- Saturday, 28 March 2026
TRN Online
Weakening poll integrity undemocratic: Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya
Initiatives have been taken in creating an environment conducive to hold the May 13 local election in a fair, free and disciplined way and such efforts should not be doubted, he said at an event organised today here by the Election Commission.
Parliament should be made lively, people-oriented: Speaker Sapkota
Stressing that the legislature should pay attention to making laws, he said that they are seriously involved in finding out structural loopholes in the federal parliament and province legislature and resolving the problems.
Guard against UV rays, say doctors
People who have easy access to the weather portal were scared to learn the strength of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation found in Kathmandu on Monday as it is dangerous to the skin.
CPN (US) unveils local level election menifesto
CPN (Unified Socialist) Party has made public the manifesto for the local level election.
Ruling coalition meeting begins at Baluwatar
The meeting of the ruling coalition started at the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar.
Conspiracy to break alliance - PM Deuba
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that there is a conspiracy to break the alliance.
2.5 million children receive typhoid vaccine in 10 days
About 2.5 million children aged between 15 months to 15 years have received a dose against typhoid within the first 10 days of the nationwide typhoid vaccination campaign.
Melamchi water arrives at Sundarijal
Kathmandu, April 19 : The water fed to the tunnel from Melamchi Drinking Water Project at Helambu Rural Municipality of Sindhupalchowk on April 12 arrived at Sundarijal, Kathmandu at about 10:00 pm Monday. It will take three to four days to fill up storage, according to engineer at consultant company for project, Bibek Khanal. The water could be noticed at washing channel last night, which proved that the Melamchi water arrived at Sundarijal, he added. The tunnel closed since July 15 has been washed to clear the trashes and debris. The water is now drained into the Bagmati River, which has increased water flow. A local Ram Prasad Pudashaini informed that water flow was increased in the Bagmati River at present. On the very day the water induction into the tunnel was stopped last year, Melamchi River flood had damaged the project structures. The reconstruction of the source structure was completed and water inducted last month. After the water level gains height, it would be sent to the processing centre of Sundarijal. Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Umakant Chaudhari is scheduled to visit Sundarijal today, according to spokesperson for Melamchi Drinking Water Project, Rajendra Pant.
7th agro census kicks off
The seventh national agriculture census has begun today. Every agricultural activity including details of families involved in agriculture would be incorporated during the census.
Egypt female TikTok star jailed for three years for human trafficking
An Egyptian TikTok star has been sentenced to three years in prison after a court convicted her of human trafficking at retrial. Haneen Hossam, who is in her early 20s, was accused of exploiting girls for money through video-sharing platforms.
Ruling coalition meeting at 2 pm today
The meeting of the five-party ruling coalition scheduled for 11:30 am on Tuesday has been postponed till 2 pm.
Application for Miss Nepal opened
The Hidden Treasure (THT), the official organizer of Miss Nepal for the past 27 years, has announced the opening of an application for Miss Nepal Pageant 2022.
740 mountaineers get climbing permission this season
By A Staff ReporterKathmandu, Apr 19 : A total of 740 climbers from 70 nations have obtained permits to scale Nepal’s mountains this spring. As per the data provided by the Department of Tourism (DoT), 155 females and 585 males from six continents of the globe have received permission to climb Nepali peaks till Sunday.Of them, the largest number is from the United States of America. A total of 117 mountaineers, including 94 men and 23 women, have come from the US to climb mountains.Similarly, the second-highest number, 74, is from the United Kingdom and the third-highest, 55, is from India. Likewise, 17 people from Nepal’s northern neighbor China are going to be making attempts at our peaks too.There are climbers from Russia and Ukraine too. There are 25 climbers from Russia and one from Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are currently at war with each other and the former has been heavily sanctioned by the western countries.The government has collected more than Rs. 395 million in royalties from the climbers who have been permitted 21 peaks including Mount Everest. The other peaks that have been opened to mountaineers are Amadablam, Annapurna I and IV, Baruntse, Bhemdang Ri, Dhaulagiri, Gangapurna, Himlung, Kanchenjunga, Khangchung, Lhotse, Makalu, Manaslu, Mukot, Norbu Khang, Nuptse. Phu Kang, Pokhar Kang, Saula, Thapa Peak and Urknmang.The spring season is considered the best time to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. That is why the largest number of climbers – 262 individuals from 32 teams – have applied to attempt an ascent on the peak this time. A total of Rs. 332,114,100 royalty is collected from them.
