FLAGS FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF FOR RAMRAJA PRASAD SINGH Kathmandu, 13 Sept. Flags were flown at half-staff staff on all government buildings at home and abroad Thursday as mark of respect toRamraja Prasad Singh. Republican leader Singh, 77,died Wednesday and was cremated with state honours the same day. Nnnn THREE STAR CLUB PLAYS MYA IN NcELL CUP Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Three Star Club plays Madhyapur Youth Association (MYA) Thursday in Ncell Cup at the Dasharath Stadium being played on knockout basis. Besides Three Star and MYA, NIBL Friends Club and Armed Police Force (APF) are in Group A of the tournament. Sixteen A division clubs are participating. The winner will lift Rs 1.5 million while runner-up will bag Rs 700,000. Nnnn TRADING IN SHARES OF EVEREST INSURANCE SUSPENDED Kathmandu, 13:Sept.: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) on Wednesday suspended share trading of Everest Insurance following news reports that it had partially halted business transaction and was planning to shut down the company, Republica reports.. The non-life insurer, with a market capitalization of Rs 329.06 million, stopped issuing new insurance policies beginning Tuesday and warned to close down the company in the future to protest issuance of corporate good governance directive by the Insurance Board -- the insurance sector regulator. “Since this news was carried by most of the national dailies, we decided to suspend transaction of the company´s stocks for the time being to conduct investigation,” Nepse Spokesperson Shambhu Pant told Republica. “We have already informed the company about our decision and will resume trading of the stocks once we get satisfactory answer from the insurer.” Pant said Nepse´s listing bylaw gives the share market operator to suspend transaction of firms in special cases to protect such stocks from volatility. “This is certainly not good news and we are concerned about our shareholders,” Madhu Sudhan Agrawal, a board director of Everest Insurance, told Republica. “But since the good governance directive issued by the Insurance Board has made it difficult for us to do business, we had to resort to harsh measures.” Agrawal was referring to provisions in the directive that bars insurance companies from generating business from its promoters, prevents one person from assuming the position of board director in multiple insurance companies and restricts more than one member of a family from assuming post of board director in the same company. “Despite this and the suspension of share trading by Nepse, we won´t let harm come in the way of our shareholders,” Agrawal claimed. Nepse´s decision to suspend Everest Insurance´s stock trading comes at a time when the investor interest on insurance companies is growing. On Tuesday, for instance, Everest Insurance was able to conduct transaction of 10,000 units of its shares in a single day. This transaction, which was held a day before the news on company´s closure made its way to national dailies, however, raised suspicion of insider trading as the volume was too big for a company which was on average selling around 10 units of shares per day in the past 90 days. “This is purely coincidence. If it has raised suspicion then we can do nothing about it,” said Anuj Agarwal of Agarwal Securities, which was both buyer and seller broker for 10,000 units of shares. Nepse officials did not comment on the issue, but some brokers, on condition of anonymity, told Republica that the transaction smacked of insider trading. Nnnn DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SHRESTHA HOLDS DISCUSSIONS WITH FOREIGN ENVOYS Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: In an attempt to understand the position and concerns of European envoys on proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha hosted dinner to Kathmandu-based European ambassadors on Wednesday evening, The Kathmandy Post reports.. Ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Office of the European Union Delegation were invited to the unofficial talks and dinner, sources said. The European envoys were seeking time with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to discuss on the proposed TRC ordinance, which is now at his office for approval. Diplomatic sources said that chances of meeting with the President are still there. Referring to the content of the TRC ordinance as political, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) had advised President Yadav not to meet with diplomats at this juncture. Western diplomats have been asking the government to make transitional justice mechanism independent, credible and transparent and meet international standards. "It is government's job to hear and reach out to the international community to understand their grievances in any issue. So, DPM Shrestha decided to meet envoys concerning various issues, including the TRC ordinance. Other common concerns will also be discussed on the occasion," said a source close to DPM Shrestha. DPM Shrestha will convey the ambassadors about government's position on the TRC ordinance and will assure that all the provisions entrusted in the ordinance will meet international standards, the source said. Nnnn PAKISTAN FACTORY