POLL DATE SOON SAYS REGMI Kathmandu, 18 May: Chairman of the Interim Election Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi has said that the government has been planning to hold the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) election s in a free and fair manner by ensuring participation of all political parties, RSS reports.. Regmi said that the government has planned to make an inclusive CA by conducting the election s in a fearless manner. Addressing a programme organized to handover the Pitrimukti Sadan constructed by Koteswor Mahadev Area Development and Management Society, Regmi said the government has been holding serious talks with the leaders of different political parties to give a final touch to the election s related ordinance. He also said that the government was hurried to announce the polls date after making arrangements of infrastructures needed for creating an election -friendly environment. Chairman Regmi also urged all for their constructive participation in the polls. Regmi said, "Political stability is our major necessity. Political stability is the beginning point for prosperity of Nepalis," he said. On a separate context, Regmi said social service was totally linked to humanitarian service and it should not be made an issue of profession and business. RSS nnnn MAHOTO THREATENS DEATH FAST Kathmandu, 18 May: Sadhbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato announced on Saturday that he, along with other senior party leaders, will stage a fast-unto-death from Sunday in the capital saying that the government was indifferent to their Demands, The Kathmandu Post reports from Banke.. He further accused the government of running away from its responsibility. The party has been staging fast-unto-death at 20 different districts across the country, demanding immediate declaration of the date of the Constituent Assembly (CA) election, distribution of citizenship certificates, and constitution of electoral constituency delimitation commission, among others. Leader Mahato who reached Nepalgunj today said," The government has been apathetic towards our demands. Hence, party senior leaders including me will start fast-unto-death from tomorrow." The party also held discussions with the government in Babarmahal, Kathmandu yesterday. The meeting had, however, ended inconclusively after the party rejected the government plea to withdraw agitation. nnnn CPN MAOIST CAPTURES SCHOOL Katthmandu, Cadres of Mohan Baidya -led CPN-Maoist have captured a boarding school in Khadbari, Sankhuwasabha, reports The Kathmandu Post from Sankhuwasaabha. . Issuing a press statement, the party said that they have captured Surya Boarding School along with its land and infrastructures. The party has accused the school of transferring the income from the school to USA. The statement accuses the school of charging high fees and exploiting its teachers. There are about 600 students in the school which was established 30 years ago. The school is owned by Narayan Shrestha who has been residing in USA since some years. The school provides free scholarship for about 150 students. Shrestha had made arrangements for such scholarship from USA. Sankhuwasabha Chief District Officer Bishnu Kumar Karki said that the administration have initiated to return the captured land and property. nnnn NC CHIEF SAYS REVOCATION OF BHATTARAI APPOINTMNTS A PRE-CONDITION FOR POLLS Kathmandu, 18 May: Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has charged that the UCPN-Maoist and Madhesi Forum have shown reluctance to scrap the political appointments made by the Baburam Bhattarai-led government, Rishi Baral writes in The Himalayan Times from Pokhara.. Though the parties had earlier agreed to scrap the appointments made with an intent to affect the Constituent Assembly elections, Koirala said, they are now reluctant to do so with several excuses. He was speaking at a function organised to honour journalist Gangadhar Parajuli with Late Daya Shankar Palikhe Memorial Journalism Award 2069 here in Pokhara Saturday. The NC leader maintained that his party cannot accept such appointments and is firm on their revocation, saying the appointments made rampantly by the erstwhile government, if not cancelled, would influence the polls in November. Saying the parties are mulling over the delineation of electoral constituencies, Koirala informed that his party has proposed 240 constituencies. Election is a must to strengthen the democracy and the purported polls will happen within the slated time, Koirala said, urging all to prepare an environment for the polls. On a different note, Koirala dubbed Lokman Singh Karki's appointment in the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority as a part of "political grand design" without elaborating what that means and who are behind it. He, however, aknowledged that as his party Nepali Congress is also in the High Level Political Committee, which recommended Karki's name as the chief of anti-graft body, there was no meaning to speak against the appointment. Nnnn SMALL PARTIES DEMAND REVISION OF ELECTION LAWS Kathmandu, 18 May: Fringe political parties today suggested chairman of the interim election government, Khil Raj Regmi, to retain the provision of the 601-member Constituent Assembly, remove the one-per cent PR threshold, and bar those convicted in criminal cases from contesting the CA polls, The Himalayan Times writes.. The 12 fringe parties today visited Chairman Regmi’s office to put forward their demands, said Rastriya Janamorcha Chairman Chitra Bahadur KC. “We also demanded that distribution of citizenship certificates to foreigners be stopped and citizenship certificates issued to foreigners be nullified,” KC said. The fringe parties also demanded removal of the provision, which has it that a party wanting to register with the Election Commission should show it has 10,000 voters. They also demanded arrangements to enable Nepali citizens living abroad to vote. KC said today’s talks mostly focused on encouraging all backward communities and groups to take part in the polls. CPN (United), CPN (Marxist-Leninist), Nepal Republic Party, Janata Dal United, Nepal Loktantrik Dal, Nawa Nepal Party, Rastriya Sadbhavana Party and Sanghiya Sadbhavana Party, and government talks team members were present at the meeting, according to PM’s press adviser Bimal Gautam, Nnnn FIRING AT CNNES FILM FESTVAL Kathmandu, 18 May:: A man was arrested at the Cannes film festival on Friday after firing a starting pistol during a live TV broadcast on the palm-lined waterfront, sending actors Christoph Waltz and Daniel Auteuil running for cover, Reuters reports from Cannes. . French TV station Canal+ was interviewing Austria's Oscar-winning Waltz and French actor Auteuil live on its nightly news show from a beach-front set before a crowd of spectators when a man fired two shots into the air. "The bodyguards jumped over the barriers into the crowd and pulled him to the ground. The police arrived and told everyone to run because there was a grenade in his hand," witness Arthur Laiguesse told Reuters. Police arrested the man at the scene and found he was carrying a dummy grenade and a knife, authorities said. "It really appears to be a crazy guy," said a police source. After the man was taken away, the show's producers told the crowd the program would continue: "The show must go on." Waltz, who has won two best supporting actor Oscars for "Django Unchained" and "Inglourious Basterds", and Auteuil, both of whom are serving on the Cannes jury, returned to the set. The shooting was the second security incident on day three of the 12-day festival, the world's largest cinema showcase that attracts thousands of actors, directors, film executives, journalists and fans. A police source said $1.4 million worth of Chopard jewellery intended to adorn movie stars had been stolen from a room at the Suite Novotel hotel overnight on Thursday. But Chopard said the value had been exaggerated and the items were not for actresses to use, declining to give further details. nnnn