', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Snowfall in Humla, Mustang ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A health worker at Halji health post located at Namkha rural municipality-6, Lokesh Bohara, said that snowfall has been taking place at the lower belt along with Simkot and snow up to around one feet has piled up at the northern areas of the district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People are facing problem to commute due to the snowfall, he shared.</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"">Air service has also been affected due to the snowfall and passengers heading out of the district have been stranded in Simkot. Simkot has witnessed up to four inches of snow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the other hand, farmers are elated with snowfall as they hope it would be good for different types of crops—wheat, barley and others. </span><br /> <strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang sees season's first snowfall </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Snowfall took place in Mustang for first time this season. The snowfall started since Monday morning. It is snowing in all areas including the district headquarters, Jomsom, said Ram Prasad Adhikari, the Assistant Chief District Officer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, although it is raining since the morning, offices are open and the means of transport are also operating. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although life has been affected due to cold, the farmers are elated with the snowfall. The crops cultivated by farmers had started to wilt away due to drought. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The crops and vegetables are going to prosper due to the precipitation this season. Although the sky used to be cloudy, there was no rain before this. It's good that it snowed today," he said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19361', 'image' => '20231204013138_DB_Simkot-IMG_20231204_082534_437.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:30:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Hits New Record ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of hallmark gold has increased by Rs 800 per tola on Monday as compared to Sunday. It was traded at Rs 120,800 on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, price of worked gold has been determined at Rs 121,000 per tola on Monday against Rs 120,200 on Sunday. Silver is being traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Monday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19360', 'image' => '20231204011852_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:18:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Aviation Refueling Centre Established at Simara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Simara Airport, the second oldest airport after the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport, did not have refueling facility until now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rijal, on the occasion, said that the NOC had been providing the LPG gas cylinders to the consumers at a cheap price despite incurring loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC Spokesperson Manoj Thakur said the newly inaugurated centre would facilitate internal flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The operation of the centre has ended the situation of diverting flights towards Bhairahawa or Biratnagar in case of bad weather or pressure of air traffic in Kathmandu, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The flight time from Kathmandu to Simara is 15 minutes in average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The refueling centre is expected to benefit both the aviation industry and air travelers by strengthening the connectivity and accessibility of air travel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is the first refueling centre established in this fiscal year. More such centres would be established in the coming days, according to the state-owned oil monopoly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Plans are afoot to establish such centres at Bharatpur Airport and Jumla Airport within this fiscal year, informed Umesh Prasad Thani, executive director of the NOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, around 900 to 1,000 passengers are availing services from the Simara Airport operating some 9 flights to and from it on a daily basis. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19359', 'image' => '20231204092404_Simara-Airport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:23:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19630', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Large Tomatoes Imported from India Increases by 76 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Committee confirmed that the price of Indian tomatoes has increased by 76.74 percent in one month. According to the committee, last month Indian tomatoes were sold at Rs 53 per kg, which has increased to Rs 95 per kg now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Traders say that the demand for this large tomatoes, which is used as a salad in banquets during feasts, has also increased with the onset of winter. They say that there is a lot of demand for such tomatoes during weddings and therefore the price has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The price of big tomatoes produced in Nepal has also increased by 15 percent in a month. Last month, locally-produced big tomatoes were sold at Rs 65 per kg, but has increased to Rs 75 per kg at present. Meanwhile, the price of small local tomatoes has decreased by 59 percent and small tomatoes produced through tunnel farming has dropped by 42 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19358', 'image' => '20231204090333_20230818115845_Product-IMG_TOV-rev2.original.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19629', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'ADB to Extend Support for Climate Resilience in Hindu Kush Himalayas ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Sunday, the ADB said it would undertake deep analysis of multi-hazard risks which include landslides, earthquakes, and floods—including glacier lake outbursts—and vulnerabilities in Bhutan and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This will help to strengthen the two governments’ capacities to conduct risk assessments in priority river basins. These assessments will be used to develop early warning systems and risk management options for future infrastructure development," the statement reads, adding that the Hindu Kush Himalayas – home to the largest ice reserves outside of the polar regions – feed 10 major rivers which sustain the livelihoods of 240 million people in the mountains and more than 1.6 billion people downstream. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The region is warming faster than the global average and if global temperature rise hits 3°C, 75% of glaciers in Bhutan and Nepal could melt by the end of this century. That would place unprecedented stress on access to water, threaten food and energy security, and result in significant biodiversity loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The roof of the world is melting,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, “The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is critical to the well-being and economic security of more than a billion people across our region. This initiative will help equip Bhutan and Nepal with essential information and enable them to invest in effective climate adaptation—which is now critical to managing climate risk.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, from 1985 to 2014, economic losses resulting from disasters in the Hindu Kush Himalayas region totaled $45 billion, much higher than those of any other mountain region. Since then, the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster events have pushed up economic losses and the number of people killed or displaced by such events. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">ADB’s assistance will help the governments, private sector, and local communities to understand the risks they face so they can decide on disaster risk reduction and adaptation measures, as well as risk transfer solutions including insurance. The technical assistance will set the stage for advancing knowledge across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region on climate resilient investment planning, development, and risk management, added the statement. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19357', 'image' => '20231204090133_Slope-view.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:59:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19628', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Sets New Record on Sunday, Surges to Rs 120, 800 Per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal. The price of gold increased by Rs 1,800 per tola (11.66 grams) on Sunday to reach an all-time high record of Rs 120,800 per tola. The price of gold had surged for three consecutive trading days during last week, breaking previous records on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The price of gold remained unchanged on Thursday but fell by Rs 300 per tola on Friday</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Associations, the price of gold had reached a record high of Rs 117,400 per tola on Monday, Rs 117,700 per tola on Tuesday and Rs 119,300 per tola on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation, fine gold was traded at Rs 120,800 per tola on Sunday against to Rs 119,000 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Compared to last Sunday, the price of gold has increased by Rs 3,900 per tola this Sunday. Last Sunday, gold was traded at Rs 116,900 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Sunday. Silver was traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Sunday against Rs 1,540 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19356', 'image' => '20231204081533_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:13:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19627', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NA Aircraft Grounded at Rara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December 4: A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The twin otter plane with flight number 9N-ABU had landed at Rara Airport at 11:00 am on Sunday by taking three passengers and crew members from Nepalgunj Airport. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The plane was scheduled to make its flight to Nepalgunj by taking 13 passengers but was grounded following some issues with its battery, Rara Station In-charge of Nepal Airlines Netra Bham said. Engineers from Nepalgunj were immediately brought to Mugu to confirm the status of the plane. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Bham shared that the plane would make its flight to Nepalgunj on Monday after bringing the battery from Nepalgunj. The passengers, who had bought the ticket to Nepalgunj from Mugu, are staying in the hotels at Talcha in Mugu. