Nepal stages annual elephant beauty pageant

  Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepal staged its annual elephant beauty pageant Wednesday, with the creatures parading along a catwalk before a panel of judges in the south-west of the country.

   The beauty pageant for the pachyderms was held in Chitwan district’s Sauraha, as a part of a local festival for tourists.

   Keepers spent nearly three hours bathing the elephants, oiling their bodies and painting their toenails and backs in colourful patterns. They were then covered with colourful silk cloths.

   True to her name, 15-year old Beauty Kali won the title of the Elephant Beauty Queen. The elephants were judged on the basis of their decoration, discipline and hygiene.

   The Nepal Tourism Board, which organised the event, said it was a way of encouraging elephant keepers to pay better attention to the pachyderms. Animal rights activists have been very critical of the way the some elephants are kept in Nepal.

   Government figures say there are 170 wild elephants in Nepal and about the same number who are domesticated. Elephants are used by resorts in the Chitwan district for jungle safaris, and as jungle patrollers by the government.
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Nepal's annual elephant festival opens

   Kathmandu (dpa) – A three-day international elephant festival began Monday in Nepal in Suraha, in the south-western district of Chitwan.

   The first event was an elephant race, where the animals thundered down a 200-metre track in the Baghmara forest. Twelve of the 20 participating elephants qualified for the semifinal.

   The eighth annual festival, which was held 154 kilometres from the capital Kathmandu, was organized by the regional hotel association of Chitwan and the government to promote tourism and the Chitwan National Park.

   On Monday, the first round of a football match for baby elephants was also held.

   Elephants were to participate in a "beauty pageant" on Tuesday. Other events were to include a bullock cart race and horse cart race.
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More than 20 die in Nepal cold spell

   Kathmandu (dpa)- More than 22 people have died during a cold wave in southern Nepal, local media reported Tuesday.

   In Mohattari district, 14 had died since Sunday, according to Avenues Television. Two hundred schools were closed in the district and the local hospital was packed with pneumonia patients.

   Eight people had died in other districts of the Tarai region.

   The Nepal Electricity Authority also declared 10 hours of power cuts per day, starting Tuesday. The state owned-utility blamed receding water levels in reservoirs that drive hydropower plants.
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General strike in Nepal after death of inmate

   Kathmandu (dpa)- Nepal's Congress party enforced a general strike Monday to demand "martyrdom" for one of its members, who died after being beaten in jail.

   Schools, transportation, industries and markets were shut nationwide.

   Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narsingh KC promised that the strike would be peaceful.

   "No terror and violence, no tyre burning, no vandalism and no disruption to ambulances, diplomats and press and tourists vehicles," he said.

   But demonstrators vandalized and torched vehicles in several areas.

   Nepali Congress, the country's second-largest party, called the strike after the government refused to withdraw the murder charges against student leader Shiva Poudel. It said he had been falsely indicted, and demanded the government declare him a martyr.

   Poudel was beaten by inmates in Bharatpur prison in south-western Nepal on December 6 and died in hospital Saturday.
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Bus plunges in to river in Nepal: 20 confirmed dead

   Kathmandu (dpa) - At least 20 people were confirmed dead and six injured after a passenger bus plunged 400 metres into a river in Western Nepal late Saturday.

   According to Bishnu Karki, the police chief of Baitadi district where the incident took place, the bus carrying 45 passengers veered off the road and plunged into the Kajari river.

   "Since it's dark our rescue operations have been hampered," said Karki. "Only the bus driver has been identified so far and the whereabouts of 19 passengers is still unknown.

   Police said a three-year-old child had been found alive.
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Author: Biswas Baral

Nationwide strike hits Nepal after detained party member dies

   Kathmandu (dpa) - The Nepali Congress party called a strike on Saturday to protest the death of one of its members, after he was beaten up in jail while on remand accused of murder.

   Schools were closed and transport obstructed. Hundreds of passengers, including tourists, were stranded in different part of the country, due to the sudden call for a shut down.

   Shiva Poudel was attacked by fellow inmates in Bharatpur prison in south-western Nepal on December 6 and died in hospital on Saturday.

   The Nepali Congress party demanded an investigation into the case.

