SRYA BAHADUR THAPA BEING RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL TUESDAY

UPDATE SURYA BAHADUR THAPA BEING RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL TUESDAY

Kathmandu, 20 Dec.: Surya Bahadur Thapa is being released from hospital
after improvement in his health Tuesday, aide Kiran Giri said.
The former premier was admitted to Norvic Hospital for observation
Monday evening.
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MEDIA GOOGLE
“Some friends including the party chairman have taken up the mater but it
has not been discussed seriously in the party as an agenda.”
(KP Sharma Oli, The Kathmandu Post on his likely appointment as
lawmaker , The Kathmandu, Post, 20 Dec.)
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NC ACTIVISTS SMASH EIGHT AMBULANCES IN JHAPA

Kathmandu, 20 Dec.: NC workers Monday destroyed eight ambulances at once in Damak, Jhapa, Raju Adhikari reports in Nagarik.
They were carrying sick.
They were transporting sick Bhutanese refugees who were being
transported from Biratnagar .
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43-MEMBER INDIAN ARMY TEAM RECEIVING JUNGLE WARFARE TRAINING FROM NA
Kathmandu, 20 Dec.: In one of the biggest joint military trainings between Nepali and Indian armies in Nepal, a jungle warfare training is being held at
Amlekhgunj, The Kathmandu Post reports.
A 43-member Indian commando squad is here to attend the jungle warfare course at the Bara-based training school since December 9. The joint training named as “Indo-Nepal Joint Group Training” concludes on Thursday, according to Army Spokesperson Ramindra Chhetri.
“This is the first time a platoon from the Indian Army has visited Nepal for conducting a joint training on jungle warfare,” said Chhetri. It is possibly the largest joint training exercise between the two countries.
Earlier, NA cadets used to visit India, more often at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Vairangte, Mizoram. Companies of the then Royal Nepal Army were invited at the Indian jungle warfare school to learn on combating the insurgency.
Army cadets underwent training in Mizoram even after the royal takeover of February 2005. The UK had suspended military training for the Army in its academy located at Sandhurst after the royal coup.
Chhetri said that initially NA officers used to visit Malaya, Brunei, to attended jungle warfare courses. The jungle warfare school was set up in Amlekhgunj after the Khampa operations in 1974.
Meanwhile, a four-member delegation of Nepal Army led by Brig Gen Yadavdhoj Deuja returned from five-day official visit to India on Friday. The delegation was in Delhi to learn the process of preparing military budget and financial planning of the defence forces in India.
The delegation held interactions with Director General of Financial Planning and Budget Cell of the India's Defence Ministry about the financial planning and budgetary management of the Indian Army. It has been learnt that another military delegation had visited India prior to the Deuja-led team to study the process of selection of officers in the Indian defence forces and had visited Allahabad-based Service Selection Board Centre.
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GULF NOT SAFE FOR NEPALI MIGRANT WORKERS





