ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Wednesday, September 11

Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (September 11, 2019). ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Wednesday, September 11

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kathmandu on Tuesday. Kiran Panday/TKP

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Post Report

Published at : September 11, 2019

Updated at : September 11, 2019 17:28

Kathmandu

Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (September 11, 2019).

Nepal disapproves of Washington's Indo-Pacific Strategy, Beijing says

Hours after Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up his three-day Nepal visit, a series of statements released by Beijing said Kathmandu disapproves of the Indo-Pacific strategy, potentially creating a new diplomatic debacle for the ruling Nepal Communist Party.

In five separate statements released by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, the Chinese government said Nepal has termed the ongoing agitation in Hong Kong as China’s internal affairs and all five key Nepali leaders—President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and NCP Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal—assured Wang that Nepal strictly adheres to one-China policy and will not allow external forces to promote anti-China activities in the country.

Despite reservations, parties have their way on transitional justice appointments

Over five months after its formation, the recommendation committee formed to select officials for the two transitional justice commissions is announcing the final list by the end of this week. The recommendation committee led by Om Prakash Mishra is preparing to finalise the names—as agreed by the major political parties—on Thursday and publish the list on Friday.

If the current agreement among the parties doesn’t change, the previous team led by Lokendra Mallick will be reappointed ot the Commission of the Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons. Similarly, two members—Sri Krishna Subedi and Madhabi Bhatta—who were in the previous team of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are also going to be reappointed.

Dengue outbreak exposes the country’s fragile health care system

A dengue outbreak which has reached epidemic levels, claiming six lives and leaving more than 8,000 people hospitalised, has exposed how fragile Nepal’s healthcare system is and how ill-equipped the country is when it comes to dealing with any kind of health emergency.

The Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku on Tuesday was chock-o-block with people jostling to see doctors for dengue infection.

As doctors scrambled to attend to an unprecedented number of patients, many were forced to wait—on the hospital premises, corridors and outside. Two to three patients were forced to adjust in one bed. A full out-patient department meant doctors had to provide care from the garage. Lab technicians walked out from their cabins to distribute reports to avoid overcrowding. Ticket counters and the pharmacy saw serpentine queues.

Central bank asks banks to update their cybersecurity infrastructure

Nepal Rastra Bank on Tuesday asked banks and financial institutions to implement precautionary measures to minimise the possible threat on their cybersecurity infrastructure after the recent ATM hacking exposed significant security vulnerabilities in the banking system.

Nearly two weeks ago, the police arrested four Chinese citizens who were involved in stealing cash from ATMs by using cloned debit cards to breach processing systems. The incidents exposed significant security vulnerabilities in the Nepali banking system, including a failure to conduct periodic security audits, comply with the latest technology and invest adequately in digital security.