5 june, kathmandu- The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has expressed its concern over the threats of physical assault to journalist Birat Anupam by Itahari sub-metropolis mayor Dwarika Lal Chaudhary. The mayor on June 4 allegedly threatened the journalist with physical assault by a telephone call. “I have allocated Rs 10 million to break your nose,” he rudely spoke to the journalist on the telephone, according to a statement issued today by the umbrella organisation of journalists.

Such open intimidation by a person assuming state’s responsible post is an open interference in the principle of free press and freedom of expression and mockery to the rule of law, the FNJ concludes.

The FNJ has drawn the attention of bodies concerned to make the mayor publicly apologise for his move and create a safe atmosphere for journalists for carrying out their duty freely.

Similarly, FNJ Dhankuta chapter member Dil Bahadur (Ashish Rai) who was physically assaulted at his office by an unidentified group in the night of June 4 while on duty is being treated at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. He suffered severe head injury in the attack. The FNJ has sought the identification and arrest of culprit (s) behind the attack at the earliest, guarantee of security of journalists and all arrangements for the treatment of the injured journalist. (RSS)

5 june, kathmandu- President Bidya Devi Bhandari has urged all to work for environment conservation, as climate change has become a challenge for the whole world. President Bhandari also stressed the need of integrated efforts for sustainable environment conservation.

Inaugurating a national workshop on ‘Environment Conservation and climate change’ at Nepalgunj on Wednesday on the occasion of World Environment Day, she urged the government to make necessary strategy to guarantee people’s right to live in a clean environment. “There is inseparable relation between nature and human kind. Hence, the government must come up with effective environment related programmes so as to keep the natural environment intact. It is necessary to launch awareness programme on climate change at the local-level,” the President said.

Saying environment is being destroyed due to impact of climate change, President Bhandari said, “We have common challenge to save forest and nature. We all should be together for its conservation. Time has come for action, not only doing it for mere formality.”

She said however that Nepal has been compelled to bear the consequences even though the country’s contribution to climate change is very low. President Bhandari appealed to all to ensure a beautiful nature for the future generation by protecting and conserving wildlife, plants and forests.

Preserving the environment is a common responsibility of all, the Head of the State said while noting that continuous discussions were needed on the issues related to climate change.

The county has accelerated power development and if power could be used for cooking, the impact of climate change could be lessened, she said. President Bhandari also suggested planting saplings including that of Bar and Peepal as it reduces CO2 emission. The President stressed on making the Chure preservation campaign effective.
Meanwhile, President Bhandari planted a mango sapling in the premises of the District Forest Division office. Present on the occasion were the Minister for Forest, provincial ministers, lawmakers among other officials. (RSS)

5 june, kathmandu- Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has called on one and all to be part of the national campaign ‘One Nepali, One Fruit Sapling, One Tree’ campaign.

In a video message released on the occasion of the World Environment Day today, PM Oli said that the new fiscal year would be observed as the afforestation year.

PM Oli, who had launched ‘One Nepali, One Fruit Sapling’ campaign last year said that ever Nepali should initiate a campaign to plant fruit sapling and a tree at his/her house.

Stating that over 2.3 million fruits saplings were planted over the course across the country, Oli expressed his concern over the erratic climate change and environment pollution.

Every year on June 5, the World Environment Day is celebrated to raise awareness about environmental issues that need immediate attention. The theme for this year is ‘Beat Air Pollution.’
“Air pollution is responsible for over 7 million premature deaths annually across the world,” said the PM said in the video message.

Calling for action from all quarters to reduce the carbon footprint and pollution that is increasing at an alarming rate, PM Oli said that the government had adopted an environment-friendly policy and would employ technology to tackle the environmental concerns.

He said,” The constitution of Nepal has guaranteed as a fundamental rights of every Nepali citizen to be able to live in a healthy environment.”

The Prime Minister further stated that we had no such a negative role in the environment imbalance taking place globally. According to him, the situation has been created which compels us to call on the entire world community to be worried about environment degradation and to take measures for its improvement and protection for the wellbeing of human community. The government is hosting the ‘Sagarmatha Dialogue’ programme this year to initiate meaningful discourse on climate change issue and its negative consequences.

Stating that cleanliness of Mount Everest ( Sagarmatha) and other mountain peaks are going on as regular affairs, he highlighted the need of paying attention to personal behaviour and habits as human activities continued to pose threat to environmental balance. He called on one and all to actively participate in the government campaign aims to mitigate environment pollution. (RSS)

5 june, kathmandu- Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has marked the World Environment Day by planting a sapling of avocado on the premises of Singha Durbar today.

The World Environment Day is being celebrated today across the world with the theme ‘Beat Air Pollution’.
PM Oli also gave continuity to the campaign ‘One Nepali, One Fruit Sapling’ he initiated last year. The campaign urges all the Nepalis to plant a tree of their favorite fruit wherever possible.

The government in its newly released budget for the fiscal year 2019/20 has announced plans and policies to mark the new fiscal year as a year of afforestation.

