These are some of the best stories from The Kathmandu Post (February 18, 2020).

Oli sees a conspiracy to topple his government but it is unclear what he is referring to

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli leads the strongest government Nepal has seen in the last three decades since the restoration of democracy. He has more than a comfortable majority, just 10 seats short of a two-thirds majority in Parliament. But Oli still seems to see conspiracies against his government.

On Sunday, while speaking in his home district of Jhapa, Oli said that attempts were being made to topple his government.

Read the full story here.

Mahara’s acquittal and Tumbahangphe’s elevation to minister will have lasting effects, analysts say

Monday saw two dramatic political developments. Hours before former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara was acquitted of attempted rape charges, Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, who served as Deputy Speaker during Mahara’s tenure, was appointed minister for law and justice.

Both Mahara and Tumbahangphe have recently made headlines for reasons that were interlinked—not just because they were Speaker and Deputy Speaker but also because Mahara had resigned after allegations of attempted rape while Tumbahangphe had been denied the Speaker’s position due to what she had alleged to be patriarchy in the ruling party.

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No takers for mall spaces, but financiers continue to pour money into shopping complexes

The Chhaya Centre, one of the biggest malls in the country, is located in the tourist heart of Kathmandu—Thamel. But more than a year after opening, it remains largely empty.

The ground floor of the Chhaya Centre, which opened on December 25, 2018, has 82 retail spaces but 53—more than half—are empty. Out of 75 spaces on the first floor, 25 were empty, including two large halls while on the second floor, out of 76 spaces, 38 were bare. The third floor was almost empty with construction work taking place. The mall, spread over 860,00 sq ft, was reportedly built at a cost of Rs5 billion.

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Nepal Army fails to spend budget for the expressway again

The Nepal Army is once again returning around half of the budget released for the Kathmandu-Tarai expressway project. The government had approved Rs 15 billion for the national pride project in the current fiscal year. But the national defence force, which took over the project in 2017, was unable to spend the money.

Briefing the Development Committee of Parliament on Monday, the Army said it wouldn’t be able to spend Rs 7 billion of the budget meant for the country’s first expressway project. Last year, too, the Army had returned Rs 9 billion of the Rs 15 billion released for the project, saying there was no scope for calling international bids for contractors before the fiscal year ended.

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200 monkeys in Thapathali are in trouble. They neither have home nor food

Over 200 monkeys living along the banks of the Bagmati in Kalmochan Ghat, Thapathali, are in trouble. Their habitat has been degraded, and they don’t get enough to eat.

While a project worth over Rs 1 billion “beautifies” the area, some officials say they are not aware of the habitat of monkeys; others want to cage them to stop them from troubling people.

Read the full story here.