Three Members of Family Die after Eating Mushroom

Kathmandu, Aug.21: Three members of the same family died and two others are seriously sick after eating poisonous wild mushrooms in Phalametar village in Kavre, reports said.

Maili Tamang,30, Harimaya Tamang,16, and Thuli Tamang, 12, who are all women, died  after eating the mushrooms collected from a nearby forest. Ghanal Bothe, who is seriously sick, is being treated at Banepa hospital while his infant son is being treated at the the village. nepalnews.com br

SAARC Summit Not Likely Soon

Kathmandu, Aug.21: The postponed annual Kathmandu summit of seven South Asian nations will not be held in the immediate future, SAARC Secretary General  Nihil Rodrigo said.

" It will take some time since one country( India ) has reservations on the prevailing atmosphere," he said in Bangalore where the chief administrator of the regional organization is attending a meet.
'There is no immediate prospect. Negotiations are on between India, Nepal and Sri Lanka," the Sri Lankan diplomat told the French news agency.

Sri Lanka is the present chairman of the Organization. India scuttled the summit in November after a military take-over in Pakistan. India rejected Nepali overtures to get the summit back on track during Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's official visit to New Delhi this month's. nepalnews.com br

Buddha Air Beechcraft Lands Safely After Collision

Kathmandu, Aug.21: A Buddha Air Beechcraft on a flight to Kathmandu from Pokhara landed safely after colliding with a pigeon minutes before approaching the Tribhuvan International Airport Sunday, aviation officials said.

The aircraft piloted by Capt. Anil Shrestha and Co-Pilot Niru Shrestha was carrying 18 passengers .
The aircraft and the bird collided at 670 feet which approacing the airport. Domestic airlines are under heavy pressure after the Prithvi Highway linking Kathmandu and Pokhara remained blocked  road for the 10th day Monday despite efforts to restore traffic. nepalnews.com br

23 hurt in bus accident

Kathmandu, August 21:  Twenty-three people were injured, three of them seriously, when a passenger bus skidded 50 feet down the road in Thana Bharyang of Makwanpur district Sunday, police said.

According to national news agency, the Pokhara-Birgung bound bus with the registration No NA. 2 Kha 1006 met with an accident when a cow crossed the road.

Seven of the injured are undergoing treatment in Hetauda Hospital while the rest returned home after primary treatment. Nepalnews.com yl

Three Members of Same Family Die in Falls

Kathmandu, Aug.20: Three members of a same family fell off a cliff and died near Kitni village in Baglung district Saturday, local officials said. Bel Bahadur Balal died  while he slipped and fell off the cliff while foraging for grass in a heavy downpour.

His father and grandfather fell off the same cliff earlier, reports said. nepalnews.com br

Pravin Gurung's widow says Paras is innocent

Kathmandu, August20: The widow of Pravin Gurung musician and singer who was killed in a hit-and-run traffic accident allegedly involving Prince Paras Shah announced Sunday that she was going to withdraw the case.

In a press conference Sunday, Shanti Gurung said that she was going to withdraw the case because she was assured of adequate compensation, job for her and education to her two sons.

She said she did not suscribe to the views expressed in different newspapers regarding the accident.

" I was shocked to see the name of a Royal Family implicated in the accident", she said.

" Prince Paras Shah was not involved in the accident because there was no eyewitness to prove it," said the widow of the musicial cum singer Gurung.

Shanti had earlier issued a controversial reconciliatory statement on the 13th day of her husband's death urging reconciliation, two broadsheet newspapers reported Sunday.

" Whatever had to happen has happened. My concern was to look after the education and future of my two children. I have received satisfactory compensation from the first party," said Shanti without identifying it.

Critics say Khadga Bhujel has been charged in a frame-up at the Kathmandu district court. nepalnews.com yl/br

Four Maoists Killed in Kalikot

Kathmandu, Aug.20: Four more Maoists were killed Friday night in continuing clashes with police in a six hour exchange of gunfire at Daha village in the district, police said.

Police also recovered a large cache of firearms from the rebels, Chief district Officer Ram Prasad Ghimere said.

At least 1,400 persons have been killed or are missing in a four-year insurgency to establish a communist state in Nepal.

 Coinciding with the 73rd birthday of Queen Mother Ratna to mark Children's Day, a government minister Saturday blasted the rebels for recruiting children in their armed campaign to topple the world's Hindu monarchy and multi-party democracy.

 London based human rights organization Amnesty International also condemned the Maoists for recruiting children in the war. nepalnews.com br

Five Athletes to Participate in XXVII Sydney Olympics

Kathmandu, Aug. 20: Five Nepali athletes in shooting, swimming and athletics will represent Nepal in the XXVII Sydney Olympics next month, the  National Sports Council said in a statement.

