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ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Monday, May 27
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (May 27, 2019).Post Report
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (May 27, 2019).
Four killed and three injured in series of blasts reminiscent of Maoist insurgency days
Four people died and three others were injured in two separate explosions in the Capital on Sunday in a sudden escalation of violence and a grim reminder of days during the Maoist insurgency before the 2006 peace agreement.
According to police, three people died when a cooking gas cylinder exploded inside a hair salon in Sukedhara and the fourth person died in another cylinder explosion in Ghattekulo.
Police suspect those killed might be associated with the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal and that the exploded cylinders could have been rigged as explosives, possibly to be planted somewhere in the Capital, ahead of the group’s plans to enforce a nationwide general strike on Monday.
With abortion pills easily available, men are refusing to use condoms
Even as safe medical abortions are being contested globally as emblematic of women’s rights to reproductive health and bodily autonomy, in Kathmandu, men are increasingly refusing to use other means of contraception and forcing their wives to undergo abortions.
About 50 such cases of complications resulting from the frequent use of medical abortion pills are seen every month at the Maternity Hospital’s post-abortion unit, said Lama. In the Nepali month of Baishakh, the hospital recorded 48 such cases, she said. In most of these cases, the husband refused to use condoms, relying on the easily available pills to abort pregnancies.
The man who made it possible for hundreds of foreigners to climb Everest is finally retiring
A veteran high altitude worker, Aangkami Sherpa, 66, of Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality-3, Solukhumbu, has nearly four decades’ experience of working in the world’s tallest mountain.When the mountaineering season begins, Aangkami packs his rucksack and heads towards the Everest Base Camp. He was one of the most experienced icefall doctors working in the region until he decided to retire this year.
“I have worked as an icefall doctor for 21 years. Now I’m old and not as robust and strong as I used to be,” says Aangkami.
Eco-friendly bricks building new future for construction
Bajra Brick is in the market to bring greener ways to the trade, so its brick-making process does not follow the traditional process. The bricks aren’t made from clay but from the dust collected from stone crushers, which makes them lightweight. The dust is then mixed with sand and cement before being placed into moulds to produce the desired shapes.
The major factor setting these bricks apart from the rest is that Bajra’s process uses sunlight and water to strengthen bricks rather than using the traditional means of burning them in chimneys.
Concerns over meagre financial support to wildfire victims
Uncontrolled forest fires across the country have killed 10 persons every year on an average since 2005. The deadliest forest fire of 2009 alone killed 49 people, including 13 Nepal Army personnel and local people. In 2016, which saw another massive forest fire season when nearly 1.3million hectare forest was lost, 15 people were reported dead.
With wildfire claiming lives every year, forest conservationists and community forestry activists voice their concerns about the state not doing enough for those who risk their lives protecting the country’s forests.