SKY CLEARS AFTER TWO DAYS
Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: The sky over the capital cleared Friday morning bringing relief after two days of overcast conditions stranding hundreds of tourists in remote tourist destinations in the hills.
Nepal Army was thanked by the tourism ministry for helping evacuate stranded tourists the last two days.
Tourists were plucked by helicopter from Lukla at the foot of Mount Everest as well.
The sun brought relief to the people on a cold winter morning.
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BRITISH AMBASSDOR INSPECTS REFUGEE CAMPS IN JHAPA, MORANG

Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: British Ambassador Anthony Tucknott inspected six Bhutanese refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang Thursday.
The visit is the first to the camps after he assumed office.
UK recently resettled a group of refugees in Great Britain; the refugees of Nepali ethnicity were displaced forcibly from Bhutan which is a Buddhist kingdom.
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UML TEAM LEAVING FOR CHINA

Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: A UML team of 11 members led by Secretary and standing committee member Yubaraj Geywali is leaving for China on a study tour, Gorkhapatra reports.
The lead leaves for China Sunday on the invitation of the Communist Party of China.
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CLASHES BREAK OUT IN HAITIAN CAPITAL

Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Clashes erupted in Port-au-Prince on Thursday between UN forces and hundreds of stone-throwing Haitians as unrest targeting peacekeepers blamed for the cholera outbreak spread to the capital, AFP reports from Port-au-Prince.

There had been fears violence could break out after protest organizers called a mass demonstration outside the health ministry for people to show their anger about cholera and the UN force, known as MINUSTAH.

Two Haitians were killed in riots in the northern city of Cap-Haitien on Monday, one shot by a UN peacekeeper as protesters set a police station and vehicles ablaze and threatened to torch a UN compound.

A police source told AFP a third person was shot dead in fresh rioting in the city on Wednesday.

There are claims the cholera outbreak emanated from septic tanks at a base for UN peacekeepers from Nepal in central Haiti.

President Rene Preval has pleaded for calm and MINUSTAH has linked the protests to November 28 presidential elections and called on Haitians not to allow themselves to be manipulated by "enemies of stability and democracy."
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MORE DETAILS OF BUDGET

Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Behind schedule by more than four months, the Finance Ministry has prepared an annual budget of Rs 338 billion. Political wrangling means that the budget to be presented by Finance Minister Surendra Pandey on Friday will likely be slimmer than that prepared in July, the usual schedule for the budget, Mukul Humagain reports in The Kathmandu Post. .

Till the last hour, there was uncertainty over budget presentation after some Maoist leaders proposed that the budget be brought by following the due process of constitution amendment, not through the exercise of the President’s power to remove difficulties. The constitution amendment would have pushed budget presentation to next week if President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav hadn’t cleared the constitutional hurdles. “Everything is alright, the budget will come on Friday,” said Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Nembang.

Earlier, Maoist Chief Whip Post Bahadur Bogati had said the parties should not breach constitutional provisions in the name of introducing budget via a shortcut. However, Maoist Vice-Chairman Baburam Bhattarai told the Post that the budget without new programmes would be presented on Friday.

President Dr. Yadav had earlier sent a letter to the parliament informing that he had removed the hurdles to the amendment of the constitution. The Business Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet Friday afternoon to give a final nod to the budget.

There is political understanding among the three major parties - CPN (UML), Nepali Congress and UCPN (Maoist) - not to introduce new programmes. Most of the programmes in the budget are a continuation from the earlier budget. “We’ve given continuity to the earlier priorities,” said Minister Pandey on Thursday.

The budget has projected an economic growth of 4.5 percent and planned to keep inflation at seven percent. With the country deficit in balance of payment (BoP) last year, the new budget has vowed to keep BoP positive by Rs 9 billion.

Education sector has got the biggest pie slice of Rs 57 billion. The MoF has tried to make this budget gender responsive with 18 percent resources directly benefiting women.

Doubling subsidy on fertilisers, 50 percent subsidy on import of machinery for ginger and cardamom processing, reducing the cost of doing business are other features. According to Minister Pandey, 85 percent of budget resources are earmarked for P1 programmes.

Bringing cheer to the Non-Resident Nepalis, the budget will open the domestic stock market to Non-Resident Nepalis too.
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FORMER KING ATTENDS WEDDING OF RELATIVE

Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Former Kin Gyanendra Shah and his wife Komal, attended the wedding of Shiva Singh, son of Jodhpur’s erstwhile Maharaja Gaj Singh and Gayatri Kumari, daughter of Rajwar Bhanu Ran Singh Pal of Askot, Uttarakhand, at Rambagh Place in Jaipur of Rajasthan on Thursday, The Himalayan Times reports from New Delhi.
Shivaraj is the son of Shah’s cousin Hemlata, who is married to Gaj Singh.
Hemlata is the daughter of Shah’s aunt, Nalini Rajye Lakshmi.
During his three-week visit to India, Shah is likely to meet relatives and politicians.
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FORMER CROWN PRINCESS ACTIVE IN DOLAKHA

Kathmandu, 19 Nov.: Former Crown Princess Himani Shah said she’s been attracted to social service by the request of Dolakha residents and request for help, Naya Patrika reports from Dolakha.
She handed over Thursday to the local protection committee of the bridge over Tamakoshi river wires and wire mesh worth Rs 150,000.
“We’re on a campaign to make some VDCs of Dolakha model villages while prioritizing the district.
“Himani Trust will push the social sector with the feeling your hands are with us,” she said.
Himani and her group participated in a function at Namdu Thursday.
The former crown princess said she’s visiting the district for the first time by establishing the Himani Trust to fight poverty and shortage.
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