Maoists to continue to lead government

Kathmandu, 7 Aug: One day after the fourth round of inconclusive elections to elect a prime minister, Maoist office bearers Saturday decided to continue their drive to form a national unity government under their leadership.
Vice-chairman Narayan Kazi Shrestha said this after a review meeting that decided the party’s future action plan.
Maoists decided Saturday to seek an explanation from the Indian embassy on a death threat to its lawmaker from an embassy official Friday during voting while deciding to inform the government.
Maoist lawmaker Ram Kumar Sharma said after Friday’s vote he received death threats over mobile phone from a counselor of the Indian embassy not to lobby support for his party boss—a charge denied by the Indian embassy.
Sharma also said the diplomat also threatened his daughter enrolled in an Indian school in the capital would be expelled.
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US suspends process for adoption of abandoned chuldren

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: US Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have jointly decided to suspend adjudication of new adoption petitions and related visa issuance for abandoned children in Nepal, a US embassy statement said.
“The Department of State’s recent interactions with the Government of Nepal and its efforts to review and investigate numerous abandonment cases, including field visits to orphanages and police departments, have demonstrated that documents presented to describe and “prove” the abandonment of children in Nepal are unreliable.
“Civil documents, such as the children’s birth certificates often include data that has been changed or fabricated. Investigations of children reported to be found abandoned are routinely hindered by the unavailability of officials named in reports of abandonment.
“Police and orphanage officials often refuse to cooperate with consular officers’ efforts to confirm information by comparing it with official police and orphanage records,” the embassy said in a damning statement.
“..the Department of State has concluded that the documentation presented for children reported abandoned in Nepal is unreliable and the general situation of non-cooperation with and even active hindrance of investigations, the U.S. Government can no longer reasonably determine whether a child documented as abandoned qualifies as an orphan. Without reliable documentation, it is not possible for the United States government to process an orphan petition to completion.”
The suspension of adjudication of new adoption petitions on behalf of Nepali children documented as found abandoned comes into immediate effect.
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Supreme court go-ahead to print MRPs

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: The two-judge bench of the supreme court Friday gave the foreign ministry a go-ahead to print machine readable passports (MRPs) in France.
The decision to award a contract 6 June to Oberthru Technologies was challenged in court by two petitioners.
Parliament’s public accounts committee also investigated complaints of alleged irregularities in awarding the contract.
Even Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala publicly complained the deal wasn’t transparent.
The decision to award the contract to a French company after international tender was taken after the cabinet overturned its own decision to award the deal to an Indian security printing press without calling a tender.
Government didn’t meet an ICAO deadline to replace hand-written passports with MRPs to help fight terrorism.
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Paddy plantation complete in 86 percent of farmland

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: Paddy has been planted in 86 percent farmland nation-wide compared to 70 percent during the period the previous year, Ministry of Agriculture said.
Plantation has been completed in 95 percent of farmland in the far-West and 82 percent in the mid-West.
Rice in Nepal’s main staple crop.
Plantation continues in the terai for another month.
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Revolt in Maoist camp

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: A rebellion broke out Friday in the Maoist camp in Dhanusha, Mohottari after the appointment of two lawmakers in parliament.
Seventy-two activists, including districts chiefs of the two central terai districts left the party opposing the appointments of Farmud Nadal and Ram Kumar Paswan Thursday to replace two defectors who formed another party.
Nadal and Paswan were appointed bypassing recommendations of district committees, the rebels said.
Mithila state committee had recommended the nomination of Tara Devi Mahoto.
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Supreme court bans sand, boulder export to India

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: A division bench on the supreme court Friday told the government to ban export of sand, crushed stone and boulders to India to protect the environment.
The court responded to a public interest litigation filed by Narayan Prasad Debkota.
The bench directed the government to form an inquiry committee to study the impact by the export.
The bench said the committee should be headed by an environmentalist.
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Nepali cricketers Italy bound

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: The Nepali squad participating in the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division-IV tournament from 14 to 21 August flew for Italy Saturday.
The 16-member team is led Paras Khadka.
Nepal meets USA in Bologna 14 August, will play against Italy August 15 and Tanzania on 17August.
Nepal plays Argentina 18 August and Cayman Islands 20 August.
The finalists will more to Division-III to qualify for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.
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Nepal, China develop information sharing cell
KATHMANDU, Aug 7: -
Nepal and China have set up a high-level mechanism to share intelligence and information on security matters to contain anti-China activities in Nepal, The Kathmandu Post reports.

Joint secretaries from both countries’ home ministries will lead the focal point. Jaya Mukunda Khanal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, who also heads the Peace and Security Division, will head the Nepali team. “It is too early to detail the job description of the mechanism but we are busy preparing the terms of reference of the focal point,” said Khanal.

The mechanism will also share information on other illegal cross-border activities. Nepal-China Border Security and Law Enforcement Talks that concluded here in July-end had decided to set up a focal point on information sharing. “The Chinese side has assured of full support to enhance capacity building, train Nepali security personnel to be deployed across the northern border and seek Nepal’s full commitment on information sharing on anti-China activities with effective law enforcement mechanism to contain such activities,” a senior government official told the Post.

Tibetan food aid

A Tibetan government official delegation

is arriving in Kathmandu on August 8

for a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Local Development to make arrangements for food aid distribution

announced by the Tibetan government to Nepal’s 10 districts, adjoining the Tibet Autonomous region.
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Malaysia includes Nepalis in no visa-on-arrival list
KATHMANDU, 7 Aug.: The Malaysian government's decision to deny visa-on-arrival (VOA) facility to Nepali nationals is going to affect migrant workers from the next week, said Kathmandu-based outsourcing agencies for the country, The Himalayan Times reports..

Malaysian Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers on Monday took the decision to withdraw VOA from Nepal, India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Taiwan and Comoros citing ‘rampant misuse of the facility’.

The decision will affect the Nepali outsourcing sector from the date of implementation, said Som Lal Bataju, president, Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA).

“The decision will revoke ‘calling visa’ in which Nepali workers sending process is depends,” he said. The Malaysian government offer calling visa –– the visa granted to those who have job offers or invitations –– three days for foreign workers and seven days for outsourcing agencies.

According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), the destination had hired 569,667 in last 15 years. Over 300,000 Nepalis are believed to be working in Malaysia. Nepali working in the country contributes 19.2 per cent to the country’s remittance.

Malaysia topped among popular destinations –– Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in 2009-10 — hiring 113,733 Nepalis workers.

However, the Malaysian government decision will not hit demand for Nepali workers in the country. “I don’t expect the decision will reduce the demand of Nepali workers,” he said. But it will multiply difficulties to outsourcing agencies. Paperworks will increase significantly, he said.

Malaysia had adopted VOA facility for India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Taiwan and Comoros citizens for the Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

But the facility resulted in willful disappearance of foreigners and subsequent illegal travel to other lucrative destinations such as Australia. Around 40,000 Indian tourists violated the VOA rule and disappeared in Malaysia in the last three years. The country reported 78 cases of human trafficking in the first six months of 2010, affecting 618 victims.
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Teenage abortions up in Valley
Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: The number of teenagers undergoing abortion in the Valley almost doubled in 2009 as compared to 2008, Republica reports.
Some teenagers undergoing abortion were as young as fourteen.
A joint study of annual reports of Maternity Hospital and Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) shows that 581 teenagers underwent abortion in 2008, while the number stood at 1,065 in 2009.
“One reason behind the increased rate of abortion is the availability of safe abortion services,” Ashwini Rana of FPAN, who has been working as a counselor for the past two decades said.
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