PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHAKATHMANDU, OCT 17

The 400kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Transmission Line between Nepal and India hasn’t been put to optimum use, but the Nepal Electricity Authority has been paying around Rs1 billion annually for the past 25 years to the companies that developed it.

The amount to be spent for booking the transmission line is huge considering the authority’s net profit in the last fiscal year 2020-21 which stood at just Rs3.51 billion, a sharp drop from Rs11.68 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20.

After electricity was first charged on the transmission line on November 11 last year, it was expected that Nepal could use the line as much as possible for trading power with India.

India has cleared the way for Nepal to take delivery of as much as 350 meg-awatt power through this cross-border transmission line.

The NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited, which is the agency designated by India for electricity trade with Nepal, can sell up to 350MW electricity to Nepal through this transmis-sion line.

But the southern neighbour has been delaying approval to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for selling its surplus energy to India. It has been near-ly two months since the NEA sent a request to India seeking

approval to sell its electricity. The Indian indecision has led to a wastage of electricity in Nepal, which has now become an energy surplus country.

While the authority is losing money due to the wastage, it has also been bearing the “booking charges” for fail-ing to use the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Cross-Border Transmission line to its maximum capacity.

The NEA has to pay the charge to the Cross-Border Power Transmission Company India, a joint venture with the NEA’s 10 percent stake, and the Power Transmission Company Nepal, a company registered in Nepal, in which the authority has 50 percent stake.

In the India-based company, there is an investment of IL&FS India, Power Grid India and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) besides the NEA.

In the Nepal-based company, besides the NEA, Indian companies—Power Grid Corporation of India, Hydroelectric Investment and Development Company and IL&FS Energy Development Company Limited India have stakes.

“We have already paid an annual charge of around Rs1 billion to these companies for booking the transmission line for electricity trade with India,” said Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, chief of the transmission directorate at the NEA. “But it would have been less costly for us had we used the transmission line to its maxi-mum capacity.”

>> Continued on page 2

Nepal Electricity Authority is hit with a double whammyAmid energy wastage, power utility’s cost is rising on the Nepal-India transmission line, which remains underused.

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Post Photo: sANJoG MANANDhAR

A pair of paper kites soars in the azure Dashain sky with a waxing moon in the background on Sunday. Kite flying is a popular pastime in Kathmandu Valley during Dashain.

W I T H O U T F E A R O R F A V O U RNepal’s largest selling English dailyPrinted simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj

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BINOD GHIMIREKAT HMANDU, OCT 17

They walked all the way from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu for 20 days seeking justice for two women of Banke district. One of the women was killed and another remains missing since 2010.

It was after the local government and authorities had long ignored their demands for justice for the victims that they started a sit-in at Maitighar from October 8—two days after land-ing in the federal Capital. However, in the ten days since their protest for justice began, the government has only given them pain instead of listen-ing to their demands for fair investiga-tions into the two cases, activists say.

Last month, twelve women along with two men had started their jour-ney on foot to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj to draw the attention of the federal government for fair investiga-tions into the death of Nakunni Dhobi and disappearance of Nirmala Kurmi, following the indifference of the local administration. Two others joined them in Kathmandu on October 6.

They decided to march over 500 kilo-metres to the federal Capital after the Banke district police refused to inves-tigate the alleged perpetrators, ignor-ing their 19-day-long sit-in at the local district administration office.

“The central government is no dif-ferent from the local government,” Sakina Teli, one of the protesters, told the Post. “It wants to dismiss our pro-test but we won’t give up until our demands for justice are met.”

Nakunni, 38, was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her home on July 20 in Ward 2 of Janaki Rural

Municipality in Banke. Nirmala, 52, had gone missing in January 2010 from the same rural municipality. Her disappearance came just two years after her two teenage sons were mur-dered within the span of a week. Neighbours and villagers say Nirmala owned a great deal of property, mak-ing her disappearance and the murder of her two sons suspicious. But police never took the case of her disappear-ance seriously.

The government’s attempt to dis-miss the protest started the same day when 16 of the protesters started the sit-in. The police arrested 13 of them on October 8 while they were having their dinner at Maitighar.

Although 12 of them were released within a few hours, Ruby Khan, who was leading the protest, was held in secret detention. The Metropolitan Police Circle, Sorhakhutte had first arrested her along with the fellow pro-testers. She was then transferred to the Metropolitan Police Circle, Singha Durbar and was flown to Nepalgunj on October 10 after a polyandry case was lodged against her. Khan and those who know her claim the case was trumped up in an attempt to weaken the protest.

Following the police reluctance to make Khan public, advocate Mohna Ansari, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission, moved the Supreme Court on October 10 with a habeas corpus petition demanding her immediate release. The court ordered the Metropolitan Police Circle, Sorhakhutte to present her before the court within 24 hours. However, the police said they were unaware of her whereabouts. >> Continued on page 2

Government is ignoring Nepalgunj protesters’ demands, activists sayProtest leader Ruby Khan, who is on a hunger strike, was taken to TU Teaching Hospital after condition worsened.

Post Photo: PRAkAsh ChANDRqA tiMilseNA

Protesters say they are determined to fight for justice for the two women of Banke.

First health post established in Limi valleyHUMLA: A health post constructed last year in Limi, a remote village in Namkha Rural Municipality-6 of Humla, has come into operation to the relief of local residents. In the absence of a health post, the villagers had to visit Taklakot in China for treatment of minor illness-es. The health post was set up to serve the residents of Til, Halji and Jang settlements of Limi village. The villagers had long been deprived of basic health services since there were no health facilities in Limi. Limi is a valley located beyond the Himalayas in the remote northern part of Humla district. Before the establish-ment of the health post, the villagers had to go to Taklakot of China to receive health facilities, as the village is almost a four-day walk from the district headquarters, Simkot. (Details on Pg 2)

Centralised governance blamed for instability in provincesKATHMANDU: When CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli became prime minister on February 15, 2018, there was a sense of stability in the coun-try because the left alliance of the UML and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) had a comfortable majority. The two parties united to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in May 2018. The party governed six of the seven provinces. The governments in Province 1, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini were led by the party’s UML faction while the Maoist faction formed govern-ments in Karnali and Sudur Paschim. But three and a half years later, four of Oli’s close leaders were stripped of their positions as chief ministers. Sherdhan Rai of Province 1 and Dormani Poudel of Bagmati were replaced by former leaders close to Madhav Nepal—Bhim Acharya and Asta Laxmi Shakya—so as to retain them in the UML. (Details on Pg 3)

Foreign investment pledges remain in negative territoryKATHMANDU: Foreign investment commitments in Nepal continued to remain in negative territory in the first three months of the current fiscal year beginning mid-July, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic and unstable internal politics, offi-cials said. According to the Department of Industry, foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped 16.14 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2021-22. Government officials said weak business investment and per-sisting political uncertainty made potential investors wary of putting their money in Nepal. The depart-ment’s statistics show that Nepal received 99 investment pledges worth Rs16.26 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. (Details on Pg 5)

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First health post established in remote Limi valley

CHHAPAL LAMAHUMLA, OCT 17

A health post constructed last year in Limi, a remote village in Namkha Rural Municipality-6 of Humla, has come into operation to the relief of local residents. In the absence of a health post, the villagers had to visit Taklakot in China for treatment of minor illnesses.

The health post was set up to serve the residents of Til, Halji and Jang settlements of Limi village. The vil-lagers had long been deprived of basic health services since there were no health facilities in Limi.

Limi is a valley located beyond the Himalayas in the remote northern part of Humla district. Before the establishment of the health post, the villagers had to go to Taklakot of China to receive health facilities, as the village is almost a four-day walk from the district headquarters, Simkot. The villagers are still reliant on Taklakot, the bordering town in China which is a one-day walk from Limi, to get their daily essentials.

The local people were hardest hit

since Chinese authorities closed the Nepal-China border two years ago amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Ever since the border closure, we have had no access to medical help. We had to depend on traditional healing methods and faith healers in case of health emergencies,” said Giramet Lama, a resident of Limi. “But now that the health post is in operation, we hope to get basic health facilities in our own village.”

The lack of proper health facilities had affected pregnant women the most since they missed out on regular antenatal checkups and safe mother-hood facilities. The children were also deprived of immunisation services due to the lack of health institutions in the area.

“With the establishment of the health post, pregnant women can now go for regular checkups and vac-cinations. We never had the opportu-nity to receive regular checkups dur-ing our pregnancy,” said Pema Tamang, a mother of three children in Limi.

The three-room building of the health post was constructed with the

technical assistance of Snowland Integrated Development Centre and the financial support of Chhaya Nepal and Namkha Rural Municipality. Chhaya Nepal, a social organisation, provided Rs4.5 million for the build-ing’s construction while the rural municipality issued Rs2 million for the same.

The Snowland Integrated Development Centre, another social organisation, has hired three health workers at the health post for the time being. According to Gobinda Bahadur Shahi, executive director of the cen-tre, the villagers also contributed labour donations worth around Rs 600,000 to build the health post.

The recently established health post has an Out-patient Department and provides laboratory, vaccination, fam-ily planning, and pregnancy/materni-ty services.

“We also provide free medicines,” said Paljor Tamang, the ward chairman of Namkha-6. “Earlier, the villagers had to go to a Chinese town for treatment. Now they can avail of the same medical facilities in the village.”

Earlier, the local residents had to visit Taklakot in China to receive medical care.

Nepal Electricity Authority is hit with a double whammy>> Continued from page 1

According to Shyam Yadav, chief executive officer of Power Transmission Company Nepal, the authority pays around Rs20 million each month to the Nepali company.

“The rest should be paid to the India-based company,” he said.

The cost for the NEA has increased at a time when its energy is going to waste for the last one and a half months due to India’s delay in giving approval to the NEA to sell electricity in India’s power exchange market.

Officials at the authority say they have been awaiting a decision from India’s Ministry of Power. The util-ity has proposed selling electricity generated by projects including Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower, Upper Bhotekoshi, Marshyangdi, Trishuli and Devighat whose com-bined generation capacity stands at 621.1MW.

The Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Cross-Border Transmission Line has the capacity to transmit 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

Officials at the authority say the transmission line is not being used recently as Nepal cannot sell power to India, while Nepal does not need India’s electricity in the monsoon.

“There has been an inflow and outflow of 20MW-50MW of power between the two countries through this transmission line, whenever power is needed in Nepal or India,” said Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesperson for the NEA.

Nepal has a power exchange mechanism with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states of India. Under this mechanism, two countries can buy power from each other whenever there is a need.

“If the NEA is allowed to sell electricity regularly to India’s power exchange market, it can earn more and the cost of paying for booking charges would be compen-sated,” said Bhattarai.

According to him, the NEA can also levy wheeling charges on pri-vate sector power producers if their electricity is transmitted through this transmission line. A wheeling charge is the fee power producers and power network users pay transmission line owners and operators for the use of the line.

Nepali officials wonder why India has been delaying the approv-al process for buying electricity

from Nepal even though the south-ern neighbour has been facing an energy crisis due to coal shortages. In India, 70 percent of the electrici-ty is generated using coal. While power consumption in the last two months has jumped by almost 17 percent compared to the same peri-od in 2019, global coal prices have increased by 40 percent and India’s imports fell to a two-year low, according to the BBC. Amid this, Nepali officials believe a swift approval by India to buy power from Nepal could benefit both the countries.

With Nepal having surplus ener-gy, the NEA has been forced to shut down some turbines of some power plants to prevent wastage of energy.

According to the authority, Nepal now has surplus power even during peak hours, usually between 7pm and 8pm. The current peak hour demand stands at 1,500MW. The country is currently producing 2,000MW electricity, and of that 1,900MW is generated from hydro-power projects.

In an interview with the Post two weeks ago, Kul Man Ghising, man-aging director of the authority, said that only 900MW-1,100MW is consumed during the night, when the demand drops significantly. During the day, 1,200MW-1,300MW is consumed when the demand is the least.

According to him, purchasing electricity from Nepal would be less expensive for India as the electrici-ty rate in the Indian Energy Exchange has reached as high as INR20 per unit because of the increased demand.

“We can offer a price in the range of INR5 per unit which will not only be less costly for India but will also balance power prices there and boost the Indian economy,” said Ghising. “In fact, India purchasing Nepal’s power can be a win-win deal for both countries.”

The NEA has shut down turbines of some power plants due to surplus energy.

Post Photo: Anish Regmi

Children play on the cables of a suspension bridge at Khokana, Lalitpur on Sunday.

Track construction begins to link Darchula villages with headquarters

MANOJ BADUDARCHULA, OCT 17

Construction of Dumling-Chhangru track, the only trail that links north-ern villages of Darchula to the district headquarters, has finally com-menced. The Local Infrastructures Development Project Office in Sudurpaschim Province initiated the construction work from October first week.

The central office of Local Infrastructures Development Project had awarded the contract to Pushpanjali/RB/Ridhgade JV for the construction of the horse track in April. But the construction work began only after five months of the contract signing.

“The construction of the horse track commenced a bit late due to the problem in transporting construction materials to the site,” said contractor Man Bahadur Bam.

As per the contract agreement, the construction company has to complete the track construction by April 6, 2022. Dipak Pant, an engineer at Local Infrastructures Development Project Office in Sudurpaschim Province, said two short suspension bridges and two truss bridges should be con-structed along the Dumling-Chhangru horse track.

It seems that the track construction could not be completed timely as the construction work commenced late. “One has to use Indian territory to inspect the construction site as the trail was disrupted on the Nepal side. It took time to commence work as the site is in a remote area. Moreover, we have to bring workers from Bajhang and Bajura districts as there are not enough construction workers in Darchula,” said Bam.

A horse track was constructed con-necting Chhangru and Tinkar with the district headquarters in the 1970s. But the track was closed off during the Maoist insurgency and fell into disrepair. According to Aspal Budhathoki of Byas Rural Municipality-1, the foot trail has been severely damaged in around 15 places since the start of the monsoon season this year.

The local people have been demand-ing that the authorities repair the entire stretch of the old horse track so

that they can easily walk to and from Khalanga.

The government authorities spend a huge amount of budget each year to reconstruct the horse track but it gets disrupted within a few months.

“We could not use the track for more than a season for the past 10/12 years. We descend to Khalanga through the track but we find it obstructed in the next season,” said Daljit Bista, a sheep farmer of Byas.

The Dumling-Chhangru is being constructed along the bank of the Mahakali river.

However, the local people have been demanding to construct the trail through the old horse track which is above the present alignment. According to engineer Pant, Byas Rural Municipality has also recom-mended constructing the trail through the old horse track stating that the floods in the Mahakali river could

erode the track in the rainy season if it is constructed along the river. The local unit argues that the track won’t be quite useful as the Khalanga-Tinkar road is also going along the river bank.

“The track construction has started from the northern side. The alignment can be changed in some places as per the demand of the local people and the recommendation of Byas Rural Municipality,” said Pant.

The construction company, howev-er, said that it is quite difficult to con-struct the track as per the demand of the local people. “There is rocky ter-rain in the old horse track. The gov-ernment should provide us with explosives to blast the rocky cliff in case we have to construct a track over there. The local unit and the district administration office should take ini-tiatives regarding providing us the explosives,” said Bam.

The project was delayed due to problem in transporting construction materials.

>> Continued from page 1

Then on October 12, the Nepal Police and the Attorney General’s Office were ordered to produce Khan before the court by 11 am on October 14. This time, she was presented before the court and released the same day.

Khan launched her fast-unto-death on the very day of her arrest and has said she won’t eat anything until the alleged perpetrators and the police offi-cials who are trying to protect them are punished. She was taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj on Saturday as her health condition worsened.

“She is weak but the doctors say her condition is stable,” said Teli.

In an attempt to intimidate the pro-testers, their family members in Banke are being threatened by goons, accord-ing to Ansari. She said the family mem-bers of some of the protesters were beaten up while others have been threatened with consequences if the protests continued. The protesters have been accusing the government of work-ing to protect the perpetrators. The only occasion the government tried to reach out to the protesters was on October 9. Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs at a meeting with the

protesters asked them to end the pro-test. They had promised that the local administration would look into their demands and take necessary action. However, the protesters refused.

“Today [Sunday afternoon], Minister for Home Affairs Bal Krishna Khand told me that the government was pre-paring to form a committee to probe the two incidents,” said Ansari. “I told him that the ministry should be communi-cating with the protesters.”

Brihat Nagarik Aandolan, a civic movement, is the only organisation that is supporting the protest. Even the National Women’s Commission hasn’t

paid any attention to their protest.“I have no information about any

action from the commission on the issue,” Shyam Prasad Shrestha, spokes-person for the commission, told the Post. The civil society members who are with the protesters say the government is underestimating the protest launched by the poor and the marginalised.

“The government hasn’t taken the protest seriously. It still feels it can be dismissed,” Sanjeev Uprety, a member of the Brihat Nagarik Aandolan, told the Post. “This is the only reason why it hasn’t even started a dialogue with the protesters.”

Government is ignoring Nepalgunj protesters’ ...

Post Photo: ChhAPAL LAmA

officials at the opening ceremony of the health post at namkha rural municipality in Humla.

Post Photo: mAnoJ BADU

Workers at the construction site of dumling-Chhangru track.

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BRiEfiNg

Post Photo: sANJoG MANANDhAR

Devotees carry an image of Durga for immersing it in the river at Jalbinayak, Kathmandu on Saturday.

ReuteRs

WestVac Biopharma Co, Ltd is close to submitting all the documents that the Nepal Health Research Council had requested for, an official said.

Three girls raped in Sindhuli SINDHULI: A group of nine men alleg-edly raped three girls aged between 15 and 17 in Kamalamai Municipality-5 of Sindhuli district on Saturday night. Police on Sunday detained three of the suspects as per a com-plaint lodged by the victims’ rela-tives. Six other accused are on the run. According to the victims’ fami-lies, the girls were raped under the bridge across Labdaha stream while they were returning home after visit-ing their relatives for Dashain.

Over 50,000 people fully vaccinated in LamjungLAMJUNG: As many as 55,753 people have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Lamjung district. According to the District Health Office, a total of 72,158 people received the first jab of Covid-19 vac-cine in the district. “The health office has its aim to vaccinate 105,938 peo-ple. Around 33,800 people are yet to receive the first dose of Covid-19 vac-cines. Efforts are on to vaccinate them as well,” said Amar Dawadi, the chief at the district health office.

Indian minister visits Manakamana templeGORKHA: Pankaj Chaudhary, the Indian union minister of state for finance, visited Manakamana Temple in Gorkha on Sunday. According to Insan Thapa, the temple’s priest, Chaudhary arrived at around 3:30pm and performed a pooja at the temple. The district administration had strengthened security in Manakamana area during his visit. A security source said the Indian minis-ter is scheduled to stay at a resort in Chitwan on Sunday night.

Second Chinese vaccine may get trial approval in NepalIf approved, it will be the third Covid-19 vaccine overall to receive nod for third-phase trial.

PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHAKATHMANDU, OcT 17

Nepal Health Research Council is preparing to give its nod for the third phase trials to a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s WestVac Biopharma Co, Ltd after the company submitted almost all the documents demanded by the council.

Once it gets an approval for the tri-als, it will be the third Covid-19 vac-cine overall and the second Chinese vaccine to receive approval for trial after an messenger RNA (mRNA) vac-cine jointly developed by China’s Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, the Institute of Military Medicine under the Academy of Military Sciences, and Walvax Biotechnology Co Ltd.

“The WestVac Biopharma Co, Ltd has almost completed submitting more or less all the documents that we had requested for,” said Namita Ghimire, a member of the ethical board at the council.

“We have shared its documents with the members of the ethical board for a review. If no issue is found, we will recommend allowing it to conduct the third phase trials.”

