PAC demands written reply, documents from foreign ministry

Kathmandu, 13 July: Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC) on second day of hearing Tuesday asked the foreign ministry to furnish a written reply with documents in five days relating to contract awarded to French company Technothru technologies to print machine readable passports (MRPS).
The committee says it received complaints of irregularities prompting the investigation.
Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai told the committee was a contract which been signed was clean.
The French company which quoted a price of 3.59 US dollars for each passport was the lowest quoted by four companies.
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British Gurkha dead in Afghanistan

Kathmandu, 13 July: A Gurkha and two British soldiers serving with the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles in Afghanistan were killed early on Tuesday morning, 13 July 2010, the British embassy said Tuesday.
They were not identified and the next of kin have yet to be informed, the embassy said. President Karzai has apologised on behalf of the Afghan government, the announcement said.
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