The government has also adopted a policy to produce at least 30 per cent of the fruits saplings in the government nursery to extend the agriculture forest and to plant fruit saplings in the bare land.
All the government agencies, local units, non-governmental agencies and citizens have been urged to implement this plan and programme of the government.

Last year, as many as 2,316,739 various fruits saplings such as lemon, orange, lychee, banana, guava among others were planted under the ‘One Nepali, One Fruit Sapling’ campaign, according to the Office of the Council of Ministers.
Present on today’s event organized by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers were Deputy-Prime Minister, ministers, Chief-Secretary, secretaries and chief of the security agencies among others. (RSS)

5 june, kathmandu- Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today extended good wishes to all Muslim community on the occasion of Eid Ul Fitre, the holy festival celebrated by the Muslim community. “May this festival bring happiness, peace and prosperity and increase religious harmony and goodwill,” he said in a message or greetings.

“Islam sisters and brothers had a big contribution to every movement including the movement to establish and reestablish democracy in the country. I have a hope that they will become more responsible to safeguard democracy.” (RSS)

5 june, Jakarta- Rescuers have been searching for the 17 crew of a cargo boat which sank in the waters off Central Sulawesi province, Indonesia, head of the search and rescue office in the provincial capital Basrano said on Wednesday.

The capsizal took place on Saturday, but was known on Tuesday after one of the crew was rescued alive by an Indian ship NV Nurbayaksar, the crew member named Yakob informed about the incident, head of the office revealed.
The cargo boat with 18 people onboard, all of them were crew members, went down after leaving a seaport in Bitung town of nearby North Sulawesi province, Basrano said.

The boat was heading to Marowali town in Central Sulawesi province and sank in the waters off the province after being stricken by huge waves during poor weather condition, he said.

“Previously, the boat suffered from an engine failure, consequently, it was difficult for the crews to manage the proper position of the boat when a huge wave struck,” Basrano told Xinhua over the phone from Palu city.
A search and rescue operation was immediately conducted after the office got the information from the rescued crew, he said. “We have dispatched our personnel since Yesterday (Tuesday) in a ship to find out the missing crews,” said Basrano.Enditem (RSS)

5 june, khartoum- Sixty people have been killed in a two-day crackdown on Sudanese protesters carried out by troops and paramilitaries, a doctors’ committee close to the demonstrators said on Wednesday.

A previous toll given by the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors had counted 40 dead since the security forces bloodily dispersed a weeks-long sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum on Monday. (RSS)

5 june, Cairo- Militants killed eight Egyptian paramilitaries on Wednesday at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, centre of a long-running jihadist insurgency, security and medical sources said.

“Eight killed and three wounded were transferred to El-Arish public hospital. All of the victims were Central Security Force personnel,” a medical source told AFP.

A security source said reinforcements had been dispatched to the checkpoint and gun fire was being exchanged.
“The checkpoint is currently surrounded by the army and police,” he said.Egyptian state television said there were fears the death toll could rise as there were reports of attacks on multiple checkpoints.

The attack came at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. No group has claimed responsibility so far for the early morning attack and authorities have not yet commented.
Egypt has for years been battling insurgents in the North Sinai affiliated with the Islamic State group.Hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed in militant attacks which intensified after the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

In February 2018, the army launched a nationwide offensive against the militants focused mainly on the North Sinai.
According to official figures, around 650 militants have been killed since the start of the operation, while the army has lost some 50 soldiers. No independent statistics are available and the region is largely cut off to journalists making verification of casualty figures extremely difficult. (RSS)

5 june, Mexico- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that he will not attend the G20 summit to be held on June 28-29 in the Japanese city of Osaka.

During his daily press conference, Lopez Obrador said he will send a “modest” suggestion to the G20 summit to analyze the issue of inequality in international forums.”But my modest contribution is going to be ‘we have to get together’… so that there is not so much inequality in the world, because that is what causes the deterioration of the environment,” said the president.

“That is what originates migration, that is what causes insecurity and violence. That is the issue that must be addressed, and there should be a promotion of justice in the world, and universal fraternity,” he added.
Lopez Obrador also announced that Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Finance Minister Carlos Urzua will attend the summit.

The summit is expected to focus on economic growth, digital economy, inequality reduction and reforms to the World Trade Organization.Other issues to be addressed are climate change, plastic pollution in the ocean, the challenges of aging societies and terrorism.Enditem (RSS)

5 june, Lamahi- A teenage girl was killed with snakebite at Motipur of Rajpur rural municipality in Dang district on Monday morning. The victim was Pramila Yadav, 17, according to the District Police Office.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Binod Bikram Shah said Yadav was bitten by a snake while taking out a bicycle from shed for going to school. She breathed her last during treatment at Snakebite Treatment Centre, Gorusinge.

She was the Grade 10 student at Shankar Secondary Khadariya of Rajpur rural municipality-3. (RSS)