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☆ Nepali sherpa sets Everest record with 27th ascent
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Nepali mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa waves upon his arrival after climbing Mount Everest for the 24th time in 2019, setting a record for the most summits of the world's highest mountain, in... Read moreKATHMANDU, May 17 (Reuters) - A Nepali sherpa scaled Mount Everest for a record 27th time on Wednesday, beating his own record, a government official and his hiking company said. Kami Rita Sherpa, 53, scaled the 8,849 metre (29,032-foot) mountain early in the morning along the traditional southeast ridge route, guiding a foreign climber. "Yes, Kami Rita climbed Sagarmatha for the 27th time," said Department of Tourism official Bigyan Koirala, referring to the mountain by its Nepali name. For now it's 100% confirmed that Kami Rita scaled for the 27th time,” Guragai said. Climbing contributed $5.8 million to state coffers this year, $5 million of it from Mount Everest, according to government data.

☆ Nepali sherpa becomes world’s second person to scale Everest 26 times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, May 14 (Reuters) - A Nepali sherpa guide climbed Mount Everest for the 26th time on Sunday, hiking officials said, becoming the world’s second person to achieve the feat. Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, stood atop the 8,849-m (29,032-ft) peak, sharing the record number of summits with Kami Rita Sherpa, said Bigyan Koirala, a government tourism official. Kami Rita, who is also climbing on Everest now, could set another record if he makes it to the top. "They are descending from the top now and are in good shape," the official, Dawa Futi Sherpa, told Reuters. Kiani, a 37-year-old banker based in Dubai, had climbed four of the world's 14 highest mountains before Everest, the Himalayan Times newspaper said.

☆ 'Death zone' queues feared on Everest as Nepal grants record climbing permits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A general view of the Everest base camp taken from a drone, in Nepal April 24, 2023. So far, Nepal has handed out a record 463 permits to climb Everest between March and May, beating 2021's 409. Climbing is a key earner for the poor country, where about 500,000 people are employed in tourism, including climbing, and the number of permits has been rising steadily. So far this year, Nepal has granted permits to 1,046 climbers for 24 peaks, earning the government $5.6 million, of which $5 million came from Everest alone. He said the government was considering introducing a requirement for climbers to scale at least one 6,000-metre peak in Nepal before attempting Everest.

☆ Ten-time Everest climber dies after scaling Annapurna peak in Nepal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Noel Hanna, who had climbed Mount Everest 10 times, scaled the 8,091 metres (26,545 feet) Annapurna peak in west Nepal on Monday and died overnight in Camp IV after descending from the peak. He said an Indian climber, who fell into a crevasse on the lower reaches of Annapurna, has been missing since Monday. Two other Indian mountaineers, who were caught up in bad weather while climbing Annapurna, were being rescued, hiking company officials said. Annapurna peak in west Nepal, first climbed by Maurice Herzog of France in the early 1950s, is considered dangerous because of the risk of frequent avalanches. At least 365 people have climbed Annapurna and more than 72 have died on the mountain, according to hiking officials.

☆ Sterling is the best performing G10 currency this year, and strategists remain cautiously optimistic
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The City of London is a blend of old and new, with St Paul's Cathedral close to skyscrapers as well as Roman ruins. Shomos Uddin | Moment | Getty ImagesLONDON — The British pound is the best performing G-10 (Group of Ten) currency of 2023, and some strategists believe the pound's rally can continue over the medium term. The currency has rebounded spectacularly from the record lows seen in September, after former Prime Minister Liz Truss' disastrous "mini-budget." Outlooks from the major economic forecasters have now been upgraded, with the OBR no longer projecting a technical recession — defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth — in 2023. The market is pricing around a 63% chance of a further quarter-point hike at the Bank's May meeting.

☆ Nepal’s Dahal set to face parliamentary confidence vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, March 20 (Reuters) - Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was set to face a vote of confidence in parliament on Monday after his old coalition allies pulled out of the government over the choice of a new president, one of his aides said. Paudel has since been elected as the third president of the republic of 30 million people nestled between China and India. It is mandatory for the prime minister to face a vote of confidence in parliament after any ally withdraws support. Manahari Timilsina, an aide to Dahal, said the leader had the support of 10 groups and was expected to win the vote in the 275-member parliament. Nepal has had 11 governments since it abolished its 239-year-old monarchy in 2008 and became a republic.

