Chinese President Xi Jinping will be arriving in Kathmandu on Saturday, officials from both Nepal and China confirmed on Wednesday. It will be the first visit by a Chinese president in 23 years, since Jiang Zemin landed in Kathmandu in 1996.

Xi, president of the People’s Republic of China, will be paying a two-day state visit to Nepal—on October 12 and 13—at the invitation of President Bidya Devi Bhandari, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. About an hour later, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi quoted Xinhua news agency, confirming Xi’s visit to Nepal.

Though preparations for Xi’s visit have been going in full swing in Kathmandu for about a week now, official confirmation came only three days ahead of the visit, just as the Chinese president’s visit to India was confirmed.

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Work stress, loneliness and culture shock are leading Nepalis to commit suicide in South Korea

The Seoul Shinmun, South Korea’s oldest daily newspaper, in a special report—’The 2019 Migrant Report: Betrayed Korean Dreams’—covering the plight of migrant workers recently reported that Nepali workers are committing suicide after failing to achieve their ‘Korean Dreams.’

The newspaper reported that over 30 percent of deaths of Nepali workers are due to suicide, but “the South Korean government does not have a clue why so many migrant workers make such an extreme choice.”

For thousands of Nepalis, South Korea may be a lucrative labour destination, but there are also many pitfalls—such as harsh working conditions, culture shock, loneliness and depression—that could take a severe mental and emotional toll on them.

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Nepal is the worst performer in economic competitiveness in South Asia, report says

Despite recording three successive years of high economic growth, macro-economic stability and average annual Gross Domestic Product growth of 4 percent in the past decade, Nepal ranks 108th out of 141 economies and is the worst performer in South Asian region in terms of competitiveness, the latest report by the World Economic Forum shows.

The yearly assessment report, Global Competitive Report 2019 published on Wednesday measures national competitiveness based on the state of institutions, policies and factors that determine an economy’s productivity.

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Health Ministry to run a nation-wide measles-rubella campaign next year

The Ministry of Health and Population has decided to run a nationwide vaccination campaign against measles and rubella virus for two months.

The first phase of the campaign will start on February 13, 2020, and will continue until March 13 in provinces 1, 2 and 5. The second phase will be conducted from March 14 to April 14 in provinces 3, 4, 6 and 7.

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Nepal suffer 5-0 drubbing down under, defensive tactic failed to pay off

The outcome of the match between Nepal and hosts Australia was there for everyone to take from the moment the draw was fixed. Considering the gulf between the team who aspire to make it to the FIFA World Cup Finals and the ones who struggle even in the South Asian region, it was always a matter of damage control for Nepal.

As it turned out, Nepal lost their joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers Group ‘B’ match 5-0 against the home team at the GIO Stadium here on Thursday. It was the second defeat for Nepal in three second-round qualifying matches having suffered a demoralising 7-0 defeat against Kuwait and a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Taiwan.

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