Cabinet meeting:

KATHMANDU: A meeting of the cabinet council was held on Wednesday evening for appointing office-bearers of District Develoment Committees and Village Development Committees. Another issue which remained undecided was related to the appointment of zonal and district commissioners. The ministers also discussed the day-to-day functioning of the cabinet council. — HNS

NSP veep’s kin displaced:

KATHMANDU: Family members of Purna Singh Khatri, vice-president of the Nepal Samata Party (NSP), have been displaced from their home at Narayansthan VDC-4 in Baglung district, due to fear of Maoists. According to family sources, Khatri’s entire family has been living in Kathmandu now. More and more party leaders and their family members have been displaced from the districts due to Maoist atrocities. — HNS

Call to free detainees:

Kathmandu: Human rights organisations have demanded that rights activists, professors and members of the civic society, who were imprisoned at different dates, be released immediately. The Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) has sought the release of its Dhading district chairman Badri Aryal and Navaraj Koirala, a central member of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party. Koirala has been kept at Surkhet jail since February 6. Aryal was arrested by security forces on Thursday from the Exhibition Road in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, the Forum for Protection of Human Rights (FOPHUR) has urged the authorities to free detained rights activists, professors and members of the civic society at immediately. — HNS

Broker arrested:

RAJBIRAJ: District Administration Office Saptari on Tuesday nabbed a broker for cheating people by accepting money to help them get citizenship certificates and passports. Anil Kumar Chaudhari of Jandaul VDC-7 was arrested from the DAO compound, said CDO Ananda Raj Pokharel. — RSS

Road construction begins:

RUKUM: Construction work on the 34 km Salabang-Kada road of the remote mountainous district of Rukum has started with the financial and technical assistance of the German INGO GTZ. Thousands of locals will benefit once the road becomes operational. — RSS

Measles outbreak:

DALAIYA: The outbreak of measles has badly affected some wards of Kera VDC in Bara district since last Saturday.The disease has affected 35 women and more than 50

children of Ward 7 and 8 of the VDC. A team of health professionals from the district

hospital has reached the spot to control the disease. No casualty has been reported so far. — RSS

Drive to end dowry system:

TAPLEJUNG: Women in Dokhu of Taplejung district have launched various campaigns to end the dowry system. Local women say their own parents display a biased attitude as they have to give dowry to get them married. Girls are often subjected to discrimination when food and education is concerned. Himadevi Poudyal, a social worker of Dokhu-5, Salimbe, who is leading the campaign says that dowry is the root cause of discrimination. — RSS

Child with two heads:

SANKHUWASABHA: Kalpana Mugrati, wife of Tek Bahadur Mugrati of Chainpur VDC-9, gave birth to a bizarre child on Monday night. The child has two heads, four hands, two legs and teeth. The local people have started thronging the house to have a glimpse of the child believed to be god’s incarnation. This is Kalpana’s third child. — RSS