RECORD TOURIST ARRIVALS IN OCTOBER

RECORD TOURIST ARRIVALS IN OCTOBER

Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: A record 73,264 tourists visited Nepal in October—an increase of 16.8 percent compared to the same month,
Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) said
Wednesday.
“..arrivals crossed 70,000 mark for monthly air arrival for the first time in the tourism history of Nepal,” the announcement said.

The arrivals from SAARC region showed a
positive growth of 19.4% with India (26.2%) and Pakistan (11.3%) while arrivals from Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka declined by 10.2% and 13% respectively.
A sustained growth of 33.7% has been observed in the arrivals from the SAARC region during the first ten months of 2011, in comparison to the same period last year.

Asia ( other than South Asian region) saw overall increase of 40% in October 2011. Except for Malaysia ( -1%), almost all the markets recorded positive growth with China ( 105.9%),Japan ( 7.3%) Singapore (5.7%), South Korea (29.4%) and Thailand (23.6%) compared to the same month last year.

Arrivals from Europe registered overall positive growth of 15.1% compared to the same month last year with total visitor arrivals of 34166, highest of all on month-by month basis in 2011.
Arrivals from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain, Switzerland and UK were up by 18.2%, 48.8%,19.3%,25.5%,88.3%, 20.7%,15.8%, and 7.3% respectively. However France and the Netherlands registered negative growth by 3.9% and 17.1% respectively compared to the same month in 2010.

The figures show overall decrease of 5.4% from Oceania with Australia ( -0.2%) and New Zealand (-30.4% ). Likewise, Canada also recorded negative growth of 0.2% whereas arrivals from the United States of America were up by 5.4% in comparison to the same month last year.

Overall in January – October (ten months of 2011) period, India grew at an average of 42.4% , China (66.7 %), Germany (11.2 %), France (3.8%),UK (6.6%) and USA (14.3%). On month-by-month basis, October was the strongest of all with total 73,264 visitors, ahead of April (51,969) March (46,491), September (45,782) and May (39,179). The visitor arrivals totaled 443,108 between January and October 2011 registering 21.7% of growth compared to the same period in 2010.

A total of 69,115 foreign tourists departed from TIA in October 2011.The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 70,531 while 52,952 Nepalese departed from TIA in October 2011.
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EU, US, JAPAN HAIL PEACE DEAL

Kathmandu, 2 Nov.2: The United States of America, Japan and EU missions based in Kathmandu including Norway and Switzerland have welcomed the agreement by the political parties in Nepal on Tuesday on enforcing the past accords, RSS reports.

Issuing a press release on Wednesday, the US Department of State said the US Government welcomes the landmark agreement by Nepalese political parties on implementing the Comprehensive Peace Accord, including the integration and rehabilitation of former Maoist combatants, the agreement to complete drafting the Constitution by the November 30 deadline, and agreements on other important outstanding issues.

"We encourage all those involved to implement these agreements. The United States remains committed to supporting the ongoing peace process as appropriate," the release further said.

We commend all parties for their statesmanship and leadership in forging this consensus, which we believe is a crucial step toward ensuring a democratic, stable, and prosperous future for Nepal, the release added.

The Government of Japan has congratulated the major political parties on reaching what it called the historic seven-point agreement on the peace process, constitution writing, and the process of formulating a national consensus government.

A press release issued Wednesday by the Embassy of Japan states that the agreement is the clear embodiment of the constructive spirit of mutual understanding among the political parties and symbolizes a major breakthrough towards achieving the aspirations of the people of Nepal.

“Japan sincerely wishes that this agreement be implemented as per the agreed schedule through the continued efforts of the political parties; and thus, the people of Nepal will be able to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with renewed aspirations,” the press release reads.

It is stated that the Government and people of Japan are ever ready to assist Nepal’s efforts to this end, and are ready to support the people of Nepal.

Similarly, the EU missions based in Kathmandu including Norway and Switzerland also welcomed the seven-point agreement.

Issuing a joint statement on Wednesday, the missions said, "The signing of the seven-point agreement has resolved many of the long-outstanding issues in Nepal´s peace process".

"We encourage the Nepal Government and all political parties to now give high priority to the implementation of the agreement, including the drafting of a new democratic and inclusive Constitution, which aims at ensuring lasting peace and stability in Nepal," said the statement.

The statement further praises the progress on the integration and rehabilitation of the former Maoist combatants.

Through the statement, the European Union has pledged to continue its support to Nepal´s peace process
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31 DISCIPLINES IN SIXTH NATIONAL GAMES
Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: Altogether 31 games
would be included in the Sixth National Games to be held in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts of the Far-west Region from February 26 to March 4, 2012, said member-secretary of the National
Sports Council (NSC) Yubaraj Lama.
RSS reports from Dhangadhdi


Athletics, football, women’s volleyball, lawn tennis, handball, judo, Kabaddi (men), boxing, karate, badminton, basketball (men/women), gymnastics and cycling will be organized in Dhangadi of Kailali.


Similarly, 12 games including cricket (men/women), hockey, chess, archery, weight lifting, bodybuilding, wrestling, kabaddi (women), wushu, taekwondo, table tennis (men/women), football, volleyball (men) would be played in Mahendranagar of Kanchanpur, according to the NSC.

Lama said some outdoor games that are difficult to organize due to lack of infrastructures in the two districts would be organized in Nepalgunj, Kathmandu and Birgunj.

Lama informed journalists that swimming, squash, gulf, full contact (karate) and shooting events would be held outside the Far-west Region.

As per the preparation for the national sports competition, necessary physical infrastructures are being constructed in Dhangadhi and Mahendranagar.

The government has allocated Rs. 219.4 million budget for the national sports competition
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HOSPITALS BEING MONITORD BY GOVT.


Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: The Ministry of Health and Population has started undertaking on-site monitoring of public, private and cooperative hospitals from Wednesday, RSS reports.

The hospitals managed under the Ministry had been monitored by the hospital´s own development committees while the monitoring of health institutions operated by the private and cooperative sector has not been carried out effectively.
The monitoring of private and public hospitals has been initiated after the Ministry´s decision, said the Ministry sources.

In-charges of various Divisions of the Health Ministry have been mobilized in field after preparing a database and questionnaires about the area of monitoring.

The Ministry has issued directive to the 14 monitoring teams to submit report within 30 days after monitoring private and public hospitals across the country.

The teams will monitor some 53 topics including the proportion of doctors and bed, the ICU, CCU, NICU, Ambulance services and status of free of cost health services in the hospitals.
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RESULTS OF I Ed 2nd YEAR ANNOUNCED

Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: The Tribhuvan University, Office of the Controller of Examinations, Balkhu today published the results of the Proficiency Certificate Level second year under the Faculty of Education (I. Ed. 2nd year) examinations-2011,
RSS reports.

The results are available on University’s website - www.tu.ntc.net.np or on www.educationsansar.com or www.edusanjal.com, according to the Office.

The results can be known by dialing 1602 of Nepal Telecom also, it is
learnt.
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