NEWS ANNOUNCER TARA REGMI OF NEWS24 DIES OF HEART ATTACK Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: Journalist Tara Regmi passed away due to heart attack today. He was 27. His sister and neighbors rushed him to Tribhuvan University (TU) Teaching Hospital after he suffered cardiac arrest at his residence in Lainchaur at 4 am, but the hospital pronounced him dead right after he was taken to the hospital. Regmi was born to Sebakram Regmi and Tika Regmi in 2043 BS in Tulsipur Municipality of Dang district. He was a single son of the Regmi couple among four children. He had been working at News 24 Television since its establishment. According to his family source, late Regmi's father Sebakram, who is a teacher by profession in Salyan district is arriving Kathmandu to receive the body of his son. The body of journalist Regmi has been kept at TUTH for postmortem and it will be taken to his home town for the final rites. His eldest sister Rekha Kusum Regmi is Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) correspondent in USA. RSS nnnn VULTURE CONSERVATION PROGRAMME IN FAR-WEST Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: A vulture conservation programme has been implemented in the Far-west Development Region, RSS reports. This programme is undertaken by an organization called Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN). It will be implemented in 23 districts of the region. BCN started the vulture conservation project since 2002. The programme was launched in the far-west region since 2009 in coordination with the District Livestock Service Office in different districts. According to Dr Sagar Poudel, an expert on vulture conservation who is associated with BCN, various programmes as school education, awareness raising, signature collection, publicity, nest monitoring, awareness through radio programmes, informative workshop and monitoring by agro-vet have been planned under this project. He said BCN is already monitoring 500 vulture nests and 1,000 vultures in far-west region as part of its regular study on the situation of vultures. Experts say that four out of the nine species of vultures found in the country are in survival crisis. nnnn NATO READY TO DEFEND TURKEY Kathmandu, 9 Oct.:: NATO is ready to defend alliance member Turkey amid artillery exchanges along its tense southeastern border with Syria, its top official said Tuesday, AP reports from Brussels.. Turkey and Syria have exchanged mortar and cannon fire across their common border since errant Syrian shells killed five Turkish civilians last week, sparking fears of a wider regional crisis. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen backed Turkey's right to defend itself. "I would add to that that obviously Turkey can rely on NATO solidarity, we have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary," he said ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. NATO nations expressed solidarity with Turkey after errant Syrian shells killed five Turkish civilians last week. But analysts say the alliance is reluctant to involve itself militarily in another conflict at a time when its main priority is the war in Afghanistan and the handover of responsibility for security to Afghan government forces. "We hope that all parties involved (in the Syrian crisis) will show restrain, and avoid an escalation of the crisis," Fogh Rasmussen said. "I do believe that the right way forward in Syria is political solution." Fogh Rasmussen's comments came as the Dogan agency quoted unidentified military sources as saying that at least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets were deployed at Turkey's Diyarbakir air base in the southeast late Monday. The Turkish military's chief of staff inspected troops along the border with Syria on Tuesday. The move is also seen as bolstering Turkish forces along the Iraqi border. Nnnn