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PM visits fire victims in Siraha

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:33:10 +0545

SIRAHA: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today visited the scene of a massive fire in Siraha and announced that the government would provide Rs 25,000 to each household affected by the blaze.
Bhattarai vowed to send tents to the affected area immediately and bring a special package to build temporary shelters. He pointed out the need to b...Read More

Cabinet to get NID Bill soon

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:31:45 +0545

KATHMANDU: The National Identity Card Management Centre is all set to forward the National Identity Card Bill to Cabinet after receiving a go-ahead from the Ministry of Law and Justice.
The Bill, which was gathering dust at the ministry a year after former Minister Brijesh Kumar Gupta stood against it, is now going to be forwarded to the ...Read More

Maoist CC meet endorses deal on statute

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:30:55 +0545

KATHMANDU: A central committee meeting of the Unified CPN-Maoist today endorsed the agreement reached among the four major political forces on constitutional issues, including the forms of governance and federalism, on Tuesday.
However, the vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya-faction, which stood in opposition the moment the deal was signed, boyc...Read More

'CA members backing ethno-federalism to face action'

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:29:36 +0545

DHADING: CPN-UML vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam today warned that stringent action will be taken against the UML Constituent Assembly members if they voted for ethnicity-based federalism crossing the floor as per party statute.
Gautam said that ethnicity-based federal set-up would disintegrate the country. Noting that the CPN-UML was not aga...Read More

Textbooks shortage hits students

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:28:30 +0545

SALYAN: Two months into the new academic session, students from various schools across Salyan district are yet to get textbooks of Grade IX and X of optional subjects.
Shortage of textbooks has hit students hard. Salyan District Education Office said students are facing textbook shortage as the agency authorised for textbook supply faile...Read More

License issued sans competition

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:26:56 +0545

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Energy has decided to issue license to Khimti-II (27.2 MW) hydro project to a co-operative flouting government regulations.
The ministry, which had earlier decided to issue permits on competitive basis only, has amended its working procedure to scrap the provision and add a clause that a co-operative could also...Read More

Child suffers for want of treatment

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:25:59 +0545

PYUTHAN: Seven-year-old Santosh KC of Bandikot VDC, Pyuthan, whose genitals was were chewed by a dog when he was just seven-month-old is waiting for a good Samaritan to help pay for his treatment.
With growing age, it is becoming more difficult for Santosh to live with the problem as he feels pain while urinating.
Santosh’s...Read More

'Warewolf' family to get free treatment

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:24:35 +0545

DHULIKHEL: The Sundases of Kavre who are suffering from ‘warewolf syndrome’ but were unable to pay for their treatment due to poverty will now receive treatment, that too for free.
Salikgram Sundas, his sister Goma and his six-month-old daughter Ashika have been living with the condition, in which the patient grows excessive ...Read More

Life in Tarai comes to a standstill

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:20:50 +0545

ITAHARI: Life in Tarai districts have been affected today for the third consecutive day of the five days general strike called by the Joint Tharu Struggle Committee.
Life in Sunsari, Morang, Jhapa, Saptari, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Janakpur including others have been adversely crippled due to the bandh. Education institutions, industries and ...Read More

Tharuhat cadres clash with police

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:19:37 +0545

DHANGADHI: Tharuhat activists, staging a torch rally in Park Chowk, Dhangadhi, clashed with police today after personnel baton charged them.
Police said they were forced to intervene after activists wielding sticks and rods vandalised Park Chowk-based Joshi Medical Hall and smashed all its window panes. Amit Medicine store’s shutte...Read More

Far-west strike called off

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:18:24 +0545

DIPAYAL: Far-west agitation that raged across the region for the past 20 days has finally come to a halt today following the assurances given by senior political leaders to address the agitators’ demand.
The agitation has thus been called off. Agitators were assured by political leaders that they will keep all nine districts in the ...Read More

Prices of essential food items touch sky

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:16:49 +0545

TAULIHAWA: A weeklong strike called by different ethnic organisations has affected the normal life in the district.
Scarcity of daily used household items has started to be felt along with the price hike. Vegetable prices have been shot up to more than 50 percent in the district due to strike.
Chairperson of the District Consumer...Read More

