‘Much ado about nothing’ is the title of a play by William Shakespeare which he wrote toward the end of the 16th century to highlight disagreements and bad behavior of newlywed couples in most cases on trivial matters. More formally and generally, the phrase means ‘a great deal of fuss over a thing of little importance’.

Tensions between the US and Iran continues even after several days of killing of top Iranian General Qassim Suleimani by the US at Baghdad airport in Iraq on January 3. Suleimani was the most powerful commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Iran. In retaliation, Iran launched a spate of missile attacks targeting US troops in Iraq. Initially, the US claimed that there was no casualty as such on its army base from the Iranian attacks, but now it is confirmed that 11 of US soldiers were injured.

NEW DELHI – “Great nations do not fight endless wars,” US President Donald Trump declared in his 2019 State of the Union speech. He had a point: military entanglements in the Middle East have contributed to the relative decline of American power and facilitated China’s muscular rise. And yet, less than a year after that speech, Trump ordered the assassination of Iran’s most powerful military commander, General Qassem Suleimani, bringing the United States to the precipice of yet another war. Such is the power of America’s addiction to interfering in the chronically volatile Middle East.

Nepal’s relations with China date back much earlier than suggested by written evidences. Study of several stone inscriptions shows that volume of Nepal’s trade with China was almost negligible in comparison to that with India during the Licchavi period. However, some important efforts were made by the Lichhavi kings and the Chinese authorities to enhance bilateral engagements. Lichhavi King Narendra Dev had tried to bring two countries closer by improving trans-Himalayan routes.

Nowadays, the news of airlifting childbearing women from remote areas by the government is common. In this fiscal year only, the government airlifted four childbearing women from Bajhang, a remote district of Sudurpaschim Province. Similar incidents were observed in Dolpa, Jajarkot, Bhojpur and many other remote districts. While on the one hand, it shows the responsiveness of the government to save the lives of needy people, on the other, it depicts the failure of the local health system. If we don’t think judiciously in this matter, this will further jeopardize the local health system. Only a few lives will be saved, and in the long run, the needy people will be deprived of quality health services.

WASHINGTON, DC – In the 1950s, during a very tight postwar labor market, American business executives voted Human Resources (HR) the most glamorous area in business. As Wharton School professor Peter Cappelli recounts, “90% of positions (and virtually all those in the top ranks) were filled from within—and 96% of large companies dedicated an entire department to planning for workforce needs.” When companies need talent, he argues, the prestige of HR goes up; when labor markets go slack, HR returns to benefits administration.

The expanding growth of information technology with its ability to gather, analyze and disseminate data has raised the sense of urgency for enactment of laws on privacy in many countries.  The parliament of Nepal enacted Individual’s Right to Privacy Act (2018) to implement Article 28 of the Constitution which guarantees every person the right to privacy in relation to the person, and his residence, property, documents, records, statistics, correspondence or reputation.

France has been facing transport strikes for one and a half months against the government, which is trying to reform its pension system. President Immanuel Macron wants to replace the current system of 42 pension regimes with a single point scheme that will be the same for everybody. It has caused a brutal travel disruption especially in Paris and its surrounding region causing misery to millions of commuters.

VIENNA – The diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) across the economy has raised the possibility—and for many, the fear—that machines will eventually replace human work. They will not only perform an ever-larger share of mechanical operations, as we have been observing since the first Industrial Revolution, but will also coordinate work by establishing direct communication among machines (the so-called Internet of Things).

Last year, I met my friend who was working in a bank. Some months back, I met him again at a party and asked him whether he was working in the same bank. He said that he had already left that bank and was now working as the manager of another bank. “One cannot make a professional growth working in the same institution for long time. For professional diversity, you should be ready for change,” he said.