NEPAL ARMY SADDENED OVER ARREST OF ITS COLONEL Kathmandu, 7 Jan.: Nepal Army (NA) said in a statement it is shocked with the arrest in United Kingdom of Col. Kumar Lama for rights abuse during the 10-year Maoist insurgency. "Nepal Army has expressed sadness over the arrest of Lama who reached the UK along with official documents to meet his family members after endorsing a leave for 21 days from December 17, 2012 to January 6, 2013 from both the mission and NA headquarters," the NA said in a statement. The statement and the arrest coincide with confession by Maoists Sunday in Dailekh they abducted and buried alive a journalist in Dailelj during the insurgency. The British government supported the insurgency toppling the monarchy in its later phase. Nepal and Nepalis are still suffering consequences of the revolt as foreigners gain influence in strategic Nepal. Britain attempted and abandoned plans to arrest and prosecute an Israeli prime minister for alleged right abuse but gave up saying Israel was a friend. But London has acted selectively against Chile and Nepal in an effort to demonstrate it has international clout. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “Koirala was not interested to become prime minister but the party decided to file his candidacy for the same after CPN-UML mounted pressure on the Nepali Congress. “If the country can benefit by joining the incumbent government, we must sacrifice out stand.” (Sujata Koirala, The Himalayan Times, 7 Jan.) SUSPECTS IN NEW DELHI RAPE CASE APPEAR IN COURT TO HEAR CHARGES Kathmandu, 7 Jan.:: Five men accused of the gang rape and murder of an Indian student appeared in court on Monday to hear charges against them, after two of them offered evidence possibly in return for a lighter sentence in the case that has led to a global outcry, Reuters reports from New Delhi.. The five men, along with a teenager, are accused of raping the 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus in New Delhi. She died two weeks later on December 28 in a Singapore hospital. Television images showed the blue police van believed to be transporting the suspects from Tihar jail as it arrived at the court gate prior to the hearing. Two of the accused, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta, moved an application on Saturday requesting they be made "approvers", or informers against the other accused, a public prosecutor in the case, Rajiv Mohan, told Reuters. nnnn