10TH ROUND VOTING FOR PM WEDNESDAY

Kathmandu, 6 Oct. The 10th round voting for prime minister is scheduled for Wednesday.
NC Vice-president Ram Chandra is the sole candidate in the race after Maoist Chairman Prachanda withdrew from the protracted vote.
The vote is again expected to be inconclusive as the NC, the second largest party in parliament, doesn’t command a 301 majority in parliament,
Two other parties, Maoists and UML, have decided to abstain in voting.
The country has had a caretaker government after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned nearly 100 days ago.
The government hasn’t been able to make important decisions as an economic and financial crisis looms.
Maoists have said a caretaker government can’t take important decisions, icluding presenting a complete annual budget.
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TOP UNOFFICIAL ARRIVES WEDNESDAY

Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe arrives for visit Wednesday as UNMIN prepares winds up its mission 15 January 2011.
He comes at a time when come progress has been registered in integrating 19,000 former PLA combatants in state security agencies and resettling them.
The visit is Pascoe’s second in eight months.
His first visit was disastrous when he undiplomatically accused political parties publicly for what he called a failure to conclude the peace process while trying absolve the UN for any responsibility.
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ANOTHER ABDUCTED BOY FOUND DEAD

Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: Kapil Dwibidi, the second abducted boy in Banke, was also found dead overnight in Banke next to the district police office.
He was abducted Thursday along with Liladhar Btatta who was killed by abductors for ransom.
Relatives of Dwibidi has paid the ransom money.
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EU WELCOME
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Kathmandu, 6 Oct,: EU, Canada, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea and Switzerland Tuesday welcomed recent progress in integration former Maoist combatants.
They said in a statement the recent developments were ‘positive initial steps’.
‘We welcome the recent decisions made by the special committee (for the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants), including the establishment of a secretariat, transfer of chain of command of the former Maoist combatants to the special committee, decision to provide the committee with relevant data of the former Moist combatants and to develop a work plan with a timeline for the remaining steps to be taken,
“We reiterate our strong support to the peace process and encourage all the parties to be flexible and continue cooperation in good faith with the goal of ensuring lasting peace in Nepal,” said a statement.
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CHINESE NATIONAL HELD

Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: Caowen Li was nabbed by police in Bhaktapur with $40,000 in cash Tuesday.
He was handed over to Revenue Investigation Department.
Chinese yuan 18,100 was also recovered from him.
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SERVIR-HIMALAYA LAUNCHED

Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: SERVIR-Himalaya system was launched Tuesday by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chief Charles E. Bolden and Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of USAID Michael Yates.
The earth observation, monitoring and visual station system was launched by NASA, USAID and ICIMOD to improve scientific knowledge to support decision making by managers, researchers and students and general public on disaster management, biodiversity conservation, trans-boundary air pollution motoring and snow and glacier melting.
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MAOIST LAWMAKER SUSPENDED

Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: Maoist lawmaker Narendra Kunwar was suspended by the Seti-Mahakali state committee Tuesday from the party after a knife attack on party colleagues in Baitadi this week.
Rana Bahadur Kunwar was also suspended.
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Main accused at minister's home?
Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: A police source today said Dr Prabhat Kumar Kuswaha, accused of operating a racket that sold MBBS question paper hours before exam, was hiding in Health Minister Umakanta Chaudhary’s home, hampering efforts to arrest him, The Himalayan Times reports.

Three MBBS entrants had confessed to cops that they had paid Rs 3 million to Dr Kuswaha and Prajjwal KC, kingpins of the racket, to acquire the question paper ahead of the exam held by the Institute of Medicine, Maharajgunj, on Saturday.

The source said he had information that KC fled the capital a few hours after the police raided a house in Maitidevi where the aspirants were sold a question paper of MBBS entrance test .

The source told THT that police had intelligence tip-off that KC, who hails from Morang, fled Kathmandu to evade arrest, while Dr Kuswaha had been sheltering at ministers’ quarters in Lalitpur and health minister was protecting him.

Another source said Dr Kuswaha, who is from Bara, had close ties with Health Minister Umakanta Chaudhary and former education minister Ram Chandra Kuswaha, but refused to divulge anything more.

Nepal Police sources say Dr Kuswaha and KC are on their watchlist and would be tracked sooner or later.

It is learnt that they had been operating the racket for two years.

Meanwhile, Dhirendra Chaudhary, personal assistant of health minister, said Dr Kuswaha had not shown up in the minister’s quarter for the past couple of months.

“He used to frequently come to the minister’s quarter and meet Chaudhary. But I don’t know anything about their relationship,” said Dhirendra.

”My close acquaintances often portrayed Dr Kuswaha as a fraud,” he claimed.

Student unions have urged the police to establish the truth and take action against the guilty.
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India, China envoys north-bound

Kathmandu, 6 Oct.: The country’s districts having common borders with Tibet are emerging as hotspots for investment in infrastructure like schools, hospitals, drinking water projects and sightseeing for western diplomats, Indian and Chinese envoys in recent years, The Kathmandu Post reports.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Qui Guohang is on a trip to northern district Mustang, which is strategically important. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood is all set to make a trip to hilly district Solukhumbu on Wednesday. Amid protests by some small groups against the visit of Indian envoy to Solukhumbu, the Home Ministry has instructed the local administration to ensure all security arrangements during the itinerary.

Envoy Sood will inaugurate the Solukhumbu branch of Nepal-India Human Development Forum in Solukhumbu, inspect a drinking water project funded by the Government of India and make a tour of the Salt Trading office at district headquarter, Sallari. He will spend four days in different parts of Solukhumbu.

Surya Bhusal, nation Chairman of Forum, who is currently in Sallari, told the Post that some politically motivated factions are creating hindrance, warning that they will not let the envoy to enter Sallari bazaar at any cost. An Indian embassy official said no additional security arrangement has been made. “We have informed the autorities that the ambassador is making a trip,” the official said.

A small ethnic group, Kiraty National Liberation Front, issued a statement on Tuesday and strongly opposed Sood’s planned trip. “As far as we know, the Indian envoy is going and we have instructed the local administration to ensure all security arrangements,” said spokesperson for Ministry of Home Affairs, Jay Mukunda Khanal.

India recently built a dharmashala in Muktinath of Mustang at the cost of Rs 30 million.

On the other hand, Chinese envoy Qui has reached upper Mustang to inspect Chinese-funded projects. He inaugurated a newly built building of Divya Deep Higher Secondary School at Choser in Mustang on Tuesday. China had lent support worth Rs 5.7 million to the school for construction of the building. China also extended food related support to 10 northern hilly districts of Nepal through the Ministry of Local Development. Darchula, Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Mustang, Gorkha, Rasuwa, Solukhumbu, Sankhuwasabha and Taplejung are the districts getting Chinese food aid. The Chinese side has also promised to support income generation projects in these districts.

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