KATHMANDU: Over seven hundred foreign employment agencies across the country are halting their works today to protest the bomb blast at the house of a foreign employment agency operator last Friday.

Netra Bikram Chand led Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has claimed the responsibility of the bomb blast at the house of Rohan Gurung, the chairman of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) last Friday evening. Youth Group Nepal, an organization affiliated with the Chanda led NCP had claimed the responsibility of the incident issuing a press release last Saturday evening.

A powerful bomb blast at the garage of Gurung’s house had left four people injured. Cadres of the Chand’s NCP had demanded money from Gurung as a donation. However, Gurung had refused the demand citing that he was facing financial crisis as Malasiya had stopped hiring workers.

KATHMANDU: President Bidya Devi Bhandari is leaving for the US on Sunday evening to attend a high-level event in New York. The event ‘Women in Power’ is to be hosted by the President of UN General Assembly (PGA) Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces on March 12.

At the event, the President will deliver her speech on the theme “How Women Leaders Change the World.”
In the evening of March 11, the President will attend a welcome dinner to be hosted by the PGA Garces in honor of the women Heads of State/Government.

On the side-lines of the high level event, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of the UN General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces will call on the President at the UN Secretariat.

The President will also hold bilateral meetings with the President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid and the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.  On the same day, former Prime Minister of Ireland Mary Robinson will call on the President Bhandari.

On the 13th of March, the President will visit Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN.  Ambassador of Nepal to the United States of America, Dr. Arjun Kumar Karki and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the UN, Amrit Bahadur Rai will jointly host reception in the honour of the President.

The delegation comprises Tham Maya Thapa, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen, Chairperson of the Women and Social Committee of the House of Representatives Niru Devi Pal, expert at the Office of the President, Laxmi Kumari Karki, Foreign Secretary, Shanker Das Bairagi, Secretary at the Office of the President Binod K.C., Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Yam Kumari Khatiwada and other senior officials from: the Office of the President, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen of the Government of Nepal.

The President will return on March 14 and arrive in Kathmandu on March 15 afternoon.

KATHMANDU: Food aimed for high altitude trekkers and mountaineers is introduced in Nepali market. The packaged food under the brand ‘Trekkers Fuel’ comes in three varieties, as revealed at a press conference today.

The food can be used even for over a decade from the date of buying as it is processed using American technology and 99 per cent of the water in the food is removed. The food is packaged at 40 degrees Celsius temperature, according to tourism entrepreneur and promoter of the brand, Ganesh Simkhada.

The manufacturers pan to introduce 20 more varieties of the food including rice and lentil soup in the near future.

Simkhada said that this food can be used not only by the trekkers and mountaineers but also by security personnel, rescuers and general public as it can be carried and prepared easily. He stressed the need of promoting this type of food.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) member Deepak Mahat also recommended the packaged food to the trekkers and mountaineers as it is easy to carry.

The packaged food is ten times lighter in weight, is fortified with protein, does not contain any chemicals and is tasty, especially for high altitude trekkers and climbers, according to its promoters.

BANKE: Over 1,000 households displaced by floods in Holiya, Betahani, Gangapur, Mahehiya and Phattepur areas four years ago are yet to benefit from relief aids. Their hope is waning thanks to government’s apathy.

The flood victims struggle committee’s chairman Jagdish Bahadur Singh informed that although the Ministry of Urban Development had released the amount under the special package to be provided to the flood victims, the Urban Development and Building Division delayed in the distribution of the amount.

The Ministry had decided to provide Rs 300 thousand to a household with land, and Rs 375 thousand to those not having land. Urban Development and Building Division had maintained the record that as many as 1652 families were rendered homeless due to flooding.

However, Division Engineer, Sunil Kumar Thakur said that although the relief amount was to be distributed in three phases, the amount for the second phase was not received from the Ministry. Since the victims did not ask for the second installment of the relief amount, nearly 280 million rupees was returned to the Ministry.

KATHMANDU: Police arrested a person with illegal US currency at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. The arrested is identified as Timothy Nakarmi, 42. Police recovered 15,000 US dollars of 100 denomination from Nakarmi’s possession, according to Puja Singh, spokesperson at the Metropolitan Police Office Ranipokhari.

PARSA: District Police Office made public main plotters involved in the kidnapping of Nepali Industrialist, Suresh Kedia. At a press conference on Friday morning the police made public Bablu Pashwan of Bihar and Bijaya Kumar Mahato of Motihari in India. Kedia was abducted from Pasaha Bridge at Mahagadhimai of Bara district on May 26, 2016.

Several cases on abdication, kidnapping, organized crime and on arms and ammunition have been filed against those arrested at Bara District Court. Kedia was rescued by the Indian police from Motihari of India.

BHOJPUR: Police have made public hides of wild animals, home-made pistol and its ammunition amid a press conference in the district.

TAMGHAS: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pradeep Gyawali has warned that the government would not tolerate any criminal activities in the country.

Gyawali said any crime on innocent citizens under any political cover would be unacceptable. Speaking at a program at Tamghas on Friday, Minister Gyawali hit out at the Biplav-led Maoist party of hoarding illegal weapons and playing with the sentiments of the innocent people.

Gyawali said since it is the government’s responsibility to maintain law and order, resorting to violence as a means of extortion will not be tolerated at any cost.

“Place you political demands in a political means, resorting to criminal activities will take us nowhere,” he warned the Biplav-led Maoist party.
Likewise, he also justified the court’s orders sentencing Resham Chaudhari, the main accused in the Tikapur incident, to life imprisonment, welcoming the verdict. “It is the duty of all Nepalis to accept the court decision,” he said.

CHAINPUR: Lawmaker of Sudhurpaschhim Province, Devaki Malla has gone missing since this afternoon.

The lawmaker representing the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) went out of contact while returning from Bijgada of the district, police said.

Devaki is an elected member of the provincial parliament from Bajhang “Kha”.

Nepal Police spokesperson Uttam Raj Subedi confirmed the report of Malla’s sudden disappearance. However, locals say lawmaker Malla has been abducted by a group of unidentified masked persons.