BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra giving away Mahendra Vidya Bhusan to 117 perons on the occasion of 27th Education Day.

THE RULING NEPALI CONGRESS has announced that it will launch a nationwide campaign to collect blood for the use of victims of the Maoist violence. The party directed its district working committees and sister organisations in all 75 districts to collect blood. The party has said it is the duty of all the Nepalese people to help the security forces risking their lives in remote areas to protect the state, people and democracy.

THE GOVERNMENT OF Japan has agreed to provide an assistance worth Rs 41.7 million (over US$ 541,000) to three different institutions under its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGPs) scheme. According to the Japanese embassy in Kathmandu, as per the agreement Padma Kanya Campus will receive over Rs 32.5 million for the construction of a 100-room new hostel for girls. Similarly, Rs 6.85 million will be provided to Kavre District Development Committee for the establishment of a Milk Chilling Center at Bhakundebesi along the Banepa-Sindhuli road. Shree Krishna Secondary School of Palpa will receive Rs. 2.33 million for the construction of a building, the embassy said.

A TOTAL OF 76 MAOISTS have been shot down by Royal Nepal Army (RNA) personnel over the weekend, out of which 67 are in different places of Kalikot district alone where the Defence Ministry claims more encounters took place between soldiers on "blocking positions" and terrorists fleeing from Achham district. RNA had suffered a major setback in Achham where nearly 140 security personnel and civilian officials were killed in the Maoist attacks more than a week ago. According to the Defence Ministry, the army has also seized various arms, socket bombs, equipment used to lay electrical ambushes, communication sets as well as a large quantity of foodstuff from the Maoists at the sites of encounter. Similarly, four Maoists were killed in Kaski district during the army's search operation. Three more insurgents were killed in Kanchenpur and two others in Banke district the same day, authorities said. In a separate incident, at least four women cadres of the Maoist militia were shot dead by security forces in an encounter Monday morning at Khairenitar area of Tanahun district, media reports said.

A REGIONAL MEETING on South Asia Peace Operations kicked off in the Nepalese capital Monday to discuss better coordination among the peacekeepers. Nearly 40 top security officials and humanitarian aid workers from 20 countries have come together to take part in the meeting. The organisers said the meeting aims at bridging socio-cultural gap among the peacekeepers. The five-day event is co-sponsored by the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the US Pacific Command and the Royal Nepalese Army. The organisers hoped that the meeting would help participants to understand the operational level training, planning, conduct and exit strategies for modern peacekeeping operations. The organisers said the program would facilitate multi-national dialogue on the nature of peace operations throughout the world. The participants will also interact and understand capabilities and limitations faced by each other during the meeting. Half a dozen similar events are being conducted this year involving military and civilian defense forces in order to help them in organizing more effective and humanitarian peacekeeping missions.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS decided to set up the "Prime Minister's Relief Fund" to provide assistance to the families of Royal Nepalese army men, police personnel, political workers and general public killed in attacks by Maoists, injured or dismembered in the Maoist attacks. The cabinet meeting on Monday decided to set up the Fund at the Prime Minister's Office at Singha Durbar, official news agency reported. According to the Cabinet Secretariat, the government has decided to appropriate Rs 100 million for the Fund. The Prime Minister, ministers, ministers of state and assistant ministers will make donations equivalent to their one month's salaries to the Fund. The amounts contributed to the Fund will be tax exempted. Similarly, the cabinet has also decided that functions like receptions, luncheons and dinners will not be organised by the government except for diplomatic purposes.

KALI GANDAKI A hydropower project has started generation of 48 MW of power from one of its three turbines. The electricity produced from one of its powerhouses of Beltari in Syangja has been hooked to the 132 KV transmission line from Beltari to Butwal in western Nepal. Construction of the 144 MW project had begun in January 1996 at the cost of US$ 452.8 million under the joint investment of Asian Development Bank, Japan Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, Nepal Electricity Authority and HMG/Nepal.

AT LEAST 41 PEOPLE were killed and seven others seriously injured when a passenger bus traveling from Kathmandu to the eastern district of Dhankuta fell off the Prithvi highway and plunged into Trishuli River on late Tuesday at Chandi Bhanjyag in Chitwan district. Police said 37 people died on the spot while four more succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at Bharatpur hospital. The bus had shattered into pieces after felling some 100 feet off the highway, reports said.

A 20-MEMBER DELEGATION FROM the French Institute of Higher Studies for Defense is in a short visit to Nepal presently. The members of the delegation constitute former senior civil servants and big businessmen from France. The members are accompanied by their spouses.