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19355', 'image' => '20231204060355_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 06:02:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19624', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministry Directs NEA to seek Clearance of Electricity Dues from Local Levels ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This directive aligns with the ministry's decision on November 8. It wants the NEA to settle the electricity dues from the respective offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dues of 331 local levels for street lamps till mid-July amounted to Rs 6.8 billion and a significant portion of these dues has accrued after the fiscal year 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA had previously proposed to reconcile the unpaid tariff with the government's account. However, the Finance Ministry declined to entertain the proposal and instead instructed NEA to pursue the collection of payments directly from the respective local offices. "We have proceeded with the clearance of dues accordingly," said NEA managing director Kulman Ghising. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA on October 8 issued a public notice seeking the payment of dues for streetlamps within the next 45 days and on November 22 called on local governments for the payment through a public notice. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19352', 'image' => '20231203045418_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19623', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Drops 7.29 Points to Close at 1851.23', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">December 3: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The market has been on the bearish mode for quite a long time for various reasons. Seasoned investors and stock analysts attribute to the today’s fall to the negative psychology prevalent among the investors. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Veteran investor Prem Oli said, “The stock market may witness sideways for one more year if the Nepal Rastra Bank does not shift its policy on the stock market”. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Oli held the regulators including the NRB for the scary fall of the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">A total of 3,419,073 units of shares exchanged their hands through 36,977 transactions. As many as 293 scrips were traded during today’s trading session, amounting to Rs 96 crores. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited(SONA) had the highest turnover of 6.95 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 295 per unit of share. Similarly, Three star Hydropower Limited(TSHL) experienced the highest gain of 9.63%, closing at Rs 387.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mountain Energy Nepal(MEN) and United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited(UMRH) lost 9.99% and closed at Rs 530 and Rs 273 respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Across sector indices, all sectors except Microfinance Index closed in the red territory. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mutual Fund lost the highest 1.25%, while Manufacturing and Processing lost the lowest by 0.22%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19351', 'image' => '20231203042346_collage (16).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:22:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19622', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Selling Shares Purchased for Rs 143 billion at Throw-Away Price of Rs 6 Raises Suspicion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD 1.38 billion (about NPR 143 billion) in 2016, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD 50 million (about Rs 6.68 billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">about NPR </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion) in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">50</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6.68</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It seems that the purchase and sale of Ncell’s share will court controversy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Malaysian company has cited lack of working environment in Nepal for its decision to exit Nepal while the government officials suspect that selling a profitable company at a much lower price than the purchase price may be for ‘tax evasion’.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunication Authority has sent a letter to Axiata telling the company that it did not acquire permission to sell the shares of Ncell. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the news of Axiata's withdrawal from Ncell became public, the authority had written to Ncell on Friday to follow legal procedures to sell its stakes in the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NTA, Rule </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the Telecommunication Regulations </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2054</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> states that a telecommunication service provider company must obtain approval from the authority when transferring share ownership. Axiata has not revealed anything about this issue.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aziata said it has sold </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares to </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK Ltd, a company registered in the UK. Axiata has informed that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">will receive USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">668.1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million) from the sale of shares in six months and the remaining amount after </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">48</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> months. </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK has expressed its pleasure to purchase the shares of Ncell. The company director Satishlal Acharya stated that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK is happy to announce the agreement for the acquisition of Ncell's shares and said that it will work with Ncell's management to use its experience in the telecommunication sector for innovation, investment and to provide services to the Nepalese people. Acharya is a citizen of Nepali origin living in Singapore. Sunivera Capital Ventures already has a </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent stakes in Ncell. Acharya is the director of Sunivera Capital Ventures. With the involvement of </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK,<span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Acharya now owns </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> shares of Ncell.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata bought the ownership of Ncell in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from the Swedish company TeliaSonera. At that time, Ncell was valued at around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Ncell's license period is expiring in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the agreement between Axiata and </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK, Axiata will receive the dividend received by Ncell until </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ncell's net profit was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5.16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion during the last fiscal year (FY) when the operating income was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">39.72</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, Ncell has earned more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">44</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion (unaudited report). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Government officials have been critical towards Axiata’s decision to sell a profit-making company at a scrap value.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Axiata states that if the government claims any taxes from Ncell in the future, it will be borne by the buyer </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A corporate law expert argued that Axiata may have decided to exit due to the double taxation of Ncell and the risk of the company's license expiring by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claimed that the government imposed taxes repeatedly and complying with the regulation meant the company was subject to double taxation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata said it paid Capital Gains Taxes or Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">47</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for the purchase of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> although the seller was liable to pay the amount</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claims it fulfilled all its tax obligations to the Government of Nepal as per the law.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, the Large Taxpayers Office has determined an additional tax of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">57</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for Ncell. Not satisfied with this, Ncell has filed a writ in the Supreme Court. The matter is sub judice.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the statement issued by the company that Ncell has contributed greatly to the economic and social development of Nepal. The statement also mentions that Ncell has directly and indirectly provided employment to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">000 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">people and served </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million customers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19350', 'image' => '20231203022354_ncell.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 14:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19621', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Changunarayan to be Made Disaster-Resilient Municipality', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality. The municipality has formed a quick response team at the ward level and prepared skilled human resources for the purpose. The skilled human resources have been trained to prepare 'one community, one first responder team' to declare the municipality a disaster-resilient municipality, said Mayor Jeevan Khatri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality handed over basic search and rescue materials to each ward on Saturday. Disaster management programs and activities have been prioritized to minimize the loss of life and property caused by any disaster in the municipality. The municipality has also formed one ward, one rapid response team in addition to one community, one first responder team for disaster response. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Administrative Officer of Changunarayan Municipality, Chudamani Panthi informed that the Nexus Project has helped to provide the necessary materials for search and rescue to the municipality. He said that the municipality has also identified the disaster-prone areas and made necessary preparations to mitigate the risks.