BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY Council has approved a resolution requiring all 189 member nations to deny money, support and sanctuary to terrorists. The legally binding resolution adopted unanimously Friday night is a significant international response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC. The resolution was introduced and approved in just over 24 hours, a pace that reflected Washington's wide support as it leads a global campaign to pursue those responsible for the attacks, and any nation that harbors terrorists.

A MAN IN HIS MID-FORTIES killed five family members in cold blood in eastern Nepal before committing suicide, reports said. Nanda Bahadur Rai, 47, a resident of Buipa village development committee in Khotang district, killed his wife, three daughters and a son with a khukuri while they were sleeping early Sunday and later hanged himself from a tree, police said. He also attacked and injured his eldest son and a neighbor. Rai was reportedly suffering from mental disorder for some time.

THE UNSETTLED ACCOUNTS OF government agencies by the end of last fiscal year had reached a whopping Rs 26.4 billion, up from Rs 18.28 billion last year. If unsettled accounts of other government agencies and committees are included, the amount reaches up to Rs 38.42 billion, reports said. This year's Auditor-General's report said 10 major ministries — including Finance, Water Resources and Local Development ó accounted for nearly 94 percent of the total unsettled accounts.

HELP TO THE HELPLESS COUNCIL, an NGO based in Dharan, is planning to build buildings for giving accommodations to helpless children, imparting skills to women and providing medical facilities. The NGO, which has the objectives of educating needy children, providing skills to women and providing free medical services to the poor, requests all philanthropists, national and international affluent corporations, government units and donor agencies to contribute liberally to help it achieve its objectives. The council has been working in the social service sector since 1994.

A TOTAL OF 1,620 newspapers have been registered in Nepal for publication as of mid-July this year. According to joint records maintained by the Press Council of Nepal and the Department of Information, 230 are daily newspapers, 13 are bi-weekly, 1,153 weekly and 224 fortnightly. There are still 19 out of 75 districts in the country where no newspaper has been registered, the report said.

THE GOVERNMENT OF Switzerland has agreed to provide the Nepalese government a grant assistance of Swiss franc 3.28 million (approximately Rs 156.35 million) for the implementation of the third phase of the rural health development project in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts. The project is expected to help upgrade the knowledge and skills of the health workers in the periphery and project staff, and make them capable of providing quality health services to the local people. An agreement to this effect was signed by joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance Dr. Madhav P. Ghimire and deputy resident coordinator of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation on behalf of their respective governments.

THE MAIN OPPOSITION Unified Marxist-Leninist party has criticized the government's offer to provide Nepal's air space and `refueling' facilities to US aircraft in its fight against terrorism. In a statement signed by Jhal Nath Khanal, chief of the party's foreign affairs department, the UML has also urged the prime minister to pursue the country's foreign policy on the basis of national consensus.

PRIME MINISTER SHER BAHADUR Deuba has said the problem of unemployment is more serious than that of poverty in the country. Addressing a program organized by the National Planning Commission (NPC) to discuss the concept paper of the Tenth Five Year plan here Wednesday, Premier Deuba said the NPC should pay special attention to resolving the problem of unemployment within the next 10 years. He added that controlling population growth and resolving unemployment and other socio-economic problems alone would help resolve the Maoist problem. Despite the prime minister's insistence, officials said the main thrust of the Tenth Plan is poverty alleviation.

NEPALESE TRAVEL TRADE entrepreneurs have demanded that the government exempt visa fee on all the tourists visiting the country. According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Nepal chapter, the tourism entrepreneurs have also demanded 50 percent concession in all air service charges and 50 percent exemption in tourist entry fee in tourist places and national parks. Similarly, the entrepreneurs have suggested that mountaineers climbing up to 6,500 meters should be charged a minimum fee to lure them to Nepal. The entrepreneurs have also expressed worry about the ripple effects of the terrorist attacks in the United States on Nepalese tourism, one of the major foreign exchange earning sectors.

THE JAPANESE EMBASSY in Kathmandu has agreed to provide around US$ 80,000 to the Indigenous Development Foundation of Nepal, a non-government organization, for the construction of a Community Development Center in the eastern district of Jhapa. According to the embassy, the grant provided under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Project of the embassy will be used for the construction of a two-storey well-equipped building, with a training hall, at Charpane village development committee in the district. The center aims to preserve traditional arts and crafts in which they have culturally specialized to satisfy consumers' demands.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES on September 25 approved the Appropriations Bill, 2001 proposed by Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat. Earlier, the House with majority vote rejected all 39 proposals seeking cuts in the public expenditure in different appropriation heads. The approval of the bill has cleared the way for the implementation of the budget estimates for fiscal year 2001/02.