The Election Commission on Tuesday registered ten more political parties that had applied for party registration to contest the constituent assembly elections.

The parties registered today are Shiv Sena Nepal (election sysmbol ’Damaru’), Muskan Sena Nepal Party (election symbol ‘Man’), Nepali Rastriya Janabhawana Party (election symbol ‘Tea pot’), Nepali Janata Dal (election symbol ‘Wheel’, Rastrabadi Ekta Party (election symbol ‘Pigeon’), Nepali Congress-Rastrabadi (election symbol ‘Water tap’, Janakukti Party, Nepal (election symbol ‘Ladder’), Nepal Janata Party (election symbol ‘Lotus’), Nepal Bahudal Party (election symbol ‘Temple’) and Lok Kalyankari Janata Party Nepal (election symbol ‘Arrow’).

All these parties are little known in the political sphere and most of them are contesting the election for the first time.

The EC has already registered some six dozen political parties.

In a latest instance of lawlessness in Terai, a civilian was gunned down by an unidentified gang in Dhanusha district early Tuesday morning.

Bechan Mahato was shot dead by a gang of four people at his house in Sakhuwa Mahendranagar VDC, reports said. The reason behind the killing remains unclear.

Police said they were investigating the murder, but nobody had been arrested till evening.

The Chinese government has offered Rs 8 billion line of credit to Nepal.

Visiting Chinese Assistant Commerce Minister Wang Chao made the offer during his meeting with Finance Minister Dr Ram Saran Mahat at the Finance Ministry Tuesday.

Mahat told reporters that he welcomed the Chinese offer for confessional loan, but added that the government was yet to decide whether to accept it. Mahat said the meeting focused on bilateral trade and economic issues.

The Chinese minister who is here on a four-day tour is also attending the meeting of the Nepal-China Intergovernmental Economic and Trade Committee which began in Kathmandu today.

He will meet with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Wednesday.

After the foreign management team of ICC withdrew from the management of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL), the central bank has started consultations regarding the bank’s management.

Pointing at the pressures from the employees’ union and lack of cooperation by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the foreign management team had unilaterally decided to cancel its management contract. They were also dissatisfied with the decision of the NRB to extend their contract by only six months – as against their demand for 18 months extension.

J. Craig McAllister, the chief executive of the team, had written a letter to the NRB, Finance Ministry and donor World Bank informing about the decision.

Subsequently, the board of directors of the NBL, on Saturday, has appointed a three-member team to look after the management. The team is headed by Mahesh Dhakal and includes Keshab Raj Lamichhane and Keshab Prasad Pathik.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat has said that if the ICC management team withdraws, then the government will hand over the management to Nepali team. “In the present context in the country, we cannot extend the management tenure by more than six months. If the foreign team is not willing to accept this offer, we will have to look for alternatives,” Dr. Mahat said.

Stating that huge tracts of land have been inundated in various districts of Nepal due to the dams built unilaterally by India along the Indo-Nepal border, parliamentarians have demanded that such ‘physical infrastructures’ be demolished.

Talking in the ‘zero’ and ‘special’ hour session of the interim parliament Sunday, parliamentarians drew the attention of the government towards the importance of maintaining a natural flow of the river water in the southern border areas. Saying that the Mahalisagar, Laxmanpur including other dams India unilaterally built along its border with Nepal has caused many houses and huge tracts of arable land to be submerged under water, they demanded that the government make necessary arrangements for the rehabilitation of the people affected by it at the earliest.

“The government should take initiative to demolish the dams built unilaterally in the border areas in contravention of the international norms,” said lawmaker Sunil Prajapati.

Parliamentarian Purna Kumari Subedi said that the people had to silently bear the unjust treaty /agreement that had been signed in the past and demanded the demolition of the Indian dam that has inundated Nepalese territory and caused misery to thousands of people. “The victims of last years floods and inundation are yet to get proper compensation,” she said.

Meanwhile, the incessant rainfall from the past few days has caused havoc in Parsa, Mahottari, Banke, Bara, Rauthat and other districts as hundreds of houses and huge tracts of lands have been submerged by floods.

