FOREIGN ASKS LABOUT MINISTRY OT TO ENFORCE MINIMUM STANDARD FOR MAIDS FOR UAE ROYAL FAMILY

GOVT. TEAM IN MOHOTTARI TO FGHT DIARRHEA EPIDEMIC

Kathmandu, 31 Oct.: A team of doctors along with medicines has reached Matihani of Mahottari district on Monday, where epidemic of diarrhea has spread for the past five days, RSS reports from Gaushala, Mohottari.

According to the District Public Health Office, Mahottari, the team reached Matihani, after two girls of Matihani-1 and 3 died of diarrhea on Sunday.

Local media-person Hari Prasad Mandal said as many as 20 persons have been suffering from diarrhea at the place, which is adjacent to the border of India.

The team from the District Health Office, Mahottari, is providing necessary medicines and Jeevanjal (rehydration syrup) reaching door to door. Some of the patients have been taken to Madhawa of India for treatment.

Seven-year-old Manisha Kumari of Matihani-1 and five-year-old Priyanka Kumari Mandal of Matihani-3 had died of diarrhea on Sunday morning.
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FOREIGN MINISTRY ASKS LABOUR MINISTRY NOT TO ENFORCE STANDARDS FOR MAIDS WORKING FOR UAE ROYAL FAMILY

Kathmandu, 31 Oct.: The foreign ministry has asked the labour ministry not to enforce a minimum standard for housemaids for UAE royal members and senior officials, Hom Karki writes in Kantipur.
The foreign ministry gave the suggestion at a time when the case of physical and mental of a Nepali housemaid by the wife of the Israeli prime minister has broken out.
Following the Israeli incident, the labour ministry hasn’t been able to decide on enforcing the minimum standard. The standard sets minimum, salary and other perks and facilities such as separate room for housemaids.
The foreign ministry said the instruction through a letter which has set the labour ministry in further confusion; the letter says ‘an atmosphere of mistrust’ will be created by enforcing the standard.
Following the Israeli incident, an of trust hasn’t been created either. Nepali embassy in UEA has also asked the standard shouldn’t be enforced.
Government has separate standards for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE,
There are around 10,000 Nepali women working in UAE.
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NEPALI INJURED IN AFGHANISTAAN SUICIDE ATTACK

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct 31: Suicide attackers on Monday blew up a truck bomb and raided the offices of a US charity, killing four Afghans in the second attack in recent days on American interests in the city of Kandahar, AFP reports.

"Four bodies, all Afghan civilians, and five people including a Nepali guard have been admitted to our hospital with injuries," said Sardar, a hospital doctor who like many Afghans goes by only one name.
One attacker detonated the vehicle outside the offices of US-based International Relief and Development (IRD), before two others entered the compound and fired on security forces, said police and government officials.

The Kandahar government said the attackers struck at 6am (0130 GMT) and that two gunmen remained holed up in a veterinary clinic inside the compound -- which also houses UN offices -- and were shooting at security forces.

"There were three suicide attackers. One exploded in front of the office. The two others entered the compound (wearing suicide vests). They are still alive, but the police are surrounding them," said police spokesman Ghorzang.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgent group carried out a car bomb attack in Kandahar, the militia´s former capital and the largest city in southern Afghanistan, but claimed to have targeted the UN refugee agency.

The bodies of the dead were taken to the nearby Mirwais hospital along with several people wounded in the assault.

Kandahar provincial police chief Abdul Raziq said three people were killed, including the 6th district police chief of the city who was in plain clothes at the time of the attack.

The United Nations has some offices in the compound but the Kandahar government´s media office said the UN properties appeared safe.

According to its website, IRD provides nearly $500 million annually in development assistance to Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East; and works in nearly 40 countries.

The volatile southern city is the birthplace of the Taliban movement, which has been waging bloody battle for a return to power since it was ousted by the US-led invasion in late 2001 following the 9/11 attacks.

The Kandahar area was the focus of a US-led military "surge" of thousands of extra troops ordered into Afghanistan by President Barack Obama in late 2009 as part of a last-ditch military effort to reverse Taliban momentum.

On Sunday, a Kandahar provincial government official and former Taliban shadow governor escaped a roadside bombing in the city with minor injuries.

On Friday, the Taliban launched a major assault on a US-run civilian-military base in Kandahar, sparking a four-hour siege that left one Afghan interpreter dead and eight other people wounded.

In the capital Kabul, the US-led NATO mission saw one of their worst days in the decade-long war on Sunday when a Taliban car bomb attack on a convoy killed 10 Americans, two Britons, a Canadian and four Afghans.

There is increasing acceptance that there can no battlefield victory in the war, with Western diplomats urging talks to negotiate a political settlement.

A regional conference is to be held in Istanbul this week at which President Hamid Karzai is to announce areas in up to 17 provinces that will soon see a handover from NATO to Afghan control.

That will mark the second stage of a transition process that began in July and is scheduled to see Afghans take responsibility for national security by the time that NATO winds down its combat mission in the end of 2014.

But there is widespread scepticism over the ability of the Afghan army and police to secure the country, with the Taliban mounting a series of high-profile deadly attacks and so far showing little willingness to talk.
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TEACHERS CLOSE DOWN CHITWAN SCHOOLS
Kathmandu, 31 Oct.: Teachers and other staff working in private schools in Chitwan district called a bandh in private schools for an indefinite period demanding salary as per the government scale, RSS reports from Chitwan.

The teachers and other employees' organisation, and the Nepal Institutional Teachers' Union (Nepal ISTU), called the bandh for an indefinite time from Monday after the Private and Boarding Schools' Organisation Nepal (PABSON), failed to resolve their problems within 15 days of its commitment to address their demands forcing ISTU-Nepal to shut down the schools in the district, said Chairman of Nepal ISTU Keshavraj Pathak.

Following the strike, classes in all the private schools were disrupted since early morning, today.

The teachers announced the protest saying the PABSON failed to implement past agreement signed with the Nepal ISTU. The teachers also demanded to increase the salary and allowances as per the scale increased by the government this year.

Also on October 23, Nepal ISTU had called school bandh for a day putting forth these demands.
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TWO INJURED IN PARBAT CLASH
Kathmandu, 31 Oct.: Two youths of a picnic party have been injured in a clash with the local youths at Patikhola in the district, RSS reports from Parbat.

Those injured in the clash are 30-year-old Purna Tulachan and 28-year-old Ram Chandra Kumal. They were rescued by police and taken to the District Hospital for treatment.

A group of youths from Kushma Bazaar had gone to Patikhola for a picnic on Sunday. Police said a local of Patikhola, Rajendra Hamal, picked up a quarrel with the picnickers leading to a clash. Hamal is absconding, said police.
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