accident

COMMISSION TO DETERMINE  ELECTORAL CONSTITUENCIES LIKELY TO GET TENURE EXTENSION

Kathmandu, 25 July: A regular meeting of the cabinet Thursday is likely

to extend the one month tenure of a five-member commission to

delineate 240 electoral constituencies for the 19 November assembly elections.

The commission couldn’t  met the deadline that ended Thursday to

complete its recommendations for government with conflicting demands

of parties especially following the latest census report that showed

population increased in the south bordering India.

Terai parties are demanding more seats in the assembly.

Commission Chief retired supreme court justice Tariq Ali Ansari has

sought an extension to complete its suggestions.

The commission has sought a 15-day extension n of its tenure.

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INDIA PLAYS BANGLADESH IN SECOND SAFF U-16 CHAMPIONSHIP

Kathmandu, 25 July: India plays Bangladesh in the Second SAFF U-16

Championship to determine the winner of Group B in the seven-nation South Asian football ournament being hosted by Nepal.

Nepal emerged on top of Group A followed by Afghanistan which was runner-up.

Nepal will play the losing side in Thursday’s  last Group B match.

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MMC VICTORIOUS IN BHUTAN FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

Kathmandu, 25 July: MMC Wednesday beat home team Yeedzin FC 3-1

in the King’s Cup in Bhimpu, Bhutan,

Three Nepali clubs are participating in the tournament in the

neighbouring state.

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THURSDAY MORNING TEMPERATURE IN CAPITAL

20 DEGREES CELSIUS

 Kathmandu, 25 July: Capital’s Thursday morning temperature at seven was 20 degrees Celsius.

Temperature is likely to rise to 27 degrees Celsius in the afternoon.

Altogether 26mm rainfall wa recorded Wednesday.

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EC ATTEMPTS TO DIRECT RELIEF WORK OF HIMANI TRUST THROUGH GOVT, BODIES; ISSUE TOUCHY

 

Kathmandu 25 July: The Election Commission today [Wednesdau] wrote to the government informing that ‘any individual or non-government organisation is free to distribute humanitarian assistance but that should be done through local government mechanisms’.

Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav said that the EC wrote letters to the government and the Social Welfare Council to that effect today. Yadav said that the chief district officers of western hill districts had also been notified of the EC’s letters and its decision.

The EC letters follow media reports that Himani Trust, an organisation chaired by former princess Himani Shah, and former king Gyanendra Shah were distributing relief materials to the flood-affected people in the western hill districts ‘flouting the EC’s Code of Conduct’. The EC CoC, which came into force on Monday, forbids ‘activities that could affect/impact the upcoming Constituent Assembly election’ scheduled for November 19.

Questions were being raised whether distribution of humanitarian aid was against the CoC, as a result of which the EC had to write to the government and SWC clarifying that individuals or non-governmental organisations should follow a proper channel — government mechanisms like district administration offices — if they want to assist those affected by natural disasters.

“As far as Himani Trust is concerned, we have already told the public what we had to. We do not want to discourage anybody from distributing humanitarian assistance, but that must be done through the local government mechanism,” Yadav said. “If the NGOs are allowed to distribute humanitarian assistance by themselves, tomorrow other organisations, and even political parties, might follow suit which could adversely affect EC’s efforts to hold CA election in a free and fair manner.”

Asked if Himani Trust would now be barred from distributing humanitarian assistance, Yadav urged all not to misinterpret the EC’s concerns. “Our concerns should not be misconstrued. We have conveyed our concerns to the concerned agencies, it is now up to them to enforce compliance with the rules that have been laid down,” Yadav added, implying that the EC’s major issue is conducting the CA election on the stipulated date in a free and fair manner and that its efforts to that effect should not go in vain.

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MORE THAN 600,000 LEAVE FOR FOREIGN JOBS

Kathmandu, 25 July:: Over 1,600 Nepalis left the country every day for foreign jobs last year, The Himalayan Times reports..

The Department of Foreign Employment record shows that 616,497 Nepali got foreign jobs permit and about 1,689 Nepalis got foreign job approval every day last fiscal year from the department. The outflow was just 384,665 a year back.

The sudden jump of 37.60 per cent noticed in fiscal year 2012-13 was due to reentrants. The department started counting migrant workers reentering in the foreign job markets since September 2011. About 162,954 Nepalis reentered the foreign job markets last year.

About 453,543 Nepalis joined foreign jobs for the first time in the fiscal year 2012-13. In new hiring, Malaysia topped the foreign employment ladder hiring about 156,770 followed by Qatar (90,935), Saudi Arabia (86,276), United Arab Emirates (52,295) and Kuwait (14,401).