According to the Kathmandu Post, more than 100 houses in Nagawa, Inaruwa, Ranighat, Radhemai, Bara and Chhapakiya district have been inundated. Police administration distributed beaten rice to 138 flood affected victims in Inaruwa and Radhemai VDCs and Nepal Red Cross Society Parsa also provided tents to affected people.

In another report, the northern parts of Mahottari district have been hugely affected due to floods. More than a dozen offices have been inundated in Jaleshwor municipality.

Similarly, Jaleshwor-Birtamod, Jaleshwor-Itthihani and Sari-Piaguani road sections have been obstructed due to flooding.

Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan has said if the ambassadorial positions that remains vacant from the past 15 months are not filled up immediately, then the process might be delayed further after the election code-of-conduct comes into effect. She said that the eight parties should immediately discuss the matter to avoid this scenario.

“There has already been too much delay in appointing ambassadors,” Minister Pradhan told Kantipur Daily.

She said that since the said code-of-conduct comes into effect three months before the elections and during that period all new appointments, transfers and promotions are halted, there is possibility that the process of appointing ambassadors might get delayed by 5 more months.

The Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) National Coordination Committee (NCC) Saudi Arabia has been established on July 19 under the leadership of Gopal Ghimire.

The meeting of the Nepali Diaspora in Saudi Arabia held at Nepali Embassy premises in Riyadh elected Ram Bahadur Belbase and Hari Ghimire as vice presidents and Bimal Gautam and Sagar Shrestha as national coordinator and assistant coordinator respectively.

Acting Nepali envoy to Saudi Arabia Prakash Subedi and NRNA International Coordination Committee (ICC) vice president for Middle East were also present at the meeting.

The newly elected leaders vowed to work for rights and benefits of the Nepali Diaspora and put efforts for development of Nepal as well.

The government has assured the agitating freed Kamaiyas that their demands for resettlement would be met within the next three months.

Freed Kamaiya leader Dilli Chaudhary told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at the PM’s residence in Baluwatar Monday that the government has given assurance to resettle all Kamaiyas in the next three months.

Chaudhary quoted PM Koirala as saying that the government would establish a coordination office in Banke district to accelerate the process of rehabilitation. The office would be headed by a government officer of joint secretary rank.

Minister for Land Reforms and Management Jagat Bahadur Bogati was also present during the meeting between PM Koirala and Kamaiya representatives.

Freed Kamaiyas have been launching protest programmes since a few days demanding their rehabilitation immediately. They accuse the government of ignoring their demands even after seven years of being declared freed.

At least four persons were killed and 20 others injured when a tempo collided with a bus at Gothgaon of eastern Morang district Monday morning.

Sita Dhungel, Pawan Singh and two other unidentified persons were killed when the tempo (Me-1-Kha 997) they were traveling in was hit by a passenger bus (Ko-1-Ha 1443), reports said.

The injured passengers have been admitted at the BP Koirala Institute for Health Sciences in Dharan for treatment.

In what appears to be its response to the controversy over the ongoing UK visit of Nepal Army chief Rukmagad Katawal, the British Embassy Monday said the visit was aimed to assist the NA in “making it more accountable to the democratic/civilian authorities”.

“The visit aims to assist the General with the information and discussions that he needs to develop the Nepal Army for its post conflict role in society and in making it more accountable to the democratic/civilian authorities,”

The embassy also said that human rights would be one of issues to be raised with the Nepal Army chief during his UK tour.

Saying that the UK has repeatedly condemned human rights abuses in Nepal by both the Nepali Army and the Maoists during the conflict, the embassy said, “This [human rights] will be one of the issues raised with Gen. Katawal during his visit. The UK is concerned about culture of impunity in Nepal Army, and lack of public trust.”

It further said, “This situation does enormous damage to the Nepal Army. It is in the interest of Nepal to build public confidence in the security forces and address Human Rights concerns. This message will be given strongly to the General during his visit.”

In his first foreign tour as Chief of Army Staff, Katawal left for London on a weeklong visit at the invitation of the UK Ministry of Defence.

According to the embassy, the UK has and is still providing Human Rights and Managing Defence in Democracy courses to the Nepal Army as part of its annual assistance programme.

“The UK is also working with the Nepalese Ministry of Defence to improve its capability to become a fully functioning department of state with full civilian control and democratic accountability over the Nepal Army.”