She said that the council could send its recommendation to the Ministry of Health and Population. The proposal should move to the cabinet from the Health Ministry and after a cabinet approval, the Department of Drug Administration should provide import license and give approval for the trials

by setting necessary conditions, according to the Vaccine Clinical Trial Guidelines.

Besides the two Chinese vaccines, another Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sanofi Pasteur, a French multination-al company, in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, a British pharma company) has also received approval for conducting trials.

In fact, trials have already begun for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sanofi and GSK. Its trial had begun firstly at Dhulikhel Hospital in late September. Likewise, trials have also begun at Nepalgunj Medical College.

The French multinational company has been allowed to adminis-ter its vaccine to 2,000 volunteers at Dhulikhel Hospital and 1,000 volun-teers at the Nepalgunj Medical College.

Sonafi in collaboration with the International Vaccine Institute, a non-profit initiative of the United Nations Development Programme, had applied with the council to conduct a third

phase trial of the vaccine in Nepal.“The trials are proceeding smoothly

and we have received no complaints of any side effects,” said Ghimire, mem-ber of the ethical board at the council. “Immediately after the Dashain festival, we will conduct monitoring of the trials on the field.”

But, when it comes to the Chinese mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, trials are yet to begin. According to Ghimire, the delay in the trial was caused by the delay in getting supply of the vaccine candidate.

The trials for the Chinese mRNA vaccine will be conducted on 3,000 volunteers at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences as per the proposal of the companies which have joined hands with the Nepali pharmaceutical company—Deurali-Janta Pharmaceutical Limited, according to the council.

The Chinese mRNA vaccine and Sonafi vaccine had received approval from the Department of Drug Administration in September. Officials say conducting trials in the country could earn preferential access to the trialled vaccines for Nepalis.

“The Chinese manufacturers of the mRNA vaccine have promised to deliv-er 500,000 doses of the vaccine to Nepal free of cost,” Ghimire told the Post in September.

“In the case of the Sonafi vaccine, Nepal will get the vaccine at a cheaper rate through GAVI, an UN-backed vac-cine alliance.”

Experts blame centralised governance for instability in the provincesSome fear growing aberrations could fuel public frustrations against federalism.

TIKA R PRADHANKATHMANDU, OcT 17

When CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli became prime minister on February 15, 2018, there was a sense of stability in the country because the left alli-ance of the UML and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) had a comfortable majority.

The two parties united to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in May 2018. The party governed six of the seven provinces. The governments in Province 1, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini were led by the party’s UML faction while the Maoist faction formed governments in Karnali and Sudur Paschim.

But three and a half years later, four of Oli’s close leaders were stripped of their positions as chief ministers. Sherdhan Rai of Province 1 and Dormani Poudel of Bagmati were replaced by former leaders close to Madhav Nepal—Bhim Acharya and Asta Laxmi Shakya—so as to retain them in the UML.

In Province 2, following the split in the UML and the Janata Samajbadi Party, Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut reshuffled his Cabinet to induct lead-ers from the Maoist Centre and the CPN (Unified Socialist), throwing out ministers from the newly formed Loktantrik Samajbadi Party of Mahantha Thakur.

After the Supreme Court’s March 7 decision not to authenticate Nepal Communist Party (NCP), the UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) were revived in their pre-unification forms. Later, the conflict between the Oli and Nepal factions in the UML led to the party’s split. Nepal launched his own party, the CPN (Unified Socialist), on August 25.

When the party was on the verge of splitting, Oli made a quick move and changed the remaining two chief min-isters of Province 1 and Bagmati with the leaders close to Nepal.

Shakya replaced Poudel on August 18 while Acharya replaced Rai on August 26--a day after the CPN-UML split. People were wondering why Acharya decided to become the chief minister just for weeks as he was well aware that he would not be holding the post for more than a month, with many provincial assembly members supporting Nepal.

Observers and political analysts say the two major splits—first in the NCP and then in the UML—have left the provincial governments unstable.

“After the split in the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), all tiers of the government are in a mess and the provinces cannot remain aloof,” said Khim Lal Devkota, an expert on feder-al affairs who is also a member of the National Assembly. “After the federal government, the repercussions of the parties’ splits are now seen across the provinces.”

Devkota said the mess in provincial governments would help people like Mahesh Basnet, a UML leader who has been demanding that the pro-vincial governments should be scrapped.

“It’s all because of the inefficiency of KP Sharma Oli, whose failure to

keep the party united and his misad-ventures have led the whole country to a mess.”

Being the first governments after the elections were held as per the new constitution, the provincial and feder-al governments should have focused on developing the foundations of the federal set-up and strengthening organisational structures but the pro-vincial governments are weakening them instead.

To appease the coalition partners, Lumbini Chief Minister Kul Prasad KC on Sunday formed the largest provincial Cabinet with 17 ministers by inducting 10 more ministers. According to leaders, the Maoist Centre and the Nepali Congress have agreed to share the chief ministerial position for nine months each.

“Provincial governments are focus-ing on appointments and benefits instead of strengthening the federal structures,” said Devkota. “The Lumbini chief minister forming a Cabinet of 17 ministers and the Province 1 chief minister making appointments even after knowing he will be unseated within weeks show how our leaders are weakening feder-alism.”

The 110-member Bagmati provin-cial assembly currently has 109 mem-

bers following the death of UML mem-ber Pashupati Chaulagain. Now the UML has 43 members, Maoist Centre 23, Nepali Congress 22, CPN (Unified Socialist) 13, Bibeksheel Sajha 3, Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party 2, Rastriya Prajatantra Party 2 and one independ-ent member. The figure shows that Shakya is in a clear minority and she is sure to lose the confidence vote on October 21.

Mrigendra Bahadur Karki, execu-tive director at the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, said the changes in governments have not only given rise to instability but have also promoted vested interests of various political groups.

“The political system we adopted was the best but the leaders and polit-ical parties have yet to grasp its essence,” said Karki. “The ongoing mess in provincial governments could fuel public frustration but I don’t think that would reach the level of a revolt.”

Political analyst Rajendra Maharjan said the split in the Nepal Communist Party (NCP)—now into three parties--has adversely affected the provincial governments.

“The mess in the provinces indi-cates that the country, despite switch-ing to a federal system, has yet to get rid of the centralised mindset and there is no autonomy for the provinc-es,” said Maharjan. “Any small change in the parties directly affects the gov-ernments in the provinces and even at the local level.”

Maharjan said the splits in the CPN-UML and the Janata Samajbadi Party have created unease in the provincial capitals and in many local govern-ments. “We have a federalism system controlled by the centre,” said Maharjan. “So we are bearing the brunt.”

Observers say two splits—first in NCP then in UML—made governments in provinces unstable.

Chinese makers of mRNA vaccine have promised 500,000 doses for Nepal free of cost, officials say.

Photo file Photos

The seats of newly appointed chief ministers Asta Laxmi Shakya and Bhim Acharya are shaky.

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An alcoholic drink named Pure Kodoko Rakshi was launched recently by Kodoko Ltd of the United Kingdom. As per the product specifications cited on its official website, the liquor is careful-ly made in copper stills to preserve its authentic taste and flavour. This niche product is an indigenous drink brewed from the fourth major crop in Nepal—finger millet (kodo)—that aptly con-nects the product to indigenous com-munities in Nepal who are involved in brewing it, namely Rai, Gurung, Limbu and others. Finger Millet Spirit is fea-tured among the world’s 50 most deli-cious drinks by CNN Travel. The fact that the drink is cited as hailing origi-nally from Nepal is undoubtedly a huge feather in its cap. The two variants of the drink, Pure Kodoko Rakshi and Tinpane Kodoko Rakshi, are priced at £25.99 and £12.99 respectively.

Promoting ethnic fermented food and drinks by displaying the brewing process and demonstrating its authen-ticity on social media can be consid-ered as one of the surest ways to mar-ketplace success. As the Nepali tradi-tional fermentation process is very popular among connoisseurs, the mes-sage of brewing purity and the associ-ated beauty can be conveyed effectively. Other popular local drinks of Nepal such as chhyang, ayla and tongba have the potential to get branded on similar ethnic lines. For instance, kodoko jaand is also popular as the king of jaands. Such local beverages produced through fermentation are an integral part of the culture and tradition of many ethnic communities in Nepal. Traditionally, they adopted an inexpen-sive technique for preserving food and enhancing its nutritional and sensory value. Brandy made using Mustang apples and wines from grapes that are popularly grown in local vineyards in Nepal are a case in point.

Branding initiativesCreating the right set of infrastructur-al facilities is one of the critical aspects of branding any product or service. No initiative in this direction can afford to ignore or undermine the key elements of its overall ecosystem. Branding rak-shi at the international level calls for considering producing it on a scale that

is commercially viable. While a chemi-cally brewed system can aid in large-scale production, organic or home brewing alone will be more relevant for retaining the authenticity of the brand. Distillation of traditional Nepali alco-holic beverages in the form of a cottage industry has huge potential to provide employment to locals, especially those hailing from communities mentioned earlier. But to make it legal, the state needs to formulate and announce poli-cy in this regard.

Each of these local drinks has its own unique flavour and aura, and is uniquely related to the ethnic commu-nities. Keeping this basic fact, all branding strategies need to be careful-ly crafted in perfect unison and meticu-lously executed. Traditional alcoholic beverages have special human connec-tivity that relates deeply with the tradi-tions, beliefs, values and ethos of the local community. It would be foolhardy to overlook these special considera-tions in branding exercises of any kind for these products. One should be reminded of how Goans in India became renowned for brewing Feni and how brewers of African Kaffir Beer stepped up their production from small to large scale.

Branding of kodo as a major source of good nutrition can be strongly con-sidered. Some indigenous communities in Nepal are found to be using jackal meat as medicinal liquid for arthritis treatment. Of course, there is no estab-

lished rationale behind the beliefs and values for such a traditional treatment nor are there any proven positive out-comes. However, it does point to the necessity of examining ethical aspects of the indigenous practices of using animals and animal products while treating different kinds of ailments. While keeping legal and policy aspects in consideration, it is also worth taking a cue from this before branding local beverages strictly on medicinal lines. Khukuri rum, used for cold and cough ailments, shot to fame not only for its impeccable quality but also for its cura-tive value. The brand is known for its own unique heritage, values and blends. Befittingly, brand promotion on the official website and also on social media talk about how it could retain its heritage as an inimitable blend due to the distinct taste and imagery that it has created in the minds of consumers.

