Junior Digest

Kathmandu :  After its first female President and Parliament speaker, Nepal will now have its first woman Supreme Court Chief Justice after Sushila Karki today formally assumed office.

The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee has yesterday unanimously approved the name of Karki, recommended by the Constitutional Council on April 10, for her appointment to the post, creating a new benchmark in the 64-year-long judicial history of the country.

Her appointment means Nepal will now have women as its President (Bidya Devi Bhandari), Speaker of Parliament (Onsari Gharti) and as the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Karki, 64, who is the 25th Chief Justice, took oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari.

She had been working as acting Chief Justice for nearly three months following the delay in the Parliamentary hearing, which is a must in approving the appointment of any chief of the constitutional body in Nepal.

Karki took charge of the Supreme Court as the Acting Chief Justice since her predecessor Kalyan Shrestha retired on April 14.

She was appointed the Ad-Hoc Justice at the Supreme Court in January 2009 and was promoted as Permanent Justice in November 2010.

She will head the judiciary till June 6, 2017.

Karki, who has done her Masters in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University, is known for her ‘zero-tolerance’ for corruption and for her judgements like allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children, previously open only to men.

@Agency report.

London : India’s miserable campaign at the Wimbledon ended as defending mixed doubles champions Leander Paes and Martina Hingis were knocked out in the third round by scratch pair of Britain’s Heather Watson and Finland’s Henri Kontinen, who played their first match together.

The Brit-Finn pair beat the 16th seeded Indo-Swiss pair 3-6 6-3 6-2 in a well-contested three-setter.

What would be embarrassing for the Paes-Hingis pairing would be the fact that their opponents were playing the first match of the tournament having got walkover in the first two rounds.

Paes and Hingis had completed a mixed doubles Grand Slam after their French Open victory having captured the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2015.

Watson and Kontinen reached the third round without getting walk-overs from Louisa Chirico and Denis Kudla in the first round followed by Bruno Soares and Elena Vesnina who also didn’t play in the second round encounter.

“We were warming up and getting ready each day and we were always put on at the end of the day, so we’ve literally just been ready to play for each match and they’ve told us last minute,” said Watson.

“I think today in the first set we were finding our ground, getting comfortable with each other, and then we kind of took off, especially in that third set.

@Agency report.

Srinagar :  Curfew-like restrictions were imposed in parts of Kashmir, including Srinagar city, and Amarnath yatra suspended as authorities apprehended protests in the Valley, where tension prevailed following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces.

Protesters blocked main roads and entry to interiors of the city at many places following a strike call by top separatists leaders who were put under house arrest as a precautionary measure. Public address systems were used in some places today to relay the audio messages of Wani, who had emerged as the poster boy of militancy.

Mobile internet across Kashmir has been suspended while mobile telephony services have also been restricted in south Kashmir.

A police official said the situation was by and large peaceful in most parts of Kashmir so far but Tral — the hometown of the slain militant commander — witnessed protests by residents following his killing in the encounter in in Kokernag area yesterday.

“Restrictions have been imposed on movement of people in six police station areas of Srinagar city, most parts of Pulwama district and Anantnag town in south Kashmir as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order,” a senior government official said.

He said the decision was taken in view of the violent protests at some places last night in these areas after the news of Wani’s death.

“A group of youths also started pelting stones towards the camps of security forces who have not retaliated to the provocation so far,” he said.

Authorities have suspended Amarnath yatra from Jammu base camp to base camps at Baltal and Pahalgam in the Valley as a precautionary measure.

The train services between Baramulla in Kashmir and Banihal across the Pir Panjal mountain range have also been suspended for the day as the trains have been targeted by mobs in the past.

Top separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik were placed under house arrest last night as they had called for a shutdown today.

The two factions of the Hurriyat had planned funeral prayers in absentia for the slain militants. Radical women’s outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Aasiya Andrabi has called for a three-day shutdown.

@Agency report.

New Delhi : Government will carry out a drive to clean ten iconic places in the country, including Taj Mahal, Vaishno Devi temple and Ajmer Sharif, as part of a pilot project under the Swachh Bharat mission, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today said.

Tomar said his ministry is in the process of selecting 100 iconic places for cleaning under the mission and most will be either tourist or religious spots.

“As part of Swachh Bharat Mission to clean and sanitise the entire country, the Ministry has identified 10 such iconic places to start cleanliness drive as part of the pilot project under this mission,” the Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister said.

The places which have been selected are Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir, Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh, Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, Golden Temple in Punjab, Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan, Jagannath temple in Orissa, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu and Kamakhya Temple in Assam.

Once this pilot project is completed, the govt will carry out a similar cleanliness drive at the remaining 90 places, Tomar said.

Sharing the details of the project, Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said the ministry is taking help of experts from World Bank to make this project successful.

“We are evaluating various models and practices which have been followed in various countries for cleaning and sanitising and trying to find out out which are relevant can be adapted here,” Iyer said.

The Secretary also said the ministry has approached various corporate groups for financing the ldrive at these iconic places.

@Agency report.

Cairo : Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was heading to Israel today for a rare visit in which he is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office said.

Shoukry would hold “lengthy talks” with Netanyahu focusing on reviving the peace process with the Palestinians, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Among other issues, the two would discuss “laying the foundation and specifics of confidence-building between Palestinians and Israelis to create a supportive environment to resume direct negotiations between them with the aim of reaching a comprehensive and just solution,” it said.

Shoukry’s trip to Israel comes after he visited the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 29.

It also follows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s comments in May that there was a “real opportunity” for an Israeli-Palestinian deal that could lead to warmer ties between his country and Israel.

Sisi urged Israelis and Palestinians to seize what he said was a “real opportunity” and hailed his own country’s peace deal with Israel.

In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel after years of conflict, and it remains an influential player in the region.

In June, representatives from 28 Arab and Western countries, the Arab League, European Union and the United Nations met in Paris to discuss ways in which the international community could help advance the Palestinian-Israel peace process.

@Agency report.

New Delhi : A plea alleging that various states and Union Territories have “failed” to give attention to the unique biodiversity of the country prompted the National Green Tribunal today to seek response from the government on the issue.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards while seeking their reply within two weeks on the issue.

The NGT was hearing a plea filed by Pune resident Chandra Bhal Singh seeking implementation of provisions of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Biological Diversity Rules, 2004.

The Biological Diversity Act 2002 aims to preserve biological diversity in India and provides mechanism for equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of traditional biological resources and knowledge.

“The blatant non-compliance of the provisions of the said act and rules has frustrated the whole efforts of enacting such a legislation owing to the International obligation of India while being a signatory to the Rio Declaration and Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992,” the plea, filed through advocate Rahul Choudhary, said.

It alleged that various states in the country have “failed” to give proper attention to the unique biodiversity prevalent in India and they have also not undertaken their statutory obligations with “seriousness and have remained oblivious in discharging the statutory provision in last couple of years.”

Seeking constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) at the local level in every state under Section 41 of the Biological Biodiversity Act 2002, the plea claimed that several State Biodiversity Boards have not constituted BMC at the local level “for the purpose of promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity”.

It further said the Peoples Biodiversity Register, a document which records diversity of flora and fauna, has not been prepared and maintained by the Biodiversity management Committee by some of the states.

“Direct the respondents to constitute all the necessary bodies at the state level as well as the local level within a strict timeline and to submit detailed report to NGT,” the plea said.

@Agency report.