Following the registration of the case at the Special Court, 26 senior officials have automatically suspended from their posts, thereby, creating a void in the police structure.

On Wednesday, the government had already removed Thakuri from the top post of the Nepal Police to make it easier for the anti-graft body to file a case against him.

CIAA, however, has already dropped charges against former home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula and former home secretary Umesh Mainali, as media quoted.

Finance executive found involved in large-scale fund misappropriation

Jun 9, 2011 @ 00:51

It has been revealed that Executive Chairman of People’s Finance, Chhabilal Bhusal has been found to be involved in large-scale misappropriation of funds leading the company (established in 2049 BS) into crisis.

More than Rs 450 million has been found to be embezzled while issuing loans and taking loans for himself in the name of other borrowers from the company, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) source.

The Bank and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) prohibits promoters of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) from taking loans from their own institution. So, the promoters usually use third parties for such purpose.

According to NRB source, Bhusal has been found making huge investment in real estate and housing sector. About 55 percent of the total loans of Rs 950 million have been issued to the real estate sector only as of May. Taking short-term deposits in call accounts, the finance company was making long-term lending, resulting its deposits into poor liquidity.

People’s Finance Company abruptly shut down its transactions from Monday as the company could not repay its depositor and Bhusal stayed out of contact.

The company fell into extreme financial crisis after NRB withdrew a portion of its fixed deposits (about Rs 70 million) at the company last week.

UPDATE June 11: After three days of closure, People’s Finance reopened from Thursday. The promoters told the central bank that they will recover Rs 80 million loans and pay their clients.

Only Rs. 5 thousand penalty to Galaxy for jesting Nepali pride

Jun 10, 2011 @ 19:32

Galaxy Public School, situated at Gyaneshwor is recognized as reputed school where children of high status people study. But what the Galaxy School students are learning from such reputed school.

Our national bird is peacock.

Our national animal is tiger.

Our national flower is Lotus.

This is what, students of class one of Galaxy School, are learning. When this news was flash out in News 24, five members committee was formed by Ministry of Education for inspecting the matter and found Galaxy guilty.

But, only Rs. 5000/- as a penalty to Galaxy school for teaching Indian syllabus to students in Nepal.  Galaxy was penalized for using Indian syllabus without permission.

Nepal Awarded US$ 46.5 million Funds by GAFSP

Jun 11, 2011 @ 18:28

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is awarding US$ 46.5 million to Nepal. GAFSP stated that this fund will enhance household food security in the poorest and most food insecure regions through increased agricultural productivity, household incomes and awareness about health and nutrition in the mid-western and far-western development regions.

The decision of awarding was made in Washington by the GAFSP Steering Committee during met on June 7-8, 2011. Besides Nepal, Cambodia, Liberia and Tajikistan also receive this fund-Cambodia (US$39.1 million), Liberia (US$46.5 million), and Tajikistan (US$27.9 million).

GAFSP seeks to improve food security mainly as the most recent food price spike has driven an additional 44 million people across the globe into poverty, according to the World Bank (WB).

925 million people around the world are hungry and undernourished, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

This is the third round of countries to receive funding. Of the 25 countries that had applied prior to the October 1, 2010 deadline, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo have already received  the GASFP grants in the previous round

CIAA writes govt to stop unnecessary diversion of funds

Jun 14, 2011 @ 15:13

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has written a letter to the government not to divert funds from one topic to another. This CIAA action was in response to a complaint filed by the Nepali Congress against the misuse of funds by diverting unnecessarily.

The CIAA wrote letters to the Office of the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers, National Planning Commission (NPC), the chief secretary of the government, Ministry for Local Development, Finance Ministry, Ministry for Physical Planning and Works, Irrigation Ministry, Energy Ministry, Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction and the Tourism Ministry  and made it clear that the funds cannot be diverted unless for nationally prioritized programmes like natural calamities that need urgent response. If the fund is diverted unnecessarily under pressure from influential leaders and ministers, it could amount to corruption.

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee had also directed the government on June 7 to transfer the budget within the first priority (P1) projects or from less prioritized projects to the more prioritized one only.

Darkest lunar eclipse in almost 100 years on June 15

Jun 15, 2011 @ 09:12

One of the darkest and longest total lunar eclipses of the century will take place on June 15, 2011. Nepal can witness this eclipse in the wee hours of Thursday morning.  It is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2011, the second occurring on December 10.

