He changed the role of the pope in order to preserve it. Now, Benedict XVI, the first German pope in almost 500 years, has died at the age of 95. Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, who died on Saturday, was the first German pope in almost 500 years. His resignation on February 28, 2013, made history. During his almost eight years as pontiff, he always stressed the need for reason and spirituality, as well as the importance of the Catholic Church in an enlightened modern world. A German pope was a big deal. Ratzinger's appointment came just 60 years after the end of World War II and the genocide of Europe's Jews at the hands of the Nazis. Moreover, it was German theologian Martin Luther who catalyzed the division of Western Christendom. Yet, Benedict's tenure was also overshadowed by scandal and crisis within the Catholic Church. After cardinals elected the 78-year-old to succeed Pope John Paul II as the head of the Catholic Church during a two-day conclave at the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stepped out onto the balcony of Rome's Saint Peter's Basilica on April 19, 2005, announcing: "The cardinals have elected me, a simple, modest worker in the lord's vineyard." Priest, professor, pope Benedict XVI was a conservative figure, who nevertheless managed to surprise both followers and detractors, largely because he was both deeply pious and eager to learn. Pope Benedict XVI, who emphasized the importance of pastoral care, most certainly felt troubled by the many crises that beset the Catholic Church during his tenure. He was born into a deeply religious family on April 16, 1927, in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn, where his father worked as a policeman. In 1944, 17-year-old Ratzinger was conscripted into the Wehrmacht. Soon after the war ended, he began studying theology, just like his three-year older brother Georg. Both were ordained in 1951. By the late 1950s, Ratzinger had become a widely respected professor of theology. After growing close with the Archbishop of Cologne, Josef Richard Frings, Ratzinger participated in the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world. The 1968 student protests, however, had a profound impact on Ratzinger. After initially considering more reformist ideas, he gravitated back to a more traditional reading of Catholicism. In 1977, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and soon thereafter cardinal. About four years later, Pope Johannes Paul II brought him to Rome, where he assumed the position of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this capacity, he tended to take a strictly conservative stance when it came to the Church's teachings and issues relating to reforms, such as the role of women and Ecumenism.   German Catholics elated Germany's Catholics were elated when Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005, with the German daily tabloid BILD triumphantly celebrating the news on its title page with the exclamation, "We're pope!” But not everyone was excited about the decision. Some warned the 78-year-old was too old to serve as pope, while others worried his conservative leanings would make him unwilling to push for reforms. From a political perspective, his eight-year tenure was a phase of transition, still Pope Benedict XVI sought to make a mark of his own. During his time in the Chair of Saint Peter, he also ordained over half of the cardinals who would later, in March 2013, elect his successor, Pope Francis. Pope Benedict was tireless in advocating lively dialog on the relationship between religion and modern society. He was the first ever pope to give a television interview and regularly communicated his ideas via Twitter, books and above all lectures. He argued that a positivist notion of reason and law was not enough in itself, claiming that it ultimately burdened humanity. He stressed, "God is nothing nonsensical that contrasts with reason." Pope Benedict insisted that religion should never be relegated to the private sphere. He often reiterated his belief that the Catholic Church should lead Christendom. Naturally, Protestants were irked by the assertion. And Pope Benedict never made any major efforts toward embracing Ecumenism.  Critics blasted Pope Benedict XVI's endeavors to reintegrate the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X as well as other fringe groups into the Church. Motivated by fear a deep schism erupting within the Catholic Church, his attempts to bring hard-core traditionalists back into the fold ultimately failed. He also welcomed Anglicans who had turned their back on their own Church for allowing the ordination of women. In addition, Pope Benedict maintained close ties to the Christian Orthodox Church. His relations towards other non-Christian religions were at times fraught with tensions. His 2006 lecture in Regensburg, Germany, for example, incensed many in the Muslim world, as it featured a misleading quotation about Islam. Over time, however, this spurred dialogue between Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders. The scourge of sexual abuse Benedict's tenure was overshadowed by revelations