ICC confirms Nepal to Play Div 1

Exclusive: Jan 28, 2015: Nepali people were already feeling excited with the unconfirmed news of Nepal playing Div 1 despite resulting at 4th position in the WCL div 2. Our coach Pubudu Dassanayake had first told media about the chances of team to play Div one, after returning back from Namibia. Now it is confirmed that Nepal will be playing along Kenya in the ICC World Cricket League (which is the official name for Div 1 league) that will happen from 2015 to 2017. CricketingNepal reports the confirmation of the news that is decided today by ICC meeting in Dubai. It is known that Nepal and Kenya will replace Afghanistan and Ireland for the WCL, as it is decided to select both Afghnistan and Ireland for ICC World Cup Cricket 2019. The Div one play means a lot to the Nepali cricket team, fans and benefits the country as a whole, as it not only enables more funds to the local cricket board but also provides more international games for the development of our players. Let there be a full fledged International level Stadium and we will be hosting big International games here. Nepali Cricket has taken a big leap. Thanks to Players, CAN, Media and mostly to the Man behind this major shot: Our coach Pubudu Dassanayake. Congratulations all Nepali.

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Xiaomi releases two flagship devices: MiNote and MiNote Pro

Jan 15, 2015: Xiaomi has today launched two devices dubbed as the Mi Note and MiNote Pro . In contrary to people's expectation for Mi4s or Mi5, Xiaomi unveiled the two flagships under the series Note, though they already had similar name for its cheap phablet called Redmi Note. In its annual event at Beijing, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun took to the central stage and started revealing the specifications of their devices. At first, Mi Note comes with 5.7 inch curved Gorilla Glass 3 display, with resolution of 1920 X 1080 (386 PPI) and super thin bezel of 3 mm. The screen also has adaptive dynamic contrast feature and blue light reducing mode that makes the device ease with your eye. The phone is powered by Snapdragon 801 processor and 3 GB RAM. It weighs 161 gm and has 6.95 inch thickness. The steel framed phablet sports 13 MP rear shooter with 6 element lens, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) for low light photos, two tone flash feature and 4 MP front snapper. As shown below, the device is known to be available in two universal colors: Black and White. The back of the phone is curved on both sides to make it better fit in the hands. It seems from the picture that the phone will be having MiUi 6 over Android KitKat (4.4.4) and probably have a new MIUI over Android Lollipop soon. Despite having nice features and looks, the price tag of 2299 Yuan (370 USD) is little expensive as compared to Mi4, but is still far less than iPhone 6 Plus. Xiaomi also released a Mi headphone for 500 yuan and  a set up box named Mi Box mini for 200 yuan. 

As teased earlier for two flagships launch for this event, Xiaomi kept the promise with another epic phone which they call it as the best smartphone in the world: the MiNote Pro. MiNote Pro is the advanced version of Mi Note with Snapdragon 810 64 bit Octacore processor, same 5.7 inch display but with resolution of 2K (2560 X 1440 at 515 PPI), slightly larger Battery of 3,090 mAh and 64 GB memory. The phone is known to have whopping 4GB RAM and supports LTE cat 9, up to 450 Mbps download speed. With the launch of these devices, Xiaomi is no more a cheap smartphone maker as it comes out of his cheap price tag, toMi Note Pro is priced at 3299 yuan ( 533 USD). As people say 4 GB is always better than 3 GB, I am not sure what will the extra GB addition likely to support as I still feel content with my 2GB RAM phone.

MiNote is scheduled to release on Jan 27 whereas Note Pro will only be available in the end of March.

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Namrata Shrestha in play "Yerma" at Theatre Village (with photos)

Saturday, the only weekend holiday here in Nepal, is all about having fun, be it hiking, movies, live concerts or picnic. This Saturday, it's for a play at Theatre Village, North Gate, Kathmandu. which is my only second visit there. First was Rajesh Hamal Starrer Court Martial.

Yerma is a 80 year old Spanish play written by dramatist Federico Garcia lorca, now translated into Nepali version by Sristi Bhattarai and directed by Bimal Subedi. Yerma (meaning barren) is based on a story of a woman's desire for parenthood and the struggle with her husband/society for her happiness. Will she be able to own a child or her psychology turns her to commit something wrong?? For that, you have to watch the play yourself. Yerna; the lead is played by beautiful Actress Namrata Shrestha, Husband: Juan is played by Rajkumar Pudasaini, Kamal Mani Nepali also has a shorter role as Yerna's friend Victor.

The model turned actor Namrata Shrestha is superb with her emotion filled performances, where you could see every side of her acting skills (besides her gorgeous looks) with laughing, crying and furious moments. She has once again proved her acting skills with this play, her third one. Her first Home production (Highly high entertainment) Movie "Soul Sister" is also scheduled to release for Magh, which seems promising due to the actor herself and the director Prashant Rasaily.

"Antaral" actor Rajkumar Pudasaini, Kamal Mani Nepali and other stage actors are also magnificent in the play. Other things that were worth mentioning are Flamenco dance by Sumnima Sampang, Jason Kunwar's music (including the song Kina Sutchau Eklai). One World Theatre (OWT) is presenting this play at Theatre Village which is almost going to end for this time (Sunday, December 21 being the last show). But I am sure they will be bringing the play in another season.

Here are some photos that I have captured during the play (without flash and being careful not to ruin others entertainment). Obviously, almost all are of Namrata Shrestha as she was in the limelight of the show.

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Earthquake felt in Kathmandu (December 18, 2014)

Nepali authorities are known to have recorded a magnitude of 5.9 at epicenter 27.86 N, 86.55 E at 9:17 pm today which was also felt in Bhutan and some parts of India. 

While Indian Government have reported the magnitude of the earthquake be 5.2 and the epicenter to be at lat 27.6 N Long 86.4 E. 


Earthquake-report.com posts that 4.7 magnitude earthquake rocked the Everest Khumbu area (East of Kathmandu) which is located at around 28 km west of Namche bazar. They called it a dangerous one due to the shallow depth of 10 km and it could have triggered major landslides in such area with snow capped mountains. Still there are no reports of any physical or human loss.

A mild Earthquake was felt in Kathmandu some minutes back today (December 18, 2014/ Poush 3, 2071). The tremor was felt for around twenty seconds at 9:18 pm, and the aftershock is yet to happen as known from the experience. People around my neighborhood are outside their home, with their panic heads. Pahilopost reports that the earthquake was also felt in Jhapa, Morang, Dolakha and Dhankuta.
More details are yet to come for the magnitude of the quake,  the epicenter and any physical destruction.
Kathmandu is one of the city with high earthquake risks due to the unplanned urban city and the little or no preparedness for such natural calamity. 

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New Loadshedding schedule Nepal effective from Poush 2, 2071 (Dec 17, 2014)

NEA (Nepal Electricity Authority)- the government owned sole authority for generating and distributing electricity in the country, has announced fresh schedule of loadshedding in the country. With the new loadshedding schedule effective from December 17, 2013 (Poush 2, 2070), there will be eleven hours power cut for 2 days, 10.5 for one day and 9.5 for four days.

Due to reduction of water level in the river, the country falls short of about 400 Mega watt electricity compelling to cut the power for 63 hours per week, which may be increased more during the dry season. The new loadshedding from poush 2, Wednesday will be having two shifts of power cut ( four to 6 hours in a shift).

Here is the new loadshedding schedule effective from Poush 2 Wednesday (Dec 17, 2014)

Click the picture to enlarge.

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