Kathmandu, Dec 19, With a hope of improving the financial status of the family and to support her differently able husband, Pabitra Bista of Dharan flew to Lebanon about four years ago to work as a domestic helper there, Arpana Adhikari writes in The Rising Nepal.
Bista reached Lebanon without required training and knowledge of language and ultimately faced several ordeals in the alien land.
Her owner denied paying the salary she was promised by her agent in Dharan.
She had to follow the strict disciplines and was not allowed to go outside. She was fed up with the inhuman behaviour and exploitation meted out against her by her female owner.
"Once I worked for 15 days continuously without taking any food," Bista shared her experience.
"After six months of hard work without proper food and salary, one day
I locked myself inside my room asking for the salary. Then my house owner took me to the bank of Lebanon, opened an account and deposited only half of the amount I was promised", she said.
One day she heard her female owner planning to kill her; however her husband and daughter were against her cruel plan.
"Next day, they took me to the airport without informing me. When I asked for the salary they claimed that they had sent it to the agent in Nepal. I came back and met the agent. But they hadn’t received any money from the owners", she said.
Manika Shrestha, 20, of Chitwan who went to Kuwait around two years ago taking a fake passport also met similar fate. She worked one and half years as a homemaker there facing daily assault and exploitation.
Whenever she asked for the salary they locked up her inside the toilet and left her alone for 3-4 days without food. However, one day she managed to escape from their house and reached the Embassy of Nepal.
"To add further owe to me, the owner filed a case against me in the police and I was imprisoned for a few weeks for possessing fake documents," she said. "Later I was released with the help of the embassy."
Not only Bista and Shrestha, many women migrant workers (WMWs) have undergone similar pains in Gulf and other countries.
A study carried by the UN Women from 2009- May to 2011 shows that the Gulf countries are not safe for the women migrant workers.
Many women migrant workers in Gulf countries face different forms of violence, said the study.
According to the study, a total 2,820 WMWs were rescued from different Gulf countries in miserable conditions during the period.
A total of 111 Nepali WMWs were imprisoned and due to the mental and physical exploitation, 415 Nepali WMWs lost their mental balance, said the report.
The report further said that 86 women returned home pregnant, while 32 returned home along with the children from the foreign employers.
Moreover, 80 WMWs committed suicide and 31 went missing in Gulf countries during the period.
Saru Joshi of UN Women said that the government must end discriminatory practices that force women migrants to resort to underground way to reach the Gulf countries and face the greater risk of exploitation in the foreign land.
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DETAILS OF VIOLENCE DURING NC STRIKE MONDAY
Kathmandu, 20 Dec.: The nationwide bandh, called by Nepali Congress Monday to protest the death of Chitwan district president of dissolved Nepal Tarun Dal Shiva Poudel, failed to remain peaceful contrary to the claim by organizers, The Rising Nepal reports.
According to the metropolitan police of Kathmandu, more than a dozen vehicles were vandalized, with four private vehicles torched in separate places in the capital.
The valley police said that dozens of bandh supporters were also rounded up from different places in the valley after they tried to forcefully shut down the markets and violently took to the streets.
Four vehicles, including tourist vans and private vehicles, were torched by bandh supporters in the valley, the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, Ramshahpath said.
A private van, Ba 9 Cha 3720, was torched at Tilganga and a tourist van, Ba 1 Ya 850, and a taxi, Ba 1 Ja, were torched at Mitrapark.
Irate bandh supporters vandalized Ba 8 Cha 3789 Tata mobile at B&B hospital, Ba 1 Ya 4807 at Machapokhari, Balaju, Ba 8 Cha 3715 van at B&B hospital, Ba 44 Pa 2552 motorcycle at Minbhawan, Ba 31 Pa 8551 motorcycle at Satdobato, Ba 47 Pa 9882 motorcycle at Satdobato, Ba 1 Ja 9847 microbus at Balkumari bridge, Lalitpur, Ba 41 Pa 7877 motorcycle owned by editor of Sarathi Monthly and Ba 1 Cha 2779 Tata mobile at Kamalbinayak.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhokha, said that police arrested 29 bandh supporters for resorting
to violence and forcefully shutting down shops.
Dhirendra Pratap Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police and spokesman at the Metropolitan Police

Range, said all the arrested were later released at 5:30 pm. "No public offensive cases were filed against them," he said.
According to Inspector Sudhir Shahi of Metropolitan Police Sector Thankot, over 5,000 passengers were stranded at Naghdhunga, the entry point to the Kathmandu valley, as no vehicle was allowed to enter Kathmandu from outside it due to the general strike.
Meanwhile, the strike called by Nepali Congress (NC) crippled normal life in Makawanpur district.
Protesters vandalized the building of the Unilever Nepal multinational company situated in Basamadi blaming that it defied the strike.
The cadres of the Nepal Students Union vandalized the Agriculture Development Bank office at Kanti Rajpath.
The protesters also vandalized the office of the District Land Revenues. The SSIE Education Centre near the Nepal Bank also got a minor damage.
Due to the nationwide strike, all long and short route transport vehicles stayed off roads at Hetauda. Markets, academic institutions and industries were totally closed.
Entrepreneurs said that the strike caused millions of rupees in loss as industries across the district were closed.
The protesters burnt tyres in the middle of the roads and also demanded resignation of the Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs.
However, NC district Chief Raghu Nath Neupane claimed that they organized a peaceful strike as per the directive from the central level.
Likewise, all educational institutions remained closed due to the general strike in Sankhuwasabha district.
The running third terminal examination of the secondary level in the district was also hit by the strike.
Transportation, industries and markets in the district closed due to the strike. However vehicles belonging to Tarun Dal moved freely.
The District Education Office informed that the third terminal examination of the secondary level was postponed in more than 600 schools.
Meanwhile, the general strike hit the general life in Rammechhap district. All long and short route transportation and schools, hotels, shops and industries were totally closed.
The strike also hit the local markets.
Likewise, Dhading district also remained closed on Monday and day to day life of normal people crippled.
Huge numbers of passengers became stranded in their way to their destinations.
The District Police office informed that security system was stepped up to control untoward incidents.
Meanwhile, all shops, industries, teaching institutions and transportation services were closed down in Jhapa, Parbat, Baglung, Myagdi, Parsa, Pyuthan, Dang, Syangja, Banke, Kailali and Banepa.
The strike supporters held torch rallies in several districts on the eve of the strike on Sunday evening. They vandalized a house of Rajan Lamichhane of Bageshwori VDC in Rasuwa district in course of the rally.
Similarly, people of the Chitwan district, the hometown of the late Poudel, faced greater hardships due to the bandh. Irate protesters vandalized the office of the Bharatpur Municipality in course of the strike on Sunday. A group of 10-12 individuals vandalized a bus (Ba 1 Jha 8931) belonging to the office too, according to Municipality’s acting executive officer Tikaram Kandel.
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