Devi Maya Paneru (100m women), Gyan Bahadur Bohara( 5000m) in athletics, Chitra Bahadur Gurung and Rubina Pradhan in swimming and Bhagwati K.C. in shooting have been chosen for the competition.

Meanwhile, a Nepali Youth Under-16 team left for Thailand Saturday en route to Vietnam to  participate in the 9th Asian Youth U-16  Football Championship from September 3 to 17. nepalnews.com br

Bastola leaves for China

Kathmandu, August 19: Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola left for Bangkok Saturday to pay an official visit to China from August 20 to August 25.

It is the first ever official visit to Nepalese Foreign Minister after the restoration of democracy.
Minister Bastola is to meet and discuss with his Chinese counterpart Tang and other officials on matters of bilateral interests.

During his visit to China, Foreign Minister Bastola is to raise issue concerning visa problem faced by Nepalese nationals.

Nepalese businessmen have demanded relaxation of visa distribution to Nepalese people.

Another important decision expected to be taken during Bastola's talks with Chinese leaders and officials is the opening four more trade points along the Nepal-China border.

Prior to his departure, Foreign Minister Bastola said that his visit would pave way for further expansion of trade and economic relations and cooperation between Nepal and China. nepalnews.com yl

Mechi Businesses Protest Plant Quarantine Tax

Kathmandu, Aug.19: Businesses in Mechi have protested a plant quarantine check tax imposed by Indian officials on the Nepal West Bengal border since July 12 on Nepali agricultural exports severely disrupting bilateral trade, reports said.

Indian officials are charging trucks ladened with cardamom, ginger and other cash crops Rs.6000 to Rs.7000 , Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

Trade leaders have asked Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to start a dialogue with India to lift the tax to restore the movement of goods across the border.

Twenty trucks carrying Nepali produce have been stranded at the border since Thursday.Indian officials were not immediately available for comment. nepalnews.com br

HM Honours Bangdel

Kathmandu, Aug.19: King Birendra Friday conferred the Prithvi Prayag Puirasakar-2055 on painter Lain Singh Bangdel " for his six decades of contribution to Nepali art and literature" at the Royal Palace.

The award given once every five years carries a purse of Rs.200,000 and a Rajat Patta.Similarly, the King gave the Mahendra Pragya Puraskar- 2056 to Mrs. Dev Kumari Thapa for her " half century long contribution to Nepali story writing."

The award given every two years carries a purse of Rs.100,000 and a Rajat Patta.The prizes were instituted by the Royal Nepal Academy. nepalnews.com br

One Policeman Killed, Two Injured in Ambush

Kathmandu, Aug.19: One policeman was killed and two others were injured Friday night in an ambush laid Maoists near a village in Sindhuli, police said.

Rabindraman Neupane died near Melchaur and his two colleagues sustained minor injuries at 6 PM while proceeding towards the village from district headquarters on patrol duty.
Meanwhile, three local Maoist commanders surrendered to police in Surkhet after fleeing their jungle hideout this week, regional police headquarters said.

Three Maoists were arrested near Ramauli Bairiya village in Rautahat afte an exchange of fire in which there were  no casualties.

More than 1,400 persons have died in a four-year insurgency to establish a communist state in the Himalayan kingdom. nepalnews.com br

Nepal Admitted  Member of Human Rights Forum

Kathmandu, Aug.19: Nepal was admitted as a member of the Sydney-based  Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Association on August 7, a report said Saturday.

The other members of the Forum are: New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Dr. Gauri Shanker Lal Das and Prof. Kapil Shrestha, members of the National Human Rights Commission, attended the fifth annual meeting of the Forum in Rotora, New Zealand, from August 7 to 9. nepalnews.com br

Hoteliers Leave for Promotional Visit of China

Kathmandu, Aug.19: A top delegation of hoteliers lead by President of the  Hotel Association of Nepal Narendra Bajracharya left for China Saturday on a 12 day promotional tour coinciding with the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and China. Artistes accompanying the delegation will present a cultural programme and a Nepali food festival will also be held in Shanghai, a HAN announcement said.

Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola will unveil a statue of Lord Buddha in the premises of the Nepali embassy in Beijing presented by the Association. HAN and China Hotel Association will sign a co-operative agreement to promote tourism between the two countries.

China last month listed Nepal as one of the limited tourist destinations for its nationals. Reaction in Nepali travel trade circles has been mixed. " A lot of effort will have to be made to make Nepal attractive to prospective Chinese travellers whose first choice for a vacation will be Hong Kong and other parts of East Asia," said a hotelier who preferred anonymity.

