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Kathmandu, 1 March: His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Chinese President held talks in the Great Hall of the People’s in Beijing Thursday. According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal-China relations, bilateral cooperation and other regional issues figured in the talks. Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola described the talks between the two heads of states as most fruitful.

Earlier President Jiang Zemin gave a ceremonial welcome to King Birendra in the Great Hall of the People’s in Beijing Thursday. In the ceremony contingents of the Chinese army, navy and air force presented guard of honour to His Majesty the King who also inspected the guard of honour. The Chinese President also hosted a state banquet in honour of Their Majesties the King and Queen in the Great Hall of the People’s.

King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya are in China for a weeklong state visit at the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Prince Nirajan, Foreign Minister Bastola, some high-ranking officials and a team of businessmen are accompanying the Royal entourage. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

PM Koirala to visit France

Kathmandu, 1 March: The Foreign Ministry has announced Thursday that Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala will be making an official visit to France at the invitation of the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin next week. Koirala will be the first Prime Minister to make an official visit to France after Jung Bahadur Rana. Koirala will be leaving on Monday the same day King Birendra returns home from his current state visit to China.

The announcement came amidst speculations of the cancellation of the trip as the beleaguered prime minister faces a serious challenge from opposition parties in the Parliament to oust him.
Nepalnews.com/br/at

Nepal “deeply shocked” at destruction of Buddhist heritage sites

Kathmandu, 1 March: Nepal officially denounced the destruction of centuries old Buddhist heritage sites by the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan through a Foreign Ministry statement Thursday. The statement said Nepal was “deeply shocked and concerned” at the destruction of the images of the apostle of peace and called the Taliban moves “reprehensible and unfortunate.” Nepal also called for international diplomatic efforts to save the Buddhist sites in Afghanistan. The move by the hard-line Taliban has also been denounced by Buddhist organisations in Nepal where the Buddha was born. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Kathmandu, 1 March: Opposition protests continued in both the Houses of Parliament Thursday and the meetings were once again adjourned. Five opposition parties in Parliament have been demanding Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation over Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation’s controversial deal with the Austrian Lauda Air, and have continually disrupted proceedings ever since the 19th session began last month.

As soon as Speaker Taranath Ranabhat began the proceedings of the House of Representatives, Lower House of Parliament, lawmakers of the main opposition CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, United People’s Front, National People’s Front and Nepal Majdoor Kisaan Party stood in front of speaker’s seat and demanded the premier’s resignation. The speaker’s repeated appeal did not help to bring calm. Speaker Ranabhat finally adjourned the meeting of the House of Representatives until Friday.

Similarly, all opposition lawmakers in National Assembly, Upper House of Parliament, boycotted today’s meeting of the Upper House pressing the same demands of the Prime Minister’s resignation. As the opposition bench was empty, Chairman of the Upper House Dr Mohammad Mohasin adjourned the meeting of the National Assembly.

Opposition parties have vowed to remove Koirala from the government and announced to go to street. According to their plan, a joint mass meeting is to be held on 2 March in Kathmandu to press for Koirala’s resignation. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Stock market seeking adjustment

Kathmandu, 1 March: The unexpected performance of commercial banks and the adjustment to a bullish market since mid July last year are the main causes for the biggest decline in the stock market in one day an analyst said. The NEPSE index fell by 22 points on Wednesday. 

"The saturated market was seeking adjustment. Investors had put money in commercial banks. But these banks did not announce right or bonus shares according to expectations. This led to a sharp fall in the price of commercial bank shares," an official of the Securities Board, Nepal adding, "The share market does not have depth and spread and is controlled by a few." Ninety percent of shares traded daily are of commercial banks. Nepalnews.com/br/at

3 DIGs promoted to AIGP

Kathmandu, 1 March: Three senior Deputy Inspector General of the Nepal Police (DIG) were promoted to Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) in the general police force Wednesday. The new AIGs are Shyam Bhakta Thapa, Ananta Ram Bhattarai and Tirtha Kumar Pradhan. They are to formally assume their new duties from Thursday.