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19349', 'image' => '20231203015046_5a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19620', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 900,000 Tourists Visit Nepal in 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had announced in the budget statement for the current financial year (FY) </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2080/81</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> that it would bring one million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> With the arrival of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">918</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">308</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">in eleven months of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, it seems that the goal of the government will be achieved. In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2022</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">614</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">148</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists had visited Nepal after the end of Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists is satisfactory this year as more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal in the last two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deepak Raj Joshi, former executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board, says that the government has set a low target of welcoming tourists after improving and developing capacities in air infrastructure, hotel services and other aspects than before. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had set a target to welcome two million tourists in Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2020</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> but the outbreak of the global pandemic dented the efforts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2019</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, the year before the pandemic, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists visited Nepal. If we had tried a little bit more, we could have brought </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists this year,” Joshi said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has not worked hard to achieve the goals and has not made proper evaluation of the country's capacity and the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of tourists has increased compared to last year as the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and the capacity of Nepal’s airports has increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Joshi, Nepal can attract </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2024</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> if the current situation prevails</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most tourists visiting Nepal this year were from India. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">24</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">443 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists came from India in November alone followed </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">461 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from America, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">601 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from China and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">138 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19348', 'image' => '20231203122831_1701577425.KK_Beni-DSC_0119_1701502836.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 12:27:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19619', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 240 Million for Temporary Housing in Quake-Hit Districts ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) Dhruba Bahadur Khadka shared that almost Rs 240 million was released on Friday for the quake survivors' housing. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first installment has been released for 18,328 out of 28,527 verified beneficiaries. The beneficiaries receiving the amount include 3,309 in Jajarkot, 214 in Bajura, 14,224 in Rukum West and 577 in Bajhang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NDRRMA Spokesperson Khadka, funds are yet to be disbursed for 1,485 beneficiaries of Salyan and will be disbursed soon. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19347', 'image' => '20231203114838_20231104083356_HKC-Jajarkot-4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:47:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19618', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN to Award Ground Handling Services at TIA based on Competitive Bidding ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Any airline company can compete for taking responsibility of ground handling services at the international airport. The bidding process will start from December 3, said CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service at TIA is currently being provided by the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation. With the bidding service in effect, the NAC is likely to lose the responsibility. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN decided to provide ground handling services at the TIA through competitive bidding according to Rule 5 (2) of the Service Tariff Regulations 2078 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service is one of the major sources of income of the ailing state-owned NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "Any airlines that meet the criteria can take part in the ground handling service bidding process, " said spokesperson Niraula. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19346', 'image' => '20231203111026_20220509064759_A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19617', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Possibility of Light Snowfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Saroj Pudasaini of the Weather Forecasting Division, there will be partial rainfall in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces this afternoon while the weather will remain generally clear in the rest of the provinces. There is a possibility of light snowfall in one or two places in the high hills and mountainous areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature in Kathmandu today will be 7.5 degrees and the maximum temperature will be between 20 and 22 degrees centigrade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tonight, the weather will be generally clear in the hill areas of Bagmati, Sudur Paschim and Koshi provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Weather Forecasting Division, there is possibility of light rain in one or two places in the hill areas of Gandaki and Karnali Provinces as well as Lumbini Province tonight. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19345', 'image' => '20231203103531_20190208014800_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 10:34:49', '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' => '19633', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Snowfall in Humla, Mustang ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A health worker at Halji health post located at Namkha rural municipality-6, Lokesh Bohara, said that snowfall has been taking place at the lower belt along with Simkot and snow up to around one feet has piled up at the northern areas of the district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People are facing problem to commute due to the snowfall, he shared.</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"">Air service has also been affected due to the snowfall and passengers heading out of the district have been stranded in Simkot. Simkot has witnessed up to four inches of snow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the other hand, farmers are elated with snowfall as they hope it would be good for different types of crops—wheat, barley and others. </span><br /> <strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang sees season's first snowfall </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Snowfall took place in Mustang for first time this season. The snowfall started since Monday morning. It is snowing in all areas including the district headquarters, Jomsom, said Ram Prasad Adhikari, the Assistant Chief District Officer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, although it is raining since the morning, offices are open and the means of transport are also operating. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although life has been affected due to cold, the farmers are elated with the snowfall. The crops cultivated by farmers had started to wilt away due to drought. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The crops and vegetables are going to prosper due to the precipitation this season. Although the sky used to be cloudy, there was no rain before this. It's good that it snowed today," he said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19361', 'image' => '20231204013138_DB_Simkot-IMG_20231204_082534_437.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:30:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Hits New Record ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of hallmark gold has increased by Rs 800 per tola on Monday as compared to Sunday. It was traded at Rs 120,800 on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, price of worked gold has been determined at Rs 121,000 per tola on Monday against Rs 120,200 on Sunday. Silver is being traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Monday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19360', 'image' => '20231204011852_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:18:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Aviation Refueling Centre Established at Simara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Simara Airport, the second oldest airport after the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport, did not have refueling facility until now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rijal, on the occasion, said that the NOC had been providing the LPG gas cylinders to the consumers at a cheap price despite incurring loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC Spokesperson Manoj Thakur said the newly inaugurated centre would facilitate internal flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The operation of the centre has ended the situation of diverting flights towards Bhairahawa or Biratnagar in case of bad weather or pressure of air traffic in Kathmandu, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The flight time from Kathmandu to Simara is 15 minutes in average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The refueling centre is expected to benefit both the aviation industry and air travelers by strengthening the connectivity and accessibility of air travel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is the first refueling centre established in this fiscal year. More such centres would be established in the coming days, according to the state-owned oil monopoly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Plans are afoot to establish such centres at Bharatpur Airport and Jumla Airport within this fiscal year, informed Umesh Prasad Thani, executive director of the NOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, around 900 to 1,000 passengers are availing services from the Simara Airport operating some 9 flights to and from it on a daily basis. