ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Monday, November 4
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (November 4, 2019). In this 2018 file photo, President Bidya Devi Bhandari administers the oath of office and secrecy to the chiefs of seven provinces at Sheetal Niwas in Kathmandu. Courtesy: President's Office
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (November 4, 2019).
President, acting on Cabinet decision, removes governors of all seven provinces
In an unexpected decision, the KP Sharma Oli administration on Sunday relieved the governors of all seven provinces of their duties. A Cabinet meeting held earlier in the day took the decision to remove the governors, all seven of whom had been appointed by the Sher Bahadur Deuba administration in January 2018.
The appointment of the governors, which is primarily a ceremonial role, had become a highly contested issue last year. The then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre), which together swept the 2017 elections, had argued that appointments were the prerogative of the incoming government. The Oli government took the reins from the Congress’ Deuba in February, a month after the governors were appointed.
High-profile individuals, when arrested, tend to suddenly need hospitalisation
Four days after his arrest on October 6, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the former Speaker of the House who is currently facing charges of attempted rape, was moved to Norvic Hospital after he complained of health problems. Mahara is not an anomaly. Whenever high-profile people are accused of crimes and taken into custody for investigation, they immediately come down with an ailment and are admitted to hospital, excusing them from spending nights in jail.
Often, the lawyers defending the accused, along with the hospital and their doctors involved in “treating” them, employ legal loopholes to exempt the accused from spending time in police custody.
Market prices in Humla plunge with trucks moving cargo
Prices of essential goods in Humla have plunged by 40 percent as trucks replace mule caravans and expensive air freight.
The remote Himalayan district of Humla in Nepal's northwestern corner is yet to be connected to the national road network, so cargo is being brought in by truck from China through the border town of Hilsa. Most of the imported items are food and construction materials.
Nepal says it is ready to implement transit deal but China has yet to respond
The recent state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to be one more indication of Nepal’s attempt at breaking free of the constraints of geography and to look beyond the south to the neighbour to the north. One crucial agreement with China could help Nepal go a step closer to that goal, but two-and-a-half-years since its signing, the Agreement on Transit and Transportation with China has yet to come into effect.
This is largely due to the fact that the Protocol to the Agreement on Transit and Transportation—signed between the two countries in April—has not been duly satisfied by both parties.
9.89°C Kathmandu
