Please refresh your browser for the latest news update.

Three killed, 22 injured in bus accident

Kathmandu, March 26: Three persons were killed and 22 others injured Sunday when a bus plying between Baglung and Birgunj fell off a mountain highway. The injured are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Pokhara. According to the police the vehicle’s brakes failed plunging the bus off the highway.

In another incident fifteen soldiers were injured Sunday when a truck overturned at Dang Ghoari Sunday. The soldiers were working with a road project in Rukum. The truck was travelling to Nepalgunj from Tulsipur. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Fire destroys jute worth Rs 7.5 million

Kathmandu, March 26: A fire gutted jute worth Rs 7.5 million in two godowns in Biratnagar Friday night, police said. Fire fighters from Biratnagar, Itahari and Inaruwa took 19 hours to control the blaze. The cause of the fire is not known. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Four missing after avalanche hit

Kathmandu, March 25: Three Australians and one Israeli are missing and feared dead after an avalanche hit them at Deurali on the trial below the 8091 meters high Mt Annapurna Sunday, first reports from the area said. The identity of the trekkers was not immediately known but rescue teams have already been flown to the area. Nepalnews.com br/at

Blind American optimistic about conquering Everest

Kathmandu, March 25: A 32-year-old blind American is attempting to climb the world`s highest peak this season. Erik Weihenmayer said his chances of conquering Mt Everest were as good as anyone else’s. "I do not want to prove anything. I just want to have a good experience on the mountain," said Erik talking to Nepalnews minutes after arriving in the capital en route to the base camp to become the first blind man climb to set foot on the highest point on earth.

During his 16-year climbing career, Erik, father of a gird child, has climbed the tallest summits in
four continents. Storms aborted his attempt to climb the 22423 ft Ama Dablam. "I will thank god for
all I have when I get to the summit or the highest point I reach on the mountain," Eric said. 

The expedition is supported by the Baltimore based National Federation of the Blind which has
50,000 members. Eric will follow a lead climber ringing a bell to guide him on the mountain. Leader
of the nine-member expedition Pasquale Scaturro was equally optimistic and said "Eric is a strong
climber. He has very good chances of getting to the summit. Two other blind climbers also in the
expedition will not attempt Everest but will trek to base camp with the team. 

Eric became blind at 13 years of age after developing a degenerative eye disease. Author of one
book, Eric also bicycles and runs to keep fit. Nepalnews.com/br/at

UNEP director arrives on four-day visit

Kathmandu, March 25: United Nations under secretary and executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer arrived in Kathmandu Saturday evening on a four-day visit to Nepal. According to UNDP, Toepfer is to meet with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, several ministers and officials from various organisations like World Wildlife Fund (WWF), World Conservation Union (IUCN), International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation. Toepfer will also launch Nepal’s State of the Environment Report, prepared by His Majesty's Government of Nepal, with support from UNEP in collaboration with ICIMOD and South Asia Cooperation for Environment Programme (SACEP) on 26 March. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Stock market slumps further

Kathmandu, March 25: The NEPSE index fell 11.42 points as trade volume plummeted to Rs 22.4 million from Rs 96.1 million during the end of five-day trading Friday. The NEPSE index fell 7.41 points the previous week. Trading opened at 388.40 points Monday and closed at 376.98 points Friday. The index of commercial banks slipped to 420.89 points from 432.19 points during the week. Altogether 37,718 shares of 31 listed companies were traded during the week. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Mopping-up programme to eradicate polio

Kathmandu, March 25  A mopping-up programme to eradicate polio will be launched on 7 April and the first week of May after traces of the disease were found in various parts of the kingdom even after a five-year national eradication effort. Children below five years of age in 23 districts will be administered polio drops. The programme is being launched in districts where new polio cases have been detected, districts bordering areas where cases have been traced, districts with heavy migration, districts with poor health and sanitation conditions, densely populated districts and districts out of coverage of regular immunisation programs. Jhapa, Morang, Saptari, Siraha, Sunsari, Bara, Dhanusha, Chitwan, Parsa, Rautahat, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Kapilbastu, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Banke, Bardia, Dang, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have been selected for the mopping-up programme. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Diseases claim 62 lives

