HETAUDA SOAP FACTORY RESUMES PRODUCTION

HETAUDA SOAP FACTORY RESUMES PRODUCTION

Kathmandu, 3 Oct. Production resumed at the National Soap Industries (NSI) in Hetauda resumed Sunday after a after a forced three-day closure by some dissatisfied Maoist workers.
The workers were protesting what they called a ‘sellout’ by five trade unions affiliated with by Maoists, NC and other major parties in agreement with government and FNCCI Friday.
Prime Minister Babauram Bhattarai
personally negotiated the agreement that banned closures of industrial enterprises for four years with assurances of minimum wage.
Two industries in Hetauda and Nawalparasi were shutdown one day after the tripartite agreement chllengng the prime minister.
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THREE-MEMBER COMMITTEE TO SHORTLIST CANDIDATES FOR INVESTMENT BOARD CEO

Kathmandu, 3 Oct.: The cabinet Sunday formed a three member
Committee headed by Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun to
shortlist candidates for CEO of an Investment Board.
Other members of the committee are Vice-chairman of
National Planning Commission Dipendra Bahadur Chetry and former secretary Bimal Wagle.
The premier will head the investment board.
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NEPALI SCHOLAR MAKES BREAKTHROUGH IN TB RESEARCH
Kathmandu, 3 Oct.: Gyanu Lamichhane, a 35-year-old Nepali researcher at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, has drawn the world several steps closer in finding a better, faster and reliable cure for tuberculosis (TB), which kills over two million people across the globe each year, Navin Adhikari reports in The Kathmandu Post..
His latest findings have paved the way for a much faster approach of weakening the TB causing bacterium, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, which could potentially shorten TB treatment that now takes at least six months.
In recognition of his achievement, the US government’s National Institute of Health honoured Lamichhane with the coveted New Innovator Award-2011 on September 19 along with a direct funding of $ 1.5 million (Rs 117 million) for his research to be carried out at the university within five years. A statement issued by the Institute on September 19 stated that the award was conferred on Lamichhane and 48 other young scientists for various promising researches in health sciences.
During his research at Johns Hopkins Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Lamichhane, the assistant professor at the university, discovered what exactly the cell wall of TB causing bacteria is made of. He revealed that the protective cell wall of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is held together by an enzyme named L,D-transpeptidase. The revelation is said to have come as a breakthrough in the effort to develop medicine that could break the protective wall of the bacterium and thus weaken it and cure the disease altogether.
His research has a key finding that if L,D-transpeptidase is unable to function, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis will have its cell wall weakened and the remaining chemical linkages in the bacterial wall will be an easy target for drugs used in the treatment of TB. Lamichhane now intends to pursue his research on what effect antibiotics will have on L,D-transpeptidase and the possible cure for tuberculosis as well as other bacterial infections.
“My primary interest is the study of genes essential to the growth of micro bacteria. In future I intend to study the cell division and regulation of cell cycle in micro bacteria,” Lamichhane told the John Hopkins University publication after receiving the award. He had harboured the dream of finding a cure for TB since 1993, when he was a high school student in Chitwan. In an interview with the Post in 2009, he had stated that his grandfather's death from TB pushed him to find a cure for it.
"My team was doing research with the aim to identify how mycobacterium tuberculosis grows. We found that an unusual enzyme is required for the bacteria to grow properly and cause disease," he told the Post over telephone from the US on Sunday.
“We have demonstrated what needs to be done to make new drugs. Now the challenge is to work on making drugs and testing them,” he added.
About one third of the world’s population is believed to be infected with M Tuberculosis with 10 million new cases each year.
Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death among those who are infected with both HIV virus and M Tuberculosis, causing for the death of nearly 500,000 people with infections of both.
The complete treatment of tuberculosis requires at least six months for a “short” course treatment. Lamichhane hopes that the findings will help shorten the treatment duration to mere two weeks.
Lamichhane, who himself suffered from latent tuberculosis, had received a grant worth $ 100,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation in 2009 for the research on tuberculosis. He was also featured as one of the 36 best and brightest in America by Esquire magazine in 2007.
Key findings
•Lamichhane found what exactly the cell wall of TB causing bacteria is made of
•He discovered that the protective cell wall of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is held together by an enzyme named L,D-transpeptidase
•Findings to shorten TB treatment duration considerably.
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GOVT. EFORTS TO WELCOME CHINESE PM WEN IN 2011
Kathmandu, 3 Oct.: The government has decided to send a formal invitation to Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to visit Nepal “very soon”, Anil Giri reports in The Kathmandu Post.
At a news conference with newspaper editors on Saturday morning, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattrai reasoned that Nepal could get a lot more diplomatic and political leverage from the Chinese prime minister's visit to Nepal compared to Nepali PM's visit to China.
It has been more than 10 years since a Chinese prime minister visited Nepal, with Zhu Rongji making the visit in May 2001.
If the Chinese side accepts the invitation, the visit could take place in November-end or early December. The invitation would be extended after Dashain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
As the Chinese officials hinted that they were interested in making a high-level official visit to Nepal in the near future, the Nepali side hopes PM Wen could make the visit.
Although the Chinese side has been keen on making a high-level visit since last year, it has been put on hold due to the political instability in Nepal, said an official. “The Chinese side has had a long-standing position to convene high-level bilateral exchanges at the political level,” said Nepali Ambassador to China Tanka Karki over telephone from Beijing.
Prime Minister Bhattarai is scheduled to visit India on October 21.
“It is important for us to visit China too. But the possibility of the Chinese PM visiting Nepal is high. So we are more focused on his visit to Nepal,” the PM told the editors on Saturday.
“If the Chinese PM does not make a visit at that time, we are preparing to invite Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi,” said a MoFA official.
In 2011, two high-level Chinese visits took place. Chief of Army Staff Gen. Chen Bingde visited Nepal in the third week of March and the Politburo Standing Committee member of the Communist Party of China, Zhou Yongkang, visited in mid-August.
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