The circumstances of the total Lunar eclipse for Nepal (NST) on 15/16 June 2011(converted from IST provided in article by Arvind Paranjpye)

Diagram showing various stages of passage of the Moon through the Earth’s shadow region

Duration of the total Phase will be 1h 40m 52s. According to Arvind Paranjpye, this will be the darkest lunar eclipse in almost 100 years as the centres of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon would nearly be on one straight line. The earlier darkest lunar eclipse was observed on August 6, 1971 and the next one would be 47 years from now on June 6th, 2058.

Jayanta Acharya, the chairman of Astronepal and an astronomer with Balmeeki Campus in Kathmandu, informed that the peek-a-boo between the two heavenly bodies will continue for three hours and 40 minutes (The Himalayan Times).

During the eclipse, the moon will appear red hue similar to the Sun appearing red in colour during rising and setting. The Sun appears red due to absence of the blue rays and presence of the red rays only. As the sunlight passes through the atmosphere of the Earth, the blue component of the sunlight is scattered most but the red rays pass through.

Likewise, some of the red rays from the Sun escape or come out of the Earth’s atmosphere, reaching the Moon and giving the Eclipsed Moon its red hue.

The entire eclipse will be visible in eastern Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and Western Australia, from beginning to end. Observers in eastern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina will witness totality. However, none of the eclipse will be visible from North America.

Police fired tear gas in Putlisadak

Jun 16, 2011 @ 08:03

Some students in Putlisadak have burnt a Government vehicle. The police has fired tear gas and the situation in the area is tense.

These protest are going on in response to the arrest of Mahesh Basnet in Eastern Nepal, Itahari. Biratnagar and

We will update the situation as it unfolds.

UPDATE: The clash happened in front of Shankar Dev College when a car Ba 1 Jha 5471 was burned. The students affiliated to ANSFU are throwing stones and bricks from the college.

It was reported that another vehicle was burnt in Jamal in the morning. (Photo credits – various
sources)

Protest: Silence and Violence on the same day

Jun 17, 2011 @ 05:33

Situation was tensed at Putalisadak area from the afternoon on Thursday due to the protest program of UML- aligned All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) demanding the release of UML youth wing Youth Association Nepal (YAN) Central Chairman Mahesh Basnet who was arrested in Ithari. Basnet has been denying the involvement of YAN Morang Coordinator Parsuram Basnet in the attack on a journalist Khil Nath Dhakal, who belongs to Nagarik and Republica Dailies, in Biratnagar and the probe panel formed by Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) reported that Dhakal was attacked by gangsters at Basnet’s directives.

The agitating students torched two vehicles outside Shanker Dev Campus and Tri-Chandra Campus. The situation turned violent as the students pelted stones into the police force while the latter were trying to extinguish the fire on the vehicle. To control the situation, police fired two rounds of teargas shell.

Around 55 students and 11 security personnel have been injured during the clash between police force and agitating students, according to a press statement issued by the Home Ministry. Even the unaffiliated students to the party got injured during baton charge by police indiscriminately.

Whereas on the same day, silence protest was demonstrated near overhead bridge in front of Nepal Airlines office, New Road from 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm.

Around 50/60 people were standing quietly in prominent places with placards displaying messages of public frustration and anger for half an hour. The silence and civil protest was for demanding accountability of lawmakers and politicians. These 50/60 people were gathered to press the CA members for promulgation of New Constituents.

There was total silence except the noise of vehicles passing by. Neither there was any clashes nor injured persons. They were protesting for releasing crore Nepali from uncertainty whereas the protest in Putalisadak was for releasing the party leader and that has also turned into violence.

Attention of everyone was towards violence rather than towards silence. News of Silence protest remains silence in every media whereas every media is covered by violence news. Silence protest comes and goes silently whereas violence protest left behinds its mark.