Enabling infrastructure Currently, most locally brewed bever-ages and other ethnic products have only museum and exhibition value. The time is ripe for the state machinery to come up with a classification of these products and give a fillip to all the domestic entrepreneurial initiatives by providing them industry status by enacting explicit laws that are woefully absent as of date.

Initiatives of this kind can be pro-moted on a commercial scale by distill-

ing such local alcoholic beverages on a sustainable basis. This calls for creat-ing an enabling infrastructure having proper backward and forward linkages. Supporting millet farmers exemplifies such a linkage here. To communicate a quality image among consumers that it is produced using home-based process-ing, branding of such local beverages needs to consider sanitary conditions, processing mechanisms, bottling, pack-aging and shelf life. Local beverages served in traditional style would defi-nitely add to the value of such offer-ings. For instance, ayla is poured from the traditional jug anti that not only adds aesthetic value, but also arouses consumers by the very essence of the liquor.

Considering Nepal’s huge potential, the Make in Nepal initiative can suc-cessfully address the current bottle-necks and effectively brand all alcohol-ic beverages having meaningful associ-ations as local niche products. Should we fail in protecting them, there is every possibility that they may get pro-cessed and branded by international companies. Such a failure would be inimical to interests of the Nepali economy as it would miss out on oppor-tunities for generating employment and also empowering its secondary and tertiary sectors.

Lamichhane is an assistant professor at the Kathmandu University School of Management, Lalitpur.

In 2015, 193 countries gathered at the United Nations and pledged to end global hunger by 2030 as part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development. With less than a decade to go, pros-pects for achieving this goal appear bleak. Improving them will require governments and the private sector to address the global food and environ-mental crises simultaneously.

Food insecurity has increased in recent years as a result of conflicts and climate change, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic and the accompa-nying global economic crisis. Today, up to 811 million people suffer from hunger, including 132 million addi-tional people who were classified as undernourished during the pandemic. Another three billion people are too poor to afford a healthy diet.

Efforts to fight hunger have tradi-tionally focused on producing more food—but this has come at a high envi-ronmental cost. Agriculture depletes 70 percent of the world’s fresh water and 40 percent of its land. It has con-tributed to the near-extinction of around one million species. Food pro-duction generates 30 percent of global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon.

Policymakers seeking to eradicate hunger today thus face a difficult dilemma: preventing billions from going hungry while also saving the planet. For example, a fertiliser subsi-dy could boost crop yields and reduce hunger, but it could also lead to exces-sive nitrogen use, thus ruining the soil.

Similarly, cattle and rice farms emit

methane, a more potent GHG than carbon dioxide. The most effective way to reduce methane emissions is to

tax them. But this would cause food prices to rise, affect poor consumers’ access to nutrition, and threaten the

livelihoods of farmers and ranchers. Countries must therefore establish an optimal level of environmental pollu-

tion that doesn’t reduce agricultural productivity or undermine the social and economic well-being of the poor. We need a solution that feeds the most mouths without endangering the planet.

Finding a workable plan requires looking at food systems holistically—a major departure from the current siloed approach. To avoid unintended consequences, it is essential to quanti-fy any trade-offs with data. And to turn data-driven strategies into action demands a coordinated effort to boost public and private investments.

No one intervention alone can solve the hunger problem. But studies sug-gest that a mix of key measures aimed at increasing farm productivity and cutting food loss and waste could reduce the number of chronically hungry people by 314 million in the next decade, and also make healthy diets available for 568 million people. Expanding countries’ national safety nets, including school-feeding pro-grams, could give an additional 2.4 billion people access to a healthy diet by 2030.

Another study shows how a series of low-cost initiatives can end hunger for 500 million people by 2030 while also limiting agricultural GHG emis-sions in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. These initia-tives include agricultural research and development to produce food more efficiently, information services that provide farmers with weather fore-casts and crop prices, literacy pro-grams for women—who account for almost half of small farmers in devel-oping countries—and scaling up social protection. This can be accom-plished if rich countries double their food-security aid to $26 billion per year until 2030, and poorer countries maintain their annual investment of $19 billion.

Automation can help to manage the trade-offs between food production and environmental protection. For example, “AgBots” that resemble small farm vehicles can identify and remove weeds. Because they don’t use expensive chemical herbicides, robots can reduce the cost of weeding by 90 percent and protect the soil from potentially harmful chemicals. Likewise, artificial intelligence and

cloud solutions can detect pest-infest-ed areas using drone imaging. The data collected can help to guide farm-ers’ irrigation, planting, and fertilisa-tion decisions, and indicate the best time of the year to sell a given crop.

Governments must now work with the private sector to make these high-tech, precision-farming systems avail-able at lower costs, especially for small farmers. The good news is that private firms are increasingly keen to pro-mote sustainability—including through “blended finance” schemes, which combine an initial investment from governments or multilateral financial institutions with subsequent commercial financing. This kind of approach can effectively de-risk pri-vate finance and encourage invest-ment in improving food systems.

For example, the US and Dutch gov-ernments have been working with the German coffee company Neumann Kaffee Gruppe and three European banks to provide a $25 million loan to small farmers in Colombia, Kenya, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Uganda for sustainable cof-fee production. The banks initially rejected the proposal because small farmers are usually shut out of finan-cial services and thus unable to prove their creditworthiness, making them a high-risk group for commercial lenders. But the banks signed on to the scheme after the Dutch government and Neumann Kaffee Gruppe agreed to cover the first 10 percent of losses should it not pan out, with the US gov-ernment absorbing 40 percent of the remaining losses.

Detractors will argue that individu-al countries should be responsible for reversing the trend of rising hunger through domestic policies. While this may be true, other problems such as GHG emissions cannot be tackled by a country or a region on its own, and must be addressed and funded global-ly. Saving the planet does not have to come at the expense of feeding the poor, and vice versa. If governments get their act together, it’s still not too late to wipe out hunger by 2030.

Torero is Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

— Project Syndicate

Ending hunger sustainably

ROSHEE LAMICHHANE

Branding Nepali alcoholic drinksEDiTORiAL

Ticking time bombIntense focus on Covid-19 has led to the neglect of

matters related to chronic diseases.

ShutterStock

Creating the right set of infrastructure is one of the critical aspects of branding any product.

Never has it been more critical to have an efficient health care system than now. As the pandemic raged across the world, many countries were caught off guard by the speed at which the Covid-19 virus completely decimated existing pre-conceptions regarding a lot of matters and, more important-ly, the health care system. Emergency wards were converted into Covid wards as the number of cases rose steadily and were given priority over other non-communicable diseases. This intense focus on Covid-19 has led to the neglect of mat-ters related to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart dis-ease, cancer and mental illness, to name a few, which are equally important.

As it is, Nepal has an abysmal health system, reliant main-ly on the private sector to fill a significant gap that has yet to grab the attention of the government. Although health expenditure by the government as a percentage of the GDP has increased over the years, it amounted to only 5.84 percent in 2018 as per figures released by the World Bank. Without a shred of doubt, this progress will have been severely disrupt-ed by the pandemic, the effect of which will only manifest shortly and will have to be borne for many years to come.

Who could have imagined months of confinement at home? As a result of strict restrictions on movement and socialis-ing, it aggravated a silent killer—mental illness. It’s a topic less talked about in Nepali society; often considered taboo and swiftly swept under the carpet lest it brings about social embarrassment. But facts don’t lie. In 2019, an estimated 6,241 people committed suicide in Nepal, and that number had risen to 7,117 in 2020, an increase of approximately 14 per-cent. This increase is unwarranted and is essentially a result of the widespread mental health problem in the country. The question now is how do we contain it.

Mental health issues need broader acceptance in our socie-ty. There should be a high profile campaign to raise aware-ness not just from the government but also from all sections of society. Another such study conducted in 2019 on the prev-alence of non-communicable diseases by the Nepal Health Research Council concluded that they accounted for an eye-watering 71 percent of the deaths in the country. It is mainly related to changes in lifestyles. The sedentary life we lead and the tobacco and alcohol consumption concoction have aided in such dramatic figures concerning non-commu-nicable diseases.

Non-communicable diseases cannot be ignored anymore, which cause two out of every three deaths in Nepal. While it has been essential to set our focus and resources to contain the pandemic, more should be done regarding other equally life-threatening ailments. The government has to start by providing more resources in terms of money and workforce to deal with the situation so that people languishing in the depths of the economic strata can benefit from it. What we need to do is raise awareness and implement careful manage-ment. It is a ticking time bomb waiting to implode.

We need a solution that feeds the most mouths without endangering the planet.

MAXIMO TORERO

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13 | MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

MONEY

gAsOliNE wATCh

FOREX

US Dollar 120.72

Euro 140.06

Pound Sterling 166.01

Japanese Yen 10.57

Chinese Yuan 18.76

Qatari Riyal 33.15

Australian Dollar 89.60

Malaysian Ringit 29.03

Saudi Arab Riyal 32.19

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

BulliONPRiCE PER TOlA

SoURCE: FENEGoSIDA

Fine Gold Rs 90,600

Silver Rs 1,180

Nepse2,656.96pts

0.67%

KPCL HGI SMATA GLH UMRH LEMF3.63% 3.61% 3.51% 3.5% 3.48% 3.28%

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EDBL JSLBB ALBSL CORBL ICFC NEF-2.1% -2.17% -2.21% -2.47% -2.59% -2.69%

GIMES1 MKJC CMF1 KMCDB BNT CMF2-3.37% -3.48% -3.75% -3.91% -3.95% -5.66%

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Foreign investment commitments remain in negative territoryKRISHANA PRASAINKATHMANDU, OCT 17

Foreign investment commitments in Nepal continued to remain in negative territory in the first three months of the current fiscal year beginning mid-July, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic and unstable internal poli-tics, officials said.

