Good evening from Kathmandu,

Please visit www.nepalcares.com and support my website.

Today's Chatpat: September 23rd, 2023

1. Putin has decided to have fun by banning diesel and gas exports. The rise in Oil prices will hurt the European economy more than anywhere else. The Russian-Ukraine conflict shows no signs of resolution yet and the US plans to arm Zelensky with long-raise missles. This is a proxy war where NATO and Russia are trying their very best not to lose their faces with the US pumping in the funds just to make Putin and Russia suffer as sanctions have hurt the Russian economy.

2. The funny thing happened at the customs department at Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA). The X-ray machine stopped working and all agents waiting to clear the imported goods for their clients had to go home fuming. Acording to media reports, the customs department has two X-ray machines. One stopped working six months ago and the only working one broke down yesterday. The government authorities promise to fix the machine by today. Our government hospitals face the same situation where x-rays, MRIs, ultra-sound machines, once broken never get fixed and patients are referred to private clinics instead.

3. The government teachers seem to have come to some kind of an agreement with our government. The teachers had been protesting against the newly registered Education bill in the parliament. Most of the government teachers take home salaries at par with high-ranking government officials. They were not happy with the grading system on their pay scale, transfer and promotion powers vested on local authorities and wanted permanent status for many temporary teachers. More than 1.6 lakhs teachers went on strike affecting more than 7 million students in the country.

4. The official opening of the Asian Games in China will be held today. Our PM Prachanda has already flown from New York to attend the Asian Games and will meet the Chinese President Xi as well. It seems that our politicians and civil servants will not miss any free vacations and stipends and want to have their passports filled with stamps from all over the world. While the PM was away, the country faced the public school teachers' strike and a murderer affiliated with the Nepali Congress was pardoned by the President on the occasion of the Constitution Day.

5. According to recent medical research, artificial sweeteners may increase the risk of depression. The only few people who are not depressed even when they consume tons of Diet sodas are former President Trump and Warren Buffet. Both of them also eat like kids, favoring burgers, ice-creams and sodas. So, maybe, eating like 6-year-olds may help some of us. And the young ones don't smoke or drink alcohol. Hope, our researchers will do a new study on this matter as well.