Another runoff election for PM may again be inconclusive

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: The fourth round of runoff election for prime minister in parliament later Friday is likely to be inconclusive as well.
Maoist Chairman Prachanda and NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel are the only candidates in the race to succeed Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal who resigned five weeks ago.
UML and a front of four Madesh parties Thursday agreed to remain neutral in the voting in the 599-member parliament.
Nineteen parties, including UML, also asked major parties to open new door for understanding.
NC and Maoists weren’t present in Thursday’s collective meeting.
Eleven members of the MJFN led by Upendra Yadav with 25 seats in the legislature, crossed the floor and voted for Prachanda in the third round vote this week.
The front is meeting Friday ahead of the vote.
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New Maoist lawmakers

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: Ram Kumar Paswan of Siraha and Farmud Nadaf of Dhanusha are new Maoist members of parliament/constituent assembly.
Election commission Thursday confirmed their appointments by the UCPN (Maoist).
They replace rebels Matrika Yadav and Jagat Prasad Yadav elected under proportional representation system.
Maoists, the largest party in parliament, now have 239 seats in the legislature.
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Nepal, US army exercise along India border

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: Altogether eight US army personnel have arrived in Amlekhjung for a joint military exercise, Republica reports from Bara.
The US army personnel arrived in Bara airport in a sky truck of Nepal Army at about 6 PM.
According to NA Spokesman Ramindra Chettri, the visiting army men will engage in a joint military exercise for two weeks beginning Sunday.
“The training will aim at exchanging information and learning skills from each other,” he added.” This will benefit army from both countries.”
(Note: NA has a training center on guerrilla warfare in Amlekhjung.)
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Richard Bennett’s farewell meeting with PM

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: Richard Bennett, Chief of the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, Nepal (OHCHR-N) paid a farewell call on Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Thursday.
Bennett has been appointed chief of a panel to experts under OHCHR to advise the UN secretary general on Sri Lanka.
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37 Bhutanese refugees repatriated to UK

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: The first batch of 37 Bhutanese refugees from camps in east Nepal were airlifted to Great Britain Thursday under a UN scheme to resettle refugees in third countries.
Britain said it will take in 100 refugees for resettlement by the end of 2010.
Of the 34,000 refugees resettled mainly in western countries, USA has accepted 29 persons of Nepali ethnicity expelled more than 18 years ago from Buddhist Kingdom Bhutan in an ethnic cleansing drive.
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Bail for Nihita Biswas and Shakuntala Thapa

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: The supreme court division court Thursday
released Nihita Biswas and her mother Shakuntala Thapa on bail after apologizing to the apex court in recorded statements.
The bail was guaranteed by Nepal Bar Association and Supreme Court Bar Association after the associations guaranteed the presence of the duo at further court proceedings.
Biswas claims to be the wife of French serial killer Charles Shobraj who was sentenced 30 July to lift imprisonment for murdering an American woman backpacker in the capital in the 1970’s.
Thapa acted as lawyer of Shobraj.
The mother and daughter made disparaging remarks against the judges who delivered the judgment.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

Buddha Air begins Bhutan flights 23 Aug.

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: Buddha Air, a private carrier, will begin its first flight between Kathmandu and Paro, Bhutan, 23 August with an 18-seater Beech 1900D, the airline said.
The first international flight of the airline will operate four weekly flights.
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Nepse loses 2.48 points

Kathmandu, 6 Aug.: Nepse index lost 2.48 points at the end of five-day weekly trading Thursday.
The price index settled at 458.41 points.
Shares worth Rs 43.5 million were traded in 1,169 transactions.
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