☆ Nepal seeks easier trade access to Chinese markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Beijing accounts for 14% of Nepal's international trade while India holds nearly two-thirds of it, trade officials said. Beijing will also help Nepal construct a trans-Himalayan railway network linking Kathmandu with the Tibet region of China. He had requested China to give access to "some 512 tradable Nepali products" to the country's duty-free and quota-free market, he said. "Trade is the engine of growth and our future prosperity lies in our capacity to produce and trade more," Dahal added. China allows duty and quota free entry to 8,030 items from least-developed countries including Nepal, officials said.

☆ U.S. seeks closer India tech ties; no China "decoupling"- U.S. commerce secretary
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Shivangi Acharya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, March 10 (Reuters) - India could become a key supplier of electronic parts and hardware for the United States, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Friday, adding that Washington was not seeking a "technological decoupling" from China. "We want to deepen our technology relationship with India," she said after both countries signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the semiconductor sector. India has been seeking to attract more investment in the chipmaking and display sector under a $10 billion incentive plan. She also said she would announce a number of "substantial investments" by U.S. firms in India, without giving any details. Reporting by Shivangi Achary; writing by Miral Fahmy; editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Communist rift plunges Nepal's ruling coalition into crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Splits within Nepal's communist-dominated ruling coalition plunged the Himalayan nation into crisis on Monday as a Marxist-Leninist party said it would withdraw support after the Maoist prime minister backed an opposition candidate for the presidency. Current prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former Maoist guerrilla leader in the mountainous nation sandwiched between China and India, has held the post three times. Last week, Prachanda infuriated the UML by pledging support for the opposition Nepali Congress party's presidential candidate, Ram Chandra Paudel. Prachanda had earlier agreed to support a UML candidate for the presidency, according to politicians in the coalition. Four ministers, including a deputy prime minister from another party, also quit the government over the weekend due to the same issue.

☆ Nepal's ruling coalition in turmoil as deputy PM and 3 other ministers quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Nepal's ruling coalition was in turmoil on Saturday after the prime minister said he planned to support a presidential candidate from an opposition party, a decision that prompted the deputy prime minister and three other ministers to resign. But they said the turmoil could lead a new coalition being formed. He did not give a reason for his decision, though the Nepali Congress party is a former ally of Prachanda's Maoist Centre party. On Saturday, Rajendra Lingden, the deputy prime minister who was also minister for energy, water resources and irrigation, resigned in protest, along with the ministers for urban development and legal matters, while a junior minister assisting Lingden also quit. Prachanda's office confirmed the four ministers had resigned but did not say whether the resignations had been accepted.

☆ India tax officers search BBC offices weeks after critical Modi documentary
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A police officer (L) stands near the reception desk of the building where Indian tax authorities raided BBC's office in New Delhi on Feb. 14, 2023. The BBC has stood by its reporting for the documentary and said it was cooperating with Indian tax officials. "The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. A survey conducted by the Income Tax Department allows officials to collect any information which it deems useful. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Indian institutions worked independently and the tax department was "within the law in looking into tax compliance."

☆ India, soon world's most populous nation, doesn't know how many people it has
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Students come out after appearing in the Bihar Board class 10th examination at Bankipur Girl's High School on Feb. 14, 2023 in Patna, India. Santosh Kumar | Hindustan Times | Getty ImagesIn two months, India is projected to become the world's most populous country with over 1.4 billion people. "In the absence of latest census data, the estimations are based on data that is one decade old and is likely to provide estimates that are far from reality," Sharma said. The office of the Registrar General of India, which is responsible for the census, did not respond to a request for comment. Teachers' travailsThe United Nations has projected India's population could touch 1,425,775,850 on April 14, overtaking China on that day.

