MEASLES CLAIMS LIVES OF 3 CHILDREN IN RUPANDEHI Kathmandu, 12 May: Measles epidemic has claimed the life of three children in one village of Marchawar in the southern part of Rupandehi district, RSS reports from Butwal. The children died from Monday to Wednesday from measles in Ganeshpur village of Karauta VDC-3 in the area. According to Assistant Health Worker Ghanalal Aryal, the three died and 38 are affected. Those who died are Sunny Dewal, 3, Nandani Kewat, 3, and Sahabir Dhuniya, 2. The symptoms are fever, and small rashes on the skin. This is caused by a kind of virus and there is no treatment of measles except for vaccine and treatment as per the symptoms. Those who died and all those infected are children who had received vaccines against measles. Vaccine Officer of District Public Health Office Om Prakash Panthi said although they could not go to the site because of Banda, the sub-health post has been assigned for the same. nnnn CHINESE AMONG THREE INMATES INJURED IN CLASH Kathmandu, 12 May:: Three inmates including one Chinese national in detention were injured when inmates clashed in District Jail Sindhupalchok on Friday, RSS reports from Chautara.. Clashes took place last night saying the Naikes and Bhai Naikes of the jail unnecessarily suppressed and beat up the inmates, said the District Police Office. The injured Bal Bahadur Tamang and Durga Bahadur Magar of Nepal and one Chinese national were treated at Chautara Hospital and were returned to the jail and their condition is normal, police said. Meanwhile, six people have been detained on the charges of involvement in the incident, police said. nnnn OVER 200 FALL SICK IN MYAGDI Kathmandu, 12 May:: Around 200 people at Neta of Arman VDC-7 in Myagdi district were affected in the last four days due to the outbreak of an unidentified disease, RSS reports from Myagdi.. The disease affected majority of the family members in around 50 house in Neta, said Harka Bahadur Chhantyal, a local resident. The villagers would get their body shake, reel, suffer from fever, and finally fall unconscious, he added. Elderly people and children have been mostly affected by the disease. The villagers have been panic-stricken as they suffered from the disease in turn having the similar symptoms among them, said Chhantyal, who is also the teacher of local Mangala Higher Secondary School. The District Public Health Office have urged the local health post to examine and distribute the medicine in the effective manner after the unidentified disease took severe form in the village, said District Public Health Officer Dr Jhalak Gautam Sharma. Meanwhile, the Arman Health Post organised a health camp at Bharati Primary School, Arman, to examine and distribute the medicine to the villagers affected by the disease. nnnn US OFFERS HELP Kathmandu, 12 May: The US Treasury has offered to help Nepali banks to properly valuate land and buildings offered as collateral for loans so that they will not be hurt by possible overvaluation, The Kathmandu Post reports. A senior official at Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said that the US Treasury wished to provide technical assistance in this regard to the Nepal. “However, the extent and duration of the assistance has been not finalized,” he added. “It has not been confirmed whether the US Treasury will set up any project office here.” According to him, a team from the US Treasury has conducted discussions with bankers about their plans. A workshop involving the supervisors and bankers was scheduled for Thursday but had to be postponed due to a banda. According to NRB officials, the US team has visited Nepal twice in this regard. “The US Treasury offered its help after our governor told a recent joint meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund about the vulnerability of Nepal’s banking system due to real estate related problems,” said the central bank official. The IMF in its report in 2011 stated that the asset quality of the Nepali banking sector had deteriorated. “About half of bank lending either funds or is collateralized by real estate, the market for which has largely frozen,” it said, adding that where transactions have taken place, prices have fallen by around 50 percent since their peak. Given this scenario, the report says that if 25 percent of performing real estate and home loans become loss loans, 13 private banks accounting for 48 percent of system deposits would see their capital adequacy ratio fall below 10 percent. Nnnn NEPAL SEEKS LABOUR AGREEMENT WITH KUWAIT Kathmandu, 12 May:- Nepal has made an official request to Kuwait for signing a labour agreement in view of increasing Nepali migrant workers' population in the country, which is considered one of the most favoured foreign employment destinations, The Kathamandu Post reports. During official talks with Mohammad Ahmad Al-Mujrin Al-Roomi, director of the Asia Department at the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry, in Kathmandu on Friday, Nepal forwarded the proposal. Roomi is in Nepal leading a four-member team. "We asked the visiting Kuwaitis to sign a labour agreement as soon as possible," said Arjun Bahadur Thapa, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We are seeking two pacts under the proposed agreement that would cover corporate and domestic sectors that most Nepalis opt for in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti side asked us to send a draft of the proposed agreement assuring us of a positive consideration." Currently, Kuwait is hosting around 600,000 Nepalis in various sectors. During the meeting, Thapa, who is acting Foreign Secretary, asked Kuwaiti officials to open their residential mission in Kathmandu. "We also sought visa fee exemption for Nepali diplomatic and official passport bearers. According to their suggestion, we will make a request in this regard soon," said Thapa. The Kuwaiti delegation also held talks with Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota on Friday. "During the meeting, Baskota invited investments in sectors of tourism, infrastructure-building, hydropower and agriculture at this opportune time," said Thapa. The Kuwait Fund is said to have approved a soft loan of US$ 30 million to construct the 30 megawatt Budhi Ganga hydropower project in western Nepal. “We have just received the approval letter for the loan from the Kuwait Fund,” he said. During then Finance Minister Barsaman Pun's recent visit to Kuwait, Nepal had asked Kuwaiti authorities for such a loan. Officials from both the sides also discussed beginning direct air link between their Capitals. The Kuwaitis held talks with Mohan Krishna Sapkota, joint-secretary for the Ministry of Civil Aviation. "Kuwait and Nepal signed an air service agreement in 1999, which is still inactive. Now both the sides are positive about starting direct air service between their two Capitals," said Thapa. Also discussed was activating a joint commission agreed to set up at the foreign ministers level. In January last year, Nepal and Kuwait signed an agreement to establish a joint commission to cover bilateral relations. The Kuwait Fund agreed last year to provide financial aid of Rs 52 million to carry out the feasibility study of the proposed Sitapaila-Dharke road. During their five-day stay, the team will meet members of Nepal-Kuwait Chamber and Commerce on Sunday. nnnn