11th ROUND VOTING FOR PM THURSDAY

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Eleventh round of voting for prime minister will be held Thursday at three in the afternoon in parliament.
NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel in the sole candidate in the race after Maoist Chairman Prachanda withdrew from the contest.
Paudel got 109 votes while one lawmaker voted against him Wednesday in the 10th round vote and 46 stayed neutral.
Only 156 lawmakers participated.
Paudel needed a 301 majority vote to be elected.
The NC vice-president and parliamentary party leader said he won’t withdraw from the race.
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ARMY CHIEF CANCELS MEETINGS WITH BRITISH CIVILIAN OFFICIALS

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: British embassy Wednesday said Army Chief Gen Chatraman Singh Gurung, currently visiting Great Britain, refused to meet officials of FCO and DFID on government direction.
“Under the direction of the government, General Gurung declined to attend meetings with officials on the FCO and DFID, saying that as this was an army level visit it would be inappropriate to speak on behalf of other ministries,” the British embassy said.
He was scheduled to Karen Pierce, Director of South Asia and Afghanistan Directorate at FCO and Minouche Shafik, Permanent Under-Secretary of DFID.
The embassy said officials of the two agencies wanted to discuss ‘resolution of the peace process in Nepal.”
The two army chiefs discussed matters of mutual concern, including the lessons that Nepal Army can learn from restructuring of British forces experience of absorbing former combatants in the army in Sierra Leone and how the two armies can learn from each other’s experiences, the embassy said.
Gen. Wall told his Nepali counterpart he would be pleased to share with Nepal Army the lessons learnt by British forces in Itaq, referring to human rights.
Gen. Gurung began a four-day visit 4 October by meeting his counterpart Chief of General Staff Sir Peter Wall Tuesday.
Army Chief wife, Kamala, Maj. Gen. Netra Bahadur Thapa and Lt. Col. Shiva Shanker Gurung are accompanying Gen. Gurung.
Before the army chief departed for UK, Nepal Army said human rights would be discussed following demands the British take up human right violations during the 10-year Maoist insurgency.
Rights groups also asked Britain not to extend military assistance to Nepal.
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PM NEPAL CALLS FOR UN SUPPORT EVEN AFTER UNMIN RETURN

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Wednesday asked for continued UN support for integration and rehabilitation of 19,000 plus former Maoist combatants even after UNMIN withdraws from Nepal 15 January 2011.
Nepal said this while meeting UN Under Secretary General and Chief of Political Affairs B. Lynne Pascoe who arrived Wednesday on his second visit in eight months
Pascoe began separate consultations with Nepal, Maoist Chairman Prachanda and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala and UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal immediately after arriving for a two-day visit to assess recent progress in implementing the peace process.
The premier told Pascoe Nepal looked forward to receiving UN package assistance for rehabilitation as in the past.
“We’ll integrate combatants on our own command. But we expect help for rehabilitation,” Rajan Bhattarai, foreign affairs advisor of the premier said quoting the government chief after the meeting.
Nepal told Pascoe integration and resettlement should be completed before UNMIN leaves.
Pascoe discussed constitution drafting and the peace process with Speaker Subash Nemwang Thursday before concluding his Nepal visit.
He also held discussions with terai-based parties Thursday.
Pacsoe expressed with the delayed peace process.
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NEPALGUNJ CLOSED DOWN

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Shops in Nepalgunj were closed down Thursday after a one-day strike was called by NHCCI to protest the brutal killings of two high school students in the town for ransom.
Liladhar Bhatta and Kapil Deb Dwivedi were killed.
Kapil was killed even as his father paid a one million ransom.
Liladhar and Kapil were the only children of their parents
Police Wednesday made public suspected kidnapper Meraj Ahmad Shai, western region commander and Banke president of Terai Janatantrik Party.
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14 INJURED IN MOHOTTARI FIRING

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Fourteen persons were injured in police firing Wednesday and clashes with Maoists at Gaushala in Mohottari.
Locals were demanding action against two VDC secretaries charged for financial irregularities.
Maoists and police exchanged brickbats, injuring sis policemen.
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$59M TO FIGHT FOR TB AND MALARIA

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: The Global Fund will provide $ 50 million to treat and control malaria and tuberculosis, according to the Health and Population ministry.
The grant will national financing gap from 2010 to 2015.
The Global Fund also supports treatment and care programme against AIDS.
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KRISHNA PRASADL SHITAULA UNDERGOES ANGIOPLASTY AND STENTING

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: NC leader Krishna Prasad Shitaula Wednesday underwent angioplasty and a stent was planted.
There was 80 percent blockage of his left artery.
The stent was planted by Dr Bharat Rawat at Norvic Hospital.
“He was lucky to have received treatment before any complication like heart attack could have occurred,” Dr Rawat said.
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305 PRISONERS BEING AMNESTIED

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Altogether 305 prisoners are being coinciding with Dahain this year, according to Department of Prison Management.
The home ministry is preparing a list of prisoners to be sent to the cabinet for approval.
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ANOTHER MURDER IN BARA

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Sona Lal Yadav, 25, of Bagahi-2 was murdered in Bara.
His body was found Wednesday morning in a paddy field.
The motive for the murder wasn’t clear.
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VOTE COUNTING STARTS

