News from Nepal

Birgunj .Nepal is likely to get polio free tag. Among the South Asian countries, Nepal is close to getting the 'polio free' tag. At a news conference organised by the District Public Health Office, Parsa, today, on the eve of the 15th National Polio Immunization Day-2070, it was informed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) awards the 'polio free' tag to countries when no symptoms of polio is seen anywhere in that country for three years continuously.

NEW DELHI: As many as 250 former militants from Jammu & Kashmir, who are holed up in Pakistan, are still waiting to return to India. Most of these are expected to return via Nepal, a route not authorized in the Jammu & Kashmir government's 2010 rehabilitation policy for former militants. The government has, however, prepared a list of such militants and their return is being facilitated through the India-Nepal border with help from Jammu & Kashmir police and Sashastra Seema Bal, the paramilitary force that guards India-Nepal border. To ensure that the embarrassing incident of Delhi Police Special Cell wrongly arresting former militant Liyaqat Shah is not repeated, the force has deputed its men from Jammu and Kashmir at border outposts to ensure identification of such militants and their smooth handover to Jammu & Kashmir police. Ever since the policy came into force, 241 former militants who had crossed over to PoK in the 1990s have returned and no...

Patna: The Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has ordered action against two state police officials for the detention and subsequent death of a Nepali politician in a shootout, an official said on Wednesday. The BHRC has also directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs.1 lakh to the family of the slain national president of the Madhesh Rashtra Jantantrik Party of Nepal, Ram Narayan Mahto, popularly known as Manager Mahto. Acting chairman of the BHRC Neelmani said the compensation amount will have to be paid in three months' time. Mahto was detained by the Jainagar police in Madhubani district in 2009 and illegally handed over to Nepal police, which killed him in what is alleged to be a staged shootout, in blatant violation of human rights. "It was a high-profile case for the BHRC as it involved a foreign national who was also a political leader. The accused tried their best to suppress and manipulate evidence, chal...

NEW DELHI — Nepal’s dominant Communist party was routed, the country’s politics swung sharply to the right and India’s influence in Nepal is likely to soar after the first set of results from last week’s election was finalized on Monday. The Nepali Congress, the country’s oldest political party and one that favors close ties with India, won 105 of the 240 directly elected seats. The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) came in second with 91 seats. Despite their party’s name, the Marxist-Leninists are considered centrists in Nepal. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the dominant Communist party, secured only 26 seats in the direct election, a small fraction of the total it earned in the 2008 elections. The majority of seats in the Constituent Assembly will be determined by proportional votes, and in those preliminary returns the Nepali Congress is again first, followed by the Marxist-Leninists, according to the Election Com...

Archaeologists in Nepal say they have discovered traces of a wooden structure dating from the sixth century BC which they believe is the world's oldest Buddhist shrine. Kosh Prasad Acharya, who worked with archaeologists from Durham University, said on Tuesday that the structure had been unearthed inside the sacred Mayadevi temple in Lumbini. The Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, is generally thought to have been born in about the sixth century BC at the temple site. The findings were published in the December issue of the journal Antiquity. Acharya said the traces had been date tested using radiocarbon and luminescence techniques. The archaeological team dug underneath previously known brick structures in the temple, and experts from the University of Stirling examined and collected the samples, he said. The team has been working at the site for the past three years. Previously, a pillar installed by the Indian emperor Ashok with inscriptions dat...

David East presents Paras Khadka of Nepal with the man of the match award. Nepal qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh with a thrilling, five-wicket win over Hong Kong off the last ball in the quarterfinal of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (November 27). Sent in to bat, Hong Kong lost its first wicket in the second over,  with Irfan Ahmed falling to Jitendra Mukhiya, the medium-pacer, for 8. Avinash Karn then struck after three overs to remove Jamie Atkinson, the Hong Kong captain, to leave the side struggling at 25 for 2 in 4.1 overs. Waqas Barkat and Nizakat Khan scored 25 runs each as Mukhia and Karn continued troubling the batsmen with disciplined bowling. Late cameos from Munir Dar (20) and Tanwir Afzal (25) took Hong Kong to 143 for 8 in its 20 overs. Mukhiya was the pick of the bowlers for Nepal bagging 3 for 32 runs in his four overs. Nepal got off to a steady start i...

Amritananda Mahasthabir Balkrishna Sama Bhanubhakta Acharya BP Koirala Chittadhar Hridaya Ishwor Baral Laxmi Prasad Devkota Lekhanath Paudel Madhav Ghimire  (Right, with blogger) Nepali Literary figures, Balkrishna Sama, Lekhanath Paudel, Laxmi Prasad Devkota and other. Parijat Satyamohan Joshi Siddhicharan Shrestha Siddidas Mahaju(Nepal bhasa)

Kathmandu, Aug. 5: Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala who is currently on an official visit to India this morning visited Rajghat, memorial of Mahatma Gandhi based in New Delhi and paid heartfelt tribute to the late leader. On the occasion, he was accompanied by party general secretaries Prakashman Singh and Krishna Prasad Sitaula and his personal secretary Laxman Dhakal. President Koirala is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Secretary of External Affairs Sujata Singh and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon today. He will join banquet with Congress I foreign department chief Karan Singh, Dhakal said. He is on a six-day official visit to the southern neighbour at the invitation of the Government of India.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants blew up a suicide car bomb at the gate to a NATO compound in Kabul early Tuesday and attacked guards with small-arms fire, killing four guards and two civilians, police said. All four suicide attackers were also killed. Kabul provincial police chief Mohammad Ayuob Salangi said the powerful car bomb blew up at about 4:30 a.m., leaving a deep crater at the first gate leading into the camp. Two truck drivers who were waiting to enter the area were killed in the blast, he said. Three other suicide attackers wearing explosive vests then began fighting with guards; all were killed. Salangi said the guards killed were all Nepalese contractors .The Taliban later claimed it carried out the attack. Salangi had no further details immediately and said the attack is being investigated. It happened after the Interior Ministry announced Monday that insurgents had killed nearly 300 Afghan local and national police in one mo...

Kathmandu, June 10: Nepali Congress senior leader Sher Bahadur, who is currently on a six-day visit to India, on Monday called on Chairwoman of Bharatiya Rastriya Congress Sonia Gandhi.   During the meeting held in the afternoon, discussions were held on Nepal-India bilateral relations, assistance, development and Nepal's peace process, Constituent Assembly election and constitution writing. Nepali Congress central leader Bimalendra Nidhi, who is accompanying Deuba, told RSS that Gandhi expressed satisfaction over the progress in Nepal's peace process and expressed confidence that constitution-writing process would move ahead after successful CA election. "India is ready to provide technical and other logistic support for the CA election," Nidhi quoted Gandhi as saying to Deuba in the meeting. Similarly, Deuba urged to expand Indian support in the development field including hydropower sector. Deuba shared with Ms Gandhi that Nepali leaders were ...

Kathmandu, June 10: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has completed all preparations to sell the two-colored LP gas cylinders from June 15. Spokesperson at the NOC Shiva Prasad Pudasaini said so far 500,000 gas cards have been verified and 286,000 new gas cards have been sent in the market. However, Chair of Federation of Nepal Gas Retailers Gyaneshwor Aryal said that the consumers should not be forced to purchase the green cylinders but they should be given the green cylinders if they bring red ones. Chairman of LP Gas Industries Association Shiva Prasad Ghimire claimed that victims should get compensation from the insurance companies if property damage and human casualties were reported in the cylinder explosions due problems in the cylinders. He said different companies have prepared 200 to 2,000 green cylinders and they would be brought in the market from June 15