A CPN-UML team lead by its chairman Jhala Nath Khanal left for an official visit to China on the invitation of the Communist Party of China on Saturday.
The team includes vice chairman Ashok Rai, Secretary Yubaraj Gyawali and central committee members Surendra Pandey and Raghuji Pant.
Talking to journalists at Tribhuvan International Airport before flying by China Air, Khanal said the current coalition government will not be pull down on any pretext, adding that it has no alternative to complete the constitution writing process within the stipulated time.
He stressed for inclusion of other parties in the coalition government instead of changing the government leadership. He underlined the need for cooperation and consultations with the political parties to resolve the issues of dispute.
During the weeklong visit, the UML team is scheduled to meet the senior Communist leaders in China. nepalnews.com ia Apr 18 09
Kaushal Niroula, 26, also called by nick names like Nepalese Prince, Prince Little Stuff or Dark Prince, who claims to be Nepalese royalty, has been charged with several criminal cases in the US.
According to US media reports, Niroula, short and neatly dressed with attractively dainty features, is suspected to be the ringleader of several murder cases and criminal activities. Recently, he has been implicated in a murder-larceny case in Palm Springs, a desert city in Riverside County, California.
Niroula, a spiffy-dressing Nepalese immigrant with a haughty British accent, apparently served as the hub of an alleged gay-grifter crew. When Niroula was arraigned on March 11, attorneys, police, victims, and former friends already suspected him of being one of the more prolific and ruthless con men ever to hit California.
He is credited with persuading the president of the New College of California that he was Nepalese royalty poised to donate $1 million to the college. In exchange, he purportedly received scholarships and unearned class credits that allowed him to fraudulently extend his student visa.
Niroula also allegedly posed as a business consultant to a Japanese tourist and robbed US$508,000 and as an art consultant, pried $485,000 from a Silicon Valley collector. He then allegedly stole $300,000 worth of jewelry in Marin County. He was arrested after the incident but was bailed out with 50,000 dollars.
Niroula was admitted to New College of California in 2002, armed with a persona apparently tailored for the college president’s needs. Niroula assured all possible support for upgrading this college to an international standard, represented college president in several occasions and due to him, the college has to be shut down in spring.
In July 2006, he had traveled to Waikiki, where he introduced himself to a Japanese tourist named Megumi Hisamatsu and assured to help her invest in US real estate through his consulting agency. Niroula persuaded Hisamatsu to set up U.S. bank accounts containing more than $500,000 and by using pages of a checkbook he’d taken from her, he was able to empty the accounts. When she began to get wise, Niroula claimed he had used the money to rescue members of the Nepalese royal family who were in great danger because of turmoil in their country.
Last year, he also managed to fool an art seller in San Francisco and sniffed off over 400,000 dollars posing himself as broker for selling a paint from British crown, gifted by Nazis. nepalnews.com Apr 16 09
The government has announced the much awaited State Restructuring Commission under the leadership of Dr Ganesh Man Gurung on Thursday.
According to government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the commission will include representatives from all parties in the government. Sita Thebe has been nominated as a representative of women in the commission but other members are yet to be named.
The meeting of the council of minister held today also decided to establish 240 integrated service centers across the country to make government services more accessible to the public. The decision to set up such service centers were withdrawn earlier after protests in some Terai districts.
Additionally, new faces have been added to the Law Commission. Lila Udasi
Khanal (Jhapa), Dev Nayaran Yadav (Saptari) and Santi Kumari Rai (Khotang) have been appointed as the members of the commission.
Similarly, Datta Ram Khanal is named the vice chairman of the Social Welfare Council. nepalnews.com ia Apr 16 09
The meeting of the Council of Minister scheduled for Wednesday afternoon has been postponed for 9 am Thursday due to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s busy schedule.
Cabinet meetings had not taken place for almost a month as a coalition partner the CPN (UML) had been boycotting the meeting demanding the arrest of the guilty of Prachanda Thaiba murder case.
The cabinet was expected to take some important decisions today including the formation of three commissions- on involuntarily disappeared persons, truth and reconciliation and state restructuring.
PM Dahal was unable to attend the cabinet as he remained busy in consultations with political parties to resume the stalled house and deliver an address at the parliament. nepalnews.com Apr 15 09
The government has given retirement to 30 senior police officers including the chiefs of Armed Police Force (APF) and National Investigation Department (NID) by amending a by-law on Wednesday.
Ten APF officers including Inspector General of Police (IGP) Basu Dev Oli and 20 NID officers including Chief Dhan Singh Karki have retirement from Wednesday, The Home Ministry said.
The ministry has named senior AIG Sanat Kumar Basnet as the acting IGP of the APF and Ashok Dev Bhatta as the acting Director of the NID.
The officers retired after the government amended by-laws related to the APF and the NID introducing a provision of 30 year service term in these security agencies.
Officers who are pensioned off from the APF include DIGs Raj Kumar Rana and Madhav Thapa, Mahendra Bhattachan, SSPs Ram Krishna Matanglu and Rajan Thapa and SPs Dileep Basnet, Balkumar Shrestha and Kaman Singh Thapa.
Likewise, from who have been pensioned off from the NID include the Chief Additional Investigation Director Sukha Chandra Jha, SSP Meen Bahadur KC, SPs Basanta Rai, Durga Basnet, Rabindra Shahi, Raj Kumar Shrestha, Birendra Singh and Kamal Miya. nepalnews.com ta Apr 15 05
Meeting of the legislature parliament resumed on Wednesday after two weeks of deadlock.
The House session resumed after an agreement earlier today between the Unified CPN (Maoist) and the main opposition Nepali Congress. Earlier this week, a 9-pt agreement was signed between the Maoists and the CPN (UML), easing tensions between the two ruling parties.
As agreed in the Maoist-NC meeting, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal addressed the House in the evening, promising that the government would not make unilateral moves. He pledged to take the parties into confidence on matters concerning the peace process.
The government would also involve the smaller parties while forming the local bodies, he said.
He added that the government has no intention to infringe the independence of the judiciary.
Reiterating his commitment to implement the past agreements, PM Dahal told the House that the process to return Maoist-seized properties and end the paramilitary structure of the YCL has already started.
He also promised action against those involved in the Butwal murder case.
According to him, homework is underway to complete the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants by mid-July this year.
PM Dahal called for collaboration among the parties in tackling with the difficulties during the transitional phase, adding that his commitment to bring the peace process to a logical conclusion and write new constitution had not withered.
Speaking in the House prior to the PM’s address, Nepali Congress lawmaker Laxman Ghimire sought clarification over the lack of progress in implementing the past agreements. He said impunity is growing because of
the activities of the Maoists.
Likewise, CPN (UML) lawmaker Shankar Pokharel accused the Maoists of not running the government with coalition spirit and asked the government to immediately book the murderers of UML cadre Prachanda Thaiba.
Hridayesh Tripathi of Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party complained that his party was being excluded in local body affairs. He also raised objection to the composition of army integration special committee, saying that TMLP does not recognise the committee.
Meanwhile, two ordinances were tabled in the House today.
Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam tabled the ordinance on voters list while Minister for Law and Constituent Assembly Dev Gurung tabled the ordinance on public services. nepalnews.com mk Apr 15 09
For most of us bungee jumping is a sport reserved for adventure seeking back-packers or youngsters looking for some adrenaline rush, but on Wednesday, while the country was marking New Nepali Year 2066, Minister of Tourism & Civil Aviation Hisila Yami proved this wrong by taking the jump from what is claimed to be world’s highest location for this kind of sport.
Minister Yami took part in the bungee jumping programme at The Last Resort in a bid to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011. Six women adventurers also took part in the jump: Maya Gurung (Everest summiteer and skydiver, Poojan Acharya (Everest summiteer), Asha Kumari Singh Everest Submitter), Ngawang Bhutik Sherpa Mountaineer/Everest summiteer), Neerjala Tamrakar (cyclist/national champion) and Radha Tamang (kayaker).
Speaking to media persons after taking the jump, the former rebel leader said, “As National Geographic has already declared Nepal as one of the Best Adventure Tourism Destination in the world, I would like to reiterate that Nepal is also one of the safest destination in the world.”
“By taking a bungee jump, I want to send out a message to people wishing to visit Nepal, that our government is ‘pro tourism’ and we are doing our best to promote Nepal in the world tourism arena, especially for the visit Nepal Tourism year 2011,” she said expounding on the reason behind this daring act of her.
Taking a jump with six women adventurers, she said, also showed her solidarity towards “women’s upliftment”, and added that she would like to see more female participation in adventure tourism in the coming days.
The sporting event was organized by Nepal Tourism Board. nepalnews.com Apr 15 09
Deputy Prime Minister and vice-chairman of CPN (UML) Bam Dev Gautam has said the UML team in the government won’t be replaced and has challenged the party’s lawmakers who criticised the ministers for being incompetent, to show proofs to support their argument.
Speaking to reporters in Pokhara on Wednesday, Gautam, who leads the UML team in the government, said the ministers were not appointed to their posts out of mercy and that seeking a replacement to the team is just a wishful thinking.
He claimed that there has never been any discussion in the party about changing the equation in the ruling coalition
“Those who are accusing us (UML ministers) of being incompetent must be able to prove the charge. Do they think we are sleeping?”
Gautam’s reaction comes a day after some UML lawmakers questioned the competency of the UML ministers, saying that they have failed to live up to the expectations of the people.
During a meeting of the UML parliamentary party on Tuesday, they also criticised UML team in the government for not being able to take action against the murderers of Prachanda Thaiba, a UML cadre, in Butwal. nepalnews.com mk Apr 15 09
USAID/Nepal’s Education for Income Generation (EIG) and Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) jointly launched a website – www.jobfirst.org.np – to provide jobs to 70,000 disadvantaged people in Nepal’s far-west. The website aims to support and provide an additional tool to help disadvantaged youths from the Mid-Western development region and elesewhere to find jobs matching their skills.
It has targeted 15 districts – Banke, Bardiya, Surkhet, Dang, Pyuthan, Jumla, Humla, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan, Dolpa, Mugu and Kalikot. It will facilitate poor youths who have not passed the School Leaving Certificate exam to find training programmes, institutes and suitable jobs.
The site would also accept vacancy notices for jobs requiring minimal education.
Beth Paige, director of USAID/Nepal, said that the jobsfirst was reflective of USAID’s commitment to work with the private sector to stimulate economic growth, develop businesses and workforces, and expand access to education and technology. nepalnews.com Apr 14 09
Two persons have been killed and almost a dozen others injured when a truck ran over protesting landless squatters sleeping on the road in Bara, Sunday night.
Devi Maya Phuyal, 32, and Kali Pariyar of Simara Sukumbasi basti, Bara died when the truck ran over them at 10 pm Sunday. Ten others were injured in the accident.
The driver of the truck was reportedly drunk at the time of driving. Police have taken him in their custody.
The injured are being treated at Narayani Sub-regional Hospital, Birgunj.
Transportation in Bara, which had resumed after an agreement with the local administration, Sunday has been obstructed again after the incident.
Meanwhile, a child has been injured when a small bomb went off in Kalaiya of Bara district at 8 pm Sunday. Twelve-year-old Supre Praja has been injured in his right hand when a thread-bomb left by unknown group exploded near Upahar Vastralaya, Kalaiya. He is undergoing treatment at the district hospital, Kalaiya. nepalnews.com Apr 13 09