about decades of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic figures in countries like Ireland, the United States, Australia, Belgium and also Germany. Critics later accused the church of having shied away from meting out proper justice by merely relocating culprits and covering up their crimes. Even so, Pope Benedict sought to shine a light on this injustice and reached out to former victims. He met them in private, while abroad. He branded sexual abuse a "scourge" and said it had caused "great pain." He subsequently imposed stricter guidelines for training priests. After Pope Benedict's resignation, further revelations about sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church came to light. His successor, Pope Francis, consequently staged a Vatican summit in February 2019 to tackle the problem. Then, in 2012, the Vatican leaks scandal rocked the Catholic Church when documents and confidential papers concerning the pope and his leadership circle were leaked by the pope's personal butler, Paolo Gabriele. He was briefly incarcerated but later pardoned by Pope Benedict. Surprise resignation Pope Benedict's decision to step down in 2013 took many by surprise. Many Catholics were moved but also shocked by his resignation. During the final months of his tenure, the then 85-year-old had appeared exhausted. Even so, some Catholics had expected him to serve until death, just as most popes had before him.  The Vatican made a major spectacle of the papal renunciation. On his last day as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict boarded a white helicopter at the Vatican and was flown to the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo.  Two months later, however, he returned to Rome where he moved into a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens. The following year, he participated in several large-scale services held at Saint Peter's Basilica and on Saint Peter's Square. Occasionally, he would give interviews, or hold lectures. Articles published by him in 2018, 2019 and 2020 addressed ongoing debates in the Church and drew the ire of some. One piece, for instance, argued the 1968 student protest movement had led to a liberalization of moral values, which he claimed was partially to blame for the sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church.    Although retired, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI preferred wearing a white cassock, as reigning popes do. And those close to him continued to address him as "holy father." This coexistence of a retired and a serving pope was an unusual historical circumstance that was not without challenges. After retirement, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI only returned to Germany once. Accompanied by a small entourage, he traveled to Regensburg in June 2020 to bid farewell to his dying brother Georg and pray at his parents' grave. Confined to a wheelchair, the former pope's eyes lit up upon returning home. Georg passed away ten days later aged 96. His 93-year-old brother did not, however, was not able to return for the funeral.

South Korea condemned the launches as a "grave provocation" that threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year. North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Saturday, ending a year of unprecedented missile tests with yet another one. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it had identified the three launches on Saturday morning coming from a location south of Pyongyang. According to the military, the missiles were fired at around 8 a.m. (2300 GMT Friday) and traveled around 350 kilometers (217 miles) before crashing into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. South Korea's military condemned the launches as a "grave provocation that undermines peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as the international community." The statement also called it a violation UN Security Council resolution, which prohibits North Korea from testing ballistic missiles. Some ballistic missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Tensions simmer in the Korean peninsula The North Korean launches come a day after South Korea tested a solid-fueled rocket. Seoul intends to utilize the rocket to launch its first spy satellite in the coming years. Getting its own satellite for military spying is also a priority for North Korea. Tensions were already soaring in the Korean peninsula when the North sent five drones that flew above various South Korean cities, including Seoul, on Monday. South Korea scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters in response. Military officials later apologized for their inability to shoot down the drones. A day later, Seoul sent three of its own drones across the border in retaliation. South Korean president takes tough stance South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol strongly criticized the military's handling of the incursions. President Yoon's conservative government has promised a tougher stance toward the North since coming to power in May. He recently said that North Korea is not a source of fear because of its nuclear weapons, and