Major jobs markets — United Arab Emirates and Malaysia — emerged as the top hiring

countries for women migrant workers pulling Kuwait in third position.

The United Arab Emirates and Malaysia hired 7,687 and 7,165 Nepali women respectively. Kuwait hired 5,982 Nepalis between July 16, 2012 and July 15, 2013. Oman hired 647 Nepalis during the same period.

Israel — the most lucrative job market for Nepali women — hired just two Nepali women last fiscal year.

Similarly, Lebanon hired about 160 Nepali women. Nepal had closed the door for Lebanon following suicide of 16 housemaids in 2009 and Israel had banned Nepali women into the country on April 24, 2010.

Migration through outsourcing agencies dominated the workers migration process during the fiscal year 2012-13 due to the enforcement of 30-point reform programme introduced by the government.

Outsourcers sent 398,924 Nepali workers while 54.619 Nepalis joined the job markets through individual contracts.

SOS Manpower agency became the top hiring agency of the country in the fiscal year 2012-13 sending 7,536 Nepalis for foreign jobs followed by River Overseas (6,409), Lucky HR (4,327), Dhanush International (4,078) and Koshi (4,072).

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AT LEAST 56 KILLED IN SPANISH TRAIN ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 25 July: At least 56 people were killed and 70 injured when a train derailed on the outskirts of the northern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday in one of Europe's worst

Rail, Reuters reports from Santiago De

Composeta disasters.

Bodies covered in blankets lay next to the overturned carriages as smoke billowed from the wreckage. Firefighters clambered over the twisted metal trying to get survivors out of the windows, while ambulances and fire engines surrounded the scene.

The government said it was working on the hypothesis the derailment was an accident - although the scene will stir memories of 2004's Madrid train bombing, carried out by Islamist extremists, that killed 191 people. Sabotage or attack was unlikely to be involved, an official source said.

The train operated by state rail company Renfe with 247 people on board derailed on the eve of the ancient city's main festival in honour of Saint James when thousands of Christian pilgrims from all over the world pack the streets.

"It was going so quickly. ... It seems that on a curve the train started to twist, and the wagons piled up one on top of the other," passenger Ricardo Montesco told Cadena Ser radio station.

"A lot of people were squashed on the bottom. We tried to squeeze out of the bottom of the wagons to get out and we realised the train was burning. ... I was in the second wagon and there was fire. ... I saw corpses," he added.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, will visit the site on Thursday morning, his spokeswoman said.

"In the face of a tragedy such as just happened in Santiago de Compostela on the eve of its big day, I can only express my deepest sympathy as a Spaniard and a Galician," Rajoy said in a statement.

Santiago de Compostela's tourism board said all the festivities, including Wednesday's traditional High Mass at the centuries-old cathedral, were cancelled as the city went into mourning.

'DANTE-ESQUE'

Clinics in the city were overwhelmed with people flocking to give blood, while hotels organised free rooms for relatives. Madrid sent forensic scientists and hospital staff to the region on special flights.

The head of the surrounding Galicia region, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, said at least 56 people were killed and about 70 injured, more than 20 of them seriously.

"The scene is shocking, it's Dante-esque," he said in a radio interview.

The train was travelling from Madrid to Ferrol on the Galician coast when it derailed, Renfe said in a statement.

The disaster happened when Spain is struggling to emerge from a long-running recession marked by government-driven austerity to bring its finances into order. Firefighters called off a strike to help with the disaster, while hospital staff, many operating on reduced salaries because of spending cuts, worked overtime to tend the injured.

The city's main festival focuses on St James, one of Jesus' 12 disciples whose remains are said to rest in the city and who is patron saint of Galicia.

The apostle's shrine there is the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, followed by Christians since the Middle Ages.

The derailment happened less than two weeks after six people died when a train came off the tracks and hit the platform at a station in central France.

That accident may have been caused by a loose steel plate at a junction, French train operator SNCF said.

An official source said no statement would be made regarding the cause of the Spanish derailment until the black boxes of the train were examined, but said it was most likely an accident.

"We are moving away from the hypothesis of sabotage or attack," he said.

It was one of the worst rail accidents in Europe over the past 25 years.

In November 2000, 155 people were killed when a fire in a tunnel engulfed a funicular train packed with skiers in Austria.

In Montenegro, up to 46 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in 2006 when a packed train derailed and plunged into a ravine outside the capital, Podgorica.

In Spain itself, 41 people were killed the same year when an underground train derailed and overturned in a tunnel just before entering the Jesus metro station in Valencia.

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Rescue workers pull victims from a train crash near Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, July 24, 2013.

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