Govt.; Kirat Workers’ Party hold talks

Kathmandu, 18 Jan; Kirat Workers’ Party (KWP) agreed to a cease-fire in first direct talks to meet demands for regional autonomy in the regional hill districts.
KWP is the only hill group to start talks with the government whose two-man team was led by Peace Minister Janardhan Sharma Prabhakar.
Government agreed with five demands of KWP in two-hour talks; government agreed to recognize the party as a political organization and agreed to release its workers and provide security during negotiations.
Government earlier held separate talks with four terai groups; more than two dozen groups are active in the region.
Maoist central leader Matrika Prasad Yadav has announced he is launching a new regional group.
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Another shooting death in terai

Kathmandu, 18 Jan: Sambhu Yadav was shot dead in Rautahat Sunday amid continuing violence in the south.
A time bomb was detonated in Mohottari Sunday evening
to create a scare.
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Chickens, ducks culled in Jhapa

Kathmandu, 18 Jan: A rapid response team from the capital assisted by local authorities and health officials, began killing thousands of chickens, ducks and destroyed eggs amid protests of locals in Jhapa where the first trace of the disease was found Saturday.
Farmers were demanding adequate compensation before killing birds.
Altogether 1,500 birds were culled in Mechinagar in Kakarvitta.
The contagious deadly disease finally arrived in land-locked Nepal after they were detected in adjoining China and India.
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Central secretariat meeting of Unified CPN (Maoist) held


Kathmandu, 18 Jan: The first meeting of the Unified CPN (Nepal) was held Sunday after unification of CPN (Maoist) and CPN (Unity Center/ Mashal).
A five-member party headquarter is being headed by Chairman Prachanda; Mohan Baidya Kiran from the Maoist will be organization chief of the unified party.
The unified party is adopting a one post for one person; the principle won’t apply to Chairman Prachanda who is also prime minister
Central committee is meeting Monday; the meeting scheduled to start Sunday was delayed because of inadequate preparation.
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Baban Singh remanded to three-day custody

Kathmandu, 19 Jan: Parsa district court Sunday extended the custody of CA member Baban Singh for three more days in Birjung for investigation into two murder charges.
Singh was arrested Saturday in Parsa.
Members of small parties in the CA protested Singh’s arrest Sunday while the assembly was in session.
There were public protests in Birjung and other terai towns Sunday.
Singh was elected to the CA from Rautahat.
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Maoist arrested to investigate killing of woman journalist

Kathmandu, 19 Jan: Siraha district Maoist leader Shrawan Singh was arrested Sunday to investigate possible involvement in the murder woman journalist Uma Singh in Janakpur 11 January.
Maoists in Siraha protested his arrest
Nemlal Paswan, commander of Terai Ekata Parishad, was arrested in Dhanusha Saturday.
Maoists had abducted and possibly killed Singh’s father and brother.
Parliament Sunday unanimously passed a resolution asking government to take action against those involved in the murder of the woman journalist.
A postmortem report says Singh died on excessive bleeding from seven wounds inflicted by sharp weapons, Kantipur reports from Dhanusha.
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Supreme court order to stop demolishing statute of Prithvinarayan Shah

Kathmandu, 19 Jan: Supreme court one-man bench Sunday ordered government to stop demolition of the statute of King Prithvinarayan Shah the Great until a final court verdict.
The king founded modern Nepal.
Several ministers of the Maoist-led government had threatened to bring down the statute of the king.
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Sujata Koirala heads rejuvenated party foreign party

Kathmandu, 19 Jan: Sujata Koirala again heads a reconstituted Nepali Congress foreign department.
Other department members are: Dr Suresh Chalise, Dr Sambhuram SImkhada, Dr Keshab Mathema and Ramesh Dhamala.
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Govt. banning heaters, air conditioners in government

Kathmandu, 19 Jan: Government is banning heaters, fridges and using excessive electricity in government offices to save energy, Kantipur reports.
There were no other options to save electricity amid 16-hour load-shedding.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“No one should dare topple the government wince it has a clear mandate of the people.”

(Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, The Kathmandu Post, 19 Jan.).

‘Government can’t stop the regular and normal recruitment in the army.”

(RPP Chairman Pashupati SJB Rana, Annapurna Post, 19 Jan.)

“To use multi-party system to climb the ladder and criticize it fearing a downfall is against democracy and parliamentary system.”

(Pashupati SJB Rana, Deshantar, 19 Jan.)
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