ONE KILLEDM THREE INJUREDIN MUD COLLAPSE Kathmandu, 31 May:: One person died and three others were injured in a mud mount collapse at Maharajgunj north of the capital. The collapse at a squatter settlement was triggered by continuous rain. nnnn NEPALI RUPEE DEPRECIATES AGAINST US DOLLAR Kathmandu, 31 May: The Nepali rupee hit a 11-month low against the US dollar Friday. Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) fixed Friday’s buying rate at Rs. 90.06 to one US dollar—a 11-month low. The central bank sets daily conversion rate of the Nepali legal tender against liosted convertible currencies while the exchange rate against the Indian rupee is fixed at Rs. 1.60 per one Indian rupee. The devaluation of the Nepal rupee coincides with the appreciation of the value of the greenback against the Indian rupee. nnnn POLICE CHARGED FOR FRAMING UP CRARGES AGAINST TERAI GROUP Kathmandu, 31 MayL The Janatantrik Tarai Madhes Mukti Tigers has accused Parsa police of misusing SIM cards confiscated from its members to frame the outfit leaders and activists on extortion charges, Shankar Acharya writes in The Kathmandu Post from Parsa.. The underground group organised a press conference in Birgunj on Thursday and claimed that police were using SIM cards recovered from its cadres to extort civilians. Kapil Dev Tiwari, the group’s vice-chairman, said the Narayani Zonal Police Office had made several bids in the past to apprehend the party’s leaders and activists on false criminal accusations. One year ago, police had arrested three activists of the outfit from Ghantaghar of Birgunj. They were released later but police had allegedly seized the SIM cards from their mobile phones. According to Tiwari, Superintendent of Police Pitambar Adhikari at the District Police Office (DPO) dismissed the claim and sent him away when he tried to report the case. Deputy Superintednent of Police Basudev Khatiwada, who is also the DPO Spokesperson, said he did not know anything about the claim made by Tiwari and his party. Nnnn TOBACCO WARNINGS IGNORED Kathmandu, 31 May: As the country celebrates World No Tobacco Day on Friday, the government's plan to implement the anti-tobacco directive that requires tobacco-producing firms to print pictorial warnings about the hazards of tobacco consumption on 75 percent area of the packet cover is yet to be implemented, thanks to an interim order issued by the Supreme Court, Manish Gautam writes in The Kathmandu Post. . The apex court on November 17, 2011 issued a stay order responding to a petition filed by Surya Nepal, saying that the Tobacco Product Control and Regulatory Act (2010) cannot be implemented immediately as it would cause a heavy loss on its already produced items and that pictorial warnings about tobacco hazards making up 75 percent of wrappers are not consumer friendly. According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), a total of 13 writs have been filed at the SC against the Act so far. MoHP Legal Officer Komal Acharya said all the complaints are of similar nature and that the SC plans to hear them together. The Tobacco Product Control and Regulatory Act requires all the tobacco products to have pictorial warnings of the hazards of their consumption on their covers. According to the order, cigarette packets need to have pictorial warnings of lungs affected by cancer while bidi (a small hand-rolled cigarette) packets should carry a picture of a child suffering from cancer on their wrappers. The directives also require other tobacco products gutkha (a sweetened mixture of chewing tobacco, betel nut, and palm nut), khaini (chewing tobacco) and surti (tobacco leaves) to have warnings printed on their wrappers. These tobacco products should bear a picture of a man suffering from mouth and throat cancer on the top of the front and back covers. The messages need to be printed in white against a red background. MoHP Secretary Dr Praveen Mishra said the implementation of the directive would help people curb the use of the tobacco that would in return save hundreds of lives every year. In Nepal, researches have shown that two people die every hour due to ailments related to tobacco consumption. According to the MoHP, around 23 percent of the deaths in the country occur due to tobacco consumption. This makes 15,000 deaths annually, 20 percent of the victims below 25 years of age. According to the WHO, tobacco use kills nearly 6 million people worldwide every year. The WHO on Wednesday asked governments worldwide to ban all forms of tobacco marketing--not just billboards and TV ads--as companies find new ways of reaching out to consumers. nnnn