   The party had demanded the government drop the murder case against Poudel, saying he had been falsely indicted.

   Party members demonstrated in the capital Kathmandu and other  parts of the country, chanting slogans against the government and burning tyres.

   They said the government had failed to ensure security for its citizens and demanded the prime minister and the home minister step down.
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Former Thai premier Thaksin on Nepal visit

   Kathmandu (dpa)- Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Nepal late on Friday on a personal visit.

   Shinawatra flew to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on a chartered plane from Myanmar, where he has been living in exile.

   He flew directly to the city of Bhairawa, to visit the birth place of Buddha in Lumbini, a pilgrimage site for Buddhists worldwide.

   He is scheduled to fly back to Myanmar on Saturday.

   Shinawatra served as prime minister from 2001-06, when he was ousted in a military coup.
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Infanticide cases rise in Nepalese capital

   Kathmandu (dpa)- The Nepalese capital has suffered a sharp rise in infanticide cases, mostly due to unwanted pregnancies, police said Friday.

   Over the past 15 months, 27 cases of infanticide were recorded, up from 17 cases in the preceding 15 months.

   "Most of these cases are related to unwanted pregnancy," said Dhiraj Pratap Singh, deputy superintendent of police.

   He cited poverty and lack of education and awareness as the main causes of infanticide, but said cultural causes also run deep.

   "Various reasons (for pregnancy) are not accepted by society, such as adultery while the husband is away, and even incest," he said.

   Selective-sex infanticide also played a role, he said. "Most of the babies killed are female," he said, or 16 of the latest 27 cases. Police said the babies were mostly found on garbage piles by roadsides or on river banks, after being killed or simply abandoned. Many more cases probably went unrecorded, they said.

   Some of the abandoned babies were rescued and moved into health care centers by the police. No arrests had been made in relation to the cases, Singh said.

   Several charities are working to raise awareness of contraceptives in Nepal. The Women's Cell of the country's police is also working on sex education programs aimed at women.
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Chinese prime minister postpones Nepal visit

   Kathmandu (dpa) - Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has postponed a visit to Nepal next week, Nepalese government officials said on Tuesday, giving no further details.

   Officials at the Foreign Ministry said the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu had informed them of the decision. The embassy said the situation was not favourable for a visit.

   Nepal beefed up security in the capital ahead of the three-day visit due to start December 20, fearing demonstrations by Tibetan exiles. Nepal is home to 20,000 Tibetan refugees.

   Nepalese Minister for Planning Hridayesh Tripathi said the government was working to reschedule the visit.

   The first high-level Chinese visit to Nepal in ten years was expected to focus on investment deals.
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Lower caste man beaten to death in Nepal for touching stove

   Kathmandu (dpa) - A man reportedly belonging to a low-caste group was beaten to death in Nepal by high caste men for touching their stove, media reports said Monday.


   Manbir Sunar, 30, a Dalit, or low caste member, from Jibutha village in the far-western region, was killed by two men on Saturday after he touched their restaurant's stove while lighting a cigarette, according to Avenues Television. 


   Officers said they had arrested two men and were investigating. 


   Nepali society, which is 80 per cent Hindu, still practises a caste-based social system, although laws ban caste discrimination.


   "We're living in the 21st century where we're very politically conscious about even the terms we use to denote things," Prakash Chandra Pariyar, a Dalits' rights activist and himself a member of the group, told dpa.


   "Nothing can be a more barbaric than killing a man for simply touching a stove."


   The caste system came to Nepal around 500 BC as Indian Hindus migrated. It divides Hindu Nepali society into four sections, placing the Dalits, or untouchables, at the bottom and the Brahmins, or priests, at the top.


   In April, the parliament endorsed a bill against caste discrimination, which laid out punishments for any infringements.


   "But incidents like these are an example of oppression and show that the state is still weak in implementing the laws," Pariyar said. 
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Nepalese premier denies corruption allegation against his party

   Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday denied embezzlement allegations against his party, but stopped short of saying what had happened to allegedly missing funds from government stipends to former rebels.

   Bhattarai denied the allegations during an interview with the BBC World Trust Sajha Sawal programme, aired on local Kantipur Television, and said there were more important issues at hand.