11-state federal model not acceptable: FLSC

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:15:58 +0545

JHAPA: The Federal Limbuwan State Council has taken a strong exception today to the tentative proposal of 11-state federal model on which political parties struck an agreement recently.
The FLSC, organising a press conference in Birtamod, Jhapa, said it would not accept the ‘unlawful’ federal model recently proposed by the par...Read More

Riots as Dhaka court denies bail to 33 oppn figures

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:10:52 +0545

DHAKA: Demonstrators torched vehicles and fought police in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka after a court today denied bail to 33 opposition figures over charges stemming from an anti-government protest last month.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called a nationwide general strike for tomorrow, saying the court decision...Read More

Reprieve likely for jailed Lanka Gen

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:09:48 +0545

COLOMBO: Sarath Fonseka could be free “within days” after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse held talks today with the jailed former army chief’s political party, officials said.
Fonseka fell out with the government over who should take credit for winning the separatist war against the Tamil Tiger rebels and he lost ...Read More

Blind dissident's plight revives China rights movement

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:08:37 +0545

BEIJING: China may have sown the seeds of its next human rights row with the United States even as it looks to end the current one over blind dissident Chen Guangcheng, with its treatment of him inspiring a band of lawyers to join his human-rights battle.
The tough line over Chen, whose plea for US protection sparked a diplomatic crisis w...Read More

Another food scandal hits China

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:07:44 +0545

SANGHAI: Police in China are investigating after the discovery of a batch of “fake” pigs’ ears reportedly made from gelatin, state media said today, in yet another food safety problem to hit the country.
The bogus ears were discovered in a market in Ganzhou city in the eastern province of Jiangxi in late March after a cu...Read More

Pak backs quick deal on NATO supplies

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:06:29 +0545

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said today it had ordered officials to finalise an agreement as quickly as possible on lifting a six-month blockade on overland NATO supplies into war-torn Afghanistan.
Islamabad has stopped short of announcing when the transit lines will reopen, but has signalled President Asif Ali Zardari will attend key talks on Afg...Read More

S Asia registers decrease in child marriages

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:05:24 +0545

NEW YORK: Fewer girls under 14 are getting married in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, with sizable declines seen in each nation, according to a study released yesterday that suggests positive health gains for young women in South Asia.
In Bangladesh, for example, about 34 per cent of women reported being married by age 14 in 1991 a...Read More

1‚500 ropani Pashupati land 'lost'

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:52:36 +0545

KATHMANDU: Authorities have lost track of around 1,500 ropani land belonging to the Pashupatinath Temple.
The Pashupati Guthi has a total of 4,673.5 ropani land under its ownership, while the Pashupati Development Area Trust has 261 hectares land, on paper.
“We are investigating the land belonging to the guthi,” said G...Read More

Drug peddler held

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:50:18 +0545

KATHMANDU: The Narcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit arrested Surya Prasad Shrestha (27) of Dang with heroin from Gongabu on Wednesday. Officials said he was caught in possession of nine grams of heroin in a search operation. Shrestha has been charged under the Narcotic Drug (Control and Punishment Act).
Molester arrested...Read More

Road expansion drive resumes

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:48:18 +0545

KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Valley Development authority, backed by traffic police, today demolished illegal structures along the road leading to the official residence of the CA Chairman and the Chief Justice in Baluwatar.
DIG Ganesh Raj Rai, in-charge, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, confirmed that demolition of unauthorised structures ...Read More

SC tells govt to study 'Baikanya' practice

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:46:58 +0545

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court today directed the government authorities to form a taskforce to study the ‘baikanya’ custom in the Tarai region and bring suitable reforms in the existing law to control the unusual practice.
A division bench of justices Kalyan Shrestha and Bharat Bahadur Karki issued the directive order to the g...Read More

Kin of jailbirds to agitate for release

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:46:10 +0545

KATHMANDU: The kin of hundreds of jailbirds doing time in various prisons have demanded that the government free them with the delivery of the new constitution.
Organising a press meet in Kathmandu today, Prisoner Victims Association took serious exception to what they called the trend among government authorities to free many criminals ...Read More

IoE students release officials

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:44:51 +0545

LALITPUR: Students living in the dormitory of Pulchowk Engineering College, Institute of Engineering (IoE) have agreed to release college official, whom they had locked up in a building for the last few days.
The students, protesting the campus canteen’s decision to hike the price of meals, had locked up 16 officials, including the ...Read More