its provocations must be met with retaliation. This comes as full-scale joint military exercises between the US and South Korea resumed this year under Yoon. Pyongyang responded by saying that its recent missile launches were in retaliation to the joint military exercises, which the isolated country called a rehearsal for invasion. Pyongyang outlines goals North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other senior party leaders are at a major party meeting in Pyongyang currently detailing their policy objectives for 2023. Key areas include diplomacy, security, and the economy in the coming year. Kim stated earlier this year that he wanted his nation to possess the most powerful nuclear arsenal and declared that the North was an "irreversible" nuclear state. In recent months, experts have warned that Pyongyang might be planning to conduct its seventh nuclear bomb test.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has shelved its plan to set up a substation at Trishuli Bazaar for the Nepal-China Cross-border Transmission Line as it plans to connect the power line with a Ratmate-based substation to be built with the assistance of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US aid agency. When the controversy over the MCC assistance was at its height before its eventual endorsement by the erstwhile House of Representatives early this year, the power monopoly had planned to set up a separate substation. One reason behind envisioning a separate substation was to save the cross-border transmission line from the China-US rivalry, according to officials of the NEA. Kul Man Ghising, managing director of the NEA, told the Post that no separate substation would be built for the Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line Project. “As we are connecting this cross-border transmission line with the Ratmate-based substation, there is no need for a separate substation at Trishuli, which is close to Ratmate,” he said. According to NEA officials, they held a discussion with the officials of the Millennium Challenge Account, Nepal (MCA-Nepal), a special-purpose vehicle established to implement MCC-assisted projects in Nepal, to connect the cross-border transmission line with a Ratmate-based substation, which is to be built under the MCC grant. “The MCA-Nepal told us that they will set up two connecting points [bays] at the substation for Nepal-China Cross-Border Transmission Line,” a senior official of the power utility said. “We, however, have not given up on the new substation amid continued geopolitical rivalry between the two superpowers.” Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, the chief of the transmission directorate at the Nepal Electricity Authority, the state-owned power utility, had told the Post in August last year that they planned a separate substation for the Nepal-China cross-border transmission line so as to ward off any geopolitical risks.” “By not building a separate sub-station, the NEA will save a significant amount of money. It takes Rs4–5 billion to construct a substation and it is not good to set up another substation at a distance of 15–20 kilometres,” said Ghising. A separate substation was to be set up at Trishuli Bazaar, near the site of the Trishuli Hydropower Project, for the cross-border power line, which is around 26 kilometres from Ratmate, Nuwakot. A 315km-long 400kV transmission will be built with a grant of $500 million from the MCC in the country’s mid-hills. One of the substations will be at Ratmate. The transmission project has five components—one segment starting from the northeast of Kathmandu at Lapsephedi, extending to the west of Kathmandu near Ratmate; a second segment runs from Ratmate to the industrial town of Hetauda located south of Kathmandu; a third segment will connect Ratmate to Damauli in the west; a fourth segment will link Damauli with Butwal in the southwest; and a fifth will run from Butwal to the Indian border, which is part of the cross-border transmission line. The Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung transmission line is the first such connectivity project between Nepal and China. The two countries had in 2018 formed a joint technical team to expedite the construction of the transmission line. A Joint Technical Group comprising representatives of the NEA and the State Grid Corporation of China held two rounds of talks in China and Nepal for the transmission line before the start of the Covid pandemic. Another meeting scheduled to be held in China could not happen due to continued Covid restrictions in China. “As Covid cases spiked in China, we are in discussion with the Chinese side if another meeting could be held in Nepal sometime in February next year,” said an official of the NEA. According to the NEA, once the cross-border line is built, it will open an alternative market for Nepal’s electricity. Currently, Nepal has only India as its foreign market to buy and sell electricity. India has allowed Nepal to sell a maximum of 452MW of electricity from 10 hydropower projects. The 400 kV transmission line from Ratamate (Nepal) to Kerung (China) will allow power trade between Nepal and China, the NEA said in its annual report 2021-22. Currently, the project’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process is underway.  Source: The Kathmandu Post