Chinese arrivals are almost non-existent to Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha. Besides the embassy in the Chinese capital, travel trade sector has suggested opening consular offices in Shanghai and other major cities in China to promote tourism. nepalnews.com br

Maoists Kill Another Policeman

Kathmandu, Aug.19: Maoists killed police and injured another Friday in Sindupalchowk in a fresh round of violence, police said. Ravindra Neupane was killed in a 30 minute exchange of gunfire with the insurgents while Devi Lal Sharma was injured at Sindubari village. Police are in hot pursuit after the rebels escaped to a nearby forest. Five unexploded pressure bombs were recovered from the site.

At least 1,400 persons have been killed or are missing in an unending insurgency that has affected mainly the poor hill districts of west Nepal. In a related development, Minister for Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Anand Saturday blasted the Maoists for recruiting children in what they call a People's War to topple Nepal's Hindu monarchy and multi-party democracy coinciding with celebrations of Queen Mother Ratna's 73rd birthday as Children's Day.

" Innocent children are recruited in what they call a so-called political campaign and instead of being taught to read and write they are trained on how to use firearms in schools," Gupta said in a powerful national broadcast over state-owned Radio Nepal.

Earlier, London based human rights group Amnesty International accused Nepal's Maoists of recruiting children in their warfare-- an international human rights crime. One report claimed 30 percent of Maoist recruits are children. Human rights groups have accused Maoists and police of excesses.

Nepal,India Transport Accord Welcomed

Kathmandu, Aug.19: While others protested, the Nepal National Transport Entrepreneurs Federation Saturday welcomed a recent agreement between India and Nepal to permit the import of only India vehicles that meet Nepal's Euro-l pollution standard as certified by the manufacturing company.

But it called for a "strict enforcement of Nepal's pollution standard." But critics said the agreement between Nepal and India during Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's visit to India this month will flood Nepal with junk Indian vehicles. Insiders say the controversy is related to differences between importers of East Asian and Indian vehicles. Japanese and South Korean governments issue Euro-I certification while the Indian government does not. The Federation also demanded government ban the import of 400 Indonesian and Chinese manufactured micro buses failing to meet the Euro-l standard imported with 99 percent customs concession. The Federation threatened to launch an agitation if the imports were not stopped. nepalnews.com br

UML says 18th session of House was not fruitful

Kathmandu, August 20: The main opposition party in parliament CPN-UML described the recently concluded 18th session of parliament as fruitless for the country and the people.

This conclusion was made in the meeting of the parliamentary party of CPN-UML that was called to review the 18th session of parliament Sunday.

Talking to media persons after the meeting, main opposition leader in parliament and general secretary of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the meeting made a conclusion that the 18th session of parliament was not fruitful for the country and the people because of lackluster performance of the government.

" This session could not solve any problems facing the people and the country", he said. " Instead, it tried to add more burden to the people," referring to the agreement with Asian Development Bank to raise the price of electricity.

The opposition leader said that the government had to withdraw this decision under tremendous pressure from the opposition parties.

" Some achievements were made only because of the opposition parties like ours", he said.

Mr. Nepal said that his party decided to work more effectively for the consolidation of democracy and parliamentary system in the country in the future.

In the meeting, some lawmakers raised the issue of raising the amount of levy to be paid by UML lawmakers to the party. However, Mr Nepal did not say anything about it. Nepalnews.com yl  

French Trekker Dead

Kathmandu, Aug.21: A 52-year-old french woman returning to Kathmandu after viewing the scenic Phoksundo Lake in Dolpa slipped five metres off a trail and died this month, local officials said.

Mrs.Josnu Vernia was returning to the capital en route home with her husband as a member of a 10 member trekking group handled by Pabil Travels. The group was forced to travel the steep trail after a bridge of over the Sangtang River was washed away by heavy monsoon rains, reports said.

Prithivi High way partially opened

Kathmandu, August 22:

Prithivi Highway, which was blocked because of heavy landslide for the last two weeks, was partially re-opened Monday.

According to officials, the road was opened for only three hours between 4 PM to 7 PM and more than 400 vehicles were allowed to pass.

However, the road was closed after 7 because the debris could not be completely cleared.

Officials said that Monday’s arrangement was mere temporary and it would take some more days to fully clear the road.

The road remained closed for the last 11 days because heavy landslide destroyed the road in Krishnabhir of Dhading, about 85 kilometer west of Kathmandu.

Prithivi Highway is the main link between the capital and the rest of the country. Nepalnews.com yl

Koirala’s rivals to intensify pressure tactics

Kathmandu, August 21:

The imbroglio in the ruling Nepali Congress has once again come to the fore as rivals became active to intensify pressure tactics to force Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to relinquish one of the two posts—Prime Minister or party president.

Koirala is both Prime Minister and party president.

