Parties’ merger

KATHMANDU: The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Rastrabadi) are announcing formal merger on Tuesday, a RPP-N source on Monday said. This was decided at a meeting of the two party leaders held on Monday. The merger would be announced at a press meet on Tuesday at the office of RPP-N, Mid-Baneswor, the source said. While Rabindra Nath Sharma leads RPP-N, the RPP (Rastrabadi) is led by Rajeswor Devkota. — HNS

UN team in Chitwan

CHITWAN: A team of UN representatives arrived here at the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) camp on Monday. The team, reaching here without any information, inspected the venue of the arms containers and physical infrastructure in the camp, said officers of the Maoist PLA’s number three division at Shaktikhor. The team also inspected the 4th division camp in Nawalparasi district, said division commander Pratikshya. PLA deputy commander Prabhakar was also part of the team. — HNS

Speaker’s notification

Kathmandu: Speaker of House of Representatives Subhas Chandra Nembang, on Monday said he would not be casting his vote in the election to the central committee of the Nepal Bar Association to be held on January 13 because he has been holding a public post. Speaker Nembang, said this in a letter written to the Chief Election Officer, Central Election Committee and NBA. — RSS

Student killed

Bhairahawa: The Nepal-India border area at Belahiya remained tense after a truck ran over a school student on Monday. Pushpa Chhetri, 18, a grade 10 student of Nepal Nalanda School, was killed when a truck heading to Bhairahawa from Belahiya hit her at Dandapul. Irate locals blocked at Belahiya on Siddhartha Highway by burning tyres. An all-party meeting on Monday evening decided to let all vehicles except loaded trucks ply on the highway. — HNS

Refugee census held

DAMAK: The census of some 42,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps at Beldangi in Damak has concluded. The headcount of 23,000 refugees at Beldangi camp no-2 ended on Monday. Headcount of 19,000 refugees at Beldangi camp no-1 was already over. A joint team of the government and UNHCR is totting up the number of refugees. The headcount was done to determine exact data and provide identity card to refugees, the team said. UNHCR data said 106,000 refugees are living in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang. — HNS