SC summons convicted but not arrested yet CA member Dhungel

Jun 18, 2011 @ 11:54

The Supreme Court (SC) has summoned UCPN-Maoist Constituent Assembly (CA) member Bal Krishna Dhungel to be present in the court on June 26 for murder case that was filed by Sabitri Shresha, victim’s sister with the legal assistance of Advocacy Forum, a human rights organisation, on June 14.
A single bench of Justice Tahir Ali Ansari also ruled the defendant to appear with written answers within 15 days.
Dhungel, CA member from constituent region 2 in Okhaldhunga, is accused of murdering Ujjan Kumar Shrestha at Khaharedovan in Tarkerabari VDC-7, Okhaldhunga on June 24, 1998. Though, the Okhaldhuga court had convicted Dhungel and given the verdict of life imprisonment and confiscation of property two years ago, the administration has not jailed him yet.
Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara has also given public statement to pardon Dhungel as per the Interim Constitution clause of 151.

National Census 2011 began with more than 50 major questions

Jun 18, 2011 @ 23:14

National Census 2011 has begun from Friday with collecting information from President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Vice President Paramananda Jha and Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khana. President, the head of the state and his family members have been registered as an ordinary citizen for the first time in a century-long history of national census, according to chief of CBS Population Unit Rudra Suwal.
This is the second phase. The first phase was in May 16 to June 3 collecting general information like number of households, number of family members and head of family and occupation.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the officials will count the number of people living in the country and collect information about them in every 10 years. National Census 2011 will be 10-day-long. 46,500 enumerators, including 8,500 supervisors have been deployed at 3,900 Village Development Committees and 50 municipalities across the country.

Suwal said, “The questionnaires are same for all. The president was the first person to be registered on Friday”. On the basis of estimated population of 28.5 million residing in Nepal, CBS has estimated one enumerator for an average number of 200 households.
According to CBS Director General Uttam Narayan Malla, Nepal has one of the longest censuses of its own kind in the world with more than 50 major questions. CBS has readied questionnaires in 10 languages, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Tamang, Gurung, Newari, Magar, Awadhi, Rai and Limbu for the convenience of respondents and the information to be filled are related to religions, castes, ethnicity, sex, occupation, economic status, migrant workers, third genders and many more.

98 Kg gold and Rs. 120 mil found in Sai Baba’s Room

Jun 19, 2011 @ 23:57

After the death of Sai Baba on April 24, his personal room, named Yajur Mandir, was locked. But, on opening it on Friday, it was found that the room contained 89 kg gold, 307 kg silver and about Rs. 120 million in cash. It is huge suspense how such a wealth could get in the room.

This information was released a day after the Sathya Sai Central Trust opened the locks of Yajur Mandir. One of the trust members and Baba’s nephew RJ Ratnakar gave the details of the cash and valuables found inside. He told that the cash will be deposited in State Bank of India.

All the donation and gifts rece
ived by Sai Baba used to be kept in bank through Sathya Sai Central Trust. The trust manages the huge spiritual empire of by Baba that owns assets in various parts of India including Puttaparthi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

Although he was worshipped and respected by many people, his credibility has always been questioned by various people from time-to-time.

Also read – Is Sai Baba the illusionist ?

SLC Result announced – 55.5% passed

Jun 20, 2011 @ 03:45

55.5 % of the total examinees under the regular category and 17.3% from the partial category have passed in the SLC result announced today.

The results can be viewed online through various websites. The most notable sites are the official OCE website and Nepal Telecommunication websites. The full result in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the following links:

Download SLC Result

• Regular SLC 2067 (result on 2068) 4.6mb PDF file
• Exempted SLC 2067 (result on 2068) 230kb PDF file

Original post (before the announcement of result:

The Office of the Controller of Examination (OCE) is going to release the result of School Leaving Certificate (SLC) 2067 examination at about 3 PM local time.

This year, a total of 496,243 students had appeared in the SLC examination, in which, the male were 255,596 and female were 240,647.

A total of 436,411 took the regular exam (229,791 male and 206,620 female) and 59,832 were the exempted students.

The examination was held between Chaitra 10, 2067 to Chaitra 18, 2067.

The result of SLC can be obtained from the official website of OCE and various other websites of newspapers like Gorkhapatra, Kantipur etc.

First Time, lawmaker suspended for obstructing session

Jun 20, 2011 @ 14:34

For the first time, House Speaker Subash Chandra Nembang suspended four lawmakers for seven days on disciplinary grounds and ordered Marshall to evict them out of the Parliament on Sunday.

