Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra and Queen Komal receiving sacred thread from the chief priest on the occasion of Janai Purnima.

PRIME MINISTER SHER Bahadur Deuba has said that he would take a decision regarding the extension of the state of emergency when he returns from Johannesburg early next month. Talking to reporters at the Tribhuvan International Airport here Sunday, Deuba gave this information, without providing any details. The nine-month old state of emergency comes to an end this week. The premier left for Johannesburg to take part in the World Summit on Sustainable Development. He will be visiting Brussels on the way to South Africa and stop over in London on the way back home.

THREE BODIES HAVE been found Saturday afternoon, about 25 kilometres downstream of the Nangdikhola, where a passenger bus plunged into the river Thursday, killing at least 45 people. The bodies are believed to be among the passengers traveling in the ill-fated bus that was headed for Baglung from Kathmandu. The police had recovered the body of the bus driver, Kedar Thapaliya, within hours of the accident. The rescue team has not yet found the wreckage of the bus in the river though the search operation is on. Rescue workers searched the missing bus sailing in kayaks and rafts and holding long iron pipes.

THE SOCIAL WELFARE Council and the Association of the Children of Chhauni (AoCC) have reached an agreement regarding assistance to the orphaned, neglected and destitute children. As per the agreement, AoCC would make available a minimum of 50,000 US dollars per year for running the program. Acting member-secretary of the Social Welfare Council Mrs. Jyoti Pyakurel and Association representative Radheshyam Kamaro signed on the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE killed due to landslide in central hilly district of Ramechhap on early Wednesday reached 41 while one more person was injured seriously, officials said. Nineteen houses were completely buried by the landslide at Bamti VDC ward No. 1, Thapra, in the district. The Home Ministry said Thursday that security personnel and a team of health workers with relief materials from the district headquarters have reached the spot despite the bad weather. CDO of Ramechhap, Trilok Prasad Shrestha, said the security personnel forced their way towards the disaster area after a brief battle with the Maoist rebels in nearby Dolakha district.

A SEVEN-MEMBER COMMISSION has been constituted to probe into the accident of the Shangri-la Air aircraft in Pokhara on August 22, an official announcement said. The commission led by deputy attorney general Nanda Bahadur Subedi has six other members from different agencies. The commission will submit its report along with the reasons for the accident and suggestions to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in the future within the next 45 days, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said.

A DELEGATION OF security forces led by Brigadier General Pratap Bam Malla deposited Nepali and foreign currencies seized from Maoist insurgents in the consolidated fund at the Nepal Rastra Bank, RSS news agency reported. The security forces had confiscated approximately NRs 1.663 million, Indian Rs 8,365.00, 450 Australian dollars, 1,060 US dollars, 260 Sterling Pound and 67,000 Japanese Yen which the rebels had looted from various banks, financial institutions, etc in the past and hidden them underground in Naldum area of Kavrepalanchok district. The troops had recovered the booty during their search operation in the area on April 3 this year. Before this, the security forces had also confiscated approximately NRs 4.786 million and 32.314 kilogram gold jewellery hidden or given for use to their relatives by the insurgents in western Nepal in the same month.

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAS announced grant assistance worth Rs 46.5 million to Nepal. The package is aimed at reducing the impact of the current conflict on long term European Union (EU) assistance programmes. The EU said the assistance was a response to the growing instability in the country due to the Maoist insurgency. According to the Kathmandu office of the EU, the EC has committed more than 130 million Euros in developmental programmes in Nepal since 1977. The EC said it feared that its assistance programmes could be jeopardized due to the on-going conflict in Nepal and said it wanted to address this threat by encouraging local mediation efforts and addressing needs of marginalized social groups in mid-western Nepal and the Terai and ensuring access to objective information to populations affected by the conflict through broadcast and narrowcast radio. The package is financed under the EC's Rapid Reaction Mechanism, which is a facility designed to allow swift and flexible response to situations of deteriorating stability in country that receive EU assistance. The EC's Developmental Program concentrates on areas such as rural development, irrigation, water and sanitation, animal health, social services, education and institution building.

FOLLOWING INDIAN CURRENCY'S growing strength vis-a-vis the US dollar, the Nepalese currency registered 25 paisa appreciation over it on Tuesday. Both the buying and selling rate of the dollar came down by 25 paisa on Tuesday compared to the previous day. On Tuesday, the buying and selling rate of one dollar was recorded at NRs 77.76 and 78.35 respectively.

THE MINISTRY OF Education and Sports has initiated the process of handing over 100 schools to the local bodies or the management committees within current fiscal year. The Department of Education has already received proposals to run 32 schools by the communities, officials said. At present, the schools are being categorized in line with the provision made in existing Acts and rules, the ministry said.

THE NEPAL STOCK EXCHANGE (Nepse) Index has gone up by 3.51 point when the trading at the country's only trading floor concluded Friday. The Nepse index soared to 229.88 point on Friday against 226.37 point recorded last Monday. The recovery during the week was attributed to the better share transactions recorded by all the groups enlisted at Nepse except the finance group, which tumbled by 1.47 point. However, the commercial bank group, which has lion's share in the stock trading, soared by over 5 point to 225.38 point from 220.05 point during the week. While the index of the insurance group had tumbled by over 1 point, the index of the other group had ballooned by over 5 point the last week.

PRIME MINISTER AND Current chair of SAARC, Sher Bahadur Deuba, has said while the regional organization had made good progress in a number of areas, there was much to be desired in consolidating regional economic cooperation. Inaugurating the Council of Ministers' meeting of SAARC here Wednesday, Deuba said the SAARC activities in the field of poverty alleviation have accelerated and several important meetings have been held. Intra-regional trade in SAARC is less than 4 percent of their total foreign trade. He recollected that Kathmandu summit had affirmed the determination to redouble collective efforts to prevent and suppress terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The council of ministers meeting also deliberated on amending the 1987 SAARC convention to combat terrorism and make it effective by consulting legal experts.

THE BHUTANESE GOVERNMENT has provided US$ 100,000 in assistance for the flood victims in Nepal. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigmey Y. Thinley handed over the cheque sent by the Bhutanese prime minister on behalf of Bhutan to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Recent floods and landslides have claimed nearly 400 lives in the country.