👀 Brat Summer

Namaste! Summer’s in full swing, and Prabhu Hanumaan, the last few days have been scorching! Teej season that’ll last like 4 months has kicked off, and you know what that means—Teej bops blasting everywhere. We just ate some kheer, and yeah, we’re just listing facts here. It feels like a drag, but the heat's making us a bit angsty, and sacchi bhannu parda, not much is happening around here anyway. So, let’s cut to the chase and catch up on what’s happening around the globe. Just the gist this week.

La Eta Hernus

Desh

Poltiks: So, we have a new government. Didn’t we just get one like, hijo chhadi asti? Yep, we did. K P Oli’s the prime minister (again), Sher Bahadur’s waiting in the wings, and his wife Aarju is our foreign minister. The cabinet hasn't done much yet, but can you blame them? With governments changing this fast, who has time for anything? Meanwhile, Prachanda is out of the loop and just chilling somewhere. Rabi dai and RaSwaPa left with Prachanda uncle, and we miss Sumana Shrestha already. RaSwaPa is also in shambles after letting their mahamantri go for criticizing Rabi dai too much. We won’t serve a deeper dive because we don’t think either you or us are better for it.

Even the French are making fun of us. Like, bonjour, Louis, you guys eat baguettes and go on strike every two days. Let us eat our dal bhaat in peace, will you?

Udne ki gudne? Eighteen people lost their lives when a Saurya Airlines plane crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport last Wednesday. The Pokhara-bound flight, with 19 people on board, took off from Kathmandu at 11:11 am and ended in tragedy. Among the passengers was a Yemeni citizen. The aircraft veered off the runway and plunged into a gorge. Captain MR Shakya was the sole survivor and is currently being treated at KMC Hospital. Most of the passengers were airline staff heading to Pokhara for aircraft maintenance.

Remember the Yeti crash from last year? As Sangam Prasai from The Kathmandu Post puts it, "There is a saying about Nepal’s aviation industry: Every new tourism minister is greeted by at least one crash." Check out their insightful piece here.

In other news, two buses with over 60 people were swept into a rain-swollen river by a landslide, with three survivors rescued after swimming to safety. The buses were traveling on the Narayanghat-Mugling highway when disaster struck two weeks ago. Authorities are struggling to search for the missing due to continuous rain and landslides blocking access. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (we haven’t found the buses, but we already have a new prime minister) expressed sadness over the incident and urged effective rescue operations. We also got this giant magnet from India (we didn’t fact check this) to help find the buses but then we lost the magnet in the river too. Luckily, we’ve found the magnet again though the buses are still missing. We hate writing this.

The government decided to half-mast flags for the airline accident but did nothing for the bus accident. This always happens—last year, when Yeti Airlines crashed, they even gave a national holiday. People claim it’s classist because, well, it is very classist.

Tech 

Public transport operators in Gandaki Province hit the brakes in Pokhara to protest new ride-sharing guidelines. The beef? The guidelines allow private vehicles with red plates to transport passengers, which has the transport folks seeing red. They demand the government cancel the plan and make fares more scientific, among other things. Ride-sharing fans, however, are ready to roll on, even offering free services to break the transport syndicate's hold.

That wasn't the only news out of Pokhara this week. Gangster-turned-minister Deepak Manaange went viral for a picture where he was at his desk shirtless (though he did have a singlet on—okay, terrible pun). We have no take on this news.

Fatafat

Stat: Henley passport rankings are in, and guess what? We're somewhere near the bottom. Why does everyone make such a big deal out of this every year? 7th weakest, 8th weakest, oh no, now we’re 9th weakest. What’s the point? What difference is a rank up or down going to make? Did we mention we're feeling edgy from the summer heat this week?

Quote: “३७ हजार पनि इन्जिनियरको कुनै तनखा हो र !” - ओली

Prime Minister K P Oli said 37,000 isn’t enough for an engineer’s salary. And guess what? He’s going to do absolutely nothing to make sure they get paid more.