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19359', 'image' => '20231204092404_Simara-Airport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:23:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19630', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Large Tomatoes Imported from India Increases by 76 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Committee confirmed that the price of Indian tomatoes has increased by 76.74 percent in one month. According to the committee, last month Indian tomatoes were sold at Rs 53 per kg, which has increased to Rs 95 per kg now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Traders say that the demand for this large tomatoes, which is used as a salad in banquets during feasts, has also increased with the onset of winter. They say that there is a lot of demand for such tomatoes during weddings and therefore the price has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The price of big tomatoes produced in Nepal has also increased by 15 percent in a month. Last month, locally-produced big tomatoes were sold at Rs 65 per kg, but has increased to Rs 75 per kg at present. Meanwhile, the price of small local tomatoes has decreased by 59 percent and small tomatoes produced through tunnel farming has dropped by 42 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19358', 'image' => '20231204090333_20230818115845_Product-IMG_TOV-rev2.original.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19629', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'ADB to Extend Support for Climate Resilience in Hindu Kush Himalayas ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Sunday, the ADB said it would undertake deep analysis of multi-hazard risks which include landslides, earthquakes, and floods—including glacier lake outbursts—and vulnerabilities in Bhutan and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This will help to strengthen the two governments’ capacities to conduct risk assessments in priority river basins. These assessments will be used to develop early warning systems and risk management options for future infrastructure development," the statement reads, adding that the Hindu Kush Himalayas – home to the largest ice reserves outside of the polar regions – feed 10 major rivers which sustain the livelihoods of 240 million people in the mountains and more than 1.6 billion people downstream. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The region is warming faster than the global average and if global temperature rise hits 3°C, 75% of glaciers in Bhutan and Nepal could melt by the end of this century. That would place unprecedented stress on access to water, threaten food and energy security, and result in significant biodiversity loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The roof of the world is melting,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, “The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is critical to the well-being and economic security of more than a billion people across our region. This initiative will help equip Bhutan and Nepal with essential information and enable them to invest in effective climate adaptation—which is now critical to managing climate risk.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, from 1985 to 2014, economic losses resulting from disasters in the Hindu Kush Himalayas region totaled $45 billion, much higher than those of any other mountain region. Since then, the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster events have pushed up economic losses and the number of people killed or displaced by such events. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">ADB’s assistance will help the governments, private sector, and local communities to understand the risks they face so they can decide on disaster risk reduction and adaptation measures, as well as risk transfer solutions including insurance. The technical assistance will set the stage for advancing knowledge across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region on climate resilient investment planning, development, and risk management, added the statement. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19357', 'image' => '20231204090133_Slope-view.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:59:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19628', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Sets New Record on Sunday, Surges to Rs 120, 800 Per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal. The price of gold increased by Rs 1,800 per tola (11.66 grams) on Sunday to reach an all-time high record of Rs 120,800 per tola. The price of gold had surged for three consecutive trading days during last week, breaking previous records on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The price of gold remained unchanged on Thursday but fell by Rs 300 per tola on Friday</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Associations, the price of gold had reached a record high of Rs 117,400 per tola on Monday, Rs 117,700 per tola on Tuesday and Rs 119,300 per tola on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation, fine gold was traded at Rs 120,800 per tola on Sunday against to Rs 119,000 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Compared to last Sunday, the price of gold has increased by Rs 3,900 per tola this Sunday. Last Sunday, gold was traded at Rs 116,900 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Sunday. Silver was traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Sunday against Rs 1,540 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19356', 'image' => '20231204081533_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:13:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19627', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NA Aircraft Grounded at Rara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December 4: A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The twin otter plane with flight number 9N-ABU had landed at Rara Airport at 11:00 am on Sunday by taking three passengers and crew members from Nepalgunj Airport. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The plane was scheduled to make its flight to Nepalgunj by taking 13 passengers but was grounded following some issues with its battery, Rara Station In-charge of Nepal Airlines Netra Bham said. Engineers from Nepalgunj were immediately brought to Mugu to confirm the status of the plane. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Bham shared that the plane would make its flight to Nepalgunj on Monday after bringing the battery from Nepalgunj. The passengers, who had bought the ticket to Nepalgunj from Mugu, are staying in the hotels at Talcha in Mugu. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19355', 'image' => '20231204060355_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 06:02:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19624', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministry Directs NEA to seek Clearance of Electricity Dues from Local Levels ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This directive aligns with the ministry's decision on November 8. It wants the NEA to settle the electricity dues from the respective offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dues of 331 local levels for street lamps till mid-July amounted to Rs 6.8 billion and a significant portion of these dues has accrued after the fiscal year 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA had previously proposed to reconcile the unpaid tariff with the government's account. However, the Finance Ministry declined to entertain the proposal and instead instructed NEA to pursue the collection of payments directly from the respective local offices. "We have proceeded with the clearance of dues accordingly," said NEA managing director Kulman Ghising. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA on October 8 issued a public notice seeking the payment of dues for streetlamps within the next 45 days and on November 22 called on local governments for the payment through a public notice. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19352', 'image' => '20231203045418_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19623', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Drops 7.29 Points to Close at 1851.23', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">December 3: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The market has been on the bearish mode for quite a long time for various reasons. Seasoned investors and stock analysts attribute to the today’s fall to the negative psychology prevalent among the investors. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Veteran investor Prem Oli said, “The stock market may witness sideways for one more year if the Nepal Rastra Bank does not shift its policy on the stock market”. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Oli held the regulators including the NRB for the scary fall of the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">A total of 3,419,073 units of shares exchanged their hands through 36,977 transactions. As many as 293 scrips were traded during today’s trading session, amounting to Rs 96 crores. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited(SONA) had the highest turnover of 6.95 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 295 per unit of share. Similarly, Three star Hydropower Limited(TSHL) experienced the highest gain of 9.63%, closing at Rs 387.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mountain Energy Nepal(MEN) and United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited(UMRH) lost 9.99% and closed at Rs 530 and Rs 273 respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Across sector indices, all sectors except Microfinance Index closed in the red territory. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mutual Fund lost the highest 1.25%, while Manufacturing and Processing lost the lowest by 0.22%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19351', 'image' => '20231203042346_collage (16).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:22:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19622', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Selling Shares Purchased for Rs 143 billion at Throw-Away Price of Rs 6 Raises Suspicion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD 1.38 billion (about NPR 143 billion) in 2016, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD 50 million (about Rs 6.68 billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">about NPR </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion) in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">50</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6.68</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It seems that the purchase and sale of Ncell’s share will court controversy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Malaysian company has cited lack of working environment in Nepal for its decision to exit Nepal while the government officials suspect that selling a profitable company at a much lower price than the purchase price may be for ‘tax evasion’.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunication Authority has sent a letter to Axiata telling the company that it did not acquire permission to sell the shares of Ncell. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the news of Axiata's withdrawal from Ncell became public, the authority had written to Ncell on Friday to follow legal procedures to sell its stakes in the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NTA, Rule </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the Telecommunication Regulations </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2054</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> states that a telecommunication service provider company must obtain approval from the authority when transferring share ownership. Axiata has not revealed anything about this issue.