Three people who had gone yarsagumba picking in Darchula were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/abnormal-rise-in-monsoon-lightning-in-nepal">struck by lightning</a> on Saturday evening. The injured were airlifted to hospital by the Army. On Monday, a family of four was injured when lightning struck them as they slept in their home in Dailekh. Lightning mostly occurs high above the earth’s surface and is harmless, but cloud-to-ground strikes— which make for around 10% of all lightning— can be lethal. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA), there have been 45 lightning strikes just in the last 30 days which killed five and injured 42, and also killed 142 livestock. Lightning strikes are more frequent during the current pre-monsoon season in Nepal and also spark forest fires. Nine people have died from lightning strikes in 2023, four in March, three in April, and so far two in May. 80 people have been injured. “Lightning strikes are becoming more frequent and violent,” says climate expert Ngamindra Dahal, adding that there are more casualties because of greater human mobility. &nbsp; In the last 10 years, lightning accounted for the third-highest number of deaths due to disasters with 905 fatalities, ranking after the 2015 earthquakes and landslides. And yet, there is little awareness or preparedness. Now, studies have linked the increase in intensity and frequency of thunderstorms to climate change induced convection systems. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lightning-kills-more-people-than-floods-in-nepal/" target="_blank">Lightning kills more people than floods in Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230519040516_59c980a8f0df43561046c4fd631daaac623d3f1d973f2f3acb12cc366fe842a0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230519040516_59c980a8f0df43561046c4fd631daaac623d3f1d973f2f3acb12cc366fe842a0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="1355" loading="lazy" alt="Lightning map"> </figure>  “These changes in climate and weather dynamics make a case for the change in frequency and intensity of lightning strikes being climate change-driven,” adds Dahal. Nepal’s mountains have always been vulnerable to cloudbursts and lightning strikes, with districts like Makwanpur and Tanahu being the most vulnerable. But lightning is a natural disaster that can be prevented in cost-effective manner, at least its impacts, says Dahal. It can be as simple as local governments marking off areas with frequent cloudbursts and putting out information about when the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-if-it-roars-go-indoors,529">public needs to avoid the areas</a>. Another option is to set up public shelters made up of lightning arresters, especially near picnic zones, or areas where farmers take their<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lightning-kills-500-sheep-in-western-nepal"> livestock</a> to graze. For its part, the NDRRMA on its website allows people to parse which lightning strikes are dangerous by counting from 1 to 30. If thunder sounds within 30 seconds of a lightning flash, seek shelter immediately for at least half an hour as those are closer to the ground, and thus more dangerous. “Our research has so far mostly been limited to keeping records of death and injuries, and not so much looking into evolving climate and weather dynamics or the increasing intensity and coverage of lightning strikes,” says Dahal. “But we can give early warning based on Doppler radar mapping for location of possible lightning storms.” &nbsp;&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lightning-strikes-killing-people-in-Nepal,2940" target="_blank">Forecast: more thunderstorms</a>, Om Astha Rai

