Six persons were injured in a bomb explosion in Rautahat district headquarters Gaur Wednesday afternoon.

Four persons detonated a crude bomb at a medicine store and immediately fled the scene, reports said.

Four of the injured persons have been identified as Pramod Karna, Parwati Devi, Khem Chandra Kandewal and Pawan Kumar. They have been taken to Narayani Sub-regional Hospital in Birgunj for treatment.

An armed outfit called Terai Army has claimed responsibility for the blast. nepalnews.com mk May 14 08

The Nepali embassy in Beijing has said that all the Nepalis living in the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province are safe.

Reports quoting Ambassador Tanka Karki said that the embassy had contacted some Nepali businessmen and students in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, who informed that there were no incidents of Nepalis being killed or injured in the earthquake.

There are an estimated 400 Nepalis, mostly students, in Sichuan that was hit by a major earthquake on Monday, killing more than 12,000 people.

Meanwhile, the CPN-Maoist has extended its condolence to all the Chinese people affected by the earthquake.

“Our party expresses deep sorrow over the massive loss of life and property caused by powerful earthquake,” stated a release signed by party chairman Prachanda.

The party also hoped that the Chinese people and the government would achieve immediate success in the rescue efforts carried out in earthquake affected region.

Following the party’s emergence as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly and the possibility of them leading the next government, the Maoists, who were confined to commenting only on domestic issues, have started to put out statements on such major international events.

The party had earlier issued a statement condemning the Tibetan exiles’ protest in Kathmandu against the crackdown on pro-independence protesters in Tibet by China, saying that it firmly supports “one China policy”. nepalnews.com mk/ag May 14 08

A renowned guru of Meditation, Swami Anand Arun, has said meditation is no more a choice for people in modern times, but it has become a must.

Addressing a ‘satsang’ after inaugurating the Osho Sambodhi Meditation Center in South East London on Saturday, Swami Arun said the mechanisation of society, lack of space for inter-personal communications and pressure to deliver results in a competitive environment were wreaking havoc in people’s lives. In such a situation, meditation is the only tool available that can help people achieve balance in their lives, he said.

Director of the Osho Tapoban (www.tapoban.com) at the Nagarjun hills in Kathmandu, Swami Arun said by practicing meditation we can feel peace and silence within while in the outer world, we will be more efficient. People will remain calm even in adverse situation. “Every individual should strive to be successful in both the planes: material as well as spiritual for which meditation is the only tool,” he added.

Swami Arun said the essence of teachings of Buddha, Jesus and Osho Rajneesh were the same but Osho’s approach was very modern. He said Osho had introduced over 300 meditation techniques keeping in mind needs of the modern man. “If we practice meditation on a regular basis, we can become better father, better husband, better wife and a better citizen,” he added. He said meditation is equally suitable for agnostics as well as those who believed in God.

Swami Arun said meditation is a science and results will come immediately for those who practice it. Saying that every pleasure is associated with pain, Swami Arun said people who practice meditation regularly drop smoking slowly and they no more have to go to a pub or casino to enjoy. “They become happy on their own. It transforms your whole life because you are happy within,” he added.

He thanked Ma Ganga, Ma Chetana and other Osho friends for their support and enthusiasm in establishing a meditation center in South East London.

Speaking on the occasion, Ma Chetana-who also works as a full-time employee at a leading bank in London-said regular meditation changes every thing. She called upon all to find sometime out of their busy routine and join the center in its daily, weekly and monthly meditation sessions.

Earlier, Swami Arun conducted a meditation camp at Swaminarayan temple in Brighton-a popular sea beach to the east of London. Over 30 participants – including academics, businessmen, professionals and housewives– took part in the four-day camp (May 2-5).

Swami Arun is also scheduled to conduct camps, ‘satsang’ and meditation sessions at New castle, Edinburgh, Ealing (London), among others, during his stay in UK until the end of May. Details of his camp are available at www.tathagat.co.uk. nepalnews.com May 14 08

The meeting of the central committee of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), which was expected to choose a coordinator for the committee to organise the general convention of the party, did not take place on Wednesday as earlier scheduled.

Party leaders have said that the meeting will now take place on Thursday morning at around 11 am.