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aziata said it has sold </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares to </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK Ltd, a company registered in the UK. Axiata has informed that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">will receive USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">668.1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million) from the sale of shares in six months and the remaining amount after </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">48</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> months. </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK has expressed its pleasure to purchase the shares of Ncell. The company director Satishlal Acharya stated that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK is happy to announce the agreement for the acquisition of Ncell's shares and said that it will work with Ncell's management to use its experience in the telecommunication sector for innovation, investment and to provide services to the Nepalese people. Acharya is a citizen of Nepali origin living in Singapore. Sunivera Capital Ventures already has a </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent stakes in Ncell. Acharya is the director of Sunivera Capital Ventures. With the involvement of </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK,<span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Acharya now owns </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> shares of Ncell.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata bought the ownership of Ncell in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from the Swedish company TeliaSonera. At that time, Ncell was valued at around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Ncell's license period is expiring in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the agreement between Axiata and </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK, Axiata will receive the dividend received by Ncell until </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ncell's net profit was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5.16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion during the last fiscal year (FY) when the operating income was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">39.72</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, Ncell has earned more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">44</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion (unaudited report). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Government officials have been critical towards Axiata’s decision to sell a profit-making company at a scrap value.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Axiata states that if the government claims any taxes from Ncell in the future, it will be borne by the buyer </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A corporate law expert argued that Axiata may have decided to exit due to the double taxation of Ncell and the risk of the company's license expiring by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claimed that the government imposed taxes repeatedly and complying with the regulation meant the company was subject to double taxation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata said it paid Capital Gains Taxes or Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">47</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for the purchase of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> although the seller was liable to pay the amount</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claims it fulfilled all its tax obligations to the Government of Nepal as per the law.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, the Large Taxpayers Office has determined an additional tax of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">57</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for Ncell. Not satisfied with this, Ncell has filed a writ in the Supreme Court. The matter is sub judice.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the statement issued by the company that Ncell has contributed greatly to the economic and social development of Nepal. The statement also mentions that Ncell has directly and indirectly provided employment to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">000 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">people and served </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million customers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19350', 'image' => '20231203022354_ncell.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 14:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19621', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Changunarayan to be Made Disaster-Resilient Municipality', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality. The municipality has formed a quick response team at the ward level and prepared skilled human resources for the purpose. The skilled human resources have been trained to prepare 'one community, one first responder team' to declare the municipality a disaster-resilient municipality, said Mayor Jeevan Khatri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality handed over basic search and rescue materials to each ward on Saturday. Disaster management programs and activities have been prioritized to minimize the loss of life and property caused by any disaster in the municipality. The municipality has also formed one ward, one rapid response team in addition to one community, one first responder team for disaster response. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Administrative Officer of Changunarayan Municipality, Chudamani Panthi informed that the Nexus Project has helped to provide the necessary materials for search and rescue to the municipality. He said that the municipality has also identified the disaster-prone areas and made necessary preparations to mitigate the risks.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19349', 'image' => '20231203015046_5a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19620', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 900,000 Tourists Visit Nepal in 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had announced in the budget statement for the current financial year (FY) </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2080/81</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> that it would bring one million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> With the arrival of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">918</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">308</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">in eleven months of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, it seems that the goal of the government will be achieved. In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2022</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">614</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">148</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists had visited Nepal after the end of Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists is satisfactory this year as more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal in the last two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deepak Raj Joshi, former executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board, says that the government has set a low target of welcoming tourists after improving and developing capacities in air infrastructure, hotel services and other aspects than before. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had set a target to welcome two million tourists in Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2020</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> but the outbreak of the global pandemic dented the efforts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2019</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, the year before the pandemic, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists visited Nepal. If we had tried a little bit more, we could have brought </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists this year,” Joshi said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has not worked hard to achieve the goals and has not made proper evaluation of the country's capacity and the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of tourists has increased compared to last year as the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and the capacity of Nepal’s airports has increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Joshi, Nepal can attract </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2024</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> if the current situation prevails</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most tourists visiting Nepal this year were from India. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">24</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">443 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists came from India in November alone followed </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">461 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from America, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">601 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from China and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">138 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19348', 'image' => '20231203122831_1701577425.KK_Beni-DSC_0119_1701502836.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 12:27:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19619', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 240 Million for Temporary Housing in Quake-Hit Districts ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) Dhruba Bahadur Khadka shared that almost Rs 240 million was released on Friday for the quake survivors' housing. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first installment has been released for 18,328 out of 28,527 verified beneficiaries. The beneficiaries receiving the amount include 3,309 in Jajarkot, 214 in Bajura, 14,224 in Rukum West and 577 in Bajhang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NDRRMA Spokesperson Khadka, funds are yet to be disbursed for 1,485 beneficiaries of Salyan and will be disbursed soon. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19347', 'image' => '20231203114838_20231104083356_HKC-Jajarkot-4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:47:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19618', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN to Award Ground Handling Services at TIA based on Competitive Bidding ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Any airline company can compete for taking responsibility of ground handling services at the international airport. The bidding process will start from December 3, said CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service at TIA is currently being provided by the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation. With the bidding service in effect, the NAC is likely to lose the responsibility. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN decided to provide ground handling services at the TIA through competitive bidding according to Rule 5 (2) of the Service Tariff Regulations 2078 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service is one of the major sources of income of the ailing state-owned NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "Any airlines that meet the criteria can take part in the ground handling service bidding process, " said spokesperson Niraula. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19346', 'image' => '20231203111026_20220509064759_A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19617', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Possibility of Light Snowfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Saroj Pudasaini of the Weather Forecasting Division, there will be partial rainfall in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces this afternoon while the weather will remain generally clear in the rest of the provinces. There is a possibility of light snowfall in one or two places in the high hills and mountainous areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature in Kathmandu today will be 7.5 degrees and the maximum temperature will be between 20 and 22 degrees centigrade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tonight, the weather will be generally clear in the hill areas of Bagmati, Sudur Paschim and Koshi provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Weather Forecasting Division, there is possibility of light rain in one or two places in the hill areas of Gandaki and Karnali Provinces as well as Lumbini Province tonight. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19345', 'image' => '20231203103531_20190208014800_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 10:34:49', '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
