Osaka changes mind and agrees to play semi-final

Naomi Osaka has decided to play her semi-final at the Western & Southern Open in New York after previously saying she would withdraw from the match to protest against racial injustice.

The 22-year-old two-time Grand Slam winner was originally scheduled to play her semi-final on Thursday but tournament organisers decided to postpone all the last-four matches to Friday.

“As you know, I pulled out of the tournament yesterday in support of racial injustice and continued police violence. I was (and am) ready and prepared to concede the match to my opponent,” Osaka said in a statement provided to The Guardian newspaper and later confirmed by the WTA.

“However, after my announcement and lengthy consultation with the WTA and USTA, I have agreed at their request to play on Friday. They offered to postpone all matches until Friday and in my mind that brings more attention to the movement. I want to thank the WTA and the Tournament for their support.”

Osaka joined similar protests by athletes in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball following the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin on Sunday.

Osaka will play Belgian Elise Mertens in the final tune-up event ahead of the Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 U.S. Open.

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Call for proper waste management in Kathmandu valley amidst COVID-19

Kathmandu, August 27

As the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise in Kathmandu valley, the issue of contaminated waste generated by hospitals, health care facilities and isolation centres has emerged as a new challenge for local level governments.

The amount of contaminated waste has been increasing exponentially.

Experiences from other countries have shown that the amount of hospital waste could increase by up to 600 per cent due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Bearing this in mind, Guthi, in collaboration with World Health Organisation, Nepal and with active participation of various municipalities in the valley recently organised, ‘Discussion Programme on Management of the Solid Waste and Safety of the Sanitation Workers during COV- ID-19.’ At the programme, Dr Sudan Panthi from WHO made a presentation based on the guideline, Health Care Waste Management in the Context of COVID-19 Emergency, published by the Ministry of Health and Population, read a press release issued by Guthi, an NGO working in the sector of environment protection and sanitation, today.

Dr Surendra Prasad Chaurasia, chief of Environmental Health and Health Care Waste Management Section at the MoHP highlighted the points mentioned in the guideline. He opined that due to the high risk of COVID-19 infection, extra precautions must be taken while managing health care waste.

Ashok Kumar Byanju Shrestha, president of Municipal Association of Nepal and mayor of Dhulikhel Municipality said the government had not prioritised waste management and had failed to give proper attention to the safety and livelihood of sanitation workers.

Dhurba Acharya, president of Solid Waste Management Association of Nepal, shed light on the issues faced by sanitation workers during this emergency period.

He pointed out the lack of infrastructure for waste management.

Waste segregation and recycling have been limited to pilot projects and garbage trucks face problems in transporting waste to the landfill sites due to bad roads during monsoon season.

Currently, hundreds of COVID-19 patients are in home isolation in the valley. As such, the waste generated by those patients is ultimately mixed with the municipal waste, which leads to the risk of contamination and infection, especially for sanitation workers.

Acharya pointed out that it was important to segregate the waste generated by COVID-19 patients.

Bio-hazard bags must be provided to safely collect waste from the households with such patients, according to Acharya.

Mitra Prasad Ghimire, general secretary of SWMAN, warned that waste from households with COV- ID-19 patients in home isolation and hospital waste was being collected alongside municipal waste.

He also stated that sanitation workers in Kathmandu and Lalitpur lacked PPEs to safely carry out their duties.

Ghimire emphasised that safety of the sanitation workers must be the priority during this time.

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A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 28, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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Coronavirus cases in Latin America pass 7 million: Reuters tally

ASUNCION: Coronavirus cases passed the 7 million mark in Latin America on Thursday even as some countries begin to show a slight decline in infections in a region with the world’s highest level of contagion, according to a Reuters tally.

The daily average of cases fell to about 77,800 in the last seven days through Wednesday, against almost 85,000 the previous week, the tally based on government figures showed.

Six months since the first case was confirmed in Brazil, the country with the worst outbreak outside the United States reported on Thursday 44,235 new cases and 984 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,761,391 cases and the death toll from COVID-19 to 118,649.

Despite the alarming figures, Brazilian authorities maintain they are seeing a downward trend in new cases and a “plateau” in the number of daily deaths.