The sudden postponement of the meeting has come amid reports of internal dispute regarding leadership of the party.

A tough contest is said to be on between acting general secretary Amrit Kumar Bohara and standing committee member Jhalnath Khanal, with both of them jockeying for the post of coordinator of the organising committee.

Following the party’s defeat at the recently held Constituent Assembly (CA) election, the UML is now preparing to overhaul its leadership. It is preparing to dissolve its central and standing committee and form a committee to organise the party’s eighth general convention. nepalnews.com sd May 14 08

Former royalist minister and chairman of pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Kamal Thapa, has said he met Maoist chairman Prachanda recently to communicate his party’s position regarding the current political situation, but not to convey the King’s message to the Maoist leadership.

Thapa said this in a press statement on Wednesday, refuting reports that he had gone to Prachanda’s Nayabazaar residence on Monday as King’s emissary.

Thapa’s denial comes a day after the Maoist chairman said that through Thapa he had sent a message to King Gyanendra to leave the palace by May 27, the eve of the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly, or be prepared to be evicted forcefully.

Hours after his meeting with the Maoist leadership, the RPP-N chairman had warned that there would be a dire situation in the country if monarchy got abolished. nepalnews.com mk May 14 08

Artist Erina Tamrakar has come up with her second solo painting exhibition of the year, which clearly depicts the metamorphosis her imagery and motifs are going through when seen on the backdrop of her previous works.

Titled “Silhouettes in Time”, the paintings of the talented young artist put up for display at the Siddhartha Art Gallery in Babarmahal Revisited in the capital from May 13 seems to be a gradual evolvement from her 2007 exhibition titled “Mirror of Woman”.

Curvaceous, very sensuous female form can be seen highlighted in most of the paintings on display: sometimes alone in the woods or against crumbling ruins, sometimes going about her business with an umbrella, and with her lover among flowers and falling leaves.

In the words of Sangeeta Thapa, art curator/director of Siddhartha Gallery who regularly writes on Nepali art, the recurring motif in Erina’s paintings are rapturous women revealing their sensuality in discreet isolation or the joy of motherhood. She says this marks a clear departure from her earlier recurring imagery — dejected rural women who suffered under the load of their daily chores

“Nature plays an important role in these paintings. Flowers, leaves and vines are used to connect the past with the present and to root the female form in nature,” says Thapa in her introduction to the artist work, “Erina’s flowers represents the beauty, vulnerability and lingering fragrance of a woman.”

Talking about her paintings on display, Erina says, “In some of my paintings I have tried to capture the mood of people from different walks of life. I have used the umbrella as a simple motif to portray many different emotions.”

According to her, the umbrella in her paintings not only serves as a symbol of feminine character, but is also linked to a host of situations that make it a powerful metaphor of life. She thinks umbrellas are not only things to protect you from rain or shine, but according to the poem she has written on her paintings, can also be “An umbrella of the oppressed/ An umbrella of the happy/ A damaged umbrella, A broken umbrella/ An umbrella of no ‘use’/ A shade for the beggars and for tears.,/an umbrella for the poor/ An umbrella of love/ Life’s umbrella/ We live with the umbrella/ The umbrella of all the shadows of the other umbrellas/ and the umbrella of all the shadow people.

Paintings on display are all based on acrylic and their price ranges from Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000. The exhibition will run all through May. nepalnews.com ag May 14 08

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has urged all to exercise restraint and extend mutual cooperation to sail through what he called as sensitive transitional phase.

In what appears to be a response towards politically opposite remarks coming from Maoist and non-Maoist camps regarding the formation of new government, amendment of constitution and so on, PM Koirala has said that everyone should exercise restraint in both words and actions.

In last few days, Nepali Congress (NC) and Maoist leaders are engaged in verbal duel on the issues. The NC central working committee has even laid down seven conditions including dissolution of YCL for their cooperation to future government expected to be led by the Maoists. The Maoists, on the other hand, have rejected the conditions.

He made these remarks while laying foundation stone for a building to be built within Singhdurbar for integrated data management and electronic documentation.

South Korean aid agency KOICA has extended Rs 330 million in assistance for the project, which is expected to complete in six months. It will help in electronic storage of important documents and data management. nepalnews.com sd May 14 08

The meeting of the central committee of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) on Wednesday is expected to nominate a coordinator for organising the general convention of the party.

