AP, The world’s largest democracy went under the world’s biggest lockdown Wednesday, with India’s 1.3 billion people ordered to stay home in a bid to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading and overwhelming its fragile health care system as it has done elsewhere.
The unprecedented move came as infections surged in Europe, New York scrambled to set up thousands of new hospital beds, and organizers delayed this summer’s Tokyo Olympics until next year. Financial markets continued their wild swings, with Wall Street posting its best day since 1933 as U.S. Congress and the White House neared a nearly $2 trillion aid deal. In India, everything but essential services like supermarkets were shuttered.
Normally bustling railway stations in New Delhi were deserted and streets that just hours before were jumbled with honking cars were eerily silent with just a trickle of pedestrians. “Delhi looks like a ghost town,” said Nishank Gupta, a lawyer. “I have never seen the city so quiet before.” India has about 450 cases of the virus, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that if he didn’t take action now it could set the country back decades. More than 422,000 people worldwide have been infected and nearly 19,000 have died, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University. A flicker of hope that Italy, which has seen the most deaths in the world, might be turning the corner faded Tuesday after officials reported an increase in both new cases and fatalities. Spain had so many bodies it commandeered an ice rink to store them. There are signs, however, that drastic measures to keep people away from one another can push back the spread of the illness. In China, the province where the outbreak was first spotted late last year started lifting its lockdown. Some train stations and bus services reopened in Hubei on Wednesday and people who passed health check would finally be allowed to travel for the first time since January. A similar easing in the hard-hit epicenter of Wuhan is planned for April 8, though buses and subways could start sooner. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. It is the latter cases — often requiring ventilators and specialized care — that threaten to overwhelm hospitals, which in several countries are already running short of critical equipment needed to treat patients and keep doctors and nurses safe. In New York, the number of cases is doubling every three days, threatening to swamp the city’s intensive care units in the weeks ahead, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The state has recorded more than 200 deaths, or one-third of the U.S. total. “One of the forecasters said to me: ‘We were looking at a freight train coming across the country,'” the governor said. “We’re now looking at a bullet train.” Cuomo proposed the country send thousands of ventilators to New York City — the metropolitan area needs 30,000 of them, he said — and demanded that President Donald Trump use wartime authority to force manufacturers to produce them. Trump has invoked the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to deter hoarding but has been reluctant to use it to force companies to produce medical supplies. Vice President Mike Pence said on Fox News that 2,000 ventilators have been shipped to New York and 2,000 more will be sent Wednesday. In Washington, top congressional and White House officials said they expected to reach a deal soon on a package to shore up businesses and send relief checks to ordinary Americans of $1,200 per person or $3,000 for a family of four. Stocks rallied around the world on the news. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 2,100 points, or 11.4%,. With Americans’ lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance, Trump said he hoped to reopen the country in less than three weeks. “I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” he said during a Fox News virtual town hall. With infections in the U.S. exceeding 50,000, including more than 690 deaths, public health experts have warned that failing to maintain social distancing would balloon infections to the point the health care system would be overwhelmed and many more people would die. Spain, meanwhile, registered a record one-day increase of nearly 6,600 new infections and a leap of more than 500 deaths, to almost 2,700. The country started storing bodies in an ice rink converted to a morgue until they could be buried or cremated. Also, army troops disinfecting nursing homes discovered elderly people living amid the corpses of suspected coronavirus victims. Prosecutors opened an investigation.
In Italy, a jump in the number of new deaths and cases dashed hopes fed by two days of declines. The 743 deaths reported Tuesday pushed Italy’s toll past 6,800, by far the highest of any country. “Woe to whoever lets down the guard,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said. World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said cases around the world are expected to increase “considerably.” With no end to the crisis in sight, the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday postponed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics until the summer of 2021 at the latest, acting on the recommendation of Japan’s prime minister. In New Zealand, the government declared a state of emergency as it prepared to go into an unprecedented lockdown late Wednesday for about a month. “I have one simple message for New Zealanders today as we head into the next four weeks: Stay at home,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “It will break the chain of transmission and it will save lives.” In Brazil, which has seen about 2,200 cases, President Jair Bolsonaro was taking a different approach, sticking with his contention that virus concerns were overblown. “The virus arrived, we are confronting it, and it will pass shortly,” he said in a nationwide address Tuesday. “Our lives have to continue, jobs should be maintained.” He said certain Brazilian states should abandon their “scorched earth” policy of prohibiting public transport, closing business and schools, and urging people to stay home.