Kin handed over bodies of plane-crash victims

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:43:58 +0545

KATHMANDU: The bodies of ten Indian nationals, who died in a plane crash in Jomsom on Monday, have been handed over to their families, said the Indian Embassy in a statement today.
The bodies were handed over today to their families in the presence of Indian Embassy officials of after post mortem at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital ...Read More

Nepali promotional event in Rome

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:42:40 +0545

KATHMANDU: The Nepali embassy in Geneva organised a special Nepal Promotional Programme in Rome, Italy, yesterday.
The function was organised in cooperation with the Non-Resident Nepali Association Italy and the Honorary Consul of Nepal in Rome, said the embassy, which is concurrently accredited to the Republic of Italy.
A large ga...Read More

Mission promoting economic diplomacy

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:41:47 +0545

KATHMANDU: The Embassy of Nepal in India today organised a programme on Economic Diplomacy entitled “Business Opportunities in Nepal” in Dehradun, Uttarakhanda. Addressing the programme, Khaga Nath Adhikari, Charge d’Affaires, highlighted the multi-dimensional aspects of Nepal-India relations, particularly economic and commerci...Read More

Doctors recommend change in lifestyle

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:40:19 +0545

KATHMANDU: Doctors said urban lifestyle is a major cause of hypertension among people living in the city, today on the occasion of World Hypertension Day.
They called on the general public to reduce salt intake and adopt a healthier lifestyle to reduce the risks of stroke and heart diseases caused by hypertension, also known as high bloo...Read More

Revenue chief gets six months in jail for graft

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:38:59 +0545

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court today convicted Director of Inland Revenue Department Murari Bahadur Karki of corruption and sentenced him to six months in jail and fined him Rs 3.6 million.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi and Justice Sushila Karki issued the verdict overturning a four-year-old decision of the Speci...Read More

12 hurt after police intervene in rally

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:37:35 +0545

KATHMANDU: At least 12 protesters were injured after riot police intervened in a torch rally organised by indigenous nationalities in Kathmandu demanding identity-based state restructuring and protesting the 11-pradesh model of federalism.
Riot police intercepted the torch rally as the indigenous nationalities tried to move forward from ...Read More

TC students occupy road to take regular classes

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:36:29 +0545

KATHMANDU: First year students of Bachelors of Science from Tri Chandra (TC) Campus today took their regular class on the street before the campus located at Ghantaghar, Kathmandu.
The campus administration had shut the college down for indefinite period saying that insecurity had become rife among students due to frequent eruption of cla...Read More

NBA slams exclusion proposal

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:35:36 +0545

KATHMANDU: Issuing a press release, Nepal Bar Association (NBA) today sternly flayed the proposal that introduces changes in the structure of the Judicial Council (JC).
According to the NBA the proposal seeks to remove the representatives of NBA from the Judicial Council in the new constitution.
The Judicial Council plays an impo...Read More

Yemeni army kills 29 Qaeda fighters

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:31:27 +0545

SANA: Government troops and warplanes pounded Al-Qaeda positions in southern Yemen today, killing at least 29 militants as part of a ramped up campaign against the group, military officials said.
Al-Qaeda-linked fighters have taken over a swath of territory and several towns in the south, including the Abyan provincial capital of Zinjibar...Read More

Charles Taylor says prosecutors paid witnesses

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:29:36 +0545

LEIDSCHENDAM: Convicted Liberian warlord Charles Taylor accused UN prosecutors today of paying witnesses to testify against him as he addressed a war crimes court in The Hague.
Taylor, 64, was found guilty by the UN-backed court last month of aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone.
“Witnesses were paid, coerced and in...Read More

Iran installing more nuke centrifuges

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:28:11 +0545

VIENNA: Iran is installing more centrifuges in an underground plant but does not yet appear to be using them to expand higher-grade uranium enrichment that could take it closer to producing atom bomb material, Western diplomats say.
They say Iran’s production of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 per cent, which it sta...Read More

Syria accused of new massacre‚ UN observers evacuated

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:27:23 +0545

DAMASCUS: Syrian forces were accused today of having “executed” 15 civilians, as the office of envoy Kofi Annan said members of a UN observer team were evacuated a day after a bomb blast hit their convoy.
“After regime forces raided the neighbourhood of Shammas (in the central city of Homs), 15 civilians were found summa...Read More