Shristi Karki

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Thunderstruck in Nepal

<figure><img width="740" height="494" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83ec9c7e80680e067764jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Nepal is very close to hitting that ominous mark of 10K new cases a day with 9,196 positive RT PCR and RDT tests on Friday, bringing the total active infections across the country to 78,629. There were additional 50 deaths in the last 24 hours.At the current rate of replication of the virus, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/our-health-system-cant-contain-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Health Ministry’s projections</a> of the second wave peaking at 15,000 new cases a day by July will fall modest, and soon. It is now evident that the second wave is sweeping Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/microcosms-of-a-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">faster than most parts of India</a> and the world at 211 cases per 1 million population.Meanwhile, according to the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, 91 reporters working in 25 different media houses have rested positive for coronavirus disease, as of Thursday.Most of them are isolating at home but a few are undergoing treatment in Patan Hospital, Manmohan Memorial, Norvic, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Centre and Nepal Police Hospital. <figure><img width="768" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83ee9c7e80680e067765jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img width="736" height="491" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83f19c7e80680e067766jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="728" height="485" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83f39c7e80680e067767jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="768" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83f69c7e80680e067768jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="768" height="513" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83f89c7e80680e067769jpeg.jpg" alt="">Of the total new cases on Friday, nearly half of them (4,106) as have been the cases on a daily basis are from Kathmandu Valley, where doctors are overwhelmed with patients and major hospitals have exhausted their ICUs, ventilators and oxygen cylinders.The city’s only electric crematorium designed for Covid-19 deaths was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-valley-lockdown-till-12-may/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unable to handle the increasing number of fatalities</a>. Currently, of the 5,860 people admitted to hospitals, 728 are in ICU and 231 of them are in ventilator support.But even as the pandemic breaks across the country with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating consequences</a>, Nepalis are unlikely to get a vaccine anytime soon.In a press release on Friday, the Health Ministry spokesman Jageshwor Gautam said that Nepal wouldn’t be able to import more vaccines from India at the moment.“Serum Institute of India has informed us that would deliver the vaccines once they have recovered from the fire and have expanded their capacity, we are not in a situation to buy additional 5 million doses,” he added.After ordering two million doses of Covishield vaccines, Nepal has begun the procedure to buy additional five million shots and as such prime minister K P Oli had announced that the target population would be inoculated in three months.But Nepal is yet to receive one million doses it paid for and India is struggling to meet its own demand as it records an excess of 400,000 new cases a day. <figure><img width="768" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83fb9c7e80680e06776ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="768" height="513" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83fe9c7e80680e06776bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Away from the doom and gloom, locked down <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-turns-into-flower-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu is abloom in Jacaranda</a>, with the streets leading up to Tundikhel painted in purple.Just like last year this time during the first shutdown, nature has taken over the usual hustle and bustle of the city, but there are few on the streets to admire the sight.

Nepal nears 10k daily cases

<figure><img width="740" height="494" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec0e9c7e80680e09ad41jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Nepal is very close to hitting that ominous mark of 10K new cases a day with 9,196 positive RT PCR and RDT tests on Friday, bringing the total active infections across the country to 78,629. There were additional 50 deaths in the last 24 hours.At the current rate of replication of the virus, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/our-health-system-cant-contain-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Health Ministry’s projections</a> of the second wave peaking at 15,000 new cases a day by July will fall modest, and soon. It is now evident that the second wave is sweeping Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/microcosms-of-a-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">faster than most parts of India</a> and the world at 211 cases per 1 million population.Meanwhile, according to the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, 91 reporters working in 25 different media houses have rested positive for coronavirus disease, as of Thursday.Most of them are isolating at home but a few are undergoing treatment in Patan Hospital, Manmohan Memorial, Norvic, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Centre and Nepal Police Hospital. <figure><img width="768" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec109c7e80680e09ad42jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img width="736" height="491" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec139c7e80680e09ad43jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="728" height="485" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec159c7e80680e09ad44jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="768" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec179c7e80680e09ad45jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="768" height="513" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec1a9c7e80680e09ad46jpeg.jpg" alt="">Of the total new cases on Friday, nearly half of them (4,106) as have been the cases on a daily basis are from Kathmandu Valley, where doctors are overwhelmed with patients and major hospitals have exhausted their ICUs, ventilators and oxygen cylinders.The city’s only electric crematorium designed for Covid-19 deaths was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-valley-lockdown-till-12-may/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unable to handle the increasing number of fatalities</a>. Currently, of the 5,860 people admitted to hospitals, 728 are in ICU and 231 of them are in ventilator support.But even as the pandemic breaks across the country with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating consequences</a>, Nepalis are unlikely to get a vaccine anytime soon.In a press release on Friday, the Health Ministry spokesman Jageshwor Gautam said that Nepal wouldn’t be able to import more vaccines from India at the moment.“Serum Institute of India has informed us that would deliver the vaccines once they have recovered from the fire and have expanded their capacity, we are not in a situation to buy additional 5 million doses,” he added.After ordering two million doses of Covishield vaccines, Nepal has begun the procedure to buy additional five million shots and as such prime minister K P Oli had announced that the target population would be inoculated in three months.But Nepal is yet to receive one million doses it paid for and India is struggling to meet its own demand as it records an excess of 400,000 new cases a day. <figure><img width="768" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec1c9c7e80680e09ad47jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="768" height="513" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec1f9c7e80680e09ad48jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Away from the doom and gloom, locked down <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-turns-into-flower-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu is abloom in Jacaranda</a>, with the streets leading up to Tundikhel painted in purple.Just like last year this time during the first shutdown, nature has taken over the usual hustle and bustle of the city, but there are few on the streets to admire the sight.

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

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Turkish to Seville

Digital protection for Nepal’s art