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Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Snowfall has been taking place in Humla district from this morning. Normal life of the district has been affected due to increasing cold following the snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A health worker at Halji health post located at Namkha rural municipality-6, Lokesh Bohara, said that snowfall has been taking place at the lower belt along with Simkot and snow up to around one feet has piled up at the northern areas of the district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People are facing problem to commute due to the snowfall, he shared.</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"">Air service has also been affected due to the snowfall and passengers heading out of the district have been stranded in Simkot. Simkot has witnessed up to four inches of snow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the other hand, farmers are elated with snowfall as they hope it would be good for different types of crops—wheat, barley and others. </span><br /> <strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang sees season's first snowfall </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Snowfall took place in Mustang for first time this season. The snowfall started since Monday morning. It is snowing in all areas including the district headquarters, Jomsom, said Ram Prasad Adhikari, the Assistant Chief District Officer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, although it is raining since the morning, offices are open and the means of transport are also operating. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although life has been affected due to cold, the farmers are elated with the snowfall. The crops cultivated by farmers had started to wilt away due to drought. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The crops and vegetables are going to prosper due to the precipitation this season. Although the sky used to be cloudy, there was no rain before this. It's good that it snowed today," he said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19361', 'image' => '20231204013138_DB_Simkot-IMG_20231204_082534_437.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:30:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Hits New Record ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has reached an all-time high record and is being traded at Rs 121,600 per tola (11.6 grams) in the domestic market on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, the price of hallmark gold has increased by Rs 800 per tola on Monday as compared to Sunday. It was traded at Rs 120,800 on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, price of worked gold has been determined at Rs 121,000 per tola on Monday against Rs 120,200 on Sunday. Silver is being traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Monday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19360', 'image' => '20231204011852_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 13:18:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Aviation Refueling Centre Established at Simara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: Nepal Oil Corporation has established an aviation refueling centre at Simara Airport in Bara district. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ramesh Rijal, inaugurated the centre on Sunday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Simara Airport, the second oldest airport after the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport, did not have refueling facility until now. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rijal, on the occasion, said that the NOC had been providing the LPG gas cylinders to the consumers at a cheap price despite incurring loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC Spokesperson Manoj Thakur said the newly inaugurated centre would facilitate internal flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The operation of the centre has ended the situation of diverting flights towards Bhairahawa or Biratnagar in case of bad weather or pressure of air traffic in Kathmandu, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The flight time from Kathmandu to Simara is 15 minutes in average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The refueling centre is expected to benefit both the aviation industry and air travelers by strengthening the connectivity and accessibility of air travel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is the first refueling centre established in this fiscal year. More such centres would be established in the coming days, according to the state-owned oil monopoly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Plans are afoot to establish such centres at Bharatpur Airport and Jumla Airport within this fiscal year, informed Umesh Prasad Thani, executive director of the NOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, around 900 to 1,000 passengers are availing services from the Simara Airport operating some 9 flights to and from it on a daily basis. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19359', 'image' => '20231204092404_Simara-Airport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:23:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19630', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Large Tomatoes Imported from India Increases by 76 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">December 4: The price of large tomatoes imported from India has increased by 76 percent within a period of one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Committee confirmed that the price of Indian tomatoes has increased by 76.74 percent in one month. According to the committee, last month Indian tomatoes were sold at Rs 53 per kg, which has increased to Rs 95 per kg now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Traders say that the demand for this large tomatoes, which is used as a salad in banquets during feasts, has also increased with the onset of winter. They say that there is a lot of demand for such tomatoes during weddings and therefore the price has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The price of big tomatoes produced in Nepal has also increased by 15 percent in a month. Last month, locally-produced big tomatoes were sold at Rs 65 per kg, but has increased to Rs 75 per kg at present. Meanwhile, the price of small local tomatoes has decreased by 59 percent and small tomatoes produced through tunnel farming has dropped by 42 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19358', 'image' => '20231204090333_20230818115845_Product-IMG_TOV-rev2.original.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 09:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19629', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'ADB to Extend Support for Climate Resilience in Hindu Kush Himalayas ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 4: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a scheme to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Sunday, the ADB said it would undertake deep analysis of multi-hazard risks which include landslides, earthquakes, and floods—including glacier lake outbursts—and vulnerabilities in Bhutan and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This will help to strengthen the two governments’ capacities to conduct risk assessments in priority river basins. These assessments will be used to develop early warning systems and risk management options for future infrastructure development," the statement reads, adding that the Hindu Kush Himalayas – home to the largest ice reserves outside of the polar regions – feed 10 major rivers which sustain the livelihoods of 240 million people in the mountains and more than 1.6 billion people downstream. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The region is warming faster than the global average and if global temperature rise hits 3°C, 75% of glaciers in Bhutan and Nepal could melt by the end of this century. That would place unprecedented stress on access to water, threaten food and energy security, and result in significant biodiversity loss. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The roof of the world is melting,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, “The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is critical to the well-being and economic security of more than a billion people across our region. This initiative will help equip Bhutan and Nepal with essential information and enable them to invest in effective climate adaptation—which is now critical to managing climate risk.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, from 1985 to 2014, economic losses resulting from disasters in the Hindu Kush Himalayas region totaled $45 billion, much higher than those of any other mountain region. Since then, the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster events have pushed up economic losses and the number of people killed or displaced by such events. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">ADB’s assistance will help the governments, private sector, and local communities to understand the risks they face so they can decide on disaster risk reduction and adaptation measures, as well as risk transfer solutions including insurance. The technical assistance will set the stage for advancing knowledge across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region on climate resilient investment planning, development, and risk management, added the statement. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19357', 'image' => '20231204090133_Slope-view.