Kathmandu: Government in cooperation with an international body is launching a program towards restoring the health of forests in some districts.

The project named, ‘Catalyzing Ecosystem Restoration for Climate Resilient Natural Capital and Rural Livelihoods in Degraded Forests and Rangelands of Nepal (EbA 2)’ is launched in Achham, Salyan and Dolakha districts. Forest cover in these districts are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The project is a joint work of the Ministry of Forests and Environment and the Global Environment Fund. The four-year project has a fund of approximately Rs 550 million.

The project will contribute towards the conservation of bio-diversity, restoration of ecosystem and support livelihood, among others, according to the Ministry.

Speaking at a workshop of the project here today, Minister for Forests and Environment, Shakti Bahadur Basnet said that the project will create employment at the local level and will contribute to poverty reduction through livelihood supports.

Kathmandu: Budget is earmarked to expedite reconstruction of earth quake damaged heritage sites in the country. The budget released by National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) comes to around total Rs 120 million. The budget is allocated to conduct study on six sites – three within the Kathmandu valley and three outside the valley. Similarly, Rs 300 million is earmarked for the reconstruction of the sites, according to the Central Project Implementation Unit.

The 7.8 magnitude Gorkha Earthquake on April 25, 2015 had damaged several monuments and settlements of historical and archeological significance in and outside the Kathmandu valley. Delays in their reconstruction, retrofitting and renovation were attributed to the lack of budget, artisans and lack of coordination among the concerned bodies.

To carry out study, Rs 2 million has been spared for each heritage settlement, said Project Director, Nawaraj Pyakurel. In the first phase, Rs 50 million will be released to reconstruct or renovate each quake-damaged heritage within the current fiscal year.

Reconstruction of heritage settlements, monuments and other archeological structures in Khokana (Lalitpur), Bungmati (Lalitpur) and Sankhu (Kathmandu) in the valley would be prompted as soon as the budget is released.

Similarly, budget will be released for the reconstruction of the Seven-storey Durbar at Nuwakot, the Gorkha Durbar in Gorkha district and Dolakha Bazar in Dolakha district that houses Bhimeshwor Mandir – all lying outside the valley.

Likewise, research and development works will be conducted in the Pashupati Area, Changunarayam Temple Area, Swayambhunath Area and Bouddha Area upon the allocation of budget. The Durbar Square Areas in all three districts in Kathmandu valley – Kathmandu Lalitpur and Bhaktapur – would be conserved and promoted under this project.

TOKYO: Asian shares went up on Monday as Chinese markets rebounded on hopes of more policy support for the slowing economy, but surprisingly weak US employment data raised doubts about the strength of the global economy and limited gains.

European shares were seen soaring, with spread-betters expecting Britain’s FTSE to rise 0.7 percent, France’s CAC 0.6 percent and Germany’s DAX 0.5 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, paring a quarter of Friday’s 1.6 percent fall, its second biggest decline so far this year.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.5 percent after four consecutive sessions in the red last week. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index gained 1.3 percent after Friday’s 4.0 percent fall, which was triggered after CITIC Securities issued a rare “sell” rating on a major insurer and by a clampdown on gray-market, margin financing.  “Trading volume is surging while foreign investors have been selling late last week,” said Naoki Tashiro, president of TS China Research, adding that suggests buying by retail investors is driving Chinese shares.

(Agencies)

SHANGHAI: China’s aviation regulator has said it had ordered Chinese airlines to suspend their Boeing Co 737 MAX aircraft operations by 6 p.m.

The orders have been given following a deadly crash of one of the planes in Ethiopia on Sunday.

An Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 with 157 people on board, crashed minutes after take-off on Sunday.

This was the second crash of the 737 MAX, the latest version of the Boeing’s workhorse narrow-body jet. (Agencies)

KATHMANDU: Over seven hundred foreign employment agencies across the country are halting their works today to protest the bomb blast at the house of a foreign employment agency operator last Friday.

Netra Bikram Chand led Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has claimed the responsibility of the bomb blast at the house of Rohan Gurung, the chairman of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) last Friday evening. Youth Group Nepal, an organization affiliated with the Chanda led NCP had claimed the responsibility of the incident issuing a press release last Saturday evening.

A powerful bomb blast at the garage of Gurung’s house had left four people injured. Cadres of the Chand’s NCP had demanded money from Gurung as a donation. However, Gurung had refused the demand citing that he was facing financial crisis as Malasiya had stopped hiring workers.

KATHMANDU: Food aimed for high altitude trekkers and mountaineers is introduced in Nepali market. The packaged food under the brand ‘Trekkers Fuel’ comes in three varieties, as revealed at a press conference today.

The food can be used even for over a decade from the date of buying as it is processed using American technology and 99 per cent of the water in the food is removed. The food is packaged at 40 degrees Celsius temperature, according to tourism entrepreneur and promoter of the brand, Ganesh Simkhada.

The manufacturers pan to introduce 20 more varieties of the food including rice and lentil soup in the near future.