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Counting of votes foe election bearers of the student wing of the UML started in the party office in the capital Thursday.
Voting concluded Wednesday in Janakpur from where ballots were airlifted to the capital.
Elections were held for 11 office bearers, including chairman, vice-chairman, general secretary, secretary, treasurer, 41-member secretariat and a 21-member central committee.
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ALLEGED RAPIST KILLED


Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Angry villagers killed alleged rapist Udim Rai, 39, of Buordeni Basanta VDC-4 in Udaipur Tuesday night.
Fourteen persons have been arrested for questioning
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY


NEPAL ECONOMY TO GROW 4 PERCENT IN 2011

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Nepal’s economy will grow 4 percent in 2011, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday.
The economy was downscaled to 3 from 3.5 percent in 2010.
Nepal’s inflation will come down single digit to 6.8 percent in 2010/11 after two successive years of double digit inflation. IMF said giving some relief to people.
Growth of consumption in the US and the Euro areas will widen scope for Nepali exporters to regain customers for exports hand-knotted carpets, readymade garment, pashmina, silver jewelry tea and other items, IMF said.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Shanker Pandey flew for USA Wednesday night to attend the annual conference of IMF and World Bank.
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INDIAN AMBASSADOR SOOD GREETED WITH SHOES AND STONES

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Shoes were thrown at Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood Wednesday was attached with shoes immediately after be got out of Phaplu airport after landing from Kathmandu, Naya Patrika reports from Solukhumbi.
This is probably the first such attack in Nepal.
He arrived 8.30 in the morning to inaugurate the Solu unit of Nepal-India Human Development and Friendship Association.
As soon as he alighted a Nepal Airlines flight, he was greeted traditional with khatas pomp.
Outside the airport, Maoist workers chanted slogans against Indian expansionism.
As he was getting into a vehicle, Maoist workers hurled stoned and eight shoes at him; Sood was not injured.
Maoists prepared a programme to greet him with black flags for anti-Chinese activities in the Himalayan region.
Maoist politburo member and lawmaker Gopal Kirati and lawmaker Angdawa Sherpa led the protest.
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Veep Jha’s Seoul trip ‘controversial’

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Without Cabinet clearance and in breach of state protocol, Vice-President Paramananda Jha is making a sudden trip to South Korea on Thursday at the invitation of an international organization that has courted controversies and whose invitation was recently turned down by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Anil Giri reports in The Kathmandu Post..

The president had declined to accept the invitation from Universal Peace Foundation (UPF) and its patron Sun Myung Moon last Saturday for a peace rally organized in Kathmandu. President Yadav had objected to the improper display of Nepali flag and use of innocent children in the rally.

After the Cabinet refused to approve Jha’s travel plan and reimbursement from state coffers, the VP Office made a separate request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, seeking a visa note to be sent to the South Korean embassy. By Wednesday evening, none of the people visiting Seoul including VP Jha, his son, daughter, accounts officer or ADC had not got their visa from the S. Korean embassy.
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Kathmandu to host int'l conference on black hole

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: Leading physicists and space scientists from across the globe including four from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will meet in the capital from October 10 to 16 to discuss the process of growth of central black hole, Keshab P.Koirala reports in The Himalayan Times..

In the international conference “Accretion and Outflow in Black Hole Systems”, 130 scientists will take part and there will be 62 oral presentations and 39 poster presentations.

The conference aims at understanding the process of accretion onto the central black hole and outflows from the system including the jet formation in Black Hole binaries (BH binaries), Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs).

Believed to be formed due to the collapse of a star, black hole is the region of space with extremely high gravitational field from which nothing--not even light--can escape.

The conference is organised jointly by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), the Osservatorio Astronomico of Roma (INAF/OAR), the Italian Space Agency and its Data Center (ASI/ADSC), the Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF/IASF Bologna), the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center (Warsaw), and the Central Department of Physics (CDP) of Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu).

Associate Prof. Dr. Binil Aryal at the CDP will lead the Nepali team comprising of 34 scientists

Dr. Aryal is a member of Scientific Organising Committee and the Local Organising Committee of the conference.
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FRAUD CASE FLED AGAINST MAYOS MANUFACTURER

Kathmandu, 7 Oct.: The Department of Commerce (DoC) of Wednesday filed a case of fraud against Himalayan Snacks and Noodles Pvt. Ltd. at Kathmandu District Court (KDC) for ‘cheating consumers’ over a gift offer, Republica reports.
The DoC filed the case against the company after an investigation showed that Suresh Chandra Adhikari, a consumer, was cheated over a gift offered by Mayos noodles, one of the company’s products.
On January 24, 2010, Adhikari won a car as prize through the coupon kept inside a Mayos noodle packet he had bought from a grocery shop at Bajaju.
“Congratulations, you have got a car,” the charge-sheet filed at KDC quoted the coupon as saying. The coupon is in safe-keeping with Adhikary.
‘The company officials treated me very rudely. They said they could provide me only a toy car and not a real one,” Adhikari told Republica. “I refused to take the toy car and demanded an actual one as per the coupon.”
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