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:59:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19628', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gold Price Sets New Record on Sunday, Surges to Rs 120, 800 Per Tola', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 4: The price of gold has once again set a new record in the domestic market of Nepal. The price of gold increased by Rs 1,800 per tola (11.66 grams) on Sunday to reach an all-time high record of Rs 120,800 per tola. The price of gold had surged for three consecutive trading days during last week, breaking previous records on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The price of gold remained unchanged on Thursday but fell by Rs 300 per tola on Friday</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Associations, the price of gold had reached a record high of Rs 117,400 per tola on Monday, Rs 117,700 per tola on Tuesday and Rs 119,300 per tola on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Federation, fine gold was traded at Rs 120,800 per tola on Sunday against to Rs 119,000 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Compared to last Sunday, the price of gold has increased by Rs 3,900 per tola this Sunday. Last Sunday, gold was traded at Rs 116,900 per tola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of silver has also increased on Sunday. Silver was traded at Rs 1,545 per tola on Sunday against Rs 1,540 per tola on Friday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19356', 'image' => '20231204081533_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 08:13:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19627', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NA Aircraft Grounded at Rara Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December 4: A twin otter plane of Nepal Airlines (NA), which was scheduled to fly to Nepalgunj from Mugu on Sunday has been grounded at Rara Airport, Mugu. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The twin otter plane with flight number 9N-ABU had landed at Rara Airport at 11:00 am on Sunday by taking three passengers and crew members from Nepalgunj Airport. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The plane was scheduled to make its flight to Nepalgunj by taking 13 passengers but was grounded following some issues with its battery, Rara Station In-charge of Nepal Airlines Netra Bham said. Engineers from Nepalgunj were immediately brought to Mugu to confirm the status of the plane. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Bham shared that the plane would make its flight to Nepalgunj on Monday after bringing the battery from Nepalgunj. The passengers, who had bought the ticket to Nepalgunj from Mugu, are staying in the hotels at Talcha in Mugu. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-04', 'modified' => '2023-12-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19355', 'image' => '20231204060355_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-04 06:02:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19624', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministry Directs NEA to seek Clearance of Electricity Dues from Local Levels ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Ministry of Finance has directed the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to proceed ahead with the clearance of dues related to electricity tariffs for street lamps from the respective local-levels. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This directive aligns with the ministry's decision on November 8. It wants the NEA to settle the electricity dues from the respective offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dues of 331 local levels for street lamps till mid-July amounted to Rs 6.8 billion and a significant portion of these dues has accrued after the fiscal year 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA had previously proposed to reconcile the unpaid tariff with the government's account. However, the Finance Ministry declined to entertain the proposal and instead instructed NEA to pursue the collection of payments directly from the respective local offices. "We have proceeded with the clearance of dues accordingly," said NEA managing director Kulman Ghising. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA on October 8 issued a public notice seeking the payment of dues for streetlamps within the next 45 days and on November 22 called on local governments for the payment through a public notice. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19352', 'image' => '20231203045418_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19623', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Drops 7.29 Points to Close at 1851.23', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">December 3: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) dropped 7.29 points or 0.39% and continued its downward trend, closing at 1851.23 on the first trading day of the week on Sunday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The market has been on the bearish mode for quite a long time for various reasons. Seasoned investors and stock analysts attribute to the today’s fall to the negative psychology prevalent among the investors. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Veteran investor Prem Oli said, “The stock market may witness sideways for one more year if the Nepal Rastra Bank does not shift its policy on the stock market”. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Oli held the regulators including the NRB for the scary fall of the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">A total of 3,419,073 units of shares exchanged their hands through 36,977 transactions. As many as 293 scrips were traded during today’s trading session, amounting to Rs 96 crores. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited(SONA) had the highest turnover of 6.95 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 295 per unit of share. Similarly, Three star Hydropower Limited(TSHL) experienced the highest gain of 9.63%, closing at Rs 387.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mountain Energy Nepal(MEN) and United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited(UMRH) lost 9.99% and closed at Rs 530 and Rs 273 respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Across sector indices, all sectors except Microfinance Index closed in the red territory. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Mutual Fund lost the highest 1.25%, while Manufacturing and Processing lost the lowest by 0.22%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19351', 'image' => '20231203042346_collage (16).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 16:22:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19622', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Selling Shares Purchased for Rs 143 billion at Throw-Away Price of Rs 6 Raises Suspicion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD 1.38 billion (about NPR 143 billion) in 2016, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD 50 million (about Rs 6.68 billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: Malaysia's telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group, which bought Ncell's shares for USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">about NPR </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion) in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, sold its shares seven years later at a throw-away price of USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">50</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6.68</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion according to Friday’s exchange rate), raising quite a few eyebrows.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It seems that the purchase and sale of Ncell’s share will court controversy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Malaysian company has cited lack of working environment in Nepal for its decision to exit Nepal while the government officials suspect that selling a profitable company at a much lower price than the purchase price may be for ‘tax evasion’.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunication Authority has sent a letter to Axiata telling the company that it did not acquire permission to sell the shares of Ncell. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the news of Axiata's withdrawal from Ncell became public, the authority had written to Ncell on Friday to follow legal procedures to sell its stakes in the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NTA, Rule </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the Telecommunication Regulations </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2054</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> states that a telecommunication service provider company must obtain approval from the authority when transferring share ownership. Axiata has not revealed anything about this issue.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aziata said it has sold </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares to </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK Ltd, a company registered in the UK. Axiata has informed that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">will receive USD </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million (about Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">668.1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million) from the sale of shares in six months and the remaining amount after </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">48</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> months. </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UK has expressed its pleasure to purchase the shares of Ncell. The company director Satishlal Acharya stated that </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK is happy to announce the agreement for the acquisition of Ncell's shares and said that it will work with Ncell's management to use its experience in the telecommunication sector for innovation, investment and to provide services to the Nepalese people. Acharya is a citizen of Nepali origin living in Singapore. Sunivera Capital Ventures already has a </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent stakes in Ncell. Acharya is the director of Sunivera Capital Ventures. With the involvement of </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span>UK,<span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Acharya now owns </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> shares of Ncell.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata bought the ownership of Ncell in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from the Swedish company TeliaSonera. At that time, Ncell was valued at around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">143</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Ncell's license period is expiring in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the agreement between Axiata and </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK, Axiata will receive the dividend received by Ncell until </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ncell's net profit was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5.16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion during the last fiscal year (FY) when the operating income was Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">39.72</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, Ncell has earned more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">44</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion (unaudited report). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Government officials have been critical towards Axiata’s decision to sell a profit-making company at a scrap value.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Axiata states that if the government claims any taxes from Ncell in the future, it will be borne by the buyer </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Spectrlite </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> UK.