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RSS, Kathmandu — The inter-country Tarai Arc Conservation Programme has been implemented in Sauraha of Chitwan.
Former Prime Minister and ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ inaugurated the programme this morning.
On the occasion, Chair Dahal called on all to be dedicated to nature conservation, saying he was also committed to it as he is a student of environment conservation. He stressed on the need f the world community to be one in stopping the threat of climate change which is increasing in the world.
The programme is organized by ICIMOD and it will run for two days. Fifty five arc landscape conservation experts from eight countries in the Himalaya region are participating in the programme.
The programme will discuss the progress made in the conservation sector in Nepal and the activities being carried out across the world to that end, ICIMOD stated.

London— The government of Nepal has picked Fitch Ratings, the American rating agency, for the sovereign credit rating of the country. The decision to select Fitch Ratings will pave the way for the global rating agency to assess the creditworthiness of Nepal, a first for the country.

“The ministry chose Fitch Ratings for the sovereign credit rating based on its technical and financial proposal,” said Revenue Secretary Dhungana. “The credit rating agency will provide its report and rating within eight weeks after the signing of an agreement with it if it gets all the necessary documents and information,” he added.

Moody’s Investor Services and Standard and Poor’s were also in the fray.

According to Dhungana, it will take nearly four weeks to carry out the necessary preparations for the ministry to sign the agreement with Fitch Ratings. “It should not take more than 12 weeks to obtain the country’s sovereign credit rating,” he said.

The government has taken the initiative to have the country’s credit worthiness rating from a global rating firm for the first time, amid improvement in the country’s macroeconomic indicators in recent months, my Republica writes.

Economists say that the country’s credit rating will not only provide foreign investors insights into the level of risk associated with investment here, but also help the government access capital from the international market on the basis of the country’s creditworthiness.

Kathmandu — In Nepal, the Samajwadi Party Nepal has quit the K P Oli-led government.

Chairman of Party’s Central Committee and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Law, Upendra Yadav tendered his resignation from the cabinet on Tuesday afternoon.

Minister for Urban Development, Mohamed Istiyak Rai, from the Samajwadi Party has also resigned.The development took place after Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli rejected Mr. Yadav’s proposal to form a committee to study the need of amending the constitution, reports said.

In his resignation, Mr. Yadav said he is resigning on moral ground as the government had backtracked from its two-point agreement with his party. Mr. Upendra Yadav had joined the NCP government in June last year after signing an agreement to work towards amending the constitution so as to address issues related to the citizenship.

At that time, Prime Minister Oli had assured him that constitution would be amended keeping in view of people’s aspirations and the country’s interests.

London — The very popular factual television series of BBC 2 has announced that they are going to cover the tough and adventurous  roads of Nepal.

The Christmas special will see the presenters setting out on one of the toughest road trips ever, as they take a voyage from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu to the Forbidden City of Lo Manthang, a secretive kingdom on the Tibetan plateau, on the far side of the Himalayas.

When is the Top Gear Christmas special on TV?

What to expect

Kathmandu — Police on Monday arrested 122 Chinese nationals who were found to be staying illegally in Kathmandu.

A joint team deployed from Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) and Metropolitan Police Range apprehended them from Gongabu and Thamel areas during a raid on Monday afternoon. The arrested Chinese citizens were found to be overstaying their visas.

“Those detained entered Nepal with Tourist Visa. However, it has come to our notice that they have not been indulging in any activity whatsoever that can remotely be identified as touristic-engagement.”

Police will place the detainees across various police stations in the capital for investigation and will secure a warrant for their arrest on Tuesday.

Earlier this afternoon, police initially said that 72 Chinese nationals were arrested after they were found to have overstayed their visas. However, the number of arrestees increased as more Chinese were found to have been involved in similar activities.

Kathmandu — Crime Division of Metropolitan Police Office, Kathmandu has arrested 72 Chinese citizens from Bansbari, Kathmandu.

“The police raided three houses in Bansbari and arrested 72 Chinese citizens,” Sahakul Thapa, SSP, Crime Division of Metropolitan Police Office, Kathmandu. “The police have also confiscated their laptops, mobile and other electronic devices.”, the Rising Nepal has reported.

The police, jointly decided to raid on the basis of a special information they had received, said Thapa.

The Chinese citizens are suspected to have been involved in financial crime.

They are suspected to have connection with those who were arrested in August in a case of bank hacking, alleged Thapa.

The police have said that the name of those arrested will be made public after completion of their investigation.

London — The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) has approved a USD112.3-million loan to Nepal to increase access and improve the quality and efficiency of electricity supply across the country’s western regions.

The Distribution System Upgrade and Expansion Project is AIIB’s first sovereign-backed financing project in Nepal. This is also the first project approved, of which AIIB’s technical assistance under the Special Fund has supported compressive project preparation from the very early stage, said a statement issued by the Bank.

In 2018, Nepal received a USD1-million grant under AIIB’s Special Fund to assist the government to prepare the electrification program in western Nepal, in terms of feasibility study, technical design, and environmental and social management.

The project covers 13 districts in Provinces 5 and 6 (Karnali Pradesh) and will include the construction of 21 primary substations and over 2,000 kilometers of supply lines. A key component focuses on strengthening the capacity of Nepal’s Electricity Authority to plan, analyze and modernize the network performance of the project.

“AIIB’s investment gives much-needed financing to provide affordable, reliable and modern energy, especially in rural areas where people lack basic infrastructure,” said AIIB Vice President and Chief Investment Officer D.J. Pandian. “This project will help provide more than half a million people with new or improved access to electricity. By investing in Nepal’s energy sector, we hope to encourage further infrastructure investment in the country, which will support Nepal’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and drive economic growth, employment opportunities and poverty alleviation.”

While 78 percent of Nepal’s population have access to grid electricity, there is a large regional disparity. The rural and hilly areas of western Nepal are the least connected, requiring substantial investments in distribution networks.

Similarly, the AIIB’s Board of Directors has approved a USD145-million loan to India to improve irrigation service delivery and strengthen flood risk management in West Bengal. Earlier this month, the AIIB President Jin Liqun had approved a USD65-million 250-megawatt (MW) solar power project in Jodhpur in India, the Bank said.

Hamza Husain

South Asian women in particular are not only vulnerable to domestic violence, but exceptionally vulnerable to underreporting of domestic violence. The problem compounds itself by making it difficult not only to quantify the issue, but also harder to understand its roots.

This  phenomenon studies by analyzing the potential causes for both domestic violence as well as underreporting, through understanding what systemic, legislative, and cultural issues specifically plague South Asian women in the United States.

Stark cultural differences between eastern and western values and culture, acclimation difficulties, and a powerfully hierarchical, patriarchal culture are ultimately the most impactful foundations enabling domestic violence in South Asian women. The safeguards against interpersonal violence in immigrants have conclusively failed, due to lack of knowledge about them and a high difficulty for immigrant women to even utilize them.

The United States needs to increase funding and accessibility in its domestic violence survivor’s programs in order to better assist immigrant women.

Read full article http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/amp/1777/why-are-south-asian-immigrant-women-vulnerable-to-domestic-violence#header16page1