UPDATE NEPAL LOSES TO BANGLADESH Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: Nepal loses to Bangladesh by nine wickets un Women’s ACC Twenty20 Asia Cup in China FrIday. Bangladesh scored the required 96 runs in 10.3 overs. Nepal lost to sSri Lanka Thursday and will lay its third and last match Monday against China. MORE MEDIA GOOGLE ‘A favourable climate would be created for the president to take steps once the agitation reaches its zenith. But it will be difficult to take steps anytime soon.We won’t let government to bring out the budget. The coming days will be not be that easy for the government." (UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, The Kathmandi Post, 26 Oct.) nnnn CHINESE LEADER BO EXPELLED FROM PARLIAMENT Kathmandu. 26 Oct.: China's largely rubber stamp parliament has expelled disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, paving the way for formal criminal charges to be laid against him, Reuters reports from Beijing.. The expulsion removes Bo's immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament. Xinhua said the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, "announced the termination of Bo Xilai's post" as the deputy to the parliament. The announcement comes a fortnight before the Communist Party holds a key congress, which opens on November 8, that will unveil the country's new central leadership. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, and his former police chief, Wang Lijun, have both been jailed over the scandal, which stems from the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood while Bo was Communist Party chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing. The government last month accused Bo of corruption and of bending the law to hush up the murder. Before Bo is charged and tried, investigators must first complete an inquiry and indict him, but China's prosecutors and courts come under party control and are unlikely to challenge the accusations. A lawyer for Bo, who has been employed by the family to represent him, said on Thursday he was unable to say whether the government would allow him to represent Bo when the case comes to trial. "It's theatre," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, who spoke before Bo's expulsion was announced. "The judiciary grinds into action only when the outcome has been determined. There is no indication we will see a genuine trial because Bo knows too much." Bo, 63, was widely seen as pursuing a powerful spot in the new leadership before his career unraveled after Wang fled to a U.S. consulate for more than 24 hours in February and alleged that Bo's wife had poisoned Heywood. Timeline: Bo Xilai scandal • 6 Feb: Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun flees to the US consulate in Chengdu • 15 Mar: Bo Xilai is removed from his post in Chongqing • 20 Mar: Rumours suggest Mr Bo could be linked to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood • 10 April: Mr Bo is suspended from party posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, is investigated over Mr Heywood's death • 26 July: Gu Kailai and Bo family employee Zhang Xiaojun are charged with killing Mr Heywood • 9 Aug: Gu one-day trial for murder held • 20 Aug: Gu given suspended death sentence • 5 Sep: Wang charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking • 24 Sep: Wang sentenced to 15 years in jail • 28 Sep: Bo expelled from party to "face justice" • 26 Oct: Bo expelled from parliament Nnnn 56 DEAD IN MYANMAR ETHNIC VIOLENCE Kathmandi, 26 Oct.: At least 56 people were killed and nearly 2,000 homes destroyed in the latest outbreak of ethnic violence in western Myanmar , a government official said Thursday, AP reports from Myanmar.. The 25 men and 31 women were reported dead in four Rakhine state townships in violence between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities that re-erupted Sunday, local government spokesman Win Myaing said. He said some 1,900 homes had been burned down in fresh conflict, while 60 men and four women were injured. It was unclear how many of the victims were Rohingya people and how many were Rakhine. In June, ethnic violence in the state left at least 90 people dead and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. Tens of thousands of people remain in refugee camps. The United States called for Myanmar authorities to take immediate action to halt the violence. The United Nations appealed for calm. An Associated Press photographer who traveled to Kyauktaw, one of the affected townships 45 kilometers (75 miles) north of the Rakhine capital of Sittwe, said he saw 11 wounded people brought by ambulance to the local 25-bed hospital, most with gunshot wounds. One was declared dead after arrival. All the victims being treated were Rakhine, but that could reflect an inability or unwillingness of Rohingya victims to be treated there. A male volunteer at the hospital, Min Oo, said by telephone that five bodies, including one of a woman, had also been brought there. He said the injured persons were brought by boat from Kyauktaw town 16 kilometers (10 miles) away, and taken from the jetty by the ambulances. An account by a Rakhine villager in the area suggested great confusion and tension. The villager said that when groups of Rakhine and the Rohingya had a confrontation, government soldiers shot into a crowd of Rakhine, even though, according to his claim, it had been dispersing. The villager would not give his name for fear of violent reprisals. There have been concerns in the past that soldiers were failing to protect the Rohingya community, but the Rakhine villager's account hints that the military may have been defending the Rohingya in this case. Curfews have been in place in some areas since June, and been extended to others due to the recent violence. Tensions still simmer in part because the government has failed to find any long-term solution to the crisis other than segregating the two communities in some areas. The United Nations called for calm Thursday in response to the new violence. "The U.N. is gravely concerned about reports of a resurgence of inter-communal conflict in several areas in Rakhine State — which has resulted in deaths and has forced thousands of people, including women and children, to flee their homes," U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar Ashok Nigam said in a statement. Nigam said the United Nations was appealing for "immediate and unconditional access to all communities in accordance with humanitarian principles." The statement said large numbers of people fleeing the new violence were headed for already overcrowded refugee camps currently housing about 75,000 people previously made homeless. "Short term humanitarian support and action towards long term solutions are urgently required to address the root causes of the conflict," said the statement. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was deeply concerned about the reports of increasing ethnic and sectarian violence in Rakhine state and urged restraint. The unrest broke out days after the U.S. held what it described as an encouraging human rights dialogue with Myanmar — the latest sign of diplomatic re-engagement with the former pariah state, which has also seen the easing of sanctions to reward it for democratic reforms. The unrest is some of the worst reported in the region since June, after clashes were set off by the alleged rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men in late May. The crisis in Myanmar 's west goes back decades and is rooted in a dispute over where the region's Muslim inhabitants are from. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are widely denigrated as foreigners — intruders who came from neighboring Bangladesh to steal scarce land. The U.N. estimates their number at 800,000. But the government does not count them as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups, and so — like neighboring Bangladesh — denies them citizenship. Human rights groups say racism also plays a role: Many Rohingya, who speak a distinct Bengali dialect and resemble Muslim Bangladeshis, have darker skin and are heavily discriminated against. The conflict has proven to be a major challenge for the government of President Thein Sein, which has embarked on democratic reforms since a half century of military rule ended in 2011. It also poses a dilemma for the opposition New Light of Myanmar party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which has been reluctant to go against the tide of popular anti-Rohingya sentiment. Suu Kyi has been criticized by some Western human rights advocates for failing to speak out strongly against what they see as repression of the Rohingya. Buddhist monks have been spearheading anti-Rohingya protests, and on Thursday staged their latest one in Yangon, the country's biggest and most important city. More than 100 staged a peaceful protest at the historic Sule Pagoda. nnnn