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A corporate law expert argued that Axiata may have decided to exit due to the double taxation of Ncell and the risk of the company's license expiring by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2029. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claimed that the government imposed taxes repeatedly and complying with the regulation meant the company was subject to double taxation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata said it paid Capital Gains Taxes or Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">47</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for the purchase of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent of Ncell's shares in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2016</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> although the seller was liable to pay the amount</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Axiata claims it fulfilled all its tax obligations to the Government of Nepal as per the law.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, the Large Taxpayers Office has determined an additional tax of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">57</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for Ncell. Not satisfied with this, Ncell has filed a writ in the Supreme Court. The matter is sub judice.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the statement issued by the company that Ncell has contributed greatly to the economic and social development of Nepal. The statement also mentions that Ncell has directly and indirectly provided employment to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">000 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">people and served </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million customers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19350', 'image' => '20231203022354_ncell.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 14:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19621', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Changunarayan to be Made Disaster-Resilient Municipality', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: Local authorities are preparing to make Changunarayan Municipality a disaster resilient municipality. The municipality has formed a quick response team at the ward level and prepared skilled human resources for the purpose. The skilled human resources have been trained to prepare 'one community, one first responder team' to declare the municipality a disaster-resilient municipality, said Mayor Jeevan Khatri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality handed over basic search and rescue materials to each ward on Saturday. Disaster management programs and activities have been prioritized to minimize the loss of life and property caused by any disaster in the municipality. The municipality has also formed one ward, one rapid response team in addition to one community, one first responder team for disaster response. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Administrative Officer of Changunarayan Municipality, Chudamani Panthi informed that the Nexus Project has helped to provide the necessary materials for search and rescue to the municipality. He said that the municipality has also identified the disaster-prone areas and made necessary preparations to mitigate the risks.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19349', 'image' => '20231203015046_5a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19620', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 900,000 Tourists Visit Nepal in 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had announced in the budget statement for the current financial year (FY) </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2080/81</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> that it would bring one million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> With the arrival of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">918</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">308</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">in eleven months of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, it seems that the goal of the government will be achieved. In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2022</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">614</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">148</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists had visited Nepal after the end of Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists is satisfactory this year as more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal in the last two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deepak Raj Joshi, former executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board, says that the government has set a low target of welcoming tourists after improving and developing capacities in air infrastructure, hotel services and other aspects than before. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had set a target to welcome two million tourists in Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2020</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> but the outbreak of the global pandemic dented the efforts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"In </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2019</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, the year before the pandemic, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists visited Nepal. If we had tried a little bit more, we could have brought </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists this year,” Joshi said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has not worked hard to achieve the goals and has not made proper evaluation of the country's capacity and the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of tourists has increased compared to last year as the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and the capacity of Nepal’s airports has increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Joshi, Nepal can attract </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1.2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million tourists in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2024</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> if the current situation prevails</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most tourists visiting Nepal this year were from India. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">24</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">443 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists came from India in November alone followed </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">461 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from America, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">601 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from China and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">138 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19348', 'image' => '20231203122831_1701577425.KK_Beni-DSC_0119_1701502836.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 12:27:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19619', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 240 Million for Temporary Housing in Quake-Hit Districts ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The government has disbursed the first installment of funds for the construction of temporary housing for the Jajarkot earthquake survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) Dhruba Bahadur Khadka shared that almost Rs 240 million was released on Friday for the quake survivors' housing. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The first installment has been released for 18,328 out of 28,527 verified beneficiaries. The beneficiaries receiving the amount include 3,309 in Jajarkot, 214 in Bajura, 14,224 in Rukum West and 577 in Bajhang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NDRRMA Spokesperson Khadka, funds are yet to be disbursed for 1,485 beneficiaries of Salyan and will be disbursed soon. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19347', 'image' => '20231203114838_20231104083356_HKC-Jajarkot-4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:47:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19618', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN to Award Ground Handling Services at TIA based on Competitive Bidding ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to award ground handling services at Tribhuvan International Airport through a competitive bidding process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Any airline company can compete for taking responsibility of ground handling services at the international airport. The bidding process will start from December 3, said CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service at TIA is currently being provided by the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation. With the bidding service in effect, the NAC is likely to lose the responsibility. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN decided to provide ground handling services at the TIA through competitive bidding according to Rule 5 (2) of the Service Tariff Regulations 2078 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ground handling service is one of the major sources of income of the ailing state-owned NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "Any airlines that meet the criteria can take part in the ground handling service bidding process, " said spokesperson Niraula. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19346', 'image' => '20231203111026_20220509064759_A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 11:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19617', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Possibility of Light Snowfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 3: The weather today (Sunday) is generally clear in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces, with partial effect of the Westerly winds in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Saroj Pudasaini of the Weather Forecasting Division, there will be partial rainfall in the hill areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces this afternoon while the weather will remain generally clear in the rest of the provinces. There is a possibility of light snowfall in one or two places in the high hills and mountainous areas of Koshi and Gandaki provinces today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature in Kathmandu today will be 7.5 degrees and the maximum temperature will be between 20 and 22 degrees centigrade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tonight, the weather will be generally clear in the hill areas of Bagmati, Sudur Paschim and Koshi provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Weather Forecasting Division, there is possibility of light rain in one or two places in the hill areas of Gandaki and Karnali Provinces as well as Lumbini Province tonight. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-03', 'modified' => '2023-12-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19345', 'image' => '20231203103531_20190208014800_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-03 10:34:49', '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
