Britain’s Got Talent’ almost certain to be put off until 2022

KATHMANDU: It is likely that the popular reality TV show Britain’s Got Talent’, responsible for bringing fame to many, will be postponed until 2022 amid the incumbent COVID-19 restrictions in the UK.

As opposed to the earlier announcement of scheduling the ITV show to later this year, Thames TV and Syco –Simon Cowell’s company– have decided to air the program in 2022, owing to the difficulties of the closures and restriction inflicted by the looming pandemic.

Although many individuals will have received the currently circulating COVID-19 vaccine shots by the summer, it is uncertain whether the production team can start working as strict regulations on mass gathering, travel is under implementation.

However, a source was quoted as saying in the Dailymail that nothing can be ruled out just yet, but it’s not looking good. “It’s almost certain to be binned.”

The acknowledgement and popularity of the Television program that provides a platform to artists for showcasing their many talents have been on the decline with 37 per cent year-on-year drop in audience numbers as claimed by Campaign Live.

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Covid-19 vaccination drive all set to begin in Nepal from tomorrow

KATHMANDU: The Government of Nepal is all set to start its Covid-19 vaccination campaign from Wednesday, January 27. As per the Ministry of Health’s vaccination roll-out plan, foremost in line to receive the vaccines are frontline workers.

Health workers and staffers, security personnel, ambulance drivers, sanitation workers, persons involved in management of bodies of the infected persons, health volunteers, among other frontline workers would be vaccinated in the first phase.

The India manufactured Covishield, one million doses of which have been provided to Nepal by India in aid, is being administered by the government on the aforementioned group. Covishield is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which is manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India.

Around 430,000 people will receive the vaccine during first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Nepal, which will last for about ten days. Vaccines have started reaching the seven provinces of the country.

Over 35,000 people including 34,851 health workers and staffers, women health volunteers of government, and private hospitals under Province 1 would be administered the Covid-19 vaccine.

Likewise, the doses of vaccine have reached Karnali Province. More than 11,500 doses — which were stored in Nepalgunj — were taken to Surkhet of Karnali Province on Monday. According to Provincial Health Services Directorate, the vaccines would be administered by converting 12 hospitals of Karnali into vaccination centres.

Likewise, Province 2 government — that has received 34,000 doses of the vaccine — will begin the vaccination drive in all eight districts from Wednesday. Chief Minister Lal Babu Raut will inaugurate the campaign at Birgunj-based Narayani Hospital, Provincial Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Gyanendra Kumar Yadav will do the same at Provincial Hospital in Janakpurdham, and Minister of Social Development Nawal Kishor Sah at Rajbiraj-based Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital.

With the completion of first phase of the drive, the government will move forward to the second phase, the details of which Ministry of Health is yet to make public.

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Agitating Indian farmers enter capital in a massive tractor rally on Republic Day

KATHMANDU: Thousands of Indian farmers protesting against the controversial agricultural reforms entered the Indian capital to participate in the massive rally, coinciding with Republic Day of the biggest democracy in the world, on Tuesday.

A clash ensued with between the protesting farmers and police as the latter fired tear gas shells to restrain the convoy of tractors that breached the barricades and attempted to enter the inner parts of the city.

Picture courtesy: @SikhProf/twitter

Indian farmers have been protesting against the government for almost two months, posing one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.

“Modi will hear us now, he will have to hear us now,” said Sukhdev Singh, 55 to Reuters, a farmer from the northern breadbasket state of Punjab, as he marched past the barricades.

Agriculture employs about half of India’s population of 1.3 billion, and unrest among an estimated 150 million landowning farmers worries the government.

“They could have chosen any other day instead of January 26 but they have announced now,” Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told media on Monday.

Nine rounds of talks with farmers’ unions have failed to end the protests, as farm leaders rejected the government’s offer to delay the laws for 18 months, making a push for repeal instead.

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Voting booths, centres recommended in Banke

NEPALGUNJ, JANUARY 25

Election related activities have started in Banke.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had announced the dates for midterm polls following the dissolution of the House of Representatives on December 20. Mid-term polls have been slated for April 30 and May 10.

Considering the upcoming polls, election related activities have started in the district. District Election Office, Banke, had organised district-based interaction programme to prepare for elections a week ago.

