Vehicles vandalized, some arrested

Vehicles were vandalized in several places during the course of the bandh called by various organizations on Friday.

At 4:45 AM, group of two/three unidentified persons torched a Nepal Yatayat bus (Ba 1 Kha 7324) at Jadibudi in Bhaktapur by throwing bottle of petrol in it. The bus is totally vandalized. Police took two suspicious persons under control and initiated action against them.

Similarly, at Banasthali in Kathmandu, three men in a 220 c.c motorcycle set ablaze the van (Ba 5 Cha 9375) belonging to the Kantipur Television after following from Putalisadak. Police took six persons including 20 years old Bhagnath Dallakoti of Chitawon under control from Balaju and 20 years old Bikki Lama of Ghattekulo from Maitidevi at 11 am, as suspects.

At Dillibazaar height, Kathmandu also, a microbus (Ba 1 Ja 6255) was torched by group of five persons at 5 am and external glasses and seats were demolished in the fire, according to police. Similarly, at Sukedhara Prakashmarg, Kathmandu, an unidentified person vandalized glass of a taxi (Ba 1 Ja 7548) by pelting stone in it at 5 am.

Police detained two persons including Bhumiraj Niraula, general secretary of Chure Bhabhar from New Road, Kathmandu at 7:45 am while forcefully enforcing bandh. Thirty men and seven women of Chure Bhabhar were also held by police during rally from party office Anamnagar to Baneshwor.

Two persons including Ganesh Pokhrel of Biratnagar, cadre of Brahman Samaj were detained in Morang. Bandh supporters have destroyed motorcycles (Ba 23 Pa 6889 and Ga 4 Pa 3974) at Shanti Chowk, Chitawon district while heading towards Narayangadh from Khairani, but, not harmed much.

12 Characteristics of a Blogger

We had a #tweetdebate on whether a blogger is a journalist of not. After the debate it was clear that there isn’t any single answer. A blogger can be a journalist if he/she wishes but, the blogger can also be anything else.

That is confusing. Before defining a blogger, let me write down the 12 characteristics of a blogger (I know there are others, please add more in comment):

1. A blogger is a person. It can be you, me, or a random guy on the street.
2. A blogger today might not be a blogger tomorrow
3. A blogger today mightn’t have been a blogger yesterday
4. Every journalist can be a blogger but every blogger can’t be a journalist

<
li>A blogger might seem to know everything

5. A blogger might seem to know nothing
6. A blogger might not have a name or an address or a contact number
7. A blogger might be a team of bloggers (there is no way to know)
8. A blogger usually have a second job to pay for living (Journalists usually don’t)
9. A blogger can survive without a single reader (sustainability can be questioned)
10. A blogger can write a post every day, or every week, or every month, or every year. It might also be one post in the life-time.
11. Most of the bloggers say they post blog posts for fun (are you serious?).

For these reasons, most of the blogs go unnoticed, un-managed, and too personal for most to even care for.

Now, let’s seek the definitions of a blogger:

• Dictionary.com says a blogger is – "a person who keeps and updates a blog."
• A blog is – a website or part of website which, "A frequent, chr
  onological publication of personal thoughts and Web links."

Can such a creature be confined in an organization? Can any organization have an authority over such a random creature as a blogger?

The biggest question is can somebody’s "personal thoughts" be regulated? It probably can’t. That might be the reason Tim O’Reilly’a proposed seven code of conducts don’t mention the word ‘Ethics’ in them!

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in person.

Reference:

• Tweetdebate – Is blogger a journalist?
• Ujjwal – Code of ethics for bloggers
• Tim O’Reilly’a proposed seven code of conducts
• Wikipedia on blog

Clash in Baneshwor and vehicular movement halted for about 40 mins due to torch rally - CA met for only 95 minutes in extended one year

Cadres of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) clashed with police near the Constituent Assembly (CA) building, New Baneshwar on Thursday and around three dozen cadres including central committee member Gita Basnet were injured, General Secretary of RPP-N Raja Ram Shrestha said to media.

