King Gyanendra accepting credentials from the Ambassador of New Zealand Caroline McDonald at the Narayanhity Royal Palace

AT LEAST FIVE Policemen and nine Maoist rebels were killed in different parts of the country Friday, authorities said. The Defense Ministry said Saturday that four Maoist insurgents were killed at Dhakeri area in Bardiya and one each in Rukum and Udaypur districts in separate encounters and search operations. Two more insurgents were killed in far-western district of Kanchanpur when a group of Maoist insurgents attacked a police patrol team. Three policemen were also killed and seven others injured, the Ministry said. Two more policemen on patrol were killed at Tulsipur in Dang district Friday when a bomb went off, the Ministry said. An insurgent named Shiva Karakheti died in Gorkha district on Thursday when the explosives he was carrying went off suddenly, the Ministry said. Meanwhile, some unconfirmed reports said that Maoists killed three policemen out of seven abducted by them in Kanchanpur while four policemen managed to escape. In a separate incident, a local Maoist unit in Tribhuvan Nagar Dang has acknowledged of having ìexecutedî three local youths, Subash Roka, Gir Bahadur Thapa and Uttam G. C. recently ìfor their involvement in wrongdoings.î All three youths had gone missing for the last ten days.

A GROUP OF PRO-MAOISTS students attacked two schools in the capital Friday morning and set fire to their properties causing losses worth millions of rupees, reports said. The Maoist activists stormed into Lord Buddha Educational Foundation college at Maitidevi and Thames Business School at Gausala Friday morning. They set 20 branded computers at the Lord Buddha Foundation on fire  and also destroyed computers, a fax machine and other office equipment at the Thames School. The students also chanted slogans demanding closure of all the schools and academic institutions in the capital valley on March 3 and 4, reports said.

THE GOVERNMENT-FORMED Teachers' Service Commission (TSC) is working on to issue a compulsory teaching license to an estimated 140,000 school teachers in all over the country, reports said. The system has been recommended in the newly passed Seventh Amendment to the Education Act, which has come into force from the first week of February this year. The Act has made obtaining the license compulsory for teachers within six months of the Act coming into force. The licensing will help in controlling widespread abuses in selecting teachers and checking the entry of people with fake certificates into the teaching profession, officials said.

THE JAPANESE EMBASSY IN Kathmandu has provided grant assistance worth Rs 7.18 million to Love Green Nepal, an NGO, for the construction of the building of Janata Secondary School in Nawarajpur village, Siraha district. The grant will be utilized to build the school building, a library, drinking water and other facilities. Similarly, the embassy has also decided to extend a grant assistance worth Rs 6.35 to Milan Club Nepal to implement a project for the supply of educational equipment to the primary schools in Dharmasthali, Kavresthali, Sangla and Phutung village development committees (VDCs) of Kathmandu district. The aid comes under the granst assistance for the grass-roots projects scheme of the Japanese government.

ELEVEN DAYS AFTER the Maoist insurgents launched a massive attack and killed over 140 people in Achham district, bodies of four more policemen buried under the debris have been recovered Wednesday, reports said. The four bodies, including that of a Sub-Inspector, was pulled out of the rubble of a government building in Mangalsen that was destroyed during the attacks by Maoist insurgents. The bodies were found in pieces as a result of the blast. Police have confirmed death of 59 policemen. 55 soldiers and five others including chief district officer Mohan Singh Khatri were also killed in the attacks. 27 more policemen were killed at the Sanphebagar airport in the same district during the Maoist attacks. The bodies of 13 Maoists were also recovered in and around the district headquarter.

SECURITY FORCES SHOT DEAD at least 14 armed Maoists Tuesday, authorities said. Of them, eight insurgents, reportedly involved in the attacks at Mangalsen and Saafebagar in Achham last fortnightówere killed in Kalikot district, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. Four more Maoists were killed at Pata village of Bajhang and two more in Thalajung of Gorkha district during separate encounters, the Ministry said. Eight more insurgents were arrested in Bajhang while explosives, equipment to make electrical ambushes and Maoist literatures have also been seized, the Ministry said.

AT LEAST 35 HOUSES were gutted by fire in the eastern border town of Pashupatinagar in Ilam district Wednesday destroyed property worth millions of rupees, reports said. The fire, which began from the house of Chandra Subba, chairman of the Pashupatinagar VDC, quickly spread to surrounding buildings. A number of shops selling electronic and other consumer goods were destroyed by the blaze. Four fire engines worked throughout the day, along with army, police and local people, to control the fire, believed to have been caused by an electric short-circuit. Fire has also disrupted telephone and electricity supply to the town.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES on Thursday rejected proposals seeking rejection by Parliament of the Terrorist and Destructive Acts (Control and Punishment) Ordinances 2002 and the Finance (First Amendment) Ordinance 2002. The proposals were presented by parliamentary party leader of Rstriya Jana Morcha Chitra Bahadur KC and Suwash Nemwang of UML respectively. The opposition parties accused the government of taking advantage of the state of emergency and issuing the Ordinances by ignoring the Parliament. Replying to the queries raised by the lawmakers, Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka said the government had to issue those ordinances as the Parliament was not in session and that a grave situation had arrived in the country after sudden resumption of violence by the Maoist insurgents.

THE RULING NEPALI Congress has constituted an all-important ëparliamentary committee' that will nominate party's candidates for the parliamentary polls. The seven-member committee chaired by party President GP Koirala will have premier Sher Bahadur Deuba, NC general secretary Sushil Koirala, former Prime Minister KP Bhattarai, MPs Mahantha Thakur, Govinda Raj Joshi and former deputy premier Ms. Shailaja Acharya as its members.  Meanwhile, KANTIPUR daily has quoted unnamed supporters of premier Deuba as saying that the committee was constituted in `a unilateral way by violating the party's constitution and mandate.' The committee is filled with Koirala supporters except Deuba and Bhattarai. Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka and former deputy premier Ram Chandra Poudel, who earlier held berths in the committee, have not been included in the reconstituted committee. The committee will choose its first candidate for the elections for the post of member of National Assembly due to be held on March 11. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of Nepal Sadbhavana Party supremo Gajendra Narayan Singh.

THE KATHMANDU District Court has handed down a verdict last week (February 26) making it mandatory for editors of two Nepali language weekly newspapers, which published news defaming Mrs. Sujata Koirala over an aircraft leased by the Royal Nepal Airlines, to pay Rs 100 (approx. US$ 1.5) each in fine as well as compensation, RSS news agency reported Saturday. The `Jana Satta' weekly had published a news report nearly two years back (on Jeth 18, 2057 B. S.) and `Prakash' weekly the same month alleging Mrs. Koirala of being involved in corruption. The bench of judge Sharada Prasad Ghimire handed down the decision. Mrs. Koirala, daughter of former Prime Minister GP Koirala, doesn't hold any public office.