Mexican authorities said they were also seeing a sustained decline, although the World Health Organization (WHO) says the scale of the pandemic in Latin America’s second most populous nation has been underestimated.

The WHO said Mexico and other countries in the region need to increase testing and has expressed concern about the high level of coronavirus among young people.

Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Chile remain among the 10 countries with the most cases in the world, in that order. With more than 28,000 deaths, Peru also has the highest per capita death rate from COVID-19 in the region.

Argentina, meanwhile, surpassed 10,000 daily cases on Wednesday for the first time since the pandemic broke out, and again on Thursday, a surge that has led the country to retighten lockdown measures in some provinces.

Argentina has reported a very high positivity rate above 40% of tested cases, one of the highest in the world along with Mexico and Bolivia.

Latin America’s increase from 6 million to 7 million occurred in 13 days, two more than the previous million mark.

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‘Nepal’s foreign relations witness robust growth’

Kathmandu, August 27

The country’s external relations witnessed a robust growth in multiple sectors with important initiatives taken and notable achievements made in the past one year, states the annual report released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week.

Report on Nepal’s Foreign Affairs (2018-2019), covers major activities carried out and their outcomes on foreign policy front in the past one year. According to the report, protection and promotion of national interest remained at the core of the conduct of

Nepal’s foreign relations. Nepal’s relations with the outside world were based on the principles of sovereign equality, independence, mutual respect and benefit.

“UN Charter, non-alignment, Panchasheel, international law, and norms of world peace remained the basis of our foreign policy.

The country pursued an independent and balanced foreign policy and conducted its external dealings guided by fairness, merit and justice,” read the report. The report stated that socio-economic transformation was placed at the centre of Nepal’s engagements at bilateral, regional and multilateral arena in line with the national aspiration of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’’.

A host of programmes and activities were carried out for promotion of Nepal’s image as a nature’s paradise, a melting pot of civilisations, a nation with rich culture, an attractive destination for foreign investment, an entrepôt between two big economies with over two and a half billion population, and an inclusive society underpinned by equality and justice.

“The very premise of amity with all and enmity with none, served well to fulfil our foreign policy objectives.

The neighbourhood received top priority in our external relations. We made substantial effort to enhance our relations with immediate neighbours, India and China. Our engagements with the countries in the extended neighbourhood continued to grow, both at bilateral and regional levels,” read the report, adding Nepal’s role in the multilateral platforms also got accentuated in many key areas such as international peace and security, disarmament, human rights, SDGs, climate change and migration.

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A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 28, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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7 confessions of Rhea Chakraborty in SSR case

After several days, Rhea has now finally broken her silence and spilled the beans on the allegations and the entire controversy. The actress has rubbished all the speculations against her. She stated that she didn't hire any staff members.

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Kangana Ranaut: SSR had no fear of flying

Kangana Ranaut shares a video of Sushant Singh Rajput enjoying paragliding; says, 'SSR had no fear of flying who came up with this tacky script? Mahesh Bhatt or Javed Akhtar?'

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Ankita reacts to questions raised by Rhea

Rhea Chakraborty in an interview with a news channel on Thursday raised question over Ankita Lokhande's statement where she had said that Sushant Singh Rajput changed after Rhea entered in his life. Rhea asked when was the last time Ankita met or talked with Sushant. She also added that the 'Manikarnika' actress is living SSR's flat.

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Rhea: SSR didn't share a good bond with his dad

Rhea Chakraborty who is a prime accused in the Sushant Singh Rajput case opened up about her side of the story in an interview with a news channel. The actress clarified about various allegations levied against her.

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Ritz to roll out cracker-flavored ice cream with Coolhaus

Though the heterodox mix might prove a turnoff to some, past summers have seen zanier entries to the ice cream oddity genre. French’s pushed out a mustard-flavored ice cream a year ago.

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Identity of four-year-old boy killed in freak storm revealed

Three people have died, including a four-year-old boy who had been outside for “two minutes”, after wild weather battered Melbourne on Thursday night.

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Poacher jailed for killing 500 elephants

A Congolese elephant poacher believed to have been responsible for the killing of as many as 500 of the vulnerable species in the past 12 years has become the first person sent to jail for doing so in the Central African country.

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