Apology on behalf of former king

Kathmandu, 28 July: Phadi Pathak, personal secretary of former King Gyanendra, through a statement Wednesday expressed sorrow over the clash of security personnel with journalists at Bhaktapur one day earlier.
Security personnel clashed with journalists during a visit to a Shiva temple.
Some journalists were injured and their equipment damaged.
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Japanese national asserted with hash

Kathmandu, 28 July: Japanese national Hirokazu Tamura who was arrested with 1.2 kg hash 11 July at Tribhuvan International Airport was presented before the media by police Tuesday.
He was arrested before boarding a Thai Airways flight for Bangkok.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

IMF to look after Nepal from New Delhi office

Kathmandu, 28 July: International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) office in New Delhi will look after Nepal from November, an announcement said.
“The IMF decision will not adversely affect the ongoing discussions with Nepal government and Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) on a possible IMF-sponsored programme,” outgoing Resident Representative Alexander Pitt of IMF said.
The move was made with IMF ‘reorientation towards a more regional approach’.
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Kathmandu, 28 July:

Govt. to lift ban on Iraq jobs Wednesday

Kathmandu, 28 July: The government is all set to lift a government ban on Iraq job market for Nepalis after a few says of groundwork, considering that over 30,000 Nepali workers are at risk of losing their jobs following a demand by the US CENTCOM Contracting Command that they legalize heir status, Republica reports.
“The government completed final preparations to lift the ban on Wednesday after a consultations Tuesday with the prime minister and the foreign minister,” Labour Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam told Republica Tuesday.
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Kathmandu, Beijing to bolster info sharing
KATHMANDU, July 28: -
Nepal and China are all set to establish a high-level mechanism to share intelligence to contain anti-China activities in Nepal, The Kathmandu Post reports.

The mechanism will also share information on other illegal cross-border

activities. The first of its kind, the Nepal-China Border Security and Law Enforcement Talks concluded here on Tuesday. The meeting agreed to set up focal points in the respective home ministries in Kathmandu and Beijing.

“The Chinese side assured full support to enhance capacity building, training of Nepali security personnel to be deployed across the northern border, seeking Nepal’s full commitment on information sharing on anti-China activities with effective law enforcement mechanism to contain the activities,” a senior government official, who took part in the talks, told the Post.

The idea behind such focal points is to set up a bilateral border security mechanism in the near future, which trickles down from the home ministry level to the local security and administrative level to enhance better cooperation in the field of information sharing and border security. It has not been decided who would lead the focal point in the ministry level.

Home Secretary Govind Kusum was leading the Nepali side while his counterpart Chen Zhimin led the Chinese delegation in the talks. The Chinese side also handed over logistic support like laptops, searchlights, and metal detectors worth two million Yuan (RMB) to the Home Ministry.

The Chinese side also thanked the Nepali side for upholding the one-China policy. Nepal has been acting tough on Tibetan refugees who want to travel here.

Those supporting the refugees are opposing the move, and have asked the government of Nepal not to curtail the movement of refugees.

“My visit is to find out ways to strengthen the bilateral relations between Nepal and China,” said Chen.
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Kham dares cops to arrest him
KATHMANDU: Kali Bahadur Kham, ‘most wanted criminal’ on Nepal Police list, has dared the law enforcement agency to bring him to justice, The Himalayan Times reports.

In a televised interview exclusively broadcast by News24 Channel today, he told police officials not to look for him. “Police may be well aware of my whereabouts as I am a central member of UCPN-Maoist and PLA commander of fifth division in Rolpa,” he said. “But, why do they keep on saying they are using all resources and legal tools to apprehend me? It shows how weak the police, especially a handful of officials, are. May be, this is the first time in its history that Nepal Police has mobilised as many as 300 personnel to track down an individual.”

For most part of the interview, Kham laughed off the existing criminal system and taunted the police. “The court and police should bring the perpetrators of Gaur, Dang and Nawalparasi

carnage, where 44 Maoist cadres were killed, to justice if they really want me to face the charge. If they honestly fulfil these conditions, I will turn myself in. Otherwise, the police and the court should not bother to find me any more,” Kham said.

He refuted allegations of killing Koteshwor-based businessman Ram Hari Shrestha a couple of years ago, robbing Chinese traders in the capital city and other charges.

“I claimed moral responsibility for Shrestha’s murder as commander of PLA third Division, Chitwan, where he was tortured to death by our cadres. But as far as the robbery is concerned, it was deliberately aimed at tarnishing the image of our party and myself. Police raided my rented house in Gongabu on July 25. I have not been in Kathmandu for three months,” Kham defended himself during the one-hour interview, which the interviewer said was shot some 200 km from Kathmandu.

“Bullets recovered from my room belonged to an UNMIN-registered pistol and Rs 5 lakhs kept there were for the party’s work. The money was not part of the amount allegedly robbed from the Chinese traders, as I was not involved,” he claimed.

“The yarsagumba the police exposed to the media was legal, but they have destroyed the valid document to prove it illegal.”

He added that Santro car found at his residence did not belong to him and said police had arrested a driver (Madhusudan Sharma) so as to present him as his driver.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“The country will surely be disintegrated if the parties agree to address their [Madsh front] demand.”

(RPP Nepal Chairman Kanal Thapa, The Kathmandu Post, 28 July)