PRACHANDA, UN CHIEF MEET IN NEW YORK

PRACHANDA, UN CHIEF MEET IN NEW YORK

Kathmandu, 9 Nov.: Maoist Chief Prachanda held discussions with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York Wednesday morning.
Details of the meeting weren’t immediately available.
But the Maoist chief said before leaving for New York he would ask the UN chief to launch an international appeal to implement a 7-point accord between ruling parties and
and opposition parties NC and UML to complete the delayed peace process and

constitution drafting.
Prachanda said he would invite the UN chief to be coordinator of an internal effort to develop Lumbini, the birthplace of The Buddha
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STUDENTS IN MUSTAND TO MONITOR THREATNED SNOW LEOPARD mustang to monitor e
Kathmandu, 8 Nov.: Conservationists in Nepal have enlisted an army of schoolchildren to record the movements of the mysterious snow leopard, one of the most elusive predators in the world, a scientist said today [Tuesday], AFP reports from Kathmandu..

Experts believe just 500 adults survive in the country, and few can claim ever to have seen the secretive, solitary ‘mountain ghost’, which lives 5,000 to 6,000 metres above sea level. “Snow leopards are inherently rare, and also elusive in the sense that they are active during dusk and dawn, so few people, including biologists, have seen a snow leopard to date,” said Som Ale of the US-based Snow Leopard Conservancy. The group has enlisted children from schools in the leopard’s habitat in Mustang, in Nepal’s mountainous northern frontier, who will work in pairs to install and monitor digital cameras to count the endangered species.

The census, due to be carried out over two months in winter, will give scientists a more accurate idea of numbers in Nepal than more primitive techniques, including recording tracks and collecting droppings. Although the Snow Leopard Conservancy used camera traps on a study in India six years ago, the group says this is the first survey of a large predator anywhere in the world by local communities who are not paid conservation experts. “In parts of Africa, lions may be monitored by local people but they are well paid professional guides,” Ale told AFP.

The pupils will be trained to set up digital cameras that take infra-red images and operate in sub-zero temperatures to areas where snow leopards would be expected to visit.

Computer programmers will then use each animal’s unique pelt to create to estimate the number of snow leopards.

The snow leopard is protected in Nepal by an act of parliament dating back to the 1970s which provides for penalties of up to 100,000 rupees ($1,300) and up to 15 years in jail for poachers.
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POLICE BUST ROBBERY RACKET



Kathmandu, 9 Nov.: The anti-theft department of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division has busted a racket of serial robbers with the arrest of four persons in the
capital city, The Himalayan Times reports..

The arrested have been identified as Shir Bahadur Tamang (33) of Sindhupalchowk, Bal Bahadur Rai (41) of Dharan, Sing Raj Tamang (27) of Kathmandu, and Khadga Singh Tamang (38) of Kavre.

DSP Himalaya Shrestha said they were caught from separate places of Kathmandu in the past couple of days.

“The gang used to raid houses at night and wee hours before overpowering the family members with sharp weapons and escaping with cash and valuables,” informed Shrestha.

The gang had raided two houses in the past 11 days.

Brandishing weapons, they barged into the house of Krishna Prasad Ghimire in Gothatar on Friday, kept family members at gunpoint and looted Rs 50,000, three tolas of gold ornaments, 20 tolas of silver and a mobile phone set.

Police have recovered 12.1 gm of heroin, gold and silver ornaments, electronic goods, a khukuri, an iron rod and prayer beads from the robbers.
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TWO KIDNAPPERS ARRESTED IN SINDHUPALCHOWK
Kathmandu, 9 Nov.: Police have arrested two persons for kidnapping Suraj Shaha, an Indian national living in Barhabise, from Chaku of Marming VDC in
the district, The Himalayan Times reports froM, Sindhupalchowk .

Chhedan Lama of Marming and Gyan Bahadur Tamang of Gaati VDC were detained yesterday while they were heading for Kathmandu in a car four hours after they released the abducted child.

Inspector Kumar Pandit said, “The kidnappers were arrested on the basis of the mobile number they had used while demanding ransom.” Suraj, son of Bijay Shah who was operating a cosmetic shop in Barhabise, was kidnapped on Saturday.

“First, the kidnappers told us that they had taken Suraj for a visit. Later, they said he had been kidnapped,” said Bijay. “They demanded Rs 500,000 ransom for his release. But, they released him for Rs 200,000.”

“Rescue was difficult, with the kidnappers repeatedly changing the rendezvous. However, we have been succeeded in arresting them,” said Inspector Pandit.

Police have retrieved Rs 193,000 of the ransom and two mobile phone sets with sim cards.
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