Parliament hasn’t convened; other details [DEVELOPING STORY]

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 28 May: Parliament hasn’t convened until three the afternoon to amend the constitution to extend the tenure of the constituent assembly (CA) by one year.
Only nine hours remain before thetwo0year tenure of the assembly ends at midnight Friday.
The area around the Birendra International Convention Center, the venue of parliament has been declared a prohibited area.
Security has been increased as the crowd swells.
Party leaders are huddled in parliament still attempting a last-minute resolution.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal came briefly in the morning and left for his office.
“The mechanism to draft a constitution has failed,” constitutional lawyer Bipin Adkhari said.” Alternative of the failure to proclaim a constitution hasn’t been mentioned in the interim constitution.”
A vacuum will be created, he said adding the government will be caretaker and parliament will cease to exist.
UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon issued a statement through his spokesman in New York expressing concern and urged political parties to work for ‘national interest’.
Only a high drama late in the night can save the CA with rigid stances of main parties.
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US Nonimmigrant Visa Application Fees increased
Kathmandu, 28 May: Starting June 4, 2010, new visa fees will come into effect for different nonimmigrant visa categories, US embassy said.
The U.S. Department of State is increasing fees to ensure sufficient resources to cover the rising cost of processing nonimmigrant visas. This increase applies both to nonimmigrant visas placed in passports and to border crossing cards issued to certain applicants in Mexico.
The new, tiered fee structure was created to cover the higher unit costs for processing certain categories of nonimmigrant visas that are more complicated and require more in-depth consideration than most other categories of nonimmigrant visas,” an announcement said
For a number of reasons, including new security enhancements, the $131 fee set on January 1, 2008 no longer covers the current, actual cost of processing nonimmigrant visas, he embassy added..
Under the new schedule of fees, applicants for all non-petition-based visas, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange visitor (F, M and J) visas, will pay a fee of $140. Applicants for petition-based visas, such as skilled worker, performers and religious workers (H, P and R), will pay a fee of $150.
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