The participants discussed rectification of the voter list. District voting booth and centre recommendation committee held the meeting as per the election office schedule.

Voting booths and centres have been allocated in all eight local levels of the district. The committee voting booths and centres have been allocated as per the population and geographical location.

Banke Chief Election Officer Khum Prasad Subedi said as many as 138 voting centres had been recommended.

He said that 365 voting centres have been recommended in all local levels in Banke.

As many as 34 voting booths and 87 centres have been recommended in Nepalgunj sub-metropolis and 12 voting booths and 24 centres have been fixed in Narainapur Rural Municipality.

Similarly, as many as 18 voting booths and 58 centres have been fixed in Kohalpur Municipality, and 16 voting booths and 50 centres in Baijanath Rural Municipality.

Similarly, 18 voting booths and 51 centres have been recommended in Raptisonari Rural Municipality, 16 voting booths and 39 centres in Khajura, 12 booths and 36 centres in Janaki Rural Municipality.

 

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Suicide cases on the rise in Dhading

DHADING, JANUARY 25

Suicide cases are rising in Dhading.

As many as 79 people committed suicide in the last six months of the current fiscal year in the district. Of them, 64 hanged themselves, 13 consumed poison, one slit his own throat and one jumped into a river.

The district had recorded 71 suicide cases last fiscal, while that number stood at 60 the previous year. Data at Dhading District Police Office showed that 94 people had consumed poison. The district is also witnessing a rise in crime and criminal incidents.

As many as 252 cases, including drug trafficking, murder and polygamy, have been filed with the district police office in the past six months of the current fiscal.

According to Dhading SP Mahendra Khadka, out of 1,159 incidents, murder, suicide and road accidents top the list. Data showed that cases of rape, suicide, human trafficking, drugs, attempt to murder and gambling were high. Nineteen rape cases were registered with the police office in the past six months. The number is higher than that of the same period last year.

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NTB provincial projects begin

KATHMANDU, JANUARY 25

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has started province-based destination promotion activities. Organising an event today, NTB has started a campaign named ‘Let’s go to Province 1’ in order to promote domestic tourism in Province 1.

The board has stated that the business-to-business (B2B) discussions are being conducted in the international market as well since the board is setting this trend in domestic market. For which, the board has expanded its working areas within the country for recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, NTB stated.

Dhananjay Regmi, chief executive officer of NTB, said that the campaign has started with the objective of promoting B2B in the Nepali market at the provincial level. “Under this campaign, tourism promotion for domestic tourists is expected to gain momentum in collaboration with the private sector,” he said, adding, “New trends need to be implemented now in the Nepali tourism industry.”

The board has also informed that the campaign has been started from Janakpur. According to the board, one-on-one discussions will be held between the tourism entrepreneurs of Janakpur, Chitwan, Pokhara, Lumbini and Palpa under this campaign.

The B2B programme will be held in Janakpur, Chitwan, Pokhara and Palpa and will be completed in Lumbini on January 30.

According to the board, NTB official Prem Prasad Bhattarai; Bhavish Kumar Shrestha, coordinator of internal tourism revival and promotion campaign; Uday Kumar Shrestha, president of Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents (NATTA) Province 1; Basudev Baral, co-coordinator of the campaign; Rajan Shrestha, hotelier of Biratnagar; Navin Kharel, general secretary of NATTA; Rishi Timsina, president of Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others are participating in this campaign.

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South Africa win toss, elect to bat against Pakistan in Karachi test

KATHMANDU: South Africa captain Quinton de Kock won the toss and opted to bat in the first test in the ongoing series against Pakistan in Karachi, on Tuesday.

The two-match series marks South Africa’s first test in Pakistan since 2007.

Skipper Babar Azam will lead the team for the first time in the long format of the game after he was ruled out of New Zealand series due to injury.

Pakistan has handed debuts to opening batsman Imran Butt and spinner Nauman Ali.

Earlier, international teams had opted not to tour Pakistan owing to security concerns.

However, with the improvement in the security situations in the country, international cricket has gradually returned to Pakistan after more than 14 years, bringing much needed cheer to domestic fans.

 

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