   Last week, parliament demanded the government provide information on the money, after an inquiry by the opposition Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist groups accused the leaders of Bhattarai's ruling Maoist party of embezzling the payments.

   The government payouts provide some monthly income to former rebels. The agreement was part of the 2006 peace deal that ended Nepal's decade-long civil war.

   Lawmakers accused Maoist leaders of retaining 'deposits' of 1,000 rupees (12 dollars) from the payments, every month. The deposits have been taken each month from each of the 19,535 combatants housed at camps across the country since November 2006, according to local media reports.
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Nepal Maoists accused of pocketing money of their former rebels

Dec 9, 2011, 10:19 GMT

Kathmandu - Nepal's parliament demanded the government provide information on money disbursed to former Maoist rebels after Maoist political leaders were accused of pocketing some of it, media reports said Friday.

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee ordered the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction Thursday to provide the information in a week.

The opposition parties Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist accused the leaders of the ruling Maoist party of embezzling payments the government provides monthly to former rebels as part of the 2006 peace deal that ended Nepal's decade-long civil war.

Lawmakers accused Maoist leaders of retaining 'deposits' of 1,000 rupees (12 dollars) from the payments. The deposits have been taken each month from each of the 19,535 combatants housed at camps across the country since November 2006, the Republica newspaper reported.

A recent government survey of the combatants found about 3,000 who were registered as former rebels were missing from the camps, which raised further questions about what Maoist leaders had done with money paid to them.

'If anyone misuses public funds meant for the Maoist combatants, it is a breach on the peace process,' Nepali Congress lawmaker Ram Sharan Mahat said.

Nepal Buddhists demonstrate against Maoist leader

   Kathmandu (dpa) - Hundreds of Buddhists staged a protest in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, Wednesday, to protest against Maoist Chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s connection to a development project in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.

   Lhakpa Sherpa of the Buddhism Preservation Stakeholders Committee said politicians were breaching the sanctity of a religious place like Lumbini by transforming it into a tourism destination.

   The committee was formed by the government to develop Lumbini, 240 kilometres southwewest of Kathmandu, as a world Buddhist tourism destination.

   Demonstrators held placards demanding Dahal be removed from the position of director of the Lumbini Development Committee. They have demanded a follower of Buddhism should be appointed to the post.

   Dahal, who is coordinator of the development committee, lead the decade-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal, which ended in 2006 after the signing of a peace deal with the government. 16,000 people were killed in the conflict.
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Nepal court rejects review petition from international serial killer=

   Kathmandu (dpa)- Nepal’s highest court rejected a review petition filed by international serial killer Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj, Tuesday, local media reported.

   Sobhraj, 67, who is also known as the "bikini killer", was arrested in Nepal in 2003 and has been serving a life sentence since.

   A French national of Indian and Vietnamese parentage, Sobhraj had asked that the life sentence verdict be reviewed. That verdict was handed down after he was convicted in the murder of a US citizen, Connie Joe Bronzich, in 1975.

   “There is no need to go against the decision of the registrar who had rejected the review petition,” the Himalayan Times news portal quoted Justice Bharat Raj Upreti as saying.

   Last year, Sobhraj filed an appeal against the conviction, but lost.

   Sobhraj, who has also served 21 years in Indian prison on charges of culpable homicide, has continued to claim his innocence and says 2003 was the first time he traveled to Nepal.

   Media reports said he had been a con man and was related to a series of killings of women clad in bikinis in the tourist town of Pataya in Thailand in the 1970s.

   His lawyer was planning to seek clemency for Sobhraj from  President Ram Baran Yadav, the Himalayan Times reported.

   "Sobhraj has spent eight years in jail. He also deserves recommendation for clemency," the lawyer said.    
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Nepali premier's star fades after 100 days in office

Dec 6, 2011, 10:13 GMT

By Pratibha Tuladhar, dpa =

Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepal's prime minister Baburam Bhattarai found his star fading as he reached 100 days in office Tuesday, with criticism from several sides replacing the initial adulation.

'Government fails to provide good governance and relief in first 100 days,' said Kantipur Television, while the Rajdhani daily wrote, 'Peace and constitution issues conceal government weaknesses.'