Some security personnel were also injured in the clash. Those injured are undergoing treatment at different hospitals.

The pro-monarchy RPP-N was staging demonstration at the prohibited area of New Baneshwor, in front of the CA building, demanding fresh elections and dissolution of the CA. So, the clash broke out when the demonstrators defied the prohibitory order and pelted bricks and stones at police.

The government has declared the area outside the CA building as prohibited zone considering the protests by various disgruntled groups in the run-up-to the May 28 deadline of the CA.

RPP-Nepal had started protest in the area since Wednesday against the proposed extension of the CA’s term that will continue till May 28. “It would be an irresponsible task if the CA term is extended for the next time”, said Party chairman Kamal Thapa.

Last year, CA was extended for one year, but, the CA has only met merely 7 times in the last 1 year and for only 95 minutes in those 7 meets. More than 110 BILLION rupees have all been bled in vain in the last 3 years. According to event page in facebook, now, what sense does it make to add 1 more year when the last 3 years have been completely wasted?

At around 6:15 PM, torch rally was started from New Baneshwor and ended at Basantapur Darbar Square. In Thapathali and Tripureshwor area, vehicular movement was halted for about 40 minutes due to torch rally and later causing traffic jam.

Real Juice – worm found again

After much media cover on the problem with Dabur’s Real Juice in the past, reports of such inedible materials in the juice had stopped for some time. But, it seems they still haven’t rectified the problem. A user in Jhapa found dust and worm in Dabur Real Mango Nectar sold in Sony Kirana Pasal in Damak 11 (Near, Himsikhar TV). The expiry date of the juice was however two month earlier.

It is not clear if the problem occurred because of the expired product or it was tainted in the factory. Whatever may be the case, the government should take proper steps to investigate the issue and discourage the shopkeepers from selling expired pro
ducts.

CA term can’t be extended by more than six months without special condition: SC

The Supreme Court (SC), on Wednesday, said that the Constituent Assembly (CA) term cannot be extended by more than six months unless there are special circumstances and a state of emergency is imposed.

SC quashed the writ filed against last year’s extension of CA which was filed by advocates Bharat Mani Jangam and Balkrishna Neupane demanding the extension annulled.

A five-member special bench chaired by Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi said that it is meaningless to annul the extension as there are only three days remaining of the extended term and the annulment of the extended term would affect the tasks carried out by the CA in the extended term. The final verdict was delivered on the review of the November 4, 2010 judgment. The other bench members are Justices Damodar Sharma, Rajkumar Prasad Shrestha, Kalyan Shrestha and Tahir Ail Ansari.

The bench claimed that CA had breached its jurisdiction by using the authority of the Legislature Parliament to amend the constitution at midnight in May 28, last year. The CA term should have been extended by the Legislature Parliament after amending the interim constitution, not by the CA itself.

Music album of the youngest singer unveiled on Mt. Everest

Music album of the youngest singer in the world, Atithi Gautam, was unveiled on the top of the world on May 18, 2011. The the youngest civil servant of Nepal, Khimlal Gautam took the album to the top of Mt. Everest.

The album titled "Atithi 2" has five songs including four English songs and a song in traditional musical tune. The lyrics of the songs are written by Ghanshyam Khadka and music is composed by Joogal Dangol.

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A dump truck – seems like ready to fly

A tipper truck (dump truck) seems to be ready to fly when the heavy load on the back caused the front wheels to raise in the sky. The photo is taken in a construction site where filling material is being dumped in the low-lying area.

Photo credits – Mohammad Rabbani

Nepal Unites' 'No Work No Pay' event in London on 27 May

To pressure the Nepal government in writing the constitution within the time frame and for better coordination and cooperation between the top three parties in Nepal for the progress of the country, an event is set to take place on 27th MAY from 12-2PM outside the Embassy of Nepal in London.

In the following video Lex Limbu explains what the event means to Nepal and Nepali:

More information is available in the the event page in Facebook.

The organizers have informed the local police station about the event and the Embassy of Nepal and The Kensington Borough Council have also granted the permission to host the event in the area.