According to the Department of Industry, foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped 16.14 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2021-22.

Government officials said weak business investment and persisting political uncertainty made potential investors wary of putting their money in Nepal.

The department’s statistics show that Nepal received 99 investment pledges worth Rs16.26 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

During the same period of the last fiscal year 2020-21, Nepal had received investment pledges amounting to Rs32.20 billion.

“Unless there is political stability, foreign investors will not be willing to invest in a country like Nepal. There is policy uncertainty too due to fre-quent changes in government,” said Gunakar Bhatta, executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank.

Foreign direct investment from the United States in Nepal has been declining because of lack of a com-pensation law which is the number one priority for American investors, officials said.

“When the state fails to give protec-tion to brands, investors will have doubts about the security of their investment in the country.”

FDI inflow in the country is below 1 percent of GDP which is low, said Bhatta, adding that there might be a need for institutional reform to attract investors into comparative advantage areas like hydropower and infrastruc-ture, and among other sectors.

“It’s time to look for an alternative modality to attract foreign investors. One modality could be the issuance of debentures in the international mar-ket,” he said.

“The government can experiment by issuing 20-30 percent debentures of big projects in the international mar-

ket to attract potential investors.” According to Bhatta, another area

that Nepal is lagging behind in is pro-moting economic diplomacy.

“Nepal’s market is small, but in its south and north, there are big neigh-bours—China and India. We should be able to attract investors who have the ability to export goods to these giant neighbours.”

As per the department, China tops the list of foreign investment pledges in Nepal, with commitments in 87 pro-jects worth Rs15.56 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year, down slightly from Rs16.12 bil-lion in the same period last year.

In contrast, investment pledges from India have nearly tripled. Nepal received commitments from Indian investors for four different projects amounting to Rs290 million during the review period. In the same period in the last fiscal year, pledges totalled Rs100 million for two projects.

Despite the introduction of new reg-ulations under the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act (FITTA)

last January, foreign direct invest-ment has been declining.

In a bid to facilitate foreign direct investment, Nepal Rastra Bank also rolled out the Foreign Investment and Loan Management Bylaw 2021 which freed foreign investors from having to take the central bank’s prior approval to transfer foreign currency to Nepal after getting approval from the foreign investment sanctioning body.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has devas-tated the global economy. In such a scenario, Nepal’s internal politics, which has largely remained unstable, added to the disinclination,” said Bhatta.

Before the regulation was enforced, FDI stocks, or the level of direct investment in Nepal, increased by 8.5 percent to Rs198.52 billion at the end of fiscal 2019-20, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank.

Nepal’s FDI stocks rose moderately in 2019-20 even as the coronavirus pan-demic spread havoc across the world, indicating that moves to attract capi-tal were kicking in, the report said.

There is a gap between FDI approv-al and actual FDI inflows, the central bank survey report showed. FDI approval may indicate an intended investment (the approved investment may not actually take place) or there may be significant time lags between approvals and actual investments, according to the report.

The gap between approved and actu-al inflow should be reduced by facili-tating the inflow of approved FDI which is expected to decline in the coming days as the country gradually makes reforms in policies and procedures to promote and facili-tate foreign investment inflows, con-sidering it as an important external source of development finance, offi-cials said.

As per insiders, foreign investments in a landlocked country like Nepal are comparatively lower compared to other countries having access to the sea as the investment cost is less. Nepal also lacks attractive offers for investors that may encourage them to bring their money here., they said.

The pandemic, unstable politics and ever changing policies have made potential investors wary, officials say.

PoST FILE PHoTo

China tops the list of foreign investment pledges, with commitments in 87 projects worth Rs15.56 billion in the first three months of the year.

Supply chains, inflation overshadow debt woes at IMF-World Bank meetingsREUTERSWASHINGTON, OCT 17

Supply chain woes and growing infla-tion concerns pushed aside a widen-ing gap in Covid-19 vaccinations and mounting debt problems for develop-ing countries as the top concerns for global policymakers at International Monetary Fund and World Bank annu-al meetings this week.

Relatively little new progress was made on increasing vaccine supplies to developing countries, although offi-cials highlighted an increasing diver-gence between rich and poor coun-tries as a growing financial and eco-nomic risk.

The focus on the normalisation pains that wealthier economies are experiencing and a World Bank data-rigging scandal that had clouded the future of IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva proved a disap-pointment for anti-poverty groups.

“Given how the pandemic is becoming worse in most of the world’s countries, I’m concerned by the lack of action at the meetings on vaccine distribution, debt relief and general pandemic response,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a religious development group.

Communiques issued by G20 finance leaders and the IMF’s steering committee pledged to increase vaccine supplies, but did not identify specific new goals or initiatives to expand

financing or distribution. Instead, they gave greater prominence to grow-ing inflation pressures, calling on cen-tral banks to monitor closely whether they are transitory or could unanchor

inflation expectations.World Health Organisation chief

Tedros Adhananom Ghebreyesus told an IMF forum that the world is falling behind on goals to immunise 40 per-

cent of the world’s population by the end of this year, and criticised wealthy countries for approving third booster shots when much of the world’s popu-lation has yet to receive a single vac-cine dose.

“The donations are not enough. It’s very disappointing that it’s taking so long for the world to really commit” to reaching vaccination goals, he said.

The IMF said a “great vaccine divide” was keeping developing coun-tries mired in low growth as they struggle with high coronavirus infec-tion rates. This, along with supply chain bottlenecks, semiconductor shortages and rising price pressures in advanced economies, prompted the IMF to trim its global growth forecast for 2021.

Some policymakers were more focused on managing the next phases of economic recovery after unprece-dented fiscal support, and other multilateral issues, such as imple-menting a deal to revamp global cor-porate taxation.

“My feeling about all the meetings we had in Washington, and during these IMF meetings, is that we are beyond Covid,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters.

“Even if we have to monitor the sit-

uation, even if there remains some decisions to be taken on vaccination, especially for the poorest countries, now we are beyond Covid,” Le Maire said.

He added, however that France was advocating for increased financial support for developing economies, including diverting at least $100 bil-lion in new IMF monetary reserves to poor countries after a $650 billion dis-tribution in August.

But advocacy groups were disap-pointed with a lack of progress on debt relief for the poorest countries, especially since payments on official bilateral debts will resume for 46 countries in January when the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative expires.

Jean Saldanha, director of debt and development watchdog group Eurodad, said the G20 and IMF steer-ing committees’ statements on debt were “shameful” for not going beyond encouraging wider participation in the G20 Common Framework on Debt restructuring.

“Maintaining an almost blind faith that the Common Framework will be enough to tackle debt distress in an increasing number of countries in the global South is irresponsible to say the least,” Saldanha said.

India’s electricity demand picks up in October as coal shortage lingersREUTERSCHENNAI, OCT 17

India’s electricity demand grew 4.9 percent during the first half of October, with supply falling short of demand by 1.4 percent despite a 3.2 percent rise in coal-fired generation and 30 percent rise in solar output, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.

Increased economic activity after the second wave of the coronavirus has driven up electricity demand, resulting in a supply deficit due to a coal shortage that has forced northern states to cut power this month for up to 14 hours a day.

The rapid surge in power demand and high global coal prices have left utilities scampering for coal—India’s dominant source of power generation —despite record supplies from state-run Coal India, a near-monopoly in coal production.

Coal’s share in India’s electricity generation jumped to nearly 70 per-cent during the first fifteen days of October, compared with an average of 66.5 percent during the whole of September, an analysis of data from federal grid regulator POSOCO showed.

Nearly three-fifths of India’s coal-fired capacities currently have coal inventories that would last three days or less, federal power ministry data shows.

The average coal inventory held by power plants would last four days, two-thirds lower than an average of 12 days two months ago.

The energy hungry nation’s power minister had in early September asked officials to consider diverting coal to power plants with extremely depleted stocks, and reduce inventory targets to 10 days from 14 days, to allow coal to be moved to areas of greatest shortage.

High global coal prices have left utilities scampering for the dirty fuel.

REUTERS

The sun sets behind container cranes at the Port of Los Angeles in California.

China looks to lock in US LNG, sources sayREUTERSSINGAPORE/NEW YORK, OCT 17

Major Chinese energy companies are in advanced talks with US exporters to secure long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, as soaring gas prices and domestic power shortages height-en concerns about the country’s fuel security, several sources said.

At least five Chinese firms, includ-ing state major Sinopec Corp and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and local govern-ment-backed energy distributors like Zhejiang Energy, are in discussions with US exporters, mainly Cheniere Energy and Venture Global, the sourc-es told Reuters.

The discussions could lead to deals worth tens of billions of dollars that would mark a surge in China’s LNG imports from the United States in coming years. At the height of a Sino-US trade war in 2019, gas trade briefly came to a standstill. LNG export facil-ities can take years to build, and there

are several projects in North America in the works that are not expected to start exporting until the middle of the decade.

Talks with US suppliers began early this year but speeded up in recent months amid one of the biggest pow-er-generating, heating fuel crunch in

decades. Natural gas prices in Asia have jumped more than fivefold this year, sparking fears of power shortag-es in the winter.

“Companies faced a supply gap [for winter] and surging prices. Talks real-ly picked up since August when spot prices touched $15/mmbtu”, said a

Beijing-based senior industry source briefed on the talks.

Another Beijing-based source said: “After experiencing the recent mas-sive market volatility, some buyers were regretting that they didn’t sign enough long-term supplies.”

Sources expected fresh deals to be announced over the coming few months, after privately controlled ENN Natural Gas Co, headed by the ex-LNG chief of China’s largest buyer, CNOOC, announced a 13-year deal with Cheniere on Monday.

It was the first major US-China LNG deal since 2018.

The new purchases will also cement China’s position as the world’s top LNG buyer, taking over from Japan this year.

“As state-owned enterprises, compa-nies are all under pressure to keep security of supply and the recent price trend has deeply changed the image of long-term supplies in the mind of leadership,” said the first Beijing-based trader.

