ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Wednesday, January 29
These are some of the stories from The Kathmandu Post (January 29, 2020). A thermal scanner has been installed at the Tribhuvan International Airport after the health authorities confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country Kiran Panday/TKP
Thes are some of the stories from The Kathmandu Post (January 29, 2020).
Oli and Deuba both want MCC ratified but Sapkota stands in their way
While Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and leader of the opposition Sher Bahadur Deuba appear to be on the same page regarding endorsement of the United States’ Millenium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact, newly elected Speaker Agni Sapkota could be a fly in the ointment.
Sapkota was elected on the basis of a broader understanding between the ruling Nepal Communist Party and the opposition Nepali Congress but if Sapkota’s words are anything to go by, the MCC Nepal Compact could face the same lethargy it did during Krishna Bahadur Mahara’s tenure as Speaker.
Supreme Court refrains from squashing Sapkota’s election as Speaker
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to issue an interim order on a writ against Agni Sapkota, but recognised that questions raised over the appointment of a person facing a murder charge to the legislature’s highest post were justified.
Sapkota faces charges of the abduction and murder of Arjun Lama in 2005 and a case, filed on March 3, 2008, is pending at the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court.
As other airports institute stringent screening, TIA installs thermal scanners and a health desk
Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport has activated an ‘airport emergency plan’ as part of its preparations to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, even as airlines cancel flights and adopt increasingly stringent screening measures.
Airports and airlines in many countries are taking drastic steps to protect staff and passengers amid heightened concerns over the outbreak of a new virus originating from the Chinese city of Wuhan. Many airports have instituted mandatory health screenings of passengers from China while Chinese airlines are checking the temperature of every passenger before flying in and out.
Security printing press proposals from Germany and France were immature and incomplete, House committee concludes
The Parliamentary Accounts Committee has concluded that the proposals forwarded to set up a security printing press by German and French firms are immature and incomplete.
The committee is planning to instruct the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to either go for a fresh global bidding process or revisit the proposals before holding final negotiations with the two firms.
Country witnessed higher than normal rainfall this winter season
Amid growing scientific evidence of climate change altering rainfall patterns, the country has been experiencing a very active rainfall this winter season, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.
The department has said that all the weather stations, which regularly keep track of rainfall, have recorded higher than normal rainfall this winter.
9.89°C Kathmandu