The Nepali community in Sydney, Australia is also planning to do a similar event on the same day, 27 May, 2011 from 12 am to 12 pm. 

Police raid on VoIP operating company, Rs 5 lakhs offered as bribe

On the basis of the information received from the informer, police raid on Future Business and Investment Company in Kupandole, Lalitpur on May 24 and arrested Prakash Kumar (Pawan) on the charge of illegal operation of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Police has seized 17 UTL SIM cards, 58 NCell SIM card and 12 Nepal Telecom SIM card from the accused. Eight gateway SIM boxes, cord port, GSM antenna, CDMA port and seven big inverters were also confiscated.

Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) was investigating on it from long time and when police raid there, Pawan was busy in call bypass receiving from foreign country. Head of CIB DIG Rajendra Singh Bhandari said Pawan, working as an engineer at the Investment Company, has been found to be operating the illegal business from a long time. DIG Bhandari also showed Rs. 5 lakhs that was offered by Pawan as bribe to the police.

32 hours on Mt Everest and meditation for world peace

A 30-year-old Nepali guru, Bhakta Kumar Rai, has spent 32 hours on top of the Mount Everest. He reached the top at 5:30 am on May 20 and stayed there till 1 pm the next day. In that time he mediated for the world peace for 27 hours.

Rai has broken the previous record of Babu Chhiri Sherpa who had made the world record by staying on the summit for 21 hours and 30 minutes in 1999. The freezing cold on the top can cause severe frostbite and swelling in the brain, that can even cause death to the less enduring climbers. It was told that in that 32 hours Rai had used oxygen only for 11 hours.

Bhakta Kumar Rai is told to have achieved ‘Supreme Master Godangel’ wh
en he was 18 years old. His followers in countries like Nepal, India, Hong Kong, Britain and Malaysia regard him as a messenger of God to earth to spread peace and eradicate poverty.

The news update of the Heavenly Path website says:

Heavenly Path would like to informed you all that Supreme Master Godangel has been arrived at Base Camp in 6 hrs 20 minutes leaving behind all the Sherpas after 32 hrs of Prayer, Meditation and Request for the World at the Top of the World…

MoE plans to double scholarship quota for marginalized and poor community school students

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has started homework for doubling the full scholarship quota from 5 % to 10 % targeting students from marginalized and poor community.  It has also started homework for allocation of teachers in higher secondary schools from the new academic session starting July.

Tribhuvan University is trying to phase out the Proficiency Intermediate Level from long time ago, but, still, there is no post for government teachers in +2 education.

MoE had presented a Bill in the Cabinet seeking amendment to the Education Act 1971. After the cabinet finalizes the Bill, it will be forwarded to the parliament for endorsement.

According to MoE Spokesman Janardan Nepal, the amendment as sought will define education as envisioned in School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP), that is, up to Plus Two as school education, categorizing Grade 1 to 8 as primary level and 9 to 12 as secondary level.

Sanchita Luitel shows off her pregnant belly

The actress Sanchita Luitel, who ran away with a married (not divorced) actor Nikhil Upreti to Mumbai and lived together for about a year has come back to Nepal after she got pregnant. She was told to be living in Nikhil’s village home in remote place of Sarlahi. Now, moviesnepal.com reports that she has come to Kathmandu and is proudly showing off her swollen belly.

There was no formal marriage ceremony between Sanchita and Nikhil. In contrast to Nikhil who told about his secret marriage to Sanchita, Nikhil’s wife Kopila Upreti had repeatedly denied the marriage between Nikhil and Sanchita.

But, it is an open secret that they had lived together for more than a year in Mumbai. In Mumbai, she had tried to get in the Indian movie industry without any success.

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Mr. Machhapuchre 2068 – Body Building Competition in Pokhara

First Mr. Machhapuchre body building competition was held in Pokhara City Hall on 14 May, 2011. In the event, participants from different districts like Tanahun, Palpa, Kapilbastu, Baglung, Rupandehi, and Kaski participated to win the First Mr. Machhapuchre 2068.

Here are some of the highlights of the event: