Boarding schools closed for fourth consecutive day

Kathmandu, 28 April: Maoists forced the closure of boarding nation-wide for the fourth consecutive day Wednesday demanding the annulment of hike in admission fees beginning with the commencement of the new academic year.
Talks between government, PABSON, the umbrella organization of schools and Maoists haven’t yielded results.
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Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar acting PM

Kathmandu, 28 April: Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar, who is also chairman of MJFL is acting officiating as the prime minister in the absence on Madhav Kumar Nepal who is leading the Nepali delegation to the 16th SAARC summit in Bhutan.
Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala is the other deputy prime minister.
She was promoted deputy prime minister after joining the Nepal government as prime minister.
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1st woman to climb world’s 14 tallest peaks

Kathmandu, 28 April: South Korea’s Oh Eun-Sun, 44, scaled the 8091 meters high world’s 10th tallest peak Annapurna Main Peak Tuesday to become the first woman to climb all the world’s 14 tallest 8000 meter high peaks.
The event was broadcast live on South Korean television from the top of the mountain in west Nepal.
“Mansae [hurrah].” she said after stepping on the summit.
Italy’s Reinhold Messner is the firs climber to scale the world’s tallest peak.
Oh beat Austria’s Edurne Pasaban, 36, to become the first woman to climb the tallest peaks in seven continents.
Pabasan is attempting to climb Sisha Pangma in Tibet to complete her dream after capturing Annapurna this spring.
Veteran climbing chronicler Elizabeth Hawley told AFP in Kathmandu the South Korean woman’s feat was ‘disputed’.
Her claim of ascending the 8036 Ganherbrum III 13 years ago is doubted by climbers.
The 14 tallest peaks lie in Napal, Pakistan and Tibet.
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Second ranking officer didn’t receive US admiral

Kathmandu, 28 April: Lt Gen Toran Bahadur Singh didn’t receive visiting Admiral Robert F. Willard at the airport on arrival at the invitation of Army Chief Gen Chatraman Singh Gurung Tuesday as is the normal practice.
The second ranking officer of Nepal Army has been accused of rights violations during the Maoist people’s war.
The UN and several western countries, including USA and Great Britain, have pressed investigation of the charges after be was cleared by a military tribunal.
Singh was promoted ignoring international pressure.
The visiting admiral was instead received at the airport by Maj. Gen Gauran SJB Rana.
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Top Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara has high-level discussions with US officials in Washington DC

Kathmandu, 28 April: Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Chief of the Foreign Department of UCPN (Maoist), has returned after a formal week-long invitation of the US government, Nagarik reports.
He held discussions with top US government leaders.
This is the first is the first visit of Maoists on the invitation of the US government as Washington still puts Maoists on its terrorist list.
The visit in the third week of Chaitra [end of March and beginning of April]
fruitful.
This is the first was by our party on US government invitation,” Maoist senior source said.
The visit has improved relations between Maoists and US government.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Toys, my dear child!”

(Chairman Prachanda watched by concerned PM Nepal and NC Acting President Suhshil Koirala dangles khukris before a sick child on a republic cradle, cartoon in Kantipur, 28 April)

“Leaders of the right and left might yet find it easy to live without a permanent constitution. What scares the is the prospect of being crammed into something akin to a people’s constituent assembly only to rubber-stamp Maoist decisions.”

(Maila Baje, People’s Review, 28 April)
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