January 26, 2020 – BernHack, the first-ever MLH member hackathon in Nepal was organized successfully by the students of Kathmandu Bernhardt College. BernHack 2020 is the first edition of BernHack at Kathmandu Bernhardt College. Students from all across the country came to participate in the event. There were more than 60+ teams registered out of which 34 teams were selected for competing for the prizes.
Joe Nash from UK who is the APAC consultant for MLH also attended as a representative from MLH along with MLH coaches from India; Yashovardhan Agrawal, Harshil Agrawal, Sashrika Kaur.
The teams stayed in Kathmandu BernHardt College for the hackathon from Friday morning to Saturday evening. After all the teams finalized their projects, judging was done by the science/expo method where judges visited each table where the teams showed their demos. After the expo, 6 teams were selected as Top 6 finalists. The top 6 teams then presented the ideas in front of the crowd and the winners were selected by the judges.
Mentors having expertise in different domains were available all the time to guide the teams in developing their ideas. ” After all the insights and feedbacks we can now say” BernHack may not be the biggest hackathon in Nepal but it is surely the best”, Lead Organizer Manish Bhattarai said.
He further added, ” We are so proud that we were able to bring the first-ever MLH member hackathon in Nepal”. Verifying the statement by Manish Bhattarai, Joe Nash, the MLH representative added: ” These guys have organized this hackathon as same as hackathons in North America”.
All the participants were very happy and satisfied with the event hoping for the second edition next year.
SalleriKhabar had been an Online Media Partner of BernHack-2020.
Surpassing around 79 registered teams in Hult Prize at IOE, Pulchowk Campus, Team Aihiki of Advanced College of Engineering and Management became the winners of the fourth edition of the Hult Prize held at Tribhuvan University. The three-member team won the competition on the final event for the “On-Campus Event” organized on the 14th of December, 2019 at the auditorium of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology.
In the format of 6 minutes of pitching and 4minutes of Q/A, the event was generously evaluated by a four-member jury including Mr. Binod Prasad Shrestha, Mr. Bishnu Puri, Mr. Raybot Man Baniya and Ms. Sajal Pradhan. The whole Hult Prize event was funded by Gold sponsor- Rastriya Banijya Bank, Magenta Sponsor- Silver Lining Pvt. Ltd., Collins GRE and Free Student’s Union 2073, Pulchowk Campus.
Hult Prize has been the world’s most significant student competition, whereby students tackle the Hult Prize Challenge announced by Hult Prize Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations and former US president Bill Clinton. “Building Startups That Have A Positive Impact On Our Planet With Every Dollar Earned” was the theme of this year marking the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and 50th Earth day.
“We believe it is high time we take staunch actions against climate change to protect mother nature. Hence, committing in our mission of making this movement known to all we organized information sessions in different colleges under different technical institutes of Tribhuvan University, namely IOE, IOF and IOAA throughout November. This was promptly followed by mentorship sessions to top 10 teams by experts from different sectors and ended on the final pitch in front of distinguished judges.” says Ashlesh Pandey, Outreach and Promotion Lead cum participant at Hult Prize 2020 at IOE, Pulchowk Campus.
Alpha Sharma, Junu Kala Shrestha and Dipika Rai of Team Aihiki, the winners of the Hult Prize at IOE will get a chance to pitch their Business plan in Regional Rounds happening around 20+ locations around the world. Similarly, other winners that follow are Team Mossaholic and Team Innovate X from Pulchowk Campus who stood second and third respectively.
“We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go. We are not inheriting the Earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our children. It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and to tend the world in which we all live. We are pitching to save Earth and create meaningful impact.”, added Sujen Shrestha, Campus Director at Hult Prize 2020 at IOE. The Hult Prize 2020 journey will officially end with a tree plantation program next week.
“World day of Remembrance” is the day to remember the millions of people who have been the victim of road accident, their family and all others affected.WDR was first celebrated in 1993 A.D in United Kingdom. On 26 October 2005, the United Nation adopted a resolution which calls for government to mark the third Sunday of November each year as World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Annually, there are about 1.35 million road traffic deaths (Global Road Safety Report, 2018) and no. of injured victim counts to 30 to 40 millions. Nepal has 7.6 death tolls per day in road accidents (2075/76) (Source: Traffic Police, 2019) while the data from WHO tells twice the death tolls in road accidents than reported by Nepal Traffic Police.
The loss from these road accidents is considered huge for the affected families, society and even the whole nation. There is no a perfect solution for these road accidents and effort is what that can be applied. The efforts, small or big, should be made so as the road safety and proper road user behavior can be established and well managed.