Serb commander Mladic on trial for ethnic cleansing

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:25:12 +0545

HAGUE: Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic went on trial today accused of carrying out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.
“Ratko Mladic assumed the mantle of the criminal goal of ethnically cleansing Bosnia,” prosecutor Dermot Groome told judges as the trial ...Read More

Breivik killed with joyous battle cry: Survivors

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:24:23 +0545

OSLO: Anders Behring Breivik screamed a “battle cry” and appeared both angry and joyous as he shot his victims one by one, survivors of the Norwegian far-right killer’s massacre told a court today.
“I heard screaming but I couldn’t make out the words,” Ingvild Leren Stensrud, 17, who was shot in the leg...Read More

State restructuring Ethnic considerations

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:21:49 +0545

Why choose to have ethnic considerations in state formation in Nepal? One reason is that states with pronounced cultural diversity seem to have more difficulty in reaching democratic outcomes than ethnically homogeneous ones. To the extent that identity-based interests are already clustered geographically — which is not the case in much of...Read More

Finally‚ moving

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:20:01 +0545

It has been four plus years that the people had been sitting uptight as regards the completion and promulgation of the new constitution reflecting the ground realities. The talks of consensus had become stereotyped utterances from the political leaders. It had reached a point of total dejection when the leaders finally pulled out a miracle of so...Read More

Fight climate change

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:18:31 +0545

Nepal is bound to be hit hard by climate change, even though its own carbon emission is negligible while compared
to that of industrialized countries. The failure of the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in
December 2011 in Durban, South Africa gives ample proof that cutting emissions is just a dream that...Read More

Runner's high...

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:16:51 +0545

After almost a 4 months’ break, I made my run back to-fro Budhanilkantha. Yup, I enjoyed runner’s high again; to my dismay I hurt my legs. Asim, Prasun, Prawesh, and Suprit... don’t think I am crazy. You do remember Pokhara? I was not surprised to see the fuel queue as early as 6 in the misty, cold morning. I ran observing the ...Read More

Stop the brain drain

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:15:42 +0545

Recently, while I was listening to one of the International radio station, the correspondent asked the Nigerian students, “Why do you want to go to other countries, if you educated people go to other countries, who will be left here to develop your country?” The students replied, “If our country does not bring any programs, and...Read More

RBI offers $2 billion swap arrangement

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:13:11 +0545

KATHMANDU: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will offer a swap arrangement of $2 billion both in foreign currency and Indian rupees to member countries of South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) to strengthen regional financial and economic cooperation.
With the new facility, SAARC members — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhuta...Read More

Iran to boost state aid

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:11:34 +0545

TEHRAN: Iran’s parliament has voted to raise cash handouts by 60 per cent to compensate for scrapped subsidies on energy products and essential commodities, media reported on Wednesday. Some 65 million Iranians will each receive 730,000 rials ($44 on the free market) of direct monthly aid from the state, up from a monthly handout of 455,00...Read More

DoC inspects dealers

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:19 +0545

KATHMANDU: Department of Commerce (DoC) inspected cooking gas dealers located at Jadibuti and Pepsi Cola areas on Wednesday but no irregularities were found. The market monitoring team inspected the dealers following a complaint regarding the distribution of consumer cards but we did not find any dealer charging Rs 100 for a card, said director ...Read More

Travel agencies seek changes in vehicle purchase policy

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:08:47 +0545

KATHMANDU: The government’s failure to identify and address issues concerning the travel and tour sector has hit the industry hard.
“We have repeatedly suggested and forwarded issues that need to be promptly
addressed but the government has always turned a deaf ear,” said chief executive officer at Nepal Associa...Read More

Budgetary provision for loans‚ grants to PEs in offing

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:07:46 +0545

KATHMANDU: Finance Ministry will introduce a special provision regarding loans and subsidies to public enterprises (PE) as it has faced
a lot of problem due to PEs seeking loans and grants, though there has not been any amount earmarked for them
in the fiscal policy.
The ministry has been facing problems to manage fund for...Read More

FHAN urges government to bring domestic bar code

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:06:26 +0545

KATHMANDU: Nepali exporters are preparing to introduce a domestic bar code system in its exportable products.
Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal (FHAN) along
with the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is planning to coordinate with the government to introduce a domestic bar code system in...Read More