Reading List: 

1. J. D. Vance’s Sad, Strange Politics of Family (The New Yorker)

   The Vice-Presidential candidate’s memoir reveals the roots of his ideas about parents, children, and who should run the country.

2. Artificial intelligence's thirst for electricity (NPR)
   Artificial intelligence is an electricity hog. Google says its total greenhouse gas emissions climbed nearly 50% over five years, mostly due to electricity that powers AI data centers.

3. सस्तोडिलको महँगो असफलता (onlinekhabar)

   ५० हजार बिउ पूँजीबाट सुरु भएको सस्तोडिलमा झन्डै ५० करोड लगानी भयो, मूल्यांकन मात्रै ३ अर्ब पुगेको थियो । तर, सफलता सम्हाल्न नसक्दा त्यो मूल्यांकन आज शून्यजस्तै भएको छ ।

Kahi Nabhako Jaatra

Sports

Spain won the Euros, Argentina snagged the Copa America, and England—despite their endless "it's coming home" chants—lost in the finals again. Meanwhile, we're exhausted from the constant Khel Kabaddi ads, thanks to clean feed, invading our screens every time we try to watch sports. That’s the gist of most of the sports news.

Cept for the Olympics, of course! Nepali swimmer Alexander Shah (what a royal name) set a new national record at the Paris Olympics, clocking 51.91 seconds in the men’s 100-meter freestyle heats. Even though he didn't advance, breaking his own record is a huge win! This was Alex's second Olympic appearance, having previously competed in Tokyo 2020. With his exit, six of seven Nepali athletes are out, but we still have Santoshi Shrestha bringing the heat in athletics. Let's rally behind Santoshi for a strong finish!

Three news briefs and a lie

Three of these news headlines are real, and one is faker than Amrikan political pundits on social media. If you click on the true headlines, the links will take you to the news articles. If you click on the fake one, you’ll be in for a surprise!

1. अस्पतालको नक्सा पास गरेर चर्च राखेपछि धनगढी उपमहानगरले भवन भत्कायो

2. तीन महिनादेखि नक्कली डिएसपी बनेर सरकारी कार्यालयमा अनुगमन

3. बेहुली साटिएको आरोप लगाउँदै बिहेमै बेहुलाले गरे हङ्गामा

4. प्रधानमन्त्रीसहित नेताहरूको फोटो राखेर अनुष्ठान गर्ने पुष्कर खतिवडा राप्रपा द्वारा पुरस्कृत

Eta Hernus Quiz

What is Oli Ba staring at in this picture?

Bidesh Tira Hernus

Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, causing a media frenzy and adding a dramatic twist to the 2024 race. Meanwhile, Biden shocked everyone by announcing his withdrawal, passing the torch to Kamala Harris. Now at the helm, Kamala is ready to lead the Democratic charge with her signature charisma and determination (anyone is better than Bide, we suppose). Trump also picked J.D. Vance as his running mate, and rumors circulated that Vance actually f**ked a couch (AP says this is false) and is weird (this is probably true).

The political scene is buzzing with excitement and speculation, as Kamala’s supporters rally behind her and opponents gear up for a fierce battle. Twitter is ablaze with memes, hot takes, and wild theories, making it the go-to spot for the latest updates and debates.

Elon Musk is all in on Trump’s election campaign, tossing out MAGA-laced comments on X like maasu bhaat in a Congressi julus. Recently, he stirred the pot by sharing an AI-generated video of Kamala Harris, calling her the “ultimate diversity hire” and labeling Biden as a “deep state puppet,” without mentioning the AI part.

Amidst this chaos, Musk is eyeing a comeback for X’s political ad revenue and potentially smoother sailing for his ventures with a Trump-led administration. So much for his “Imma build an unbiased platform” lie. Anyway, Amrika is wilding. What are your thoughts on the elections? Let us know in our instagram dms.

Best of Twitter/Switter

Proud Gorkhali Moment

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