What is going on in China at present has stoked fears about the repetition of the horrific Covid-19 outbreak that killed millions of people across the globe. And like what Beijing did in 2019, this time too Chinese authorities are hiding information about the corona virus infections from their own people and the world outside. Had China disseminated true information of the Covid in 2019, the world could have been saved from the unprecedented disaster. The world is still recovering from the losses of livelihoods, damages to businesses and national economies, and healthcare disruptions. In such a scenario, the new, deadly variant of corona virus from China can create havoc across the globe if its spread is not checked in time. This demands Beijing must take its citizens and the international community into confidence and share the ground realities with them. Millions of new cases are reported from China daily. Major cities including Shanghai and Beijing are reeling under rapidly increasing infections. Hospitals and funerals are crowded, and streets are empty. People are not getting beds in the hospitals. They are forced to stay and sleep on benches and floors of hospitals. Even students are disallowed from attending school. Teachers and school staff are falling ill.  It is said to be the biggest wave since the Wuhan outbreak three years ago. Chinese authorities appear helpless and struggling to cope with the growing problem.  ″The hospital is just overwhelmed from top to bottom. The biggest challenge, honestly, is I think we were just unprepared for this,”Beijing-based doctor Howard Bernstein said.  There are chances that half of Shanghai’s 25 million population can be infected by the end of 2022.  China’s government however has stopped giving out information about new cases and the current Covid patients. It did not furnish any reason. On other hand, the state-run newspaper Global Times blamed western media for showing negative views about the ongoing crisis in China. It claimed that Chinese authorities were handling the pandemic smoothly. The leaked government documents however revealed that the situation in China has turned grimmer. World Health Organization (WHO) emergencies director Mike Ryan said “In China, what’s been reported is relatively low numbers of cases in ICUs, but anecdotally ICUs are filling up.” Around 250 million people in China are feared to have been infected in the first three weeks of December. This means about 18 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion populations has caught covid. In early December, many suspected China was hiding ground realities and under reporting the infection numbers. After China’s National Health Commission stopped releasing information, it cleared the air and raised concerns over Chinese intentions.  Health expert Lawrence Gostin called it “highly suspicious”. In the wake of the absence of true and real-time data, other countries are grappling with the fear of the repetition of the 2020 disaster. 12Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding said the global fallout of the expected 2022-2023 wave would not be small. “What happens in China doesn’t stay in China,” he said.13Nations like the US, India and European Union have begun taking measures to face a possible covid tsunami. People are masking up, buying ration stocks and medicines. The mystery revolving around the health crisis and the disruptions in industrial and manufacturing in China have stoked fears across the world.  Implications for the global economy with China being shut down because of COVID,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.14Kerry Brown, an associate fellow in the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House, said the uncertainty in China is going to have a “massive impact” on the rest of the world. There however is going to be a harsher impact on small nations. Dane Chamorro, head of global risks and intelligence at Control Risks, said when the Chinese economy shrinks by 1 per cent, the global economy does by a half per cent. However, it is almost a full percentage point for countries like Indonesia, Chile, which are China’s major trading partners and suppliers, he said.16The slowdown in the Chinese economy and now fears of a new wave of Covid from China have dampened the global spirit and are likely to have a wider negative impact on all aspects of life. Source: thehongkongpost.com

