THREE DEAD AS TRUCK PLUNGES INTO RIVER

ADD TO EVACUATION AIRLIFT

Kathmandu, 9 Nov.: More than 2,600 stranded were evacuated from the Everestregion until Tuesday.
Remaining 500 tourists will be evacuated Wednesday if weather holds, rescuers lsaid.
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THREE DEAD AS TRUCK FALLS INTO NARAYANI RIVER

Kathmandu, 9 Nov.: Three persons died Wednesday as a truck plunged
into Narayani river in Darechow in Chitwan—two died instantly an another person died while undergoing treatment at hospital in Bharatpur.
One person is missing and a search has been launched.
The truck was transporting buffaloes.
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DETAILS OF LALITPUR SHOOTING

Kathmandu, 9 Nov. Shawaran Khadka died at hospital after being shot in th
chest at Dhapakhel in Lalitpur overnight.
A group of four persons shot Khadka, police said quoting eyewitnesses.
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KOREAN FIRM SEEKS GO-AHEAD FOR 2nd INTERNATIONAAL AIRPORT
Kathmandu, Nov. 9: Landmark Worldwide (LMW), a South Korean company that carried out detailed feasibility study (DFS) for the second international airport in Nepal at Nijgadh in Bara district, has filed an application with the government to allow it to construct the much-talked airport, Samiksha Koirala writes in Republica..

LMW applied for the permission as per the commitment that the government made while selecting a company for the DFS.


In the commitment, the government had said it would give due priority to the company that carries out DFS while awarding the development works provided the company expresses interest in the construction of the airport.

"We has received the application from LMW," said Ranjan Krishna Aryal who is the cordinator of the Second International Airport Project, adding that the application has been approved as per the government´s commitment to prioritize the company for implementation of the project.

However, he clarified that the acceptance of the application was nothing more than fulfillment of the pre-conditions of DFS. "It doesn´t mean we are awarding the project to LMW," Aryal said.

Officials at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) said they will forward the application to build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) committee for consideration. If the committee deemed it fit, it will forward the proposal to the Cabinet for the final approval. After the final approval of the Cabinet, BOOT committee will call upon LMW officials for direct negotiations before awarding the project.

Coordinator Aryal said if LMW fails to get approval from BOOT committee, the MoTCA will call issue global tender seeking applicants for the construction of the second international airport.

Going by the laws, the government has special rights to award project from direct negotiation if the project cost is above Rs 2 billion.

According to DFS report, the first phase of the airport can be completed by 2015 with an investment of $600 million. The report states that it will be able to handle 15 million passengers annually along with A380 aircraft.

Country Representative of LMW Binay B Rawal said, "We are very much interested to work in this project but the government will have to go ahead with the fast-track project also to make SIA project a success."

He further added that there was no meaning of getting SIA project implemented without completion of fast track, which will connect Nijgadh to the capital in less than one and half hours.

Application of LMW has come after a few days of submitting the final DFS report to MoTCA with revision asked by MoTCA officials. LMW had carried out the DFS at the cost of $3.5 million.
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NC TURN TO LEAD GOVT. MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL

Kathamandu, 9 Nov.: CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal Tuesday said that it was now the turn of Nepali Congress to lead the new government, The Rising Nepal writes in The Rising Nepal.
Speaking at a press meet organised by Nepal Press Chautari in Hatauda, Napal said that the NC could not get opportunity to lead the government following the Constituent Assembly (CA) election.
He stressed that the national unity government was essential to ensure the peace and constitution writing processes.
"If national consensus government is formed, the UML will have no hesitation to accept it no matter who leads it," said the UML leader.
He said that the national consensus government was necessary to reach ac minimum consensus among the parties.
Nepal expressed his hope that peace and constitution writing processes would be concluded following the seven-point agreement.
However, all parties should be serious about concluding the historic tasks, he said.
He said that the UML would play its vital role to complete the national tasks.

"The ultra-leftist tendency of the Maoist and NC’s status quoist created obstacles to promulgate the new constitution," he said.
Nepal also directed the UML cadres to work for the conclusion of the peace and constitution writing processes.
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GOVT. TO LAUNCH RUBELLA VACCINE CAMPAIGN





Kathmandu, 9 Nov.: The Child Health Division under the Department of Health Services is preparing to launch the Rubella Vaccine campaign across the nation for the first
time, The Rsing Nepal writes.
Around 10 million children (nine months to 15 years) would be covered by the campaign.
The campaign is being launched to control rubella transmission, especially to save children from the congenital rubella syndrome, Dr. Shyam Raj Upreti, director of the Division said.
The Department of Health Services (DoHS) informed that the World Bank has already agreed to use pool fund for the campaign.
The government has estimated the need of around 400 million rupees for the campaign which is the largest programme under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).
The MoHP should seek approval of the World Bank for such a large investment programme.
The World Bank has sent a no-objection letter for this, Upreti said.
According to Upreti, a tender process has started from today for procurement of the vaccines.
The division has estimated the need to procure 12.2 million doses of vaccine for the campaign, Upreti informed.
It will take around six months to launch the campaign. After launching a campaign once, rubella vaccine would be included in a regular vaccination programme like measles. From next year, the vaccine will be provided to every child between nine months to one year regularly, he said.
According to a study of 2009 conducted by the division, around 1,400 children have congenital defects (disability, hole in heart, cataract, mental disability and hearing impairment), Dr. Upreti said.
Since 2000, the government had been launching measles campaign every four years and every year in regularly for nine months to 1 year’s children.
After some years of measles vaccination campaign, it was found out that rubella was the disease to be vaccinated against whereas measles had already been controlled, Dr. Upreti said.
All signs and symptoms of rubella are like as measles. However, if pregnant women suffer form rubella, children born of them develop congenital defects.
Presently, the government has been launching measles campaign in every four years. In 2012, measles campaign will also be included in rubella campaign.
Mild fever, swollen lymph glands, and a red, blotchy rash, tiredness, muscle and body aches, headache and pink eyes are some of the possible symptoms of rubella.
Doctors said anyone with possible symptoms should be properly diagnosed and treated by doctors.

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