Simkhada said that this food can be used not only by the trekkers and mountaineers but also by security personnel, rescuers and general public as it can be carried and prepared easily. He stressed the need of promoting this type of food.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) member Deepak Mahat also recommended the packaged food to the trekkers and mountaineers as it is easy to carry.

The packaged food is ten times lighter in weight, is fortified with protein, does not contain any chemicals and is tasty, especially for high altitude trekkers and climbers, according to its promoters.

OTTAWA- Despite creating job opportunities unemployment rate in Canada remains unchanged. Canada added 56,000 full-time jobs in February. However, the unemployment rate remains at 5.8 percent, the government statistical agency said Friday.

Coming on the heels of a jobs surge at the start of the year, economists had forecast a slight drop in the unemployment rate.

But only Ontario — the most populous region and an economic hub — saw an uptick in jobs in the month, according to Statistics Canada.

The Western prairie province of Manitoba shed 3,300 net jobs, while others saw no real change. “Is the Canadian economy a dead parrot, or like the one in the Monty Python skit, maybe it’s just resting, since today’s jobs data seem to suggest that there’s a lot of life left in it,” CIBC Capital Markets chief economist, Avery Shenfeld mused in a research note.

Following a string of interest rate hikes over the past year from a near record low, and then a pause, Shenfeld said the latest job numbers and other recent economic data could put pressure on the Bank of Canada to resume raising rates — eventually.

“While there’s nothing in this that spells a rate hike any time soon, the market might rethink the idea that the next move is sure to be a cut,” he said.

According to Statistics Canada, more people were employed in professional, scientific and technical services; public administration; natural resources; and agriculture in February. At the same time, there were fewer workers in hotel and food services, as well as transportation and warehousing.

(Agencies)

LONDON: Nearly a third of Britain’s billionaires have either moved or are relocating to tax havens, where some have broken UK law by bankrolling political parties, a major investigation said on Thursday.

The Times newspaper published a series of reports detailing allegations of Britain’s ultra-rich hiding billions of pounds from the UK Treasury in taxes over the past decade.

The report came out days after the government drew public fury for delaying a vote on proposed legislation aimed at ending secret company ownership in offshore territories.

“We must stop tax evasion so that the wealthiest pay their fair share,” Margaret Hodge, a leading lawmaker from the main opposition Labor Party who co-sponsored the tax haven measure, tweeted in response to The Times reports.
“Public registers and more transparency are the next big step for fairer tax.”

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government did not immediately respond to the investigation.

Knights and dames

The Times said that 28 out of the 93 British billionaires it found through public records “have moved to tax havens or are in the process of relocating”.

It said almost half of the 28 have left in the past decade. The Times said those in the process of moving included Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man and a major Brexit supporter. His chemicals firm is valued at £35 billion ($46 billion).

The Sunday Times reported last month that Ratcliffe’s move to Monaco, where it said 10 British billionaires and 408 UK business owners live, could cost the Treasury up to £4 billion.

Asked about his rumored move last October, Ratcliffe told Britain’s Press Association news agency that he was staying in Britain.

The Times said big business owners were trying to avoid paying Britain’s relatively high 38.1 percent income tax on dividends — the cash payments made by corporations to their shareholders.

It is effectively a profit tax, since business owners hold a large portion of their company’s shares.

Tax-evading 

Companies registered in offshore tax shelters such as the Channel Islands or countries like Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates pay little to no tax.

The Times said the exodus was spurred by a hike in income tax rates for top earners to 50 percent in 2010, which was reduced to 45 percent in 2013.

New rules from 2013 making a switch in tax residency easier also contributed, The Times said. But some of its most damning allegations concerned political contributions.

The Times said successive UK governments have failed to properly enact a 2009 law banning large donations from anyone residing abroad for tax purposes.

It said tax-evading business owners and their companies have made political contributions worth £5.5 million over the past decade.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives accepted £1 million from these entities in the months leading up to the 2017 snap general election, The Times said.

It added that several of these billionaires have also received honorary titles such as baron, knight and dame.

(Agencies)

LONDON: In just three years of establishing her company, Kylie Jenner has been named as the youngest self-made billionaire of all-time. The 21-year-old Jener has made it onto the annual Forbes list of billionaires.
She has a net worth of $1bn (£759m).  The company did an estimated $360m (£273m) in sales, according to Forbes.  Jenner debuted her brand Kylie Cosmetics online in 2015 with $29 (£22) lip kits containing lipstick and lip liner. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was 23 when he made onto the billionaire’s list.

BRUSSELS: The European Union said it will start screening foreign direct investment (FDI) into the 28-nation bloc from April.

The decision has been taken as a move to ‘safeguard Europe’s security, public order, and strategic interests’, according to the European Commission.

European ministers on Tuesday approved the process, which was first proposed by the Commission two years back in 2017, agency reports said.

The screening is aimed at giving EU countries a tool to intervene in cases of FDI in strategic assets, according to reports. (Agencies)