The meeting, which will begin from 2 pm at party headquarter in Balkhu, will dissolve the central and standing committee and form a committee to organise the eighth general convention later this year.

Reports say a tough contest is on between acting general secretary Amrit Kumar Bohara and Jhalnath Khanal for the post of coordinator of the organising committee.

The UML had decided to dissolve its top body and hold fresh general convention in the wake of its stunning defeat in the recent Constituent Assembly (CA) election. nepalnews.com sd May 14 08

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has assured the transporters that he would take steps to address their woes.

According to a delegation of transport entrepreneurs who met with PM Koirala, Wednesday morning, they have been assured of support.

Saroj Sitaula, a transport entrepreneur said that they presented a nine point demands to the Prime Minister.

Among the demands of the transporters include nomination of three persons (out of 26 set aside for such nomination) from transport sector to the Constituent Assembly (CA); putting in place provisions whereby insurance companies will bear the compensation for accident victims; and ensuring security of transport workers and entrepreneurs.

Raising ten demands, the transporters have imposed indefinite bandh in four eastern zones including Mechi, Kosi, Sagarmatha and Janakpur from Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the agitators vandalized a bus and few trucks near Itahari. nepalnews.com sd May 14 08

Maoist aligned Young Communist League (YCL) are pitching their camps in not only abandoned buildings and warehouses but now in buildings of defunct government-run corporations also, Kantipur Daily reports.

The youth organization, which was famously termed Young Criminal League by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala some time ago and which has been denounced for their highhandedness including roughing up rival political party cadres, has been giving “political training” to new recruits at the Minbhawan located garage of Trolley Bus Corporation in the capital city, which is adjacent to BICC complex which is being spruced up in war-footing for the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly.

Kantipur Daily reported that on Tuesday YCL’s “regional chairman” Akash Maharjan was giving political training to few youths wearing YCL costumes inside the garage of the near defunct corporation.

The young commies with the YCL area 1 were also there discussing their future strategy including their one-month long campaign set to start from Wednesday. Although various political parties are putting concerted pressure on the Maoist leadership for the dissolution of this outfit, the cadres there seemed without any cares.

Half of the 40 YCL cadres who were there call this trolley bus garage”home” as they also sleep here.

“After the night sets in, 20 of us go to sleep in Maoist headquarter in Buddhanagar and the remaining of us sleep here,” one cadre who had recently joined the outfit told the daily adding, “we go to Dashrath Rangashala (national stadium) in the morning to learn Judo and Karate.”

A small vacant piece of land in the premises of the Trolleybus office is also being used by them and where they aim to grow vegetables for their comrades living in Kapan, the Balaju head office of YCL and to the Maoist party headquarters in Buddhanagar. The trolleybus workshop has also been turned into a pond to spawn fish, only that they need pour water into it now.

The trolleybus garage has now become the temporary residence of YCL cadres just like few other companies and factories that have closed down, government offices,  warehouses including abandoned buildings in the city.

Kantipur Daily quoted one of the cadres as saying that their friends are living in 50 to 60 places like this scattered around the capital city, and it is set to grow as the YCL is busy in a one-month long people’s campaign to extend its organizational influence.

To recall, YCL’s central meeting had concluded last week deciding to increase its strength to 1 million members within a year.

“We saw it necessary to build an outfit comprising of young volunteers so as to realize the dream of a civilized and highly cultured Nepal in a 100 years time,” Maoist central member cum YCL in-charge Kul Prasad KC told Kantipur Daily.

YCL general secretary Dilip Kumar Prajapati said that if their parent party, CPN-Maoist, goes on to form the government, then YCL would actively involve itself in security including other areas. He said that they would also commit themselves to big government projects to help bring about the “economic revolution” the party has promised.

“We would determine our strategy based on the kind of government that would be formed,” Prajapati told the daily adding, “for that the central working committee meeting would take place once the government is formed.”

YCL claims that till now more than half a million people have already taken its membership. Among them some 450,000 are said to be ordinary and around 50,000 are active cadres. Some 6 to 7 thousand among them are whole timers. nepalnews.com ag May 14 08