These are some of the best stories from The Kathmandu Post (February 20, 2020). Nepalis evacuated from Hubei, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, at the quarentine facility in Kharipati, Bhaktapur. Elite Joshi/TKP
Some of the main stories from today's The Kathmandu Post.
Journalists and diplomats seriously concerned over Chinese embassy statement
Nepal’s media fraternity and proponents of a free press and freedom of expression have taken serious exception to a statement by the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu regarding an article published in The Kathmandu Post.
In its statement issued on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy not only objected to the article and the accompanying illustration published on the Post on February 18, but also identified the Post’s Editor-in-Chief by name, employed disparaging language, and went so far as to make a veiled threat of “further action.”
Majority of human rights violations in past year involved women, report says
Women continue to suffer disproportionately from human rights violations in Nepal, according to an annual report released by the Informal Sector Service Centre, a human rights organisation.
Nepal Human Rights Year Report 2020 shows that around 80 percent of victims of human rights violations last year by both state and non-state actors were women. Cases of rights violations also jumped 23 percent in just a year, from 5,11o in 2018 to 6,642.
The western Tarai is urbanising rapidly and all at the expense of agricultural land
Ghanshyam Pandey recalls growing up in a Tulsipur that was markedly different from what it has now become. In the 70s, the town in western Nepal was a fraction of the size it is now. It was quiet, peaceful and surrounded by farmland.
“Except for the core area, the entire city was surrounded by agricultural land,” recalled Pandey, who is Tulsipur’s mayor.
Decades since then, the population in Tulsipur, now a sub-metropolitan city, exploded, leading to a corresponding increase in the city area and its buildings. In the 90s, the restoration of multiparty democracy turned the city into a business hub and the decade-long armed conflict saw a massive migration of people from the hill districts down to the city, according to Pandey.
All 175 Nepalis rescued from China test negative for coronavirus
All 175 Nepalis evacuated from Hubei Province of China have tested negative for coronavirus, the Ministry of Health Affairs said on Wednesday.
They were brought to Kathmandu on early Sunday morning and taken to the Nepal Electricity Authority training centre in Kharipati, Bhaktapur, where they are being quarantined.
Lab technicians from the National Public Health Laboratory had collected their specimens—nasal and throat swabs—for test on Sunday itself.
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