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VOL. 28, NO. 06, Sept 26 , 2008 (Ashwin 10 2065 B.S.)
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Army chief Rookmangud Katawal at the passing out parade in kharipati |
PRIME MINISTER, PUSHPA KAMAL DAHAL ‘PRACHANDA’ left for the United States on Saturday (Sep 20) to attend the general assembly of the United Nations in New York. “I am leaving for the US visit where I will address the general assembly. I have also just received an invitation to attend a reception to be hosted there by the US president George Bush,” PM Dahal said while addressing the Constituent Assembly on Friday night. This will be a landmark visit for the prime minister who is the chairman of the CPN-Maoists that is labeled as a terrorist organization by the American government. It was only after his party won largest number of seats in the Constituent Assembly elections in April that the American officials finally started meeting with him. In New York, PM Dahal will also attend programs organized by The Asia Society and India China Institute, according to reports.
CLEARING THE CONFUSION surrounding the entry of Indian army personnel for the inspection of the damaged Kosi embankments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that they came with the government’s permission. The Ministry has said that the Indian army personnel came for repairs of the embankments in coordination with the government of Nepal. The Ministry’s clarifications came after some political parties had protested the arrival of Indian army. Meanwhile, the Indian army personnel have returned after completing their initial survey of the damaged structure and concluded that the Kosi current can be reverted once the water level subsides.
AT LEAST 14 PEOPLE HAVE DIED in a passenger bus accident in Bhumesthan, Dhading district Friday (Sep 19) morning leaving three dozen more injured. The passenger bus with number place Na 1 Kh 3554, heading towards Kathmandu from Birgunj, met with the accident at around 5 o'clock in the morning. The bus skidded of the road and plunged 200 m down into a rivulet. Most of the injured have been brought to Bir Hospital in Kathmandu for treatment. The cause of the accident has not yet been ascertained.
THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL has announced the appointment of Karin Landgren of Sweden as his Deputy Special Representative for Nepal on Wednesday. Landgren has years of political, managerial and international law experience with the United Nations system in a number of duty stations, a statement by UN spokesperson said. She worked with UNHCR in India and the Philippines, and an emergency mission in the Great Lakes region of Africa. She was UNHCR's country representative to Eritrea, Singapore and Bosnia-Herzegovina and as UNHCR's chief of standards and legal advice and she has published and lectured widely on humanitarian, refugee and child protection issues. Before being appointed to this position, Landgren was UNICEF's head of child protection overseeing a burgeoning field of knowledge and strategy for the protection of children from violence and exploitation. She has replaced Tamrat Samuel as the deputy to Ian Martin at United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).
A HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHDOG HAS asked Nepal to protect the rights of Tibetan refugees. The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) urged Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' who is visiting New Delhi to respect the rights of the Tibetans in Nepal. It asked PM Dahal to refrain from refoulement of any Tibetan refugee to China. A statement by the rights body charged, " Nepal has turned into a poodle of China." It was referring to recent decision of Nepal government to tighten security and add restrictions to prevent the public demonstrations by Tibetan refugees in front of Chinese embassy in Kathmandu. ACHR also urged the Nepalese PM to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms including the right to peaceful freedom of association and assembly of all refugees in Nepal.
THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN HAS announced a grant assistance of nearly 603 million rupees (USD 8,230,000) to Nepal for construction of primary schools as part of the second phase of 'Education for All' project. Japanese ambassador to Nepal, Tatsuo Mizuno, and secretary of the Finance Ministry, Rameshore Prasad Khanal, signed the aid agreement on behalf of their respective governments in Kathmadu on Tuesday (Sep 16). Under the aid agreement, 370 classroom buildings, 362 toilets, 90 water supply facilities, and 11,420 sets of classroom furniture in eight districts - Baglung, Dhading, Gulmi, Kaski, Lalitpur, Palpa, Rupandehi and Surkhet - would be built, according to the Japanese embassy. "The major objective of the project is to help enhance access to primary education and improve the quality of education through the provision of education infrastructures in line with the Nepalese National Plan of Actions for achieving universal primary education by 2015," the embassy release said.