The posts of AIG had been fallen vacant as the then AIG Pradip Sumsher Rana was promoted to Inspector General of Police, and another AIG Krishna Mohan Shrestha was transferred to the newly created Armed Police Force, while AIG Ram Kaji Bantawa resigned and Dhal Man Thapa retired. According to the police headquarter source, Thapa, Bhattarai and Pradhan have been entrusted with the responsibility of operation, administration and investigation respectively. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Three policemen injured in ambush

Kathmandu, 1 March: Three policemen were injured in an ambush laid by Maoists Tuesday evening at a jungle in Ramechaap district. The injured Gyan Bahadur Karki, Jagdish Mahoto and Babu Kazi Khadka have been evacuated by helicopter to the capital for treatment. The police were ambushed on their way to investigate the murder of Nepali Congress activist Tikaram Aran at his home. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Crown Prince opens doctor’s conference

Kathmandu, 28 February: Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shahdev opened the All Nepal Medical Conference of Nepal Medical Association in Kathmandu Wednesday. The slogan of this year’s conference is "easy access to health service to all". More than 1200 doctors and medical workers from Nepal and abroad are taking part in the conference. There are over 2500 members in the All Nepal Doctor’s Association. Addressing the inaugural function, Minister for Health Ram Krishna Tamrakar asked all doctors to translate the slogan to action in order to provide health service to all people. Several working papers on various issues and aspects of medical field will be presented and comprehensive discussion will be held on each issue raised in the conference. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Disruption of House proceedings continues

Kathmandu, February 28: Opposition continues to disrupt the proceedings of the House of Representatives Wednesday, too, demanding resignation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Soon after Speaker of the House of Representatives Taranath Ranabhat announced the beginning of the House meeting, lawmakers of five opposition parties including main opposition CPN-UML stood in front of the Speaker’s seat and chanted slogan against the Prime Minister. 

Speaker Ranabhat repeatedly appealed them to calm down and allow the smooth operation of the House. However, opposition lawmakers continued their protest forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House meeting until Thursday.

Opposition parties have been continuously disrupting the proceedings of the House from the beginning of 19th session of parliament. All eleven meetings that were called during the 19th session were disrupted because of the opposition protests. Five opposition parties—CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, United People’s Front, National People’s Front and Nepal Majdoor and Kisan Party jointly launched their campaign in parliament to oust Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala holding him responsible for the controversial Lauda Air deal. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Human rights commissioners visit Maoist areas

Kathmandu, 28 February: A three-member team headed by human rights commissioner Kapil Shrestha flew to Nepalgunj from the capital Wednesday to inspect Maoist insurgency affected areas in Salyan and Rolpa district. The team’s travel plans have been given to the Maoists through an intermediary although the rebels have still not responded to it. 

Shrestha and his team members, including an anti-insurgency expert, will trek through the districts to gain first hand knowledge of ground realities. Another team of commissioners consisting of Sushil Pyakhurel and Dr Gaurishanker Lal Das also started their trek to Rukum and Jajarkot Saturday on a similar mission. The Commission was formed last year to monitor human rights conditions in Nepal. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Convertible currency position comfortable

Kathmandu, 28 February: The central bank of Nepal has declared that the country’s treasury has a conformable convertible currency reserve to meet imports for nearly one year. The Nepal Rastra Bank said total foreign exchange holdings increased by 24.4 percent compared to the previous period to Rs 102998.6 million—80.9 percent of it in convertible currency and the remaining non-convertible. Trade deficit during the first half of the current fiscal year declined by 3.5 percent to Rs 27365.7 million compared to 31.2 percent during the corresponding period last year. Exports during the same period decelerated by 22.8 percent to Rs 28757.8, the Bank said. Nepal’s top exports item, pashminas, reached Rs 5.47 billion during the period. Trade deficit declined by 3.5 percent to Rs 27365.7 million. Inflation during the period was two percent.Nepalnews.com/br/at

Hotel workers announce fresh protest programmes

Kathmandu, 28 February: Hotel workers have announced fresh protest programmes beginning Wednesday to further press their demands relating to the ten percent service charge. Two unions of hotel workers jointly announced the series of protest programmes and vowed to close all hotels unless the demands were not met by 13 March. Their protest programmes include orientation to hotel workers on their protest programme, meetings, hoisting black flags in all hotels, mass meetings and a full-fledged strike. According to the unions, their demands were not met even after the time frame fixed by the government for the resolution of the problem was over.