The new purchases will also cement China’s position as the world’s top LNG buyer, taking over from Japan this year.

Czech car makers to make 250,000 fewer vehicles due to chip shortage

REUTERSPRAGUE, OCT 17

Czech car makers will produce quar-ter a million fewer cars than expected this year due to the global shortage of chips and the automotive sector will lose 200 billion crowns ($9.14 billion) in sales, the Auto Industry Association (AutoSAP) said on Sunday.

AutoSAP said domestic passenger car production dropped by 53.1 per-cent in September year-on-year, to 56,157 cars.

It said the chip shortage impact would exceed that of pandemic shut-downs last year, and called on the gov-ernment to activate an aid programme created amid the coronavirus pandem-ic last year to compensate firms for

wages of idled workers. AutoSAP said production rose 2.9 percent year-on-year cumulatively in the January-September period to 831,653 cars.

“Already since August, production has been significantly affected by out-put curbs and the September statistic confirms the negative trend,” AutoSAP said.

The country’s biggest producer, Volkswagen’s Skoda Auto, has said it would significantly limit or shut pro-duction at its Czech plants from next week, possibly until the end of the year.

The car sector is the backbone of the highly industrialised Czech economy, employing 180,000 workers, and makes up a quarter of industrial output.

The car sector employs 180,000 workers in the country.

REUTERS

A liquified natural gas tanker leaves the dock after discharge at PetroChina’s receiving terminal in Dalian, Liaoning province, China.

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UK says will beef up lawmakers’ security

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSELEIGH-ON-SEA, OCT 17

Britain’s interior minister on Sunday said MPs’ security would be beefed up, after a lawmaker was stabbed to death as he held a public meeting with con-stituents, in the second such attack in five years.

Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, when he was killed on Friday.

The attack has spread fear among MPs, coming just over five years after the similar killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in the febrile run-up to the Brexit referendum.

Police have said they are investigat-ing “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”. The investiga-tion is being led by Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of security measures for lawmakers and told Sky News that “we need to close any gaps” in security provision for MPs, whose work includes regular meetings with constituents, called “surgeries”.

She said that police and parliamen-tary authorities were implementing “immediate changes and measures that are actively being put in place, and discussed with MPs”.

This includes MPs sharing informa-tion on their whereabouts with police. Close protection at surgeries was also “in consideration right now”, she added.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that uniformed police were guarding some surgeries following the attack, which prompted calls from some MPs for a pause in face-to-face meetings.

Police said late on Saturday that detectives had until Friday to question the suspected attacker after he was detained under the Terrorism Act, which allowed them to extend his detention.

He has not been charged.British media, citing unnamed offi-

cial sources, identified the suspect as Ali Harbi Ali.

Reports said he was a British national of Somali descent who had been referred to Prevent, the UK’s official counter-terrorist scheme for those thought to be at risk of radicali-sation.

Ali is believed not have spent long on the programme, which is volun-tary, and was never formally a “sub-ject of interest” to MI5, the domestic security agency, said the BBC.

The Prevent programme is current-ly under independent review.

“We want to ensure it (the Prevent programme) is fit for purpose, robust, doing the right thing, but importantly, learning lessons,” Patel told Sky News.

Detectives said they have been car-rying out searches at three addresses in the London area in a “fast-paced investigation”.

Police and security services believe the suspected attacker acted alone and was “self-radicalised”, The Sunday Times reported, while adding he may have been inspired by Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists

in Somalia.Ali’s father, named as Harbi Ali

Kullane and said to be a former advis-er to the prime minister of Somalia, confirmed to The Sunday Times that his son was in custody, adding: “I’m feeling very traumatised.”

Patel nevertheless stressed to the BBC that, “We have the best security and intelligence agencies in the world.”

The government stepped up securi-ty for MPs following the 2016 murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, 41, who was shot and stabbed outside her constitu-ency meeting near Leeds, northern England.

House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle in The Observer wrote that “we need to take stock” and review whether security measures introduced after Cox’s murder are “adequate to safeguard members, staff and constituents, especially during surgeries”.

Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP who tried to save a stabbed police officer during a 2017 terror attack near the Houses of Parliament, on Saturday urged a temporary pause in face-to-face meetings with constitu-ents, until the security review is complete.

The stabbing of veteran Conservative MP David Amess has spread fear among lawmakers, coming just over five years after the similar killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

Russia sees highest daily new Covid-19 case numberASSOCIATED PRESSMOSCOW, OCT 17

Russia is reporting its largest daily number of new coronavirus infections, more than 70 percent up on the number a month ago as the country faces a sustained rise in cases.

The national coronavirus task force on Sunday said 34,303 new infections were recorded in the previous day, compared with the 20,174 reported September 19.

The death toll of 999 was barely lower than the record 1,002 deaths reported on Saturday.

Russian authorities have tried to speed up the pace of vaccinations with lotteries, bonuses and other incentives, but widespread vaccine scepticism and conflicting signals from officials stymied the efforts. The government said this week that about 43 million Russians, or some 29 percent of the country’s nearly 146 million people, are fully vaccinated.

Despite the mounting toll, the Kremlin has ruled out a new nation-wide lockdown like the one early on in the pandemic that badly hurt the economy, eroding President Vladimir Putin’s popularity. Instead, it has delegated the power to enforce coronavirus restrictions to regional authorities.

Some of Russia’s 85 regions have restricted attendance at large public events and limited access to theatres, restaurants and other venues. However, daily life is going on largely as normal in Moscow, St Petersburg and many other Russian cities.

The highest concentrations of cases are mostly in comparatively urbanised western Russia and in the developed areas along the Pacific Coast such as Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, but the sparsely populat-ed Siberian region of Sakha and Chukotka in the extreme northeast also show high case rates of more than 150 infections per 100,000 people over a seven-day period.

Overall, the coronavirus task force has registered more than 7.99 million confirmed cases and 223,312 deaths — Europe’s highest death toll. The offi-cial record ranks Russia as having the fifth-most pandemic deaths in the world following the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.

‘Why can’t we study?’—Afghan girls still barred from school

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEKABUL, OCT 17

Afghan teenager Amena saw dozens of classmates killed when her girls’ school was targeted by an Islamic State bomb attack in May, but she was determined to continue her education.

Now, like most secondary school girls in the country, she is banned from lessons altogether after the Taliban’s hardline government excluded them from returning to class one month ago.

“I wanted to study, see my friends and have a bright future, but now I am not allowed,” 16-year-old Amena told AFP at her home in western Kabul.

“This situation makes me feel awful. Since the Taliban arrived, I am very sad and angry.”

On September 18, Afghanistan’s new Islamist rulers ordered male teachers and boys aged 13 and over back to secondary schools, picking up an academic year already cut short by violence and the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, there was no mention of women teachers or girl pupils.

The Taliban later said older girls can return to secondary schools, which were already mostly split by gender, but only once security and

stricter segregation under their inter-pretation of Islamic law could be ensured.

Reports have emerged of girls going back to a few high schools—such as in Kunduz province where the Taliban promoted the return with a stage-man-aged rally.

The de facto Taliban education min-ister told the UN children’s body that a framework to allow all girls to go to secondary school will be announced soon, a senior UNICEF executive said Friday.

But for now, the vast majority are barred from lessons across the coun-try of about 39 million people, includ-ing in the capital Kabul.

Primary schools, meanwhile, have reopened for all children and women can go to private universities, though with tough restrictions on their clothes and movement.

Amena lives just a short walk from her Sayed Al-Shuhada High School, where 85 people—mainly young girls—perished in the May bomb attack.

“Innocent girls were killed,” Amena said, her eyes welling up.

“I saw with my own eyes the dying and wounded girls.

“However, I still wanted to go to

school again.”Amena would be in Grade 10 study-

ing her favourite subjects such as biol-ogy, but instead is stuck inside with a handful of books doing “nothing spe-cial”.

The teenager said she dreamt of becoming a journalist, but now has “no hope in Afghanistan”.

Her siblings help her at home, and occasionally she gets lessons from a psychologist who comes to see her younger sister, still traumatised by the school attack.

“They say: ‘Study if you cannot go to school—study at home so that you may become someone in the future.’”

“My brother brings home story-books and I read them,” Amena said. “And I always watch the news.”

But she does not understand why boys are allowed to study and girls are not.

“Half of the society is made up of girls and the other half is made up of boys. There is no difference between them,” she said.

“Why can’t we study? Are we not part of society? Why should only boys have a future?”

After US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, progress was made in girls’ education.

The number of schools tripled and female literacy nearly doubled to 30 percent, but the change was largely limited to the cities.

“Afghan women have made great achievements in the past 20 years,” said Nasrin Hasani, a 21-year-old

teacher at a Kabul secondary school who now helps out with primary pupils.

But the current situation has “low-ered both our and the students’ morale”, she said, questioning the Taliban’s reasoning.

“As far as we all know, the religion of Islam has never hindered the edu-cation and work of women.”

Hasani said she has not experienced any direct threats from the Taliban.

But Amnesty International report-ed that one high school teacher received death threats and was sum-moned for prosecution because she used to teach co-educational sport.

Hasani said she was clinging to hope that the Taliban will be “a little different” from their brutal 1996-2001 regime, when women were not even allowed out of their homes unchaper-oned.

Born years after 2001, Zainab has no memories of that period and loved going to school until the Taliban direc-tive.

The 12-year-old was stuck looking out of the window with a “terrible feeling” last month when boys went back to school.

“It is quite obvious that things get worse day by day”, said Zainab, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. Her 16-year-old sister Malalay said tearfully that she had “feelings of despair and fear”.

“My rights are to go to school and university,” she said. “All my dreams and plans are now buried.”

ASEAN excludes Myanmar juntaREUTERSBANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, OCT 17

Southeast Asian countries will invite a non-political representative from Myanmar to a regional summit this month, delivering an unprecedented snub to the military leader who led a coup against an elected civilian government in February.