Beijing on Wednesday allowed Nepal's exports to pass into China through the Kerung-Rasuwagadhi border after keeping it shut to two-way traffic for three years. Chinese goods have been entering Nepal intermittently through Kerung, one of the two international border points on the Nepal-China border, but it was no go in the other direction. “The two-way trade through the Kerung/Rasuwagadhi border port has been resumed today. After a ceremony, 6 cargo trucks full of Nepali goods passed through the port into China. Looking forward to more Nepal’s export to China!” the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu tweeted. The fate of another border point further to the east at Tatopani is uncertain. Once a hotspot for transit commerce, Tatopani has lain abandoned since the 2015 earthquake destroyed the infrastructure and trans-Himalayan trade came to a halt. Nepali traders, who are reported to have suffered massive losses by missing out on the holiday shopping seasons in 2021 and 2022 after China halted all shipments through the border, have been calling the policy a trade embargo. For years, China had permitted only outbound shipments to pass through the Kerung-Rasuwagadhi border point, about 175 km north of Kathmandu, and that too under a quota system. From January 2020 when the corona virus pandemic was beginning to spread, there was a near halt in the arrival of cargo containers from China to Nepal. Trade still has not resumed fully, with the northern neighbor placing strict restrictions at the border. Even then, imports from China swelled in the last fiscal year ended mid-July 2021. According to the Department of Customs, imports from China in fiscal 2020-21 rose 28.58 percent year-on-year to Rs233.92 billion. Before corona in fiscal 2018-19, imports amounted to Rs205.51 billion. In 2017-18, imports were valued at Rs159.98 billion, up from Rs129.87 billion in fiscal 2016-17. Nepal suffers a huge deficit in its trade with China. If Nepal imported Rs233.92 billion worth of goods from the northern neighbour in 2020-21, its exports across the Himalaya were valued at a mere Rs1 billion. This translates into a trade deficit of Rs232.90 billion, which accounted for 14 percent of Nepal’s total trade deficit in fiscal 2020-21. The Kerung-Rasuwagadhi border point, a conduit for political, economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries for centuries, became official in 1961, and was approved as China’s national first-level port in 1987. After Beijing closed the border crossing, the Nepal government had multiple talks with China to persuade it to ease the movement of vehicles, but nothing came of them. Nepal exports mainly handicrafts produced by small and medium enterprises and herbs to China. Transport restrictions have pushed them to the brink of collapse. In Kathmandu, economists and trade experts blamed the failed economic diplomacy with China and other countries as the reason behind Nepal’s ballooning trade deficit. Though the country saw a 41.7 percent increase in the export of goods to Rs200.03 billion, imports stood at Rs1.9 trillion in the past fiscal year ended mid-July. “Our trade policies are inclined to promote import rather than export,” said Bharat Raj Paudyal, secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a programme organized by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), a trade think tank, in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Nepal has the potential to increase its exports by 12 times, according to a report published by the World Bank last year. “This report estimates Nepal’s untapped export potential or 'missing' exports at around $9.2 billion, 12 times the actual annual merchandise exports,” he said. Industry insiders say Nepal needs to enhance its economic diplomacy to promote exports. “Nepali missions abroad need to priorities economic diplomacy to increase trade,” said Toyam Raya, secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. “A review of the existing trade policy has reached the final stage, and it will be made public soon.” Though officials at the Nepali missions abroad are given orientation on how to conduct economic diplomacy, they have failed to comprehend its importance, experts say. Foreign Secretary Paudyal agrees that the Foreign Ministry has not been able to deliver on economic diplomacy, which he attributes to lack of sufficient manpower. “Most of Nepal's foreign missions are occupied by migrant worker-related issues,” he said. Labour migration researchers blame Nepali missions for failing to effectively deliver their services towards migrant workers. “Supply constraints, low productive capacity, incoherent policies, inability to leverage new and emerging sectors and poor implementation of the existing policies have affected the trade sector,” Paudyal added. The federal structure should have been used to capitalise on the strength of the local units and their potential, but the centralised tendency has sidelined this possibility, speakers said at Wednesday’s programme. “Along with the formulation of a result-oriented action plan, the government needs to tailor its existing institutions to implement trade policies,” said Paudyal. “High trade costs because of being a landlocked country has also affected Nepal’s exports,” said SAWTEE Chairman Posh Raj Pandey. The Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) is being updated. “Nepal’s existing trade policy adopted in 2015 does not incorporate federal structures,” said Purushottam Ojha, former secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. “Local governments need to be included in the formation of trade policies. Agro-based products need to be prioritized for exports.” he added.  Source: The Kathmandu Post