JAPANESE ASSISTANCE TO CURB CHILD LABOUR Kathmandu, 1 March: The Government of Japan has agreed to provide financial assistance of around Rs. 9.63 million for prevention and reduction of child labour in small-scale hotels and restaurants in Kathmandu valley, RSS reports. The assistance was provided through Shapla Neer, an NGO of Japan. At a programme organised at the Japanese Embassy today, Shuichi Sakakibara, charge d' Affaires at the Embassy of Japan and Country Representative of Shapla Neer for Nepal, Maki Miyahara, signed the agreement. The Shapla Neer will coordinate with CWIN, an NGO, for prevention and reduction of child labour in small-scale hotels and restaurants in Kathmandu valley. The CWIN , joining hands with Shapla Neer, is going to work in this sector under the second phase programme. In the first phase, Shapla Neer, in coordination with CWIN, had supported to set up a child labour monitoring unit at municipality offices of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Kirtipur municipalities. Awareness programmes were conducted through media, posters and leaflets during the first phase. Executive coordinator of CWIN, Sumnima Tuladhar, said that a survey carried out in the last year shows that some 5,190 children were employed in strenuous work in different hotels and restaurants in the three municipalities. Miyahara expressed the belief that the assistance would help in the prevention and reduction of child labour in Kathmandu valley. Similarly, Sakakibara said that the assistance would be used for providing the basic needs of children, including health and education. Nnnn SANOTHIMI CAMPUS CLOSURE EXTENDED Kathmandu, 1 March: Tension gripped the Sanothimi Campus since this morning, leading to the Campus to be put under police protection in order to avert any further clashes among the warring students. The campus reopened today three days after the clash between various students union taking over a dispute on the martyrs sports week planned by the Free Students Union, Sano Thimi Campus. Twelve students were injured in the clash. The sports event was supposed to begin on Thursday. However, the campus administration closed the campus for two days on Wednesday and Thursday. In protest, the Nepal Students' Union and the ANNFSU proposed a joint programme of protest against Campus Chief Nar Prasad Thapa and the FSU to be held this morning, resulting a tensed environment in and around the campus premises. In response, the campus administration issued a notice of closing down the campus for five days until March 5. It has meanwhile also called the students association for talks to be held at 11:00 am today. However, the NSU and ANNFSU have declined the offer. "We will continue with our protest programmes and also not sit for talks until our demands are met", said NSU central member Bikash Thapa. Central member of ANNFSU Revolutionary Subas Dhakal said though the sports week was a continuous of the past, we have decided to sit for a talk to resolve the differences that have arisen because of the event. Nnnn AIR SERVICE AGREEMENT WITH CHINA BEING REVIEWED RSS Kathmandu, 1 March: The government is to review the Air Services Agreement with China. A recent meeting of the Council of Ministers decided to review the agreement as per the request of the government of China, RSS reports.. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Suresh Acharya, said that the Nepal-China air services agreement review talks are going to take place soon and a Chinese team is expected to arrive here for the same after some time. As per the air services agreement with China, currently 16 flights are currently operated from China. Air China is operating seven flights, the China Eastern Airlines four and the China Southern three flights a week. China has urged Nepal for a review of the existing air services agreement for operating additional flights following an increase in the number of Chinese people willing to visit Nepal. In January 2012, six thousand six hundred and thirty-one Chinese tourists came to Nepal by flight while three thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight Chinese tourists came to Nepal using Tribhuvan International Airport in January this year. Tourism entrepreneurs say that the number of Chinese tourists visiting the country has fallen due to inadequate flights. China has come up with a proposal to add at least 10 flights in a week. Due to the inadequacy of flights between Nepal and China, many Chinese tourists have to opt for lternative means of travel. Nepal's immediate northern neighbour China which is making a rapid stride in economic development has approved Nepal as the outbound destination for its citizens. It has placed Nepal as the ninth outbound tourist destination. Nepal has so far entered ito air services agreement with 36 countries. It has been signing bilateral ASAs with different countries since five decades. The Ministry stated that Australia, the U.S.A., the United Kingdom, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Russian Federation have proposed Nepal for signing bilateral ASAs. Nnnn