The decision taken by foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at an emergency meeting on Friday night was an unusually bold step for the consensus-driven bloc, which traditionally favours a policy of engagement and non-interference.

Brunei, ASEAN’s current chair, issued a statement citing a lack of progress made on a roadmap that the junta had agreed to with ASEAN in April to restore peace in Myanmar.

Singapore’s foreign ministry said on Saturday the move to exclude junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was a “diffi-cult, but necessary, decision to uphold ASEAN’s credibility”.

A spokesman for Myanmar’s military government blamed “foreign intervention” for the decision.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told the BBC Burmese news service that the United States and representatives of the European Union had pressured other ASEAN member states.

“The foreign interventions can also be seen here,” he said. “We learned that some envoys from some countries met with US foreign affairs and received pressure from EU.”

An official junta statement on Sunday morning said ASEAN’s deci-sion went against its longtime central principle of consensus.

“Myanmar is extremely disappoint-ed and strongly objected the outcomes of the Emergency Foreign Ministers’ Meeting as the discussions and deci-sion on Myanmar’s representation issue was done without consensus and was against the objectives of the ASEAN, the ASEAN Charter and its principles,” it said.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed by Myanmar security

forces with thousands of others arrested, according to the United Nations, amid a crackdown on strikes and protests which has derailed the country’s tentative democracy and prompted international condemna-tion.

The junta says those estimates of the death toll are exaggerated.

ASEAN chair Brunei said a non-political figure from Myanmar would be invited to the October 26-28 summit, after no consensus was reached for a political representative to attend.

“As there had been insufficient progress... as well as concerns over Myanmar’s commitment, in par-ticular on establishing constructive dialogue among all concerned parties, some ASEAN Member States recom-mended that ASEAN give space to Myanmar to restore its internal affairs and return to normalcy,” Brunei said in a statement.

It did not mention Min Aung Hlaing or name who would be invited in his stead.

Junta spokesperson says the US and the EU pressured other ASEAN member states.

After US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, the number of schools tripled and female literacy nearly doubled to 30 percent.

Tibet activists arrested in Greece ATHENS: Tibet activists on Sunday staged a brief protest at the Acropolis in Athens against the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, ahead of the Lighting Ceremony in Ancient Olympia on Monday. Three activists, according to the Greek police, two women and one man, were arrested. The activists waved the Tibetan flag and Hong Kong’s revolution flag atop the historic monument, chanting “Boycott Beijing 2022” and “Free Tibet”, “just 48 hours before the Olympic Torch will be handed to Beijing in the very same place”, according to a statement from the New York-based organisation Students for a Free Tibet.

Heavy rains, landslides leave 18 dead in south IndiaNEW DELHI: At least 18 people have died a day after torrential rains swept through villages and flooded roads in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Officials said rescuers recovered the bodies in two of the worst-hit dis-tricts, Kottayam and Idukki, where the heavy downpours triggered mas-sive landslides. The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Army deployed teams to help with rescue efforts as several are still feared to be missing. On Saturday, when the heavy rains began, television showed people wading through chest-deep waters to rescue passengers from a bus that was nearly submerged.

17 missionaries abducted in Haiti, US religious group saysSAN JUAN: A group of 17 missionaries including children was kidnapped by a gang in Haiti on Saturday, accord-ing to a voice message sent to various religious missions by an organisation with direct knowledge of the inci-dent. The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphan-age, according to a message from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. “This is a special prayer alert,” the one-minute message said. “Pray that the gang members would come to repentance.” The message says the mission’s field director is working with the US Embassy, and that the field director’s family and one other unidentified man stayed at the minis-try’s base while everyone else visited the orphanage. (AGENCIES)

AFP/RSS

A photograph of Conservative British lawmaker David Amess is seen amid floral tributes left at the scene of the fatal stabbing of Amess, at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, a district of Southend-on-Sea, in southeast England on Saturday.

AP/RSS

A woman visits a market place with floral decoration in Lahore on Sunday ahead of the celebrations for Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, which is the birthday of Prophet Mohammad.

AFP/RSS

A girl at her house as she is banned from lessons after the Taliban’s hardline government excluded them from returning to class one month ago, in Kabul.

Police say thew suspected attacker acted alone and was ‘self-radicalised’.

C M Y K

Photo Courtesy: ANFA

Team members and officials of the Nepali national football team after the final of SAFF Championship at the National Stadium in Male, Maldives, on Saturday.

07 | MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

SpORTS | MEDlEY

YESTERDAY’S SOluTiON

CROSSwORD

HOROSCOpE

SuDOku

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19) ****Life encourages you to locate your dream and pursue it fearlessly. Monday’s skies deliver a dose of clarity and momentum to your deeply reviewed career plans. The alignment helps you take action on the big picture plan work-wise.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18) ****

The universe has encouraged you to deconstruct some of the self-created misconceptions. Monday’s skies offers mental clarity towards big-picture philos-ophies, educational pursuits, travel plans and a fear-less desire for self-expansion.

PISCES (February 19-March 20) ***The universe has been tough on you lately. You’ve been digging through unconscious elements of your psyche and trying to unpack relationship issues that needed addressing. Monday’s skies offers fresh insights and momentum in these areas.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) *****Monday’s skies pump you full of optimism and insight. Lean into that larger than life feeling! This alignment supplies you with uplifted moods, grand visions, and clarity towards future goals, especially those concerning collaborative efforts.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ***

You’ve been dedicating heaps of time and energy to your current work and health circumstance. Today’s skies bring some welcome clarity to these arenas. The day helps you take decisive action towards your highest ambitions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) ****

The pieces are falling into place. Monday’s skies may have you feeling momentarily stalled as you glance between past and future stories concerning your creative and romantic life. Today, apply high energy initiative towards big plans.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) ***The universe has had you expending extra energy towards figuring out your home and family situation in recent weeks. Monday’s skies bring uplifting news to this arena. It’s an ideal day to sign onto joint plans or commitments.

LEO (July 23-August 22) ****

Let yourself seek unity with your heart and soul today too. Today’s alignment helps bring clarity to your communication style, sibling relationships, and educational endeavors. It’s an ideal day to embark on joint endeavors in relationships.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) ***Things are slowly beginning to make sense. Monday’s skies can have you feeling momentarily paused as you sense a need to change direction in your person-al life as well- especially around financial matters and self-confidence issues.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22) *****Today’s alignment helps deliver a dose of momen-tum and understanding around your forward direc-tion, especially around issues concerning health and independence. The day offers heaps of confidence and charisma on the romance front.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21) ****

You’re no stranger to digging through buried emo-tional relics of your past. Monday’s skies offers illu-minating insights and provides faith in your forward movement. It helps you soak up positive moods and take action on home-based projects.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21) ****It’s been hard to tell who’s a friend from foe in recent weeks. Monday’s skies return a sense of clarity and momentum to this aspect and your plans in your career front. The day provides energy, motivation, and action-taking drive.

Nepal move a step closer in SAFF ambition

HIMESH BAJRACHARYAMALE, Oct 17

Nepal produced their best ever run in the SAFF Championship despite los-ing 3-0 against India in the title decid-er of the sub-continental football tour-nament in Male on Saturday.

Nepal broke the semi-final jinx entering the final for the first time in 28 years and instilled a new hope to the football fraternity. However, India once again proved that they were the best and the team to beat in the sub-continent.

While it was a record eighth title among 13 editions of the games for India, Nepal reached the final for the first time since the game’s inception in 1993. The South Asian giants India, though, made a sluggish start playing 1-1 and 0-0 draws against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka respectively in the group stage, they bounced back in the last two games with 1-0 win over Nepal and 3-1 over hosts Maldives to book a place in the final.

The team delivered when they were under a must-win pressure. They would have crashed out from the group stage had they lost any one of the group stage matches against Nepal or the Maldives. But they showed their class and proved they were level apart from other sides.

In the past couple of decades, India have made huge investments in foot-ball and this has been reflected on the pitch. India’s assistant coach

Sanmugham Venkatesh pointed out Indian football was heading in the right direction. The South Asian giants have been eying higher level in Asian football and they made it to the finals of the AFC Asian Cup in 2011 and 2019 editions.

Nepal, meanwhile, lost twice against India in the SAFF -- 1-0 in the group stage and 3-0 in the final. En route to the final, they edged Maldives 1-0 in their opening match, beat Sri Lanka 3-2 before losing to India and playing 1-1 draw against Bangladesh in their group matches.

Among four matches played against India in the last two months, they won three and one match finished in a draw. Looking from Nepal’s perspec-tive, India are really tough opponents for Nepal and the traditional approach that Nepal always play better against India, they always put up a tough fight will take Nepali football nowhere, says football expert and league committee coordinator Sanjiv Mishra.

“India exhibited that they were level apart from the rest of the teams in the South Asian region. The suc-cess and statistics itself speak about that. Although they failed to live up to expectations in the first two matches they proved they were the best in the region,” said Mishra.

He also points out that the outcome of the game could herald a new begin-ning for Nepali football. “The tag of incessant failure would be removed from the games since Nepal achieved

what they had never done before,” said Mishra. “This would instill new confidence and hope and is proof that Nepali football was heading in the right direction.”

The Almutairi factorNepal’s vibrant Kuwaiti head coach Abdullah Almutairi needs to be given a decent credit for the team’s rise along with the All Nepal Football Association management.

Almutairi not only made drastic changes in the national squad intro-ducing half a dozen young and new faces. He axed 13 players who were in the previous national squad before he took the charge. Some of the new faces including Ayush Ghalan and Manish Dangi among others paid off the faith.

He should also be credited for instilling confidence, uniting the team and giving a message that no one was star in the team. In fact, none of the players’ positions were cemented in the starting lineup which increased competition among the players for place in the team. The Kuwaiti rotated the squad in all games.

India captain Sunil Chhetri’s state-ment on the All India Football Federation website ahead of the final could be enough to shed light on Nepal’s team effort and unity. “They (Nepal) may not have an extraordi-nary player in their ranks like Ali Ashfaq. But as far as attacking and defending are concerned, they do it as a team. They have been the best team

that plays as a team in this Championship – they fight as a team,” he said.

After entering the final, he announced that the final against India would be his last match in charge of the Nepali team and that he would never come again. In fact, it was the third time he had announced his resig-nation -- with the first two coming via his Facebook posts.

“As an individual, he has every right to quit the job. But the question that arises is whether it was the right time to make such announcements,” said former national midfielder Bhola Silwal. “Should not he have waited until his side played their most crucial match of history. Did not such an announcement make a psychological impact on the team.”

Before heading for the SAFF, ANFA had arranged for some good and lengthy preparations at home and abroad training to prepare the team for the tournament. ANFA had arranged for a two-week training camp in Qatar, where they also played a couple of friendlies. They also played two friendlies against India at the Dasharath Stadium in September before heading for Qatar.

“Making it to the final of the SAFF Championship itself is an achieve-ment. The players, coach and the ANFA management have worked real-ly hard for this. Nepal must carry on the momentum for the qualitative growth of the game,” added Silwal.

Nepal break the semi-final jinx to enter the tournament final in 28 years and instill a new hope in the football fraternity.

Leicester stun Man United, Liverpool thrash Watford

AgEnCE FRAnCE-PRESSEMANcHEStER, Oct 17

Manchester United succumbed to a first away league defeat for 30 games by losing 4-2 at Leicester as Liverpool thrashed Watford 5-0 on Saturday. Chelsea remain on top of the Premier League after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Brentford, while Manchester City eased to a 2-0 victory over Burnley.

The top three are separated by just two points, but the expected title chal-lenge from United after a summer of heavy investment is not materialising to increase the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United have taken just one point from a possible nine and face Liverpool, Tottenham and City in their next three league games. Mason Greenwood’s spectacular strike put the visitors in front against the run of play at the King Power, but were quickly pegged back by Youri Tielemans’ dinked finish beyond David de Gea.

A flurry of four goals in the final 12 minutes then condemned Solskjaer’s men to a first defeat on the road since January 2020. Caglar Soyuncu put Leicester in front before Marcus Rashford equalised on his first appearance of the season after shoul-der surgery.

Straight from kick-off, United’s leaky defence was breached once more as Jamie Vardy smashed home and Patson Daka’s first Leicester goal in stoppage time sealed a much-needed win for Brendan Rodgers’ men.

“We need to look at the whole set-up and balance of the team and maybe something has to give,” said Solskjaer. “Lately, we have not been in great form, we’ve lost too many points and that is something we have to look at.”

Roberto Firmino scored his first hat-trick since 2018 as Liverpool ran

riot at Vicarage Road in Claudio Ranieri’s first match as Watford boss. But it was Mohamed Salah who again took most of the plaudits for another stunning solo goal to take his tally for the season to 10 in as many games.

“In this moment it is clear that there is no one better than him,” said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp of the Egyptian.

Salah helped open the floodgates with a defence-splitting pass that teed up Sadio Mane to score his 100th Premier League goal. Firmino tapped home his first goal from James Milner’s cross before half-time and took advantage of another open goal after Ben Foster parried Craig Cathcart’s attempted clearance.

Salah left four Manchester City defenders trailing to score in a thrill-ing 2-2 draw before the international break and pulled off a similar feat before curling into the far corner. Firmino then completed the rout in stoppage time.

City did not need to hit top gear to see off Burnley at the Etihad as Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne were on target either side of half-time for Pep Guardiola’s men.

Chelsea needed a series of miracu-lous saves from Edouard Mendy to ensure they were not the latest giants to be stung by newly-promoted Brentford. Ben Chilwell’s goal in first-half stoppage time earned victory for the European champions as they with-stood a late Brentford barrage thanks to their Senegalese stopper.

Wolves produced a miraculous comeback from 2-0 down with 10 min-utes remaining to win 3-2 at Aston Villa. Danny Ings and John McGinn had put the hosts in a commanding position at Villa Park. But Romain Saiss, Conor Coady and Ruben Neves handed Bruno Lage’s men a dramatic three points.

Late second half goals condemn Ole Gunner Solskjaer side 4-2 defeat while Firmino hat-trick gives Reds 5-0 victory.

AP/rss

Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino (left) celebrates after scoring a goal against Watford on Saturday.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021 | 08

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Russian crew return to Earth after filming the first movie in space

Evan GERSHKOvICHMOSCOW

A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spend-ing 12 days on the International Space

Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.

Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan’s steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency.

“The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!” Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted.

The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month, travelling to the ISS with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to film scenes for “The Challenge”.

If the project stays on track, the Russian crew will beat a Hollywood project announced last year by “Mission Impossible” star Tom Cruise together with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The movie’s plot, which has been

mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, centres around a surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut.

The mission was not without small hitches.

As the film crew docked at the ISS earlier this month, Shkaplerov had to switch to manual control.

And when Russian flight con-trollers on Friday conducted a test on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft the ship’s thruster fired unexpectedly and destabilised the ISS for 30 minutes, a NASA spokesman told the Russian news agency TASS.

But the spokesman confirmed their departure would go ahead as scheduled.

Their landing, which was docu-mented by a film crew, will also feature in the movie, Konstantin Ernst, the head of the Kremlin-friendly Channel One TV network and a co-producer of “The Challenge”, told AFP.

The mission will add to a long list of firsts for Russia’s space industry.

The Soviets launched the first satellite Sputnik and sent into orbit the first animal, a dog named Laika, the first man, Yuri Gagarin and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova.

But compared with the Soviet

era, modern Russia has struggled to innovate and its space industry is fighting to secure state funding with the Kremlin prioritising mil-itary spending.

Its space agency is still reliant on Soviet-designed technology and has faced a number of setbacks, including corruption scandals and botched launches.

Russia is also falling behind in the global space race, facing tough competition from the United States and China, with Beijing showing growing ambitions in the industry.

Russia’s Roscosmos was also dealt a blow after SpaceX last year successfully delivered astronauts to the ISS, ending Moscow’s monopoly for journeys to the orbital station.

In a bid to spruce up its image and diversify its revenue, Russia’s space programme revealed this year that it will be reviving its tourism plan to ferry fee-paying adventurers to the ISS.

After a decade-long pause, Russia will send two Japanese tourists—including billionaire Yusaku Maezawa—to the ISS in December, capping a year that has been a milestone for amateur space travel.

— Agence France-Presse

Free speech or hate speech? Netflix in LGBTQ storm

andREw MaRSZaLLOS ANGELES

N

etflix has been plunged into America’s culture wars by a Dave Chappelle comedy special that raises

concerns about free speech and censorship but has been slammed by its own employees as transpho-bic.

In “The Closer,” boundary-push-ing mega-star Chappelle responds to critics who have accused him of mocking transgender people in the past by asserting that “gender is a fact” and accusing LGBTQ people of being “too sensitive.”

“In our country, you can shoot and kill” a Black man, “but you’d better not hurt a gay person’s feel-ings,” says the stand-up comic, who is Black.

While the show has been con-demned by LGBTQ groups—including GLAAD, which cited studies linking stereotypes about minorities to real-world harm—Netflix has so far stood firm, insisting the show will not be taken down.

But the streaming giant finds itself trapped at the centre of arguably its most intense contro-versy yet.

And the affair raises broader questions about acceptable speech—and the role of entertain-

ment giants such as Netflix in policing it.

“Netflix is no longer a little com-pany that mails out DVDs, it’s a vast maker of content that last year spent something like $17 bil-lion,” said Stephen Galloway, film and media arts dean at California-based Chapman University. “This is [Netflix’s] first really visible test case. And they stuck their flag in the grounds of free speech versus limiting speech,” he added.

‘Head-to-head’In “The Closer,” Chappelle describes a US rapper who “punched the LGBTQ community right in the AIDS,” compares trans women to the use of Blackface, and jokes about threat-ening to kill a woman and stash her body in his car.

In a leaked memo, content chief Ted Sarandos wrote that “content on screen doesn’t directly trans-late to real-world harm,” and so the principle of free speech out-weighs any offence taken—includ-ing by its own employees.

Still, a group of Netflix employ-ees plans to walk out this week over their bosses’ handling of the furore, while one worker was fired for leaking internal data about Chappelle’s high fee.

“We understand this employee may have been motivated by disap-pointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust

and transparency is core to our company,” Netflix said in a state-ment to AFP.

Sarandos also sought to defend Chappelle’s presence on Netflix by pointing to other performers it features such as Hannah Gadsby, whose acclaimed “Nanette” spe-cial recounted her horrific experi-ences of homophobic violence as a lesbian woman.

That earned him an exple-tive-laden response from Gadsby on Instagram, who labelled Netflix an “amoral algorithm cult.” “You’re seeing the Netflix leader-ship going head-to-head with some of their employees,” said Galloway.

“When does Ryan Murphy say this is unacceptable?” he asked, referring to the creator of LGBTQ-themed smash hits such as “Pose” who is on a reported $300 million deal to make shows for Netflix.

‘Earthquake’Chappelle’s case is more complicat-ed still because, while he is accused of hounding one vulnerable minor-ity, the comic repeatedly points out during the show that he is speak-ing as a member of another.

“The special draws its energy from one of the hottest debates in popular culture, about competing claims to victimhood,” wrote Helen Lewis in The Atlantic.

There are parallels with the uproar sparked by “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling last year, when she asserted the reality of biologi-cal sex, which many deemed to be transphobic.While Rowling spoke about the importance of protect-ing the safety of girls and women, Chappelle discusses his experienc-es as a Black man.

He argues that white gay people “are minorities until they need to be white again,” and that LGBTQ communities have made progress in a few years that Black people have not enjoyed in decades.

“There are multiple fault lines here,” said Galloway. “Anyone could split open and create an earthquake.”

— Agence France-Presse

The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month to film scenes for ‘The Challenge’.While the Dave Chappelle comedy special has been condemned by LGBTQ

groups, Netflix has so far stood firm, insisting the show will not be taken down.

AP/R

SS

AP/RSS

Actor Yulia Peresild sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-18 space capsule on Sunday.