Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

NORWEGIAN ENVORY WARNED THAT THE GOVERNMENT of Norway could stop its assistance to Nepal if democratic process was not resumed, beginning with the elections to parliament and local bodies. Ingrid Ofstad, speaking at an interaction program in the capital last week, said, ìIf democratic pillars like the parliament and the local bodies remain non-functional for long and if human rights violations continue, then Norway might have to resort to stopping its aid to Nepal.î She added that Norway and other donor countries were continuously assessing the situation. She, however, declined to answer as to how long would Norway wait for the restoration of democratic process. She also said that Norwegian government was willing to mediate the talks between the Nepalese government and Maoists if both sides agree. Norway is currently facilitating the talks between Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels.

THE FUNERAL OF SLAIN CHIEF of the Armed Police Force (APF) Krishna Mohan Shrestha and his wife Nudup Shrestha was performed on January 29 at Pashupati as per the tradition. The Shrestha couple had been killed by a group of assailants, believed to be Maoists, on Sunday morning. Shrestha is the highest ranking official to have been killed by the rebels.

THE NEPAL STOCK EXCHANGE (NEPSE) has de-listed 25 companies after the latter failed to present their annual financial reports for the last two years. Meanwhile, public who have Rs 261.6 million worth of shares in these companies are now in a fix as there is uncertainty over their investment status. The general manager of the NEPSE Mukunda Dhungel said that most of these 25 de-listed companies were out of active existence and had failed to abide by the NEPSE regulations and, therefore, had to be de-listed.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UNICEF, Ms. Carol Bellamy, has appealed leaders of the South Asia not to continue to ignore the growing threat of HIV/AIDS in the region as the silence would only worsen the situation.. Addressing the high level regional conference entitled "Accelerating the Momentum in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS in South Asia" this week (February 3-4), Ms. Bellamy pointed towards the need to invest in the educational sector to counter the growing menace of AIDS. She said girls were particularly vulnerable to the threat of AIDS and recommended better publicity campaigns to Heighten awareness. The senior UN official also called for action on a regional scale saying that individual countries need to operate beyond national programs. She said that of 230 million young people in the region, a large proportion of them were at high risk. Over 40 million HIV-infected people out of the total of 400 million HIV-infected population in the world live in South Asia. UN reports say nearly half of them are youth, below 29 years of age.

NEPAL IS IMPORTING RAW JUTE worth Rs one billion every year after the local farmers gave up farming the important industrial raw material, a news paper report said. According to the news report, only around 15 percent of demand for jute industries in the country is met through domestic production. According the Nepal Jute Industries Association, ten jute industries in the country consume as much as 72,000 tons of jute every year. Last year, Nepal had produced only 16,000 tons of jute within the country. The jute industries in Nepal, with an investment of over Rs two billion, employ some 10,000 people and have a daily production of 240 tons on an average.

DESPITE THE TRUCE BETWEEN THE government and rebels, student body of the underground CPN (Maoist) has warned that it would go ahead with its proposed indefinite strike at all the academic institutions in the country beginning February 13. The ANNFSU (Revolutionary) said that its protest programs would continue indefinitely unless the government fulfills its 13-point demands. The demands include free education up to high school level and increase in the higher secondary budget. The student body has postponed its proposed strike by nearly two months with a view to give more time to the government.

PROFESSOR DR. GOVINDA PRASAD SHARMA has been appointed as the vice chancellor of the Tribhuwan University (TU). King Gyanendra, in his capacity as Chancellor of the university and on the recommendation of the committee constituted under the chairmanship of TU pro-chancellor and Education Minister Devi Prasad Ojha, has appointed Dr. Sharma to the post. Dr. Sharma is a former executive director of TU Teaching Hospital.