NC Stands To Benefit From Poll Alliance
Narayan Upadhyay The electoral alliance designed to contest forthcoming local polls has sent ripples to the ruling partners, notably the Nepali Congress (NC). As a result, the five parties have so far failed to reach an understanding on sharing seats in all 753 local units. With the May 13 poll drawing closer, the ruling coalition is still unsure about dividing posts for mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and deputy chairmen, besides the posts forward chairmen. For the ruling parties, sharing six metropolises and 11 sub-metropolises with their respective mayoral candidates has proved a gargantuan task because of resentment among NC leaders.For now, the NC is eyeing three metropolises - Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Biratnagar - for its mayoral aspirants, while the CPN-Maoist is gunning for Bharatpur Metropolis and the CPN-Unified Socialist claiming its right to compete in Pokhara. The Janata Samajbadi Party hopes to gain a mayoral seat in Birgunj. The allocation of sub-metropolises for their mayoral contestants proved a task strewn with complications. Local needDespite all hindrances, these allies reached an understanding that the party that had won mayoral positions in the metropolises and sub-metropolises will keep them while they will share the seats that were won by UML in the last election. They also settled that the distribution of seats in municipalities and rural municipalities will be conducted based on local needs and emerging situations.Despite the central leaders of the ruling partners reaching a general understanding, several NC leaders, including senior leader Shekhar Koirala and general secretary Gagan Thapa, are at loggerheads with their party establishment, headed by the party president and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, over the electoral alliance. They contended the alliance would curtail the party's significant chance of securing a bulk of mayoral and other seats in all local bodies. For these leaders, the electoral alliance is nothing but a step towards undermining democratic culture and party principles. Similarly, Congress leaders at some local bodies, such as Chitwan and many other places have protested against the allocation of mayoral seats to coalition partners, showing their dismay over the alliance.Given the level of dissatisfaction, the elective partnership has developed into a Gordian knot for the NC leadership at present, despite the party president Deuba sticking to his stance that the arrangement of seats must take place. Dubai maintained that Congress would not abandon its current partners who played a key role in catapulting the NC into government leadership following the collapse of the KP Sharma Oli-headed government. The NC establishment expects to extend the electoral alliance with ruling parties up to provincial and federal elections to be held in six months following local polls.However, NC leaders, who are against the poll alliance, have harboured hopes that the party would make huge achievements in the elections because of the ongoing tussle among the communist parties, especially among the UML and Maoist Centre and Unified Socialist. The split in the erstwhile Nepal Communist Party that continued their rivalry for the upcoming local poll will come in handy for the NC of winning a majority of local bodies this time.Perceiving a landslide win for the NC in the aftermath of the communist discord may appear right at the moment. But Congress dissidents must not overlook one key point - political parties must not constantly search for triumphs and gains at the cost of leaving in the lurch the same partners who supported them when they were passing through a precarious period. Such a posture may be immoral and is regarded unsuitable to a party like NC. When it was in the wilderness after a major poll debacle, the Maoist Centre, Unified Socialist, Janata Samajwadi and Rashtriya Janmorcha lifted it out of the woods by throwing their weight to create a government under its leadership.Also true is the fact that the NC at present has had a major adversary - UML and its maverick chair, Oli. Given the current political situation, Oli has demonstrated that he could go to any length to outwit the ruling alliance in the local, provincial and federal elections, though political pundits predicted a heavy loss for the UML in the three-tier elections. Having allied with the ultra-rightist party of Kamal Thapa's RPP-Nepal and pro-Christian party, Nepal Pariwar Dal, Oli has made his intentions clear. In the past, Oli sprang a tremendous surprise by forming a unity with the then bitter foe - the Prachanda-led Maoist Centre. In the meantime, whenever NC leaders raise their voices against the current poll alliance and share seats for local elections, the Maoist Centre chair states he may ally with the UML. By going against understanding over the polls, dissatisfied Congress leaders must not push Maoists and other coalition partners to the wall at this juncture.Threat For the NC, Oli and other communist leaders still pose a threat. Though the three communists may contest local elections as foes, a defeat in this poll may provide them with yet another opportunity to forge unity for the provincial and federal elections. If one combines all the votes cast for communist parties, they possess an edge over the NC in all forms of elections in the nation. Forgetting this may cost heavy for Congress, especially for those who protested the idea of seat-sharing in local polls. Giving continuity to the current company would be beneficial to NC, the largest party of the alliance. In case the coalition wins a handsome majority in the local polls, the oldest democratic party in the nation is likely to emerge as the largest in provincial and parliamentary polls, allowing it to head the next government while other partners participate as key members. (Upadhyay is the managing editor of this daily. nara.upadhyay@gmail.com)
Madrid fight back to stun Sevilla
AFPMadrid, Apr 19 : Karim Benzema completed another incredible Real Madrid comeback on Sunday as they fought from two goals down to defeat Sevilla 3-2 in La Liga.After trailing Chelsea 3-0 on Tuesday only to secure their place in the Champions League semi-finals, Madrid stunned Sevilla to seal the victory that has surely won them La Liga.Defeat would have given fresh hope to the chasing pack, with Sevilla and Barcelona both beginning the day 12 points behind, Barca with two games in hand. Instead, goals in the second half from Rodrygo, Nacho Fernandez and Benzema in the 92nd minute mean Madrid extend their advantage to 15 points with six games left to play.An Ivan Rakitic free-kick and Erik Lamela's smart finish had put Sevilla two up at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan."It's difficult to understand why we played like that in the first half and to be honest how we played as well as that in the second," said Carlo Ancelotti. "In the first half we looked tired. In the second, the intensity was spectacular." Benzema now has 44 goals in 46 appearances this season and 15 in his last 10.Last-gasp CarrascoTen-man Atletico Madrid left it late too as Yannick Carrasco scored the winning penalty with the last kick of the game for a 2-1 win over Espanyol.Atletico looked set to drop another two points at the Wanda Metropolitano when Geoffrey Kondogbia was sent off in the second half and then three minutes later Raul de Tomas cancelled out Carrasco's opener, his free-kick squirming through the fingers of Jan Oblak. But De Tomas handballed deep into added time, the referee awarding the spot-kick after a long consultation with VAR, before Carrasco held his nerve. The ball hit the net with the clock approaching 100 minutes."It was an important game for us and when you score with the last kick of the game it feels even more important to achieve our goal this season," Carrasco said.Atletico stay three points clear of Real Betis in fifth and level on points with third-placed Sevilla.