DEATH TOLL RISES TO 314 Kathmandu, 13 Sept.:: The death toll from a pair of devastating factory fires that broke out in Pakistan’s two biggest cities rose today to 314 people, many of whom perished because they were unable to escape buildings that lacked emergency exits and basic safety equipment such as alarms and sprinklers, AP reports from Karacki.. The horrific toll highlights the atrocious state of industrial safety in Pakistan, where many factories are set up illegally in the country’s densely populated cities, and owners often pay officials bribes to ignore safety violations. The more deadly of the two blazes, which both erupted last night, was at a garment factory in the southern city of Karachi, the country’s economic heart. The death toll there rose to 289 people today, as firefighters battled the flames for hours, said senior government official Roshan Ali Sheikh. It was one of the worst industrial accidents in Pakistan’s 65-year history, and Sheikh said the death toll could rise because rescue workers were still pulling bodies out from the site in Karachi. Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation as people caught in the basement were unable to escape when it filled with smoke, said the top firefighter in Karachi, Ehtisham-ud-Din. The building only had one accessible exit, and all the other doors were locked, said Sheikh. “It is a criminal act to lock the emergency exit doors, and we are trying to know who did it, and why?” Sheikh said. Relatives of the victims said the factory owner locked the exit doors in response to a recent theft, thereby endangering the workers inside. “The owner of the factory should also be burned to death the way our dear ones have died in a miserable condition,” said Nizam-ud-Din, whose nephew died in the fire. Workers on higher floors of the five-storey building struggled to make it out of windows that were covered with metal bars. Many were injured when they jumped from the building, including a 27-year-old pregnant woman who was injured in the fall. The factory’s managers have fled and are being sought by police, Sheikh said, who is the senior government official in Karachi. He added that authorities have placed the name of the factory’s owner on the list of people who are not allowed to leave the country. Also last night, a fire swept through a four-story shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 25 people. Some died from burns and others from suffocation, said senior police officer Multan Khan. The factory was illegally set up in a residential part of the city. The fire broke out when people in the building were trying to start their generator after the electricity went out. Sparks from the generator made contact with chemicals used to make the shoes, igniting the blaze. nnnn DRONES START SURVEILLANCE O PROTECTED SPECIES Kathmandu, 13, Sept : Aerial surveillance by drones in Bardiya and Chitwan National Parks started Wednesday with the aim of controlling poaching of endangered animals as well as monitor their movements, Nirmal Ghimere writes in Republica from Bardiya. Bar. This is the first time that drones, which is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is remotely piloted, is being used for the protection of animals in the national parks of the country amid reports of growing poaching of endangered animals. And park officials have blown away by the capabilities of the drones armed with video and still cameras, and flying silently up to 20 kilometers from their home base sending back information instantly. "Just by looking at them, park officials were unconvinced about their performance capabilities, but once we put them into service they have proved to be very useful to us," said Ashok Bhandari, conservation officer at Bardiya National Park. Bhandari said the drones have been very useful in collecting information from areas of the forests which are not easily accessible. "Sometimes we hear the gun shots in the core areas of the park but due to the geographical obstacles or other reasons the army and forest guards cannot reach the spot immediately." Bhandari said. "We can send air patrol to the suspected area and receive information promptly with the photographs and visual, which is beneficial for the security personnel so they can act on the issue." The drones were donated by the World Wildlife Fund and the parks have already received approval from the aviation department to fly them. Bhandari also informed that 15 staff from both parks had received training to fly the drones and had been flying them regularly from Wednesday over the Bardiya National Parks. The conservationists and security personnel expressed happiness over the use of drones saying they will now tighten surveillance of possible routes used by poachers. Ishowor Thapa, chief of Narasingha Dal of Nepal Army in the Park, believed that the air patrols would enhance security. “There are many inaccessible areas and it will help the security personnel to study the ground realities of such places by sending aircraft and later devise security plans for the area,” said Thapa. “Due to the geographical obstacles, we always feared that poacher would take benefit of the situation but the air patrols will help secure such weak spot and containing poaching," he added. nnnn