NEPAL SCORES 17 RUNS FOR LOSS OF TWO WICKETS AGAINST SINGAPORE UPDATE Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: Nepal bowled out Singapore for 111 runs in the ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Kuala :Lumpur.not Singapore as earlier reported. Amrit Bhattarai took four wickets Nepal made a bad start It scored only 17 runs in seven overs for the loss of two wickets. Nnnn NEPAL MAY DEFER 18TH SAARC SUMMIT Kathmandu, 3 Aug.: Nepal is likely to postpone the 18th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) scheduled to be held before May, 2013, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.. Nepal will convey its inability to convene the summit before September 2013 to all the member states and propose a new date during a regional meeting in New York on the October 1, an official privy to this development said. A meeting of the Saarc Council of Ministers that comprises foreign ministers of member countries is being held in New York on the sidelines of the 67th UN General Assembly. During the 17th Saarc summit in the Maldives, Nepal had unofficially proposed hosting the summit before May 2013. Officials offered several reasons for Nepal’s inability to host the summit as scheduled and cast doubts on whether it will be able to hold the meeting after September 2013. According to the officials, Maldives’ proposal to host a ministerial level meeting—mini summit—in January will delay the 2013 summit. “The mini-summit pushed the date further. Had the Maldives convened the meeting around the middle of 2012, we would have felt the urgency to host the summit before May 2013,” a foreign ministry official said. The mini-summit finalises the agendas, dates and venue for the actual summit. Another reason the officials gave was Nepal’s political situation. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha also agreed that the political standoff has seriously hit preparations for the summit. While his ministry convened only a single to discuss the summit, the Prime Minister’s Office is totally unaware of the developments. “We need at least eight Mercedes Benz luxury cars for the heads of states or government (for the summit), which we need to import from Germany. No steps have been taken to sanction money needed to purchase the cars. We further need another eight middle-level Benz cars for foreign ministers of the member states. If every thing goes alright, importing these 16 cars will take six to eight months,” officials said. Yet another reason is logistics, officials said. No serious homework has been done on where to convene the summit. While the International Convention Centre (ICC), considered a viable venue, needs repair, some officials have proposed the National Academy Hall at Kamaladai and some five star hotels. Nepal has hosted two summits earlier, one in 1987 and the other in 2002, the third and the 11th. Nnnn SIX ARRESTED FOR SUSPECTED MURDER OF BHAKTAPUR SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AND WOMAN OFFICIAL Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: Metropolitan Police Crime Division today cracked the mystery surrounding the July 30 murder of Sujan Poudel (29) and Bidhya Shakhkarmi (23) leading to the arrest six persons, The Himalayan Times reports. Poudel, principal of Kamal Binayak-based Neologian Boarding School in Bhaktapur and Shakhkarmi, an accountant there, were found found dead at Ithuli, Tathali in the district on July 30. The arrested are Sujan Saiju (18), Rukesh Kusi (20), Niran Manandhar (19), Rabin Musyakho (19), Kiran Suwal (18) and Anil Shakhkarmi (21) of Bhaktapur. Citing the preliminary investigation report, SSP Devendra Subedi informed that a seven-member gang had attempted to rob the duo, but the bid had led to their murder as they were attacked with iron rods and sharp weapons. Two other suspects are at large. SP Khatri said Poudel and Shakhkarmi were chatting on a lawn in Ithuli at around 7:30 pm when the gang knifed the duo and rained iron rods on them before fleeing the scene with a wallet and a mobile phone set belonging to the school principal. Poudel, a permanent resident of Pokhara, used to shuttle between the school and his rented room in Kaushaltar on his motorcycle every day, whereas Shakhkarmi was a local resident of Naagpokhari, Bhaktapur-5. On that day, Poudel had left the school at around 7:30 pm saying he had received a call from his family members. However, Shakhkarmi was not with him as he reportedly rode his motorcycle to his residence. SSP Subedi said the mystery as to how Poudel and Shakhkarmi happened to be together was yet to be established as both were murdered at the same time and place though they had not left the school together. Sujan was the brain behind the murders. The gang attacked the duo after their plan to rob a local brick kiln owner was aborted at the last minute. “Sundar Saiju, who is absconding, informed his younger brother Sujan that the owner of Tathali-based BM Kiln was about to return home through the Ithuli road with hefty cash in his possession and asked him to rob the entrepreneur of his belongings. Luckily, the kiln owner escaped any untoward incident as he took another road home,” SP Khatri said. Undeterred by failure to rob the kiln owner, the gang made Poudel and Shakhkarmi their soft targets. The gang members, officials informed, were drug users and were long involved in robbery to serve their addiction. During the robbery bid, Poudel had retaliated and Rukesh, one of the gang members was injured in the face. The gang had robbed Poudel of Rs 3,200 and a mobile phone set, which was sold to Anil for Rs 2,000. nnnn