Here are some of the stories from The Kathmandu Post (January 19, 2020)

Airport CCTV footage leak raises more queries than provides answers

Two days after a singer posted a video complaining about an airport security personnel's “misbehaviour”, CCTV footage of the said incident appeared on a number of online portals and then was swiftly shared on social media. In the footage, a female police officer is seen asking singer Astha Raut to take off her jacket and put it through the X-ray machine. The singer follows the order but looks animated. In the footage without sound, some verbal exchange between the policewoman and singer is apparent.

As soon as Raut posted her video, the internet was flooded with opinions. Until the footage came into the public domain, the singer had managed to garner some sympathisers. But the footage turned the tide, as many were quick to point out that the police officer on duty was just doing her job.

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Durbar High School has new building, more rooms and better facilities, but it lacks concrete plan

The historic Durbar High School, which was ravaged by the 2015 earthquakes, is back in shape. The new four-storey building, which looks sturdy and chic, has a total of 46 rooms. Reconstructed by Shanghai Construction Group, a Chinese company, at a cost of Rs850 million, the school building will be handed over to the Nepal government by the Chinese government next month.

The new building has the capacity to accommodate around 1,000 students. It has a computer and science labs, an auditorium hall and a canteen apart from other facilities. But what it does not have is plans. The authorities concerned have yet to put a concrete plan in place on how the school will be run.

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Conflict victims condemn parties for bulldozing decision on transitional justice appointments

The ruling and opposition parties on Saturday did exactly what conflict victims, human rights defenders and the international community had been warning against.

The top leadership of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the Nepali Congress on Saturday morning reached an agreement on appointing officials to the two transitional justice commissions. A recommendation committee formed to choose officials swiftly announced 10 names—two chairs and four members each.

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Tribhuvan University introduces labour studies programme

The Tribhuvan University has introduced Labour Studies at the masters level, the first such course in the country.

The programme has been introduced as a discipline under the University’s Faculty of Social Science and Humanities. The Office of the Dean, on Saturday, opened admissions for the first batch of the programme.

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Kiran Manandhar: Artists are the heart of a country

Kiran Manandhar and I keep missing each other. We’d planned to meet at Jimbu Thakali in Tangal but a series of misunderstandings have meant that Manandhar has visited at least two other thakali places before finally arriving at Jimbu.

Underneath his jacket, he’s clad in his trademark daura-suruwal and he is raring to take a fork to Jimbu’s famed food. We sit down, order ourselves thakali sets—chicken for him, veg for me—and begin our conversation.

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