Kathmandu, March 25: Measles, gastro-enteritis and viral influenza claimed 62 lives and infected 1897 persons in the last two months in Humla, Kalikot, Rolpa, Dang, Lamjung, Rasuwa, Dolakha, Solukhumbu and Mahottari districts, health officials said. Health teams sent to the districts have reportedly brought the diseases under control. Officials at a review here have recommended severe action against health officials deserting their posts. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Dahal appointed secretary of Judicial Council

Kathmandu, March 24: King Birendra has appointed the member secretary of the Supreme Court Management Monitoring Committee Kashiraj Dahal as the secretary of the Judicial Council. Dahal is also the spokesman for the Supreme Court. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Nepali wins second Annapurna Mandala Trail Race

Kathmandu, March 24: Nar Bahadur Shah won the second annual nine-day Annapurna Mandala Trail Race that ended Thursday. Babu Raja Shrestha came second while the French Jannick Juchereau was third in the race penned the world’s highest race as the trail went around the world’s tenth tallest peak. 

36 runners from Europe and Nepal participated in the gruelling competition. Member of Parliament Narayan Pun distributed prizes and certificates to the winners and participants in the capital Friday night. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Singer Koili Devi hospitalised

Kathmandu, March 24: Popular Nepali singer Koili Devi Mathema has been admitted to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest. She was hospitalised last week for heart problem but her condition has deteriorated in the last two days. Doctors installed a temporary pacemaker in her chest, as her heartbeat was irregular. A temporary pacemaker will be fixed tomorrow. 

Koili Devi, 70, has sung several folk and modern songs in Nepali and has given music to several Nepali songs. Koili Devi Trust, a body formed recently after her name, issued a press statement today calling upon all to contribute financially for her treatment. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Five left parties to stage protest rally

Kathmandu, March 23: Five left parties are to stage a protest rally in Kathmandu on March 26
to press for the resignation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala over the Lauda Air deal.

Main opposition CPN-UML, United People’s Front, National People’s Front, Nepal Communist Party (Unity Center) and Nepal Majdoor and Kisan Party are to take out a joint protest rally in Kathmandu, a joint press statement said. A big procession would go round the city demanding resignation of
Koirala and convert into a mass meeting, which would be addressed by different leftist leaders.

The statement said that further protest programs would be announced in the mass meeting.
Leftist parties have been demanding resignation of the Prime Minister alleging that he was involved in the controversial Lauda Air deal. They along with RPP have been continuously disrupting the proceedings of the House on this issue. RPP, however, has sided away from the street
protest of left parties against the government and Prime Minister Koirala. Nepalnews.com/yl

Ten injured in prison riot

Kathmandu, March 23: Ten inmates were injured when a riot broke out in a prison in Palpa Thursday. The injured are undergoing treatment at Palpa District Hospital. It took security personnel nearly two hours to control the riot sparked by differences between rival groups. Unsatisfied prisoners presented three demands to prison authorities including removal of shops charging allegedly high prices for goods and the transfer of one policeman posted at the jail. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Quadruplets dead hours after birth

Kathmandu, March 23: Quadruplets born in Babiyabirta village in Morang district Wednesday, died within 12 hours of their birth. The quadruplets, all girls, were born to Yammaya Magar, 30. Three of the infants weighed 750 grams each, and the fourth weighed one kg. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Panel suggests reduction in public expenditure

Kathmandu, March 23: A panel formed to review public expenditure recommended the government cut expenses on a massive scale to use public funds. The five-member Public Expenditure Review Commission headed by lawmaker Binaya Dhoj Chand, submitted its report to finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat Thursday. The report recommended scrapping a few ministries, some regional and district level offices and development projects, and downsizing the administration. Over 20,000 employees will be made redundant if the recommendations are implemented. The commission also suggested the government make changes to the present pension programme for government employees, and freeze pay for ten years. A member of the panel said that current public expenditure cannot be sustained by the exchequer. "We hope that the recommendations will be honestly implemented," said Chand. Finance minister Mahat said he would implement as many recommendations as possible. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Bank security guard killed

Kathmandu, March 22: A security guard of the Nepal Bank Ltd in the Nepal-India border town of Amaibelaha, in Sunsari district was shot dead while four others were injured in a failed attempt to loot the bank Wednesday night, police said. 