☆ Pilot of crashed Nepal plane reported no power in engines -preliminary report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The pilot of a Yeti Airlines plane which crashed in Nepal killing 71 people said before the crash there was no power from the aircraft's engines, a preliminary investigation report said on Wednesday. The plane crashed just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhra on Jan. 15 in one of Nepal's worst airplane accidents in 30 years. There were 72 passengers on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines, including two infants, four crew members and 10 foreign nationals. The report said the pilot flying the aircraft handed over the control to the pilot monitoring before it crashed. The information in the preliminary report may change as the investigation progresses, it said.

NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s enormous popularity remains intact despite the biggest political attack on him in years as rivals accuse his government of giving undue favours to the Adani Group, approval ratings showed on Friday. Without referring to Adani, Modi told parliament this week that the "blessings of 1.4 billion people in the country are my protective cover and you can't destroy it with lies and abuses", as opposition lawmakers chanted "Adani, Adani". Data from polling agency C-Voter, shared with Reuters, seems to suggest support for the prime minister has not waned, although the survey did not refer to the Adani issue. Almost half of those surveyed until Feb. 5 were "very much satisfied" with Modi’s work as prime minister and a further 30% said they were "satisfied to some extent". Rivals accuse Modi and the BJP of longstanding ties with the apples-to-airports Adani Group, going back nearly two decades when Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat.

☆ Nepal deputy PM loses job after top court rules his ID invalid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Nepal's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that deputy prime minister Rabi Lamichhane had stood for election with invalid citizenship papers, annulling his status as a lawmaker and effectively removing him from office. Lamichhane became deputy prime minister for home affairs - heading the ministry that oversees identity cards - in a seven-party alliance that took power last month. In its ruling on Friday, a five-member constitutional bench of the top court said the 48-year-old had contested November elections on an invalid citizenship certificate after abandoning his U.S. citizenship. "He loses his ministerial position and there will be a by-election in his constituency," Lamichhane’s lawyer Sunil Pokhrel told Reuters. Pokhrel said Lamichhane will now seek to get a regular citizenship card and contest the by-election from the same constituency in south Nepal.

☆ Despite India's economic growth, few jobs and meagre pay for urban youth
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

He has since remained unemployed, unable to pay back a 100,000 rupee ($1,224) loan he took to buy a two-wheeler scooter. The rising unemployment in India belies other indicators suggesting the economy is undergoing a healthy rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the surge in people looking for work, many of them rural migrants, raises concerns about consumption and longer term growth prospects. The urban unemployment rate swelled to 10.1% in December, although the total number of jobs in India touched a pre-pandemic level of 410 million, data compiled by Mumbai-based think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. Urban unemployment spiked during the pandemic years, largely because of lockdowns, but before that it hovered between 6%-7%, according to CMIE data.

☆ No hope of any survivors in Nepal's deadliest crash in 30 years, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Family members mourn the death of a victim of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft, in Pokhara, Nepal January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Rohit GiriKATHMANDU, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Officials in Nepal said on Wednesday there was no chance of finding any survivors of the country's deadliest plane crash in 30 years, but workers will continue to search for the remains of the last missing passenger. The search for the last one will continue," Tek Bahadur K.C., a top district official in Pokhara, said on Wednesday. "Until the hospital tests show all 72 bodies, we’ll continue to search for the last person," Ajay K.C said. Search teams found 68 bodies on the day of the crash, and two more were recovered on Monday before the search was called off.

☆ Nepal plane crash searchers rappel, fly drones to find last passengers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A member of Arm Police Force works at a crash site of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft, in Pokhara, Nepal January 16, 2023. NO ARCHIVESKATHMANDU, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Searchers used drones and rappelled down a 200 metres (656 feet) deep gorge in west Nepal on Tuesday to search for two passengers still unaccounted for after the country's deadliest plane crash in 30 years, which killed at least 70 people. Searchers found two more bodies on Monday before the search was called off because of fading light. Reuters GraphicsUnder international aviation rules, the crash investigation agencies of the countries where the plane and engines were designed and built are automatically part of the inquiry. Reporting by Gopal Sharma, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A pilot couple killed in air crashes in Nepal - 16 years apart
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A rescue team recovers the body of a victim from the site of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft on January 15, 2023, in Pokhara, Nepal January 16, 2023. "Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane of Yeti Airlines in Jumla," airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told Reuters, referring to Khatiwada. "She got her pilot training with the money she got from the insurance after her husband's death." A pilot with more than 6,400 hours of flying time, Khatiwada had previously flown the popular tourist route from the capital, Kathmandu, to the country's second-largest city, Pokhara, Bartaula said. "On Sunday, she was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the standard procedure of the airline," said an Yeti Airlines official, who knew Khatiwada personally.

☆ Search resumes for four people missing in Nepal after deadly air crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Rescuers resumed searching on Monday in Nepal for four people still missing after the Himalayan nation’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years, officials said. "We will take out the five bodies from the gorge and search for the remaining four that are still missing,” he told Reuters. [1/2] People stand near the wreckage at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara in western Nepal January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Bijay Neupane 1 2The other 63 bodies had been sent to a hospital, he said. Nepal has declared a day of national mourning on Monday and set up a panel to investigate the disaster and suggest measures to avoid such incidents in future.

☆ At least 40 killed in Nepal's worst air crash in nearly five years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Crowds gather at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara in western Nepal January 15, 2023. Sagar Raj Timilsina/Handout via REUTERSKATHMANDU, Jan 15 (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed on Sunday when a domestic flight crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, a Nepal aviation authority official said, in the small Himalayan country's worst crash in nearly five years. Local television showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft. The plane was 15 years old, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24. Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency cabinet meeting after the plane crash, a government statement said.

☆ Nepal's new govt seeks to balance its ties with India, China in growth pursuit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

UML's leader and Nepal's former prime minister, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, is believed to be pro-China. Nepal is one of several South Asian countries where India and China seek influence. India has long considered Hindu-majority Nepal, a Himalayan country of 30 million, as a natural ally based on their close historical ties and long open border. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, which is Nepal’s biggest trade and economic partner, was one of the first foreign leaders to wish Prachanda, who has been prime minister twice before. "The unique relationship between India & Nepal is based on deep cultural connect & warm people-to-people ties," Modi said on Twitter.

☆ Nepal's 'fierce' ex-guerrilla chief becomes new prime minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Prachanda, who replaces Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress party, will step down in 2025, making way for the UML to take over the office, local media reported. Remaining work of distribution of key other posts and ministries is still to be worked out," Dev Gurung, the general secretary of Prachanda's Maoist Centre party told Reuters after a meeting of the new coalition. The new coalition comes to power hours after Prachanda,68, surprisingly walked out of the ruling alliance led by Deuba of the Nepali Congress party. Deuba and Prachanda had both campaigned in the November election pledging to keep the old alliance intact for several years. The Nepali Congress party will be the main opposition controlling 89 seats.

☆ Serial killer Charles ‘The Serpent' Sobhraj freed from Nepal prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was released from a Nepal prison on Friday after nearly two decades behind bars. Sobhraj was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu by a cavalcade of police cars a little after midday, Ishwari Prasad Pandey, a jailor at the Central Jail, told Reuters. His notoriety and exploits have been the subject of several dramatizations, including a Netflix and BBC joint production released last year. Sobhraj escaped from India’s Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards with cookies and cakes laced with sleeping pills. “Jail authorities will hand him over to the department of immigration today,” Sobhraj’s lawyer, Chintan told Reuters earlier on Friday.

☆ Charles 'The Serpent' Sobhraj freed from Nepal prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Police officers escort Charles Sobhraj, a French national known as 'the Serpent', accused of killing over 20 young Western backpackers across Asia, to the Department of Immigration after he was released from prison, following an order of Nepal's Supreme Court, in Kathmandu, Nepal December 23, 2022. REUTERS/Chandra Bahadur AleKATHMANDU, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was released from a Nepal prison on Friday after nearly two decades behind bars. Sobhraj was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu by a cavalcade of police cars a little after midday, Ishwari Prasad Pandey, a jailor at the Central Jail, told Reuters. Sobhraj escaped from India's Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards with cookies and cakes laced with sleeping pills. "Jail authorities will hand him over to the department of immigration today," Sobhraj's lawyer, Chintan told Reuters earlier on Friday.

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