Independent lawmakers Sadarul Miya Hak, Rukimini Chaudhary of Sanghiya Loktantrik Mancha, Budhha Ratna Manandhar of Newa Rastriya Party and Biswhendra Paswan of Dalit Janajati Party were obstructing the House session demanding guarantee of rights of minorities in the new constitution. They were also saying that their issues were not addressed within the given ultimatum of 15 days.

They have protested earlier too for the rights of indigenous, Dalit, Muslim and other marginalized communities in the new constitution and the parliament was postponed for 15 days. On May 22, they withdrew their protest after the major political parties UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML agreed to address their issues within 15 days.

To resume the obstruct session, Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal assured of three-point commitment on the concerns of Indigenous, Dalits, Muslims and other marginalized communities and Nembang requested four lawmakers to allow Minister for Local Development Urmila Aryal from delivering speech. But they continued it and were not leaving the way of Aryal to the rostrum. Then, the Speaker used his ordinary power for suspension and eviction of four lawmakers.

Clash between two factions of CPN-UML student wing at Amrit Science Campus

Jun 22, 2011 @ 16:10

Clash between two factions of CPN-UML student wing All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU) has been reported at Amrit Science Campus, Lainchour on Tuesday and at least 10 persons have been injured in this incident.

It is learnt that the clash was occurred when the programme organizing by the UML leader K.P. Sharma Oli-aligned students were obstructed by the students aligned to UML Chairman and Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal. The vehicle of UML leader Pradeep Gyawali is reported to have vandalized. Gyawali was invited as the chief guest.

The injured are were taken to Manmohan Hospital for treatment, police said.

TIA runway collapses, Int’l flights halted, probably for a long time

Jun 22, 2011 @ 16:12

All the international flights at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) were delayed on Tuesday for more than four hours as the airport runway collapsed at 8 am. The runway is reported to have collapsed at ‘Intel section’ 3 and 4.

Passengers have to wait for long time to take off their international flight. Whereas, the domestic flights were resumed after some maintenance work at 11.30 am.

Ratish Chandra Suman, general manager at the TIA said, “To prevent from possible damage, three international planes were diverted to Kolkata and other two were held up in the sky for more than two hours in the morning”. Suman further said that the runway maintenance is going on.

Sudan Scam: Rubel, son-in-law of Sujata, also found to be involved

Jun 23, 2011 @ 11:50

Another twist in Sudan Scam, Rubel Chaudhary, son-in-law of Sujata Koirala, has been found to be involved in the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) purchase deal in which around Rs. 300 million was embezzled.
An email written by Michel Rider, director of Assured Risks to Shambhu Bharati, local agent of international supplier, warns Bharati that any further expenses in Sudan Project will be cut out from the commission to Bharati as lots of expenses have been already incurred in the project and any more expenses will not bearing by Assured Risks. The email of Rider further reads,”any problem speak to Rubel don’t email me anymore”.
It is been heard that the main culprits of Sudan Scam are given clean chit due to their political power and the case has been filed by Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against other general police officials only.
According to Shambu Bharati’s statement, Hari Dhungana, Personnel Assistant of Sujata Koirala introduced Bharati to Michael and Rubel. Rubel is a shareholder of Assured Risk as informed by Dhungana, according to Bharati.

Honour to singer and lyricist of “Rato Ra Chandra Surya …”

Jun 24, 2011 @ 04:15

The Cabinet meeting on June 22 decided to confer honorary title of Colonel on singer and musician Ambar Gurung and lyricist, late Gopal Prasad Rimal, for the famous song “Rato Ra Chandra Surya Jangi Nissan Hamro”.

Late Gopal Prasad Rimal would be honoured posthumously. The honour and the title along with cash prize would be presented to late Rimal’s wife, Minister Tuladhar said.

Army Welfare Fund will provide cash prize. Ambar Gurung and singer Phatteman Rajbhandari would also be provided cash prize and certificate. Singer Phatteman Rajbhandari is honoured for his backing vocals in the song.

Tara Air crashed, no causalities reported

Jun 25, 2011 @ 08:23

Tara Airplane (9NAGQ) has been crashed in Simikot Airport in Humla district while landing at 8:50 on Friday morning. Tara Airplane was carrying food from Nepalgunj.
The incident occurred when the plane skidded off due to slippery runway, according to Nepalgunj office chief of the Civil Aviation Authority, Shyam Kishor Shah. No causalities have been reported. All three crew members on board, Pilot Bodh Raj Niraula, Co-Pilot Maheshwor Man Shrestha and Air-hostess D. Joshi managed to escape safely.
Meanwhile, the wings and the rear end of the aircraft got damage in the accident.

Class 10 student commits suicide

Jun 25, 2011 @ 08:23

Manju Aryal, student of class 10, committed suicide at the premises of Pushpa Sadan Boarding School in Kirtipur. Teachers found 15 years old Aryal, from Pharping, hanging in room no. 1 of the school’s hostel using bed sheet at 2:45 afternoon on June 24, according to police.

Immediately the teachers took her to Model Hospital of Kirtipur, but, died on the way. It is learnt that she was expelled from the internal examinations for cheating the previous day.

Police said the investigation is going on.

Hacked!! ….The Himalayan Times

Jun 26, 2011 @ 18:19

The Himalayan times online news portal has been hacked at around 23:00 (NST) by DarkExp0ser. Currently, background of the home page is visible like matrix style. The information of site, being hacked with warning to make server secure , to fix the problem otherwise some other hacker will also destroy your server, is slowly displayed on foreground .

Update: The Himalayan times online news portal has been resumed on June 27.

Boxes with treasure found in Hanuman Dhoka

Jun 27, 2011 @ 20:09

Four treasure boxes (three safes and a tank) have been found on June 27 during the renovation at Gaddi Baithak (kings’ living room) of the Hanuman Dhoka palace. From last four months, the renovation of the area around main palace and the Masan Chowk was taking place.

The total weight of the treasures was estimated as at least 200 kilograms. “25 to 30 kilograms of treasures are of gold alone. Others are of silver and antique coins dating back to six to 700 years. These are just the estimated figures, said Rajan Maharjan.

The treasure inside one safe and tank, which have been opened, was handed over to the Sardul Jung Gulma (army troop deployed at Hauman Dhoka Durbar) for protection after transferring all the treasure randomly into three other containers. Other two safes have not been opened yet and are under the strict protection of army till the order is received from the Culture Ministry by the Hanuman Dhoka Preservation Committee, as quoted from media.

Nepal: Tremendous business opportunities for foreign investment

Jun 28, 2011 @ 19:43

US investors, who are on Nepal Visit, have found Nepal as an investment destination with tremendous business opportunities. A delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in India (ACCI) arrived in Kathmandu on June 27 for a three-day visit to get assurance from Nepali political parties on the security of US investment in Nepal. ACCI is an umbrella organization of over 500 US investors based in India.

Delegations are from nine U.S. companies. The delegation met Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, senior ministers, top leaders of major political parties, including UCPN (Maoist), and high ranking government officials on June 28.

Aniruddha Lahiri, vice president of (ACCI), who is leading this delegation, told the press after meeting, “We found all political parties serious about attracting foreign investment for economic development. We are very much encouraged to hear their united voice on making Nepal a prosperous nation and positive commitments toward protecting foreign investment”.

Lahiri further added that they would convey their impression about Nepal as a potential investment destination to other US investors in India and the US.  The business mission has identified hydropower, health, information technology, trade, aviation, infrastructure and agriculture as the major sectors for investment in Nepal. Business opportunities should be exploited to boost foreign investment so as to develop trade of Nepal

But Lahiri has also pointed out labor issues and weak infrastructures as big challenges and challenges from ongoing political transition in the country. Lahiri and US ambassador to Nepal Scott H DeLisi also commented on obstruction faced by GMR — the developer of Upper Karnali Hydropower Project and said it shows unfavourable investment environment in Nepal.

Further, DeLisi added that as the government has taken an important step by making decision to provide security to hydropower projects, it will establish investment-friendly environment in the country.

Lahiri mentioned the need of implementation of commitments rather than assurance only.

The Himalayan Times hacked once again

Jun 29, 2011 @ 18:05

The Himalayan Times website gets hacked for a second time in a week.  Last time, it was hacked on June 26 by DarkExp0ser. But this time, it has been hacked by Eg0 K1ll3r.

Following message was posted on the homepage previously, but currently, the Himalayan Times website is not online: –

“Well, well, well