NEPAL BRAZIL SIGNING THREE ACCORDS

MAIN CONSTITUTION DRAFTING COMMITTEE MEETS

Kathmandu, 1 Aug.: Main constitution drafting committee chaired by Nilambar Acharya met Monday after a month-long recess and one month before a deadline to complete a constitution draft.
Very little progress has been recorded as parties are embroiled in a dispute over power-sharing.
The committee began discussing a constitution draft Monday.
It also reviewed progress work of a dispute resolution sub-committee chaired by Chairman Prachanda.
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FOREIGN MINISTER LEAVES FOR BRAZIL

Kathmandu, 1 Aug.: Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav flew for Brazil Sunday
Nepal and Brazil are signing three bilateral accords during the week-long visit.
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SACKED PADT OFFICIALS REINSTATED
Kathmandu, 1 Aug.: Supreme court Sunday reinstated office bearers of Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) sacled by a personal decision of new Culture Minister Khagedra Prasad Parsai.
The court called the ministerial decision illegal.
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200 TRAVEL PAPERS MISSING FROM FOREIGN MINISTRY

Kathmandu, 1 Aug.: Around 200 travel documents, considered as emergency passports, have been found missing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) for the last two years. The officials came to know about it only last week when they started probing into some reported passport forgery cases, The Kathmandu Post reports.
On the recommendation of Home Ministry, MoFA issues travel documents to refugees, adopted children and stranded Nepalis.
As soon as the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police brought a notice that a racket has been involved in forging Nepali passports and obtaining travel documents in collusion with government employees, MoFA officials found that around 200 travel documents were missing from the ministry for the last two years. The ministry's record shows that among them some travel documents were sent to Nepali missions in Cairo and Bangkok, which were later found hoax. “Among the missing serial numbers, we came to know that some travel documents were issued from Kathmandu. How were the missing documents issued again from MoFA?” questioned an official. “So we have formed a committee to look into the matter,” said Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai. Following media reports that some Tibetans managed to obtain genuine Nepali passports and hundreds of travel documents had gone missing, MoFA on Friday formed a five-member panel to investigate passport misuse cases.
“We will cooperate with the Nepal Police's to probe the issue and will improve the system to check such irregularities. We can provide details of the pictures only after the probe committee submits its report,” MoFA spokesperson Durga Bhattarai said. MoFA officials were clueless whether it was due to administrative and procedural shortcomings or handiwork of racketeers in collusion with its officials. The police have collected required details from the ministry and investigating the issue independently.
CIB on Tuesday night caught two Tibetan refugees bound to the US in possession of passports issued by the ministry while the police earlier caught three Tibetans who were about to board a plane to Turkey with Nepali passports from the Tribhuvan International Airport.
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DEUBA CAMP CLAIMS MAJORITYAGAINST RAM CHANDRA PAUDEL IN PARLIAMENTARY PARTY LEADERSHIP

Kathmandu, 1 Aug,: The Sher Bahadur Deuba faction of the Nepali Congress (NC) has claimed to have collected signatures of a majority of its 114 lawmakers in a bid to change the parliamentary party leader, The Kathmandu Post reports
Leaders in the Deuba camp said 60 lawmakers have expressed their support in writing and that they would hold serious talks with party President Sushil Koirala and Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel before registering a no-confidence motion against Poudel.
"If the party president does not keep his end of the promise, we will start the processes of changing the parliamentary party leader as per the party's statute," NC leader Bal Krishna Khand said. "We would like to settle this on a consensus basis before the next Central Working Committee meeting [slated for Aug 5]."
Deuba supporters hope that Koirala will sort out the issue through consensus by the next CWC. In a sudden decision on Sunday evening, Koirala postponed a meeting of the CWC from Monday to Friday, which party insiders said, was an effort to resolve the row over the PP leader.
NC leaders close to Koirala said the party leadership could come up with a solution to avoid any possible confrontation. "Be assured that there will be a compromise at last. All the contentious issues will be resolved on consensus," NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula told the Post. He, however, did not say what the compromise would be like.
Leaders close to Koirala said one of the compromise formulae they have been mulling over is nominating Deuba as the party's candidate from the CWC by keeping Poudel intact. However, the Deuba faction is unlikely to accept it. "We will not be cajoled by anything, including the PM candidacy. Since we have already secured a majority vote, we will change the PP leader," said a leader, who is busy meeting witnesses of the April 23 six-point gentlemen's agreement between Koirala and Deuba.
Koirala has, however, rubbished the six-point secret agreement and is saying that there has not been any deal. "The rumour about the secret agreement is just a ploy to divide the party. The president is not for changing the PP leader now," said one of Koirala's close aides.
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