BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

Police wielding batons at students who thronged at Gorkhapatra Corpration wating to know about their SLC results published in Gorkhapatra daily.

A STRONG EARTHQUAKE measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Nepal Monday night (July 16) at 9.57 pm. According to the Department of Mines and Geology, the quake had its epicenter at the Gorkha district. Residents of the capital rushed outside their homes in fear after they felt the tremor. There were no immediate reports of destruction or casualty though some newsreports said few persons were injured after a house collapsed in Dhading district. The tremor was followed by another moderate one measuring around 4 richter scale in the early Tuesday morning -- with epicenter in Lamjung district. Meanwhile, another quake had hit early Thursday (July 12), officials said. According to the Department of Mines and Geology in the capital, the quake -- that had its epicenter at Gaja village at the borders of Bajhang and Bajura districts in far-western Nepal -- struck at 1:30 a. m.

MAOIST REBELS HAVE RELEASED former Nepali Congress lawmaker and a human rights activist, Mukti Prasad Sharma, in Pyuthan district Thursday. Sharma was abducted by the rebels from his own house in the same district some six weeks back. Early this week, the rebels had abducted another former Congress MP, Devraj Joshi, from the far-western district of Bajura.

THE PARLIAMENT ON FRIDAY passed the crucial Accounts Bill, presented by Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat. It will allow the government to borrow and spend from the government exchequer until the budget for the next fiscal year is passed by the legislature. The left opposition parties boycotted the voting on the bill. Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat presented nearly Rs 100 billion budget estimates for the year 2001-02 in the parliament last Monday.

OFFICIALS HAVE CLARIFIED THAT the Vietnamese ship carrying fertilizer, that sunk in the Bay of Bengal last Tuesday did not carry cargo for Nepal. Earlier, a news report carried by the Associated Press said the ship carrying fertilizer for Nepal from China had sunk. All 30 crew members aboard the MV Lucnan were rescued by Coast Guard ships and are safe, a spokesman for the Calcutta Port Trust said. The ship was carrying 11,000 tons of ammonium phosphate and 2,500 tons of other fertilizers.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF Nepal (Maoist) has confirmed the death of nine Maoist guerrillas, including five women, in raids at Nuwakot, Lamjung and Gulmi districts last Friday. At least 40 policemen and a civilian were killed in the Maoist attacks. Police had suspected that up to two dozen rebels may have been killed during the fierce gun battle. A statement issued by Comrade Baldev (not real name), in-charge of military headquarter of central regional bureau of the underground party, blamed the police for the death of a rural woman in Lamjung district, Naya Sadak daily reported.

THE LANDLESS SQUATTERS problems resolution commission has provided land to 2,761 landless squatters and unplanned settlers in 33 districts by mid-July, this year. The commission provided land free of cost to landless squatter families. At the same time, revenue of Rs.16.1 million was raised by selling land to the unplanned settlers, the Commission said. The landless squatters cannot sell the land provided by the commission for 15 years and the unplanned settlers for ten years, according to officials.

THE GOVERNMENT IS FORMULATING a new policy for population management in the country, a senior official said. Minister for Population and Environment Siddha Raj Ojha told a program organized to mark the World Population Day here Wednesday that the policy would be made public soon. Saying that factors like illiteracy, poverty, religious superstition and unemployment have led to uncontrolled rise in the population of Nepal, Minister Ojha said the pressure of population growth could be lessened through the enhancement of women's literacy in the country.