The crisis that had crept in to the party following the abrupt ouster of Khum Bahadur Khadka from t he cabinet two week ago, had been dormant for the last few days. However, it resurfaced as Prime Minister Koirala recently accused his rivals of creating instability in the party.

More than 45 rival lawmakers met in the residence of Sher Bahadur Deuba and decided to intensify pressure tactics, source close to Deuba said.

The meeting decided to intensify pressure on Koirala to fulfil five demands put forth by Krishna Prasad Bhattarai to defuse the crisis in the party and maintain party unity.

One-man-one post is one of the five demands of Bhattarai. However, Koirala has refused to give into the pressure.

The meeting of the rival also decided to counter more effectively in the parliamentary party meeting of the party to be held on Wednesday, the source said.

According to source, if Koirala did not agree to relinquish one of the two posts he is holding, no confidence motion against Koirala would be registered in the party and he would be ousted legally. Nepalnews.com yl

3 passenger buses robbed

Kathmandu, August 22:

Three passenger buses were looted near Pathlaiya of Bara district, about 350 kilometer east of Kathmandu, Monday night.

According to national news agency, a group of armed robbers stopped three Kathmandu bound buses from Janakpur and Dharan in Parsha bridge between Pathlaiya and Nigad of Bara district and fled with over 437,000 rupees in cash and kind.

Local people said that about 25 robbers asked all the passengers at gunpoint to stand in a queue and robbed all the cash and other valuables.

No one has so for been arrested in connection with the incident. Nepalnews.com yl

Bankers say Rupee may have stabilised

Kathmandu, August 22: The US dollar, which appreciated steeply against the Indian rupee in July and August, may have stabilised and bankers expect the exchange rate of the Nepali rupee to remain at present levels for the short term.

The assumption is that India's central bank won't let the rupee slip further. The dollar which was traded for IRs43.495 in early January (NRs68.153), exchanged for IRs44.576 (NRs69.943) on 31 May and rose again pushing the Nepali rupee to the Rs70.157 threshold in June.

"The earlier interventions of the Reserve Bank of India were soft, like using state banks to sell dollars," says a Nepal Rastra Bank economist.

"The direct intervention by RBI earlier this month may indicate it would want to keep the dollar at present levels."

The Nepali rupee has a fixed rate with the Indian rupee at 1:1.6 and the movement of Indian rupees against the dollar guides the rates in Nepal.

The NRB also does not generally to try to maintain the dollar at a rate other than that in India, fearing the impact on export competitiveness.

The Indian rupee has recovered almost one percent from its all-time intra-day low of 6.08 on August 11. It is, however, 4.7 percent off its January level. The Reserve Bank of India last Monday asked exporters to halve their foreign currency accounts by 23 August.

The demand for US dollars in Nepal remains high, mainly due to the payment requirements of the Nepal Oil Corporation, says Anhal Raj Bhattarai, Chartered Accountant at the Nepal Bank Limited. NOC payments are expected to rise further with the increasing price of crude worldwide.

The oil prices are up from about $17-18 per barrel about a year-and-half ago to $31-32 per barrel. NOC has more payments coming up, about $8m on Friday and about the same amount next week, which banking sources said would push demand for the greenback. The Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of Nepal-which comprises a group of banks-has already asked for the central bank to sell between $11-18m to help them meet the growing demand, sources added.

Some days ago the NRB sold $10-12m to help banks to meet the demand for US dollars. In Nepal the central bank buys or sells greenbacks at the fixed inter-bank rate and thus does its actions do affect the exchange rate-which moves alongside the highs and lows of the Indian rupee.

The Indian rupee closed at $1: 44.65 on Monday, down from 45.73/74 in the week of 14 August. The customer buy/sell rates of the dollar against the Nepali rupee remains at 72.20/ 72.90, and the inter bank rate at Rs72.55.

Nepali banks were quoting a forward rate of 4-5 percent on Letter of Credit payments this week, which is another indication of the rate at which the banks think the exchange rate would move in the short term.(Nepalnews.com Ne/Ti)

Encephalitis kill 23 persons in western Nepal

Kathmandu, August 23:

The number of death because of encephalitis disease has gone up to 23 in some western districts of Nepal since this monsoon season began.

The epidemic of encephalitis has spread more in the two districts of Western Nepal namely Kailali and Kanchanpur.

Hundreds of other people also suffered from encephalitis in different parts of the country, some of whom are undergoing treatment in different hospitals.

Encephalitis spreads every year in the monsoon season and it gets more dangerous in western remote districts where health facilities are inadequate.

Despite break out of encephalitis in the western districts of Nepal, concerned authorities do not seem to have paid proper attention to check this disease in time.

As the western districts where encephalitis has spread are Maoist insurgency affected districts, government officials and health workers often refuse to go there. Nepalnews.com yl