FIVE KILLED, 25 INJURED IN DARAHULA BUS ACCIDENT Kathmandu, 23 May: Five passengers were killed and 25 others were injured in a bus accident at Darchula Thursday morning, first reports said. The bus Was traveling to the far-West hill district from Bhimdutta municipality in Kanchanpur. MORE MALAYSIAN AIRLINES TO INCREASE FLIGHTS BETWEEN KATHMANDU, KUALA LUMPUR Kathmandu, 23 May: Malaysia Airlines will start daily flights between Kathmandu and Kuala Lumpur from 1 June. The Malaysian state airline was flying five flights a week between the Nepali and Malaysian capitals. nnnn TEACHERS SIT FOR EXAMS FOR PERMANENT SEATS Kathmandu, 23 May: The long-awaited Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) examinations for selection of permanent school teachers will begin tomorrow after a gap of 17 years. The exam will be held for three days, The Himalayan Times reports.. TSC said it has completed preparations for the nationwide exams with 480,758 examinees applying for 13,059 vacant positions at different levels. “A total of 61,620 applicants have applied for 2,286 positions at the secondary level, 168,184 for 2,793 positions at the lower secondary level and 250,954 applicants for 7,980 positions at the primary level,” TSC said. Uday Raj Soti, TSC chief, today said the commission has already sent question papers, answer sheets, funds, human resources and directives required for the exams. He said, “We have made necessary preparations, and asked Chief District Officers and chiefs of District Examination Coordination Committees to make sure the exams pass off peacefully.” “Teachers’ unions aligned with various political parties had requested us to allow them to enter the exam halls for monitoring, but we turned down their request as their entry in the halls can cause disturbances,” he added. The exams for secondary, lower secondary and primary level teachers will be held on May 23, 24 and 25, respectively from 2 pm to 5 pm. TSC has allocated 1,847 exam centres for 480,758 applicants. Kathmandu district has the highest number of exam centres with 82 centres for 27,679 examinees and Manang has the lowest number of exam centres with only three for 329 examinees. Altogether 1,847 exam superintendents, 3,694 assistant superintendents, 24,038 invigilators, 7,388 assistants and 19,470 security personnel will be deployed during the examinations. TSC is mobilising section officers of the government, officers working in corporations and non-gazetted first-class officers as superintendents, assistant superintendents and invigilators. It has also adopted double coding system to minimise errors during the marking of answer sheets. Soti said examinees or exam officials found violating exam rules will face prompt action. He said the results will be published by mid-November this year. Nnnn SC STAYS PUBLICATION OF ‘LIBELOUS’ MATERIAL Kathmandu, 23 May: The Supreme Court today [Wednesday] issued an interim order barring publication of news that may infringe on someone’s personal dignity or may mean character assassination of an individual, The Himalayan Times reports.. The apex court issued the interim order in response to a writ petition jointly lodged by advocate Shreekrishna Bhattarai and journalists Roshan Puri and Govinda Devkota. They had moved the apex court stating that a published material in Samhita, a publication of the Press Council, infringed on the dignity of the two journalists. A report published in Samhita had alleged that the two scribes, who claim to be independent mediapersons, ‘have direct involvement in certain political party’. “This interim order has been issued directing not to publish such materials, which may infringe on anyone’s dignity, or may mean character assassination of an individual,” the apex court order states. A single bench of Justice Gyanendra Bahadur Karki issued the order in the name of Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Press Council. The material was originally printed in Astitwo, a weekly vernacular published from Birgunj, and the report had alleged that many journalists were involved with political parties. The reporters in question had then approached the Press Council, the media regulating body in the country, seeking action against the weekly. The petitioners said instead of punishing Astitwo weekly, Press Council lifted the material and published in its own publication Samhita (Vol XVI and XVII), which, the petitioners added damaged the journalists’ character. Stating that Press Council not only failed to monitor the media, which is its job, but also got involved in defamatory activities, the petitioners had sought court intervention and compensation for the damage caused to their dignity by the publication of such report(s). nnnn