Disqualified Maoists being discharged from Friday

Kathmandu, 17 July: The first of 4,0008 disqualified Maoist combatants at 28 cantonments and satellite camps are being discharged from a camp in Nawalparasi Friday.
A team from the capital flew to the southwest terai district to begin the process after agreement with the peace ministry, UNMIN and Maoists.
Those disqualified are either child soldiers or joined Maoists after a peace agreement was signed between rebels and parliamentary parties.
The discharge will be completed by 2 November 2009.
Those discharged will be kept at transit camps for assimilation into society.
The discharge should have been completed during when the Prachanda government was still in power.
Donors had been urging the disqualified combatants be integrated soonest in society.
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Govt., officials to continue negotiations

Kathmandu, 17 July: Government and unions of civil
servants demanding a flat Rs 5,000 salary hike are continuing talks Friday.
The first round Thursday night was inconclusive.
Civil servants are continuing protests while negotiating.
There was heavy deployment of police Friday at Singha Durbar declared a prohibited area were protests are banned.
The ban has been defied as sit-ins and gherao in the the capital and districts continue.
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PM Nepal, Manmohan Singh hold talks

Kathmandu, 17 July: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh held discussions Thursday on the sidelines of the non-aligned summit in Egypt.
Discussions centered around the delayed peace process and the drafting of the constitution and Nepal’s proposed India visit later this year.
Nepal returns home Saturday.
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!3 Nepalis safe in Iraq

Kathmandu, 17 July: Thirteen employment seeking Nepalis are safe in the Iraqi capital, Foreign Ministry said.
They are being held captive.
Arrangements are being made to repatriate them.
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Chitwan lodges closed down

Kathmandu, 17 July: The seven restorts in Chitwan National Park (CNP) have worn a deserted look since this afternoon [Thursday] after tourists were shifted to hotels outside the park, The Himalayan Times reports form Chitwan.
..the CNP has sent a letter directing the resorts to close their operations following a directive from the Forest Ministry. The tenure of the resorts ended after 16 years Wednesday.
According to CNP, Kasara, over 20 million revenue had been collected from the resorts in the last fiscal year. However, some of the resorts had been defaulting payment of conservation fees for the last few years.
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