The row between workers and owners of hotels began after employees demanded a ten percent service charge on clients to be given to hotel workers. However, hoteliers have refused to levy the additional ten percent service charge saying that the customers are already overtaxed. Workers had announced their protest programmes three months ago. In retaliation, hotel owners also decided to close all hotels until the problem was solved. Hotels were only reopened when the government promised to solve the issue within two months. A high level committee formed by the government and headed by vice chairman of the National Planning Commission, Prithvi Raj Ligal, was asked to look into the matter and present solutions. The two-month period given by the government to the committee is now over. Both hotel workers and owners have stuck to their earlier positions and the stalemate continues. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

King Calls for Disparity Reduction in Asia 

Kathmandu, 27 February: King Birendra told the inaugural session of the 24-nation Boao Forum in China on Tuesday to reduce disparities in Asia. "As we enter this millennium, mindful of the rapidly changing world in context of the IT revolution, globalisation and privatisation, it has now become incumbent upon us to chart a definite course to reduce this disparity and achieve an equitable and sustainable development," King Birendra said. He also said the interests of countries wishing to enter the global order should be considered.

The King addressed the gathering of Asian leaders in the Chinese city of Boao as a guest of honour. The Forum was launched Monday coinciding with the start of the state visit to China of King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya. They leave for Beijing Wednesday on the second leg of their week-long China tour. The King said the Forum was "founded for and by the peoples of Asia, articulating different issues from the Asian perspective," and added that it will "maximise the positive aspects of the prevailing world order in the collective interest of our nations and region." The King said the forum was a "platform for voicing the concerns and aspirations of the Asian countries and in enhancing co-operation among us."

Chen Jinhua vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and President of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce was elected the forum’s first chairman Monday. Tan Sri Ajit Singh of Malaysia, former secretary general of ASEAN will be the Forum’s secretary general. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Opposition continues to disrupt House

Kathmandu, 27 February: The opposition continued to disrupt the proceedings of both Houses of parliament today. As soon as Speaker Taranath Ranabhat announced the beginning of today’s proceedings of the House of Representatives, the Lower House, all the opposition MPs blocked the proceedings standing in front of the speaker’s seat and demanded resignation of Prime Minister Koirala. The protests continued despite repeated appeals from the speaker, who finally adjourned the meeting.

Similarly, all the opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly, the Upper House of parliament, boycotted today’s meeting demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Koirala over the Lauda Air deal. As the opposition bench was empty, the chairman of the Upper House Dr Mohammad Mohasin adjourned the meeting of the National Assembly until Thursday. Proceedings in the Parliament have been disrupted right from the second day of 19th session.

The main opposition CPN-UML, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, the United People's Front, the National People’s Front and the Nepal Majdoor and Kisaan Party have jointly launched the protest against the government. However, the Nepal Sadbhavana Party has not supported the move. The opposition parties have vowed to remove Koirala from the government and say they will take to the streets, if necessary. They plan to hold a joint mass meeting 2 March in Kathmandu to press for Koirala’s resignation.

Meanwhile an all-party meeting called by Speaker Ranabhat for today to negotiate an end to the present crisis has been cancelled. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Bhattarai calls for Koirala’s resignation

Kathmandu, 27 February: Ahead of an all party meet Tuesday to break a deadlock in the current winter session of Parliament, senior Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai called for Prime Minister Koirala’s resignation to resolve the stand-off. "His resignation is the only outlet. The situation should not be allowed to go out of hand. The opposition has threatened to take to the streets. A resolution will be found within the Nepali Congress," the former prime minister told a reporter of the weekly newspaper Punarjagaran. But Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel hinted Monday that Koirala might ask the King to prorogue the winter session. Parliament has not been able to conduct normal proceedings since this sessions began 9 February. "A mid-term poll is no solution. The Congress has a majority in parliament. Snap polls will ruin the party. I will not allow that to happen," said Bhattarai, the only surviving founding member of the party.

All opposition parties in parliament, except the Nepal Sadbhavana Party, have called for a rally in the capital Friday to press for Koirala’s release. Five opposition parties have been obstructing house proceedings demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation over perceived irregularities in a deal to lease a Boeing aircraft for Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) from Austria’s Lauda Air. Meanwhile, RNAC this week issued a white paper claiming the deal was clean. Tarini Datta Chataut earlier resigned as Tourism Minister after being questioned by the Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority and parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Three arrested in marijuana haul

Kathmandu, 27 February: Three persons were recently arrested after police impounded a truck with 238 kg of marijuana at Nawalpur in Makwanpur district, police said. 

The haul is said to be worth several million rupees. The truck was travelling to Birgunj from Nawalpur. Those arrested are Dharma Raj Shah, Balkrishna Mahato and Baburam Mandal. Nepalnews.com/br/at