This special Remembrance Day is therefore intended to respond to the great need of road crash victims for public recognition of their loss and suffering. It is also a Day on which we thank the traffic police, emergency services and other helping hands and reflect on the tremendous burden and cost of this daily continuing disaster to families, communities and countries, and on ways to halt it. World Day of Remembrance is held on the 3rd Sunday of November with the objective to create awareness about the road safety among the general public.
Safe and Sustainable Travel Nepal (SSTN) has been organizing different programs in remembrance of all the road victims every year. SSTN had held the” World Day of Remembrance” program in all 7 provinces of Nepal last year. Even this year, on the very day we are scheduled to organize the various programs at different places of Nepal so that it would be much more effective than that of previous years. This year the day for WDR is 17th November 2019 (Mangsir 1st, 2076).
Safe & Sustainable Travel Nepal (SSTN) is a non-profit organization working on the sustainability of the developing transportation sector of Nepal along with enhancing the sustainability & safety of current mobility services. SSTN has been actively participating in many events for safer & sustainable travel of people from its establishment year 2016 through a team led by transportation engineers, professionals and social workers. The organization aims to improve transportation system through research, capacity building and awareness on the respective fields.
SSTN has been actively involved on enhancing road safety throughout Nepal. The organization has already conducted road safety awareness program at more than 55 different academic sectors covering all seven province and around 18 districts, 9 road safety awareness workshops, 5 talk-programs, along with that SSTN supported 3 national level & metropolitan events which was related to prosperous transportation sector.The organization successfully conducted first National Road Safety Conference organized by Nepal Engineers’ Association, as well as completed a 35 days Road Safety Awareness Campaign for the Department of Roads, Narayangarh-Muglin Road Project which was supported by the World Bank and Traffic Police.
The program will be organized in association of Nepal Engineers’ Association and Society of Transportation Engineer Nepal (SoTEN) not only in Capital valley, but also at various places within all seven provinces:
The program will have the following component based on community participation
Awareness Rally
Road Safety Awareness Class to school level students
Candle lightening
Road safety related discussion
Road Safety Quiz
Road Safety Picture Exhibition
Support to Road Safety Victims
Mayors, Traffic Police Representatives, Nepal Engineer’s Association, Representatives from Civil Societies, Representative from other government organization are expected to join the program and commit for better road safety in their location and nation as a whole.
Contact Person:
Hemant Tiwari
Chairman
Safe and Sustainable Travel Nepal (SSTN)
Email: [email protected]
Organization Email: [email protected]
Contact Number: 9841512244
22 july, washingtona- head of his meeting with Donald Trump, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday asserted that there is no military solution to Afghanistan and said that he will put the same thought in front of the US President.
“I was called Taliban Khan. But Allah is Al-Haq.The whole world says what I used to say years ago; there is no military solution to Afghanistan. I will put forth the same case in front of Donald Trump tomorrow!,” said Khan,
while addressing the largest mass gathering to Pakistan diaspora here. Imran Khan received the title of ‘Taliban Khan’ because of his relentless defence of the Taliban. Khan is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House tomorrow.
He will be accompanied by Pakistan Army chief and Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Afghanistan is marred by insurgency for two decades. In a bid to attain peace in the war-ravaged nation, US-led Afghanistan ‘peace process’ was initiated.
Pakistan has been the latest nation to be inducted into Afghanistan ‘peace process’ The Gulf News reported that 30,000 Pakistanis in the US gathered to welcome Khan in Capital One Arena stadium, which has a capacity of 20,000 people.
It was Imran Khan’s first mass address to the US Pakistani community. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan desires peace and stability in the region and claimed that Pakistan has been able to curb the menace of terrorism.
“Pakistan has successfully curbed the menace of terrorism and held peaceful elections in erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA). This is the beginning of development and prosperity,” Qureshi said. “Pakistan will continue to support the Afghan peace process for regional stability.” Imran Khan also praised China for its merit-based system.”You go anywhere in the world, see China’s communist party and you see how they reward merit and let the best of the best come up.
The beauty of democracy is merit,” he said. khan meets World Bank president Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is on a three-day visit to the US, on Sunday held talks with World Bank President David Malpas.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Adviser to PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to PM on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh were also present during the meeting. Earlier, David Lipton, Acting Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund called on Khan at Pakistan’s embassy in Washington DC.
The Pakistani leader, accompanied by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Faiz Hameed, had arrived in Washington on Saturday. (RSS)
22 july, PHNOM PENH– Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Monday denied a Wall Street Journal’s report that the country signed a secret agreement with China to allow Chinese armed forces to use its Ream naval base in southwestern Preah Sihanouk province, terming it as “fake news.” “This is the worst fabricated news against Cambodia.