In another development Maoists have called for a nation-wide strike on 6 April to coincide with the
toppling of the Panchayat system, a statement by party strongman Prachanda said Wednesday.
The rebels said they would mobilise forces from 3-5 April and launch new offensives against their
targets. Prachanda criticised the two ordinances that have established the Armed Police Force and
appointed five regional administrators to empower local administrators to deal with the insurgency. 
Nepalnews.com/br/at

Five regional administrators begin work

Kathmandu, March 22: Five powerful regional administrators began work Thursday under a new government scheme to devolve powers to local administrators, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said. The five regional centres have been set up in Dhankuta, Hetauda, Pokhara, Surkhet and Dipayal. Special class civil servants already appointed as regional administrators will head regional security committees that will comprise of police and military representatives.

Opposition parties in Parliament are however stalling efforts to approve the ordinances. The
ordinances have to be approved within 60 days of registration at the Parliament.
The government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala will face a crisis if the ordinances are not
approved by 8 April. Koirala, whose resignation is being demanded by the opposition and rebels in
the ruling Nepali Congress party on corruption and other charges, can either steam roll the
ordinances in Parliament without opposition support or recommend the abrogation of the current
winter session of the legislature to the King and bring amendments to the ordinances to ensure
their effectively, analysts said. Nepalnews.com/br/at

New public issue guidelines in security market

Kathmandu, March 22: Effective 14 April the Securities Board of Nepal has issued new guidelines to promote the primary market and systematize public issue procedures in the capital market. "The move is aimed to promote the primary market and to further strengthen and systematize and public
issue procedures," chairman of the Board, Dambar Prasad Dhungel told Nepalnews. 

"Companies must now show they have a good track record before going public," he said adding, "We are also trying to make the operation of the capital market simple and transparent."  Companies must now show a year of profits before going public. The regulatory board has fixed a
two month deadline for companies to float their shares after receiving permission.  One stipulation says analysts must inform investors of risks in investments.

The minimum share application has been increased to 50 from 10 to restrict the number of applicants.    Another guideline fixes 90 days for distributing shares after issue closure. The Board authorized 30 companies to issue shares worth Rs 1.34 billion in the first three years of the current 9th Five Year Plan that began 1998. Nepalnews.com/br/at

UK offers Rs 1.96 billion grant

Kathmandu, March 22: The United Kingdom has offered Nepal a grant of Rs 1.96 billion to implement the Livelihood and Forestry Program in seven hill districts of Kosi and Dhaulagiri zones for the next 10 years beginning 2001, a Finance Ministry announcement said. The Nepal UK Community Forestry Project will be extended to four hill districts in the mid-western region. 

The purpose of the project is to enhance the assets of rural communities through more equitable, efficient and sustainable use of forests. Altogether 4,000 user groups from 300,000 households will benefit from the project. Finance Secretary Dr Bimal Koirala and British Ambassador Ronald Nash signed an agreement this week extending the grant. Nepalnews.com/br/at

National campaign to build latrines

Kathmandu, March 22: The Nepal government in cooperation with the UNICEF launched a five-year national campaign on Thursday to motivate families nation-wide to build latrines to reduce the spread of diseases.

 The campaign aims to motivate 800,000 families in the nation’s nearly 4,000 villages to construct sanitary latrines. Only 27.1 percent households in rural Nepal have access to latrines and nearly 1500 tons of human faeces are discharged into fields and waterways every day. An estimated 28,000 children die in Nepal annually from diarrhoea caused by drinking contaminated water. Nepalnews.com/br/at