The Nationals Sports Council and Cricket Association of Nepal rewarded the U-19 World Cup Cricket Plate champions on Thursday.

Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who is also the patron of National Sports Council (NSC), gave away a Bajaj CT 100 motorcycle to each to the 14 players and Rs 25,000 each to officials — coach Roy Luke Dias, assistant coach Shankar K Rana and assistant manager Diwakar Ghale. Crown Princess Himani was also present on the occasion.

Nepal defeated South Africa in the final to register a historic victory in the U-19 World Cup.

The CPN (UML) has condemned the security authorities act of gheraoing the party’s central office at Balkhu, Kathmandu, in a bid to arrest senior leaders when a meeting of the Standing Committee was underway on Tuesday.

Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the UML said the party strongly objected the presence of the Armed Police Force (APF) personnel outside the party headquarters in an apparent bid to arrest the top leaders including Bamdev Gautam, Jhalnath Gautam and Amrit Kumar Bohora.

The UML said dozens of APF personnel were stationed outside the premises of the central office for nearly three hours from 3:00 p.m. Telephone lines of the party office were also cut off.

While the security men waited outside, UML cadres secretly drove the leaders out of the party office on motorbikes, according to reports.

Top UML leaders including Khanal, Gautam and Bohora have been coordinating party affairs from make-shift locations while party general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal remains under house arrest for some weeks now.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) gave a positive node to the Supreme Court (SC) to allocate Rs 8 million for celebrating the golden jubilee of the establishment of the apex court.

Earlier the Ministry had rejected the Supreme Court’s demand to allocate the money citing financial crunch.

According to reports, the ministry told the apex court recently that it would ‘review’ its previous decision and was ready to allocate a part of the desired amount for the purpose.

“The officials told us that the ministry would review its previous decision,” The Himalayan Times daily quoted officiating registrar of the SC, Dr Ram Krishna Timalsena, as saying. “It wants us to forward our demand in writing again,” he added.

The paper quoted another source of the Supreme Court as saying that the ministry had told the SC to use Rs 4 million from its own budget as ‘contingency amount’ and seek Rs 2 million from the ministry in writing again.

“The ministry has allowed us to use our contingency budget saying it would clear the amount later,” the source added.

The source said after the ministry rejected the apex court’s demand, the SC had cancelled its plan to invite Chief Justices of SAARC countries for the occasion.

Notwithstanding their commitments to the national and international humanitarian laws, Maoists barred dairy farmers from selling milk in the district headquarters with the beginning of a three-week Maoist blockade in the district headquarters from Tuesday.

Local farmers in the areas surrounding the district headquarters said the Maoists had told them not to sell milk till mid-April, according to newspaper reports.

“When I was going to Chautara to sell milk, Maoists forced me to return from Melchour,” said a farmer of Sanusirubari, adding, “We are facing hard times as we have to make a living from selling milk.”

According to locals, Maoists have deployed a Maoist cadre each in every tole (locality) and forced farmers not to sell milk in the district headquarters and surrounding areas during their blockade.

Maoists have also placed obstructions on the Araniko Highway, the Helambu Highway and the Bandeu-Chautara section of the road to make their blockade a success, locals said. Due to the obstructions no vehicle, including ambulances, was seen plying on the roads.

Security personnel of the Sasastra Seema Bal (SSB), an Indian paramilitary force deployed along the Nepal-India border have dug over 500 meters of trench along the border in Gulariya-9 of Bardiya district of western Nepal, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.

According to Kantipur daily, the land lies between border pillars number 63 and 64 belonging to some local Nepalese.

The paper quoted a victim, Shahadat Dhobi, as saying that SSB forces encroached some 500 bigha of land in Nepali territory. “They have banned access to the encroached land that belongs to us, let alone allow any tilling there,” said another victim.

According to Govinda Pandey, coordinator of the border concern group, encroachment has been on the rise after a Nepal Police post at the border was moved elsewhere due to fear of the Maoists.

Meanwhile a report from Morang said, locals in Majhare VDC of Morang, which borders India, have become constant victims of harassment by Indian security personnel.

The Indian security men have been extorting money from the locals, beating up those failing to meet their demands and misbehaving with the women, among other things.

According to locals, the Indian security men demand huge sums and often beat those who do not meet their demands.

Following the incident, more than 200 locals went to organize a sit-in protest for three hours at the Indian security base camp at Bathna on Tuesday, led by Bijay Kumar Mandal, a ex-Indian minister.

An Indian Border Security Force base camp was set-up at Sonamani, adjoining Tarigama village, a month ago. There are around 19 security men in the camp.

At a time when the valley is reeling under acute water shortage, a Nepali telefilm based on the shortage of drinking water has been selected to be screened at an international event on water to be held in Mexico.

‘Jalapari’, a telefilm directed by Madan Krishna Shrestha and Haribansh Acharya, is one among three dozen films from all over the world to be screened during the film festival to be held at the World Water Forum 2006 in Mexico from March 16 to 22, according to reports.

The telefilm highlights the problems of severe water shortage and its effect on people’s lifestyle and also suggests rainwater harvesting as a possible solution.

The eight-day event will screen similar films from USA, Canada, Spain, France, Venezuela, India, Iran, Mexico, Italy, Kenya, Chile, Brazil, among other countries.

Some selected water experts from Nepal are participating in the festival, according to the NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation.

Nepal participated in a two-day exhibition entitled “Window to the World 2006” held in the Chancellor’s Auditorium in the University of Malaysia from 9-10 March 2006.

A press statement issued by the Royal Nepalese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia said, “The display of attractive posters of breathtaking natural and cultural heritages of Nepal and its traditional handcrafts was among the main attractions to the visitors.”

A multi-media presentation entitled “Nepal: Where Dream Turns into Reality” was also presented during the exhibition, the statement adds.

Miss Sangeeta Moktan and Miss Manju Joshi, who are currently in Malaysia in a cultural tour, also performed a folk dance during the event.

The volunteers explained to the visitors, mostly university students, about Nepal’s panoramic natural beauty, unique culture and tradition. Around 10,000 visitors visited the exhibition.

Miss Sangeeta Moktan and Miss Manju Joshi, who are currently in Malaysia in a cultural tour, also performed a folk dance during the event.

18 countries had participated in the exhibition.

Maoists bombed the bridge of Holeri Khola on the Prithivi Highway in Tanahu district, western Nepal, on Tuesday night.

Chief District Officer of Tanahu, Bhuvan Aryal, informed Nepalnews that the bridge has been partially destroyed in the incident.

He further said security forces have been mobilised in the area to inspect the site and study the feasibility of making diversion or repair of the bridge.

“Only light vehicles are passing through the bridge, heavy vehicles will not be able to operate till the bridge is repaired,” he added.

According to locals, the vehicular movement in the area has come to a halt following the blockade announced by the Maoists.

The Maoists have called blockade in the Kathmandu Valley, regional, zonal and district headquarters for three weeks from Tuesday.

Security forces and the Maoist rebels exchanged fire at Kavre Bhanjyang area of Kavre district Wednesday morning.

Reports from Kavre said the clash between the patrolling security forces and the Maoists started at around 11:20 a.m. near the Banepa-Bardibas Highway, which lasted for about half an hour.

The Maoists fled immediately after a security enforcement sent from Dhulikhel base camp reached the area. A search operation is underway in and around Kavre Bhanjyang and the security forces have taken the area under their control, reports added.

However, there were no reports of human casualties. Details are awaited.

His Majesty King Gyanendra gave an audience to visiting Chief Justice of the Russian Federation, V.M. Lebedev, in Pokhara on Wednesday.

The King gave audience to Lebedev at Ratna Mandir, Pokhara, where he, along with Queen Komal, has been staying for the last couple of weeks as part of his informal visit to the Western Region.

Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel was also present during the royal audience, reports said.

Lebedev arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday on a four-day friendly tour. He is the first Chief Justice of any European nation to visit Nepal, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.