There is no such a story because the presence of any foreign military base is contrary to Cambodia’s Constitution,” Hun Sen said in an exclusive interview with Fresh News service provider.
“Why does Cambodia need the presence of Chinese military on its territory?” he asked. “We have never even discussed this with Chinese leaders, not to mention about the signing of the agreement.”
“(They) should stop using ‘fake news’ on the presence of Chinese armed forces in Cambodia’s territory to campaign against us,” the Cambodian prime minister said, according to Fresh News. Hun Sen’s denial came a day after the Wall Street Journal cited anonymous U.S. and allied officials as saying that China has signed a secret agreement allowing its armed forces to use Cambodia’s Ream naval base. (RSS)
17 july, Biratnagar- The Morang-based Hariyalai Community Forest User Group has won the ‘Ganeshman Singh National (First) Award’ carrying a purse of Rs 100 thousand.
The forest based in Sanischare municipality-3 was adjudged the best among 22,000 community forests across the country, according to Division Forest Office Biratnagar Chief Bishal Ghimire.
Similarly, towards the private forest, Nil Bahadur Chauhan known as ‘Salbaje’ of Govindapur Tukiyakhadi, Sunwarsi municipality-6 has bagged the second prize of national level. The prize carries a purse of Rs 75,000 and a certificate.
He has been engaged in the cultivation of Sal (Sohrea robusta) tress of several verities since 23 years.
Similarly, Mangalbare Sub Division Forest Office, Morang employee Tanka Bahadur BK has received the Ganesh Bahadur Shahi National Conservation Second Prize, carrying a purse of Rs 75,000 and a certificate.
The winners received the awards amidst a programme organised here by the Department of Forest and Soil Conservation, said Division Forest Office, Morang information officer Ram Lakhan Thakur.
The Hariyayali Community Forest User’s chair Kabul Magar said the forest covers an area of 245.94 hectares of land and it was handed to the community in 2071 BS. The number of community forests in the district in 135. (RSS)
17 july, chitwan- It has come to a revelation that the drinking water being supplied from the district-based projects was contaminated.
In course of monitoring carried out in the fiscal years 2074/75 and 2075/76 BS, the Health Office Chitwan has found the drinking water being distributed from projects as impure and contaminated.
The office shared this information at an interaction among stakeholders of ‘My Year 2076 Health Promotion Campaign’ and drinking water quality disclosure programme on Tuesday.
On the occasion, Public Health Officer Anup Adhikari said as many as 57 percent users are consuming contaminated water in the district.
The monitoring found that only nine out of 21 schemes implemented under the Safe Drinking Water Project are providing pure drinking water, Adhikari informed.
During the monitoring, drinking water being supplied by other 12 schemes was found with E. Coli bacteria, he shared. The water being consumed here now is detected with bacteria found in human excreta, he added.
The bacteria may cause outbreak of transferable diseases, it was shared at the programme.
In course of the monitoring, water samples collected from two projects being operated in Ichhakamana rural municipality and other projects of east and west Chitwan were tested in lab.
The office has been measuring the quality of drinking water for the past three years. The physical status, chemical use and water quality were assessed during the monitoring. On the occasion, the office also urges the district denizens to remain alert on the supply of contaminated drinking water. (RSS)
15 july, Moscow- Six people were killed in a bus accident in Russia’s autonomous republic of Bashkortostan, local authorities said on Sunday.
At least 13 people, including children, were also injured when the bus carrying 39 passengers went off the road and overturned into a ditch on Sunday, according to the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s regional head office. The injured “are being transferred to the nearest hospital,” the office said. (RSS)
15 july, Islamabad- At least 22 people were killed and scores others went missing in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir after cloudburst caused flash flooding, officials said on Monday.
The cloudburst caused large-scale devastation as over 150 houses and two mosques were affected in the overnight flooding in the tourist resort of Neelum Valley, Saeed ur Rehman, director operations of the state disaster management authority, said.
The killed people included two security personnel, nine locals and 11 others who were visiting the area for preaching in the mosques, washed away by the flash floods.
Several people are still stranded in their houses and efforts are underway to evacuate them. Meanwhile, the authorities have set up make-shift camps to adjust the displaced people.
Cloudburst is a rare phenomenon in which a large amount of water pours down on the ground due to the burst of clouds. Normally rainfall over 100 mm per hour is considered as a cloudburst. (RSS)