The country's second Maoist prime minister is its fourth in the five years since the 10-year civil war with Maoist rebels ended in 2006, leaving around 16,000 dead.

But since his election to office by parliament in August, he appears to have made little more headway with the peace process than his predecessors.

Despite their comfortable win in the 2008 general elections, the Maoists have been unable to forge a consensus in parliament over contentious issues including the wording of the new constitution, and what to do with the around 19,000 former Maoist combatants.

Things started out well for Bhattarai, as his demonstrative austerity measures earned him public acclaim and distinguished him from his predecessor.

The public cheered as he rode past in his modest Nepal-made Mustang Max car, or stepped off the budget flights he took for trips abroad.

'He raised the hopes of the people and won their affection,' said Gunaraj Luitel, political commentator and editor of the Annapurna Post daily.

'He became a symbol of a prime minister who wanted to be different with the austerity measures he introduced.'

There were also early political successes. He facilitated the handover of rebel arms, and negotiated for 6,500 of the former combatants to be integrated into the military.

Parliament had been at loggerheads over both issues for months.

But his compromises started to lose him the favour of his party, who felt that he was too quick to sell out.

On returning from an India trip in October, he was greeted by a delegation of party members bearing black flags in symbol of mourning after he signed an investment treaty with New Delhi.

The deal invited Indian interference in Nepal, party dissidents said, demanding Bhattarai step down.

The faction calling for his resignation, led by Mohan Vaidhya, also opposed the terms of the arms handover and the combatant reintegration agreement.

Bhattarai's appeal has also started to wane among the public, which is questioning some of his austerity measures.

When in November the prime minister expanded his cabinet to 49 members, the biggest in Nepal's history, observers pointed out the inconsistency with his ideal of a lean, efficient government.

'Although he facilitated the peace process, he shouldn't have formed a jumbo cabinet,' Luitel said.

But the darkest stain on his image was his attempt to shield two Maoist lawmakers convicted of murder. He has denied all wrongdoing, but the affair has added a moral dimension to the political criticism of his leadership.

Outside the corridors of parliament, the public is also growing disenchanted, in particular with the delays to the constitution.

The deadline has been extended twice since he took office, and the Constituent Assembly is now due to finish its draft by April.

The text will need to include provisions on the as-yet-unresolved issues of electoral reform, state restructuring and governance systems.

Deadlines to complete the integration of the former rebel fighters also seem unlikely to be met, given the ongoing disagreements within the Maoists and between the parties.

'If he focuses on peace and constitution and on public interest, he has the opportunity to be the best prime minister in Nepal,' Luitel said.

Others do not share his optimism.

'His intentions are good but there are limitations,' said Ajit Baral, a writer and columnist. 'He has to satisfy expectations from all quarters, so he probably can't perform to his best.'

Youth sex conference breaks taboos in Nepal

   Kathmandu (dpa)- A youth gatheringe in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu broke taboos Sunday by openly discussing sex and HIV - topics normally off limits in the country.

   The gathering was organized by two youth groups to raise awareness on HIV-AIDS, and to encourage young people to discuss sex as a physical need, instead of an unmentionable topic.

   “Although sex is a taboo in our society, our religious practices and culture is rife with sexual innuendos,” said sexologist Dr. Rajendra Bhadra.

   “Sexuality is the essence of youth, emotions, expressions,” said Sagar Budathoki, a short film maker. “Infatuations, crushes are more common when you are young.”

   “We want to encourage young people to talk about sex to address these and important messages about protecting themselves against HIV-AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.”

   “I would never dare discuss sex with my parents,” said Rojita Tamrakar, a restaurant owner. “But such programs are necessary as we need to talk about these issues so that we can understand ourselves better.”

   The participants at the program discussed the sexual connotations in the Hinduism and Buddhism practiced by Nepalis. Hindu Nepalis worship the Shiva Linga, which represents the state of union between man and woman.

   According to figures released by the government on Friday, the number of people infected by HIV/AIDS in Nepal has decreased by 14,000 in the past four years.

   The government said the use of contraceptives and awareness programs had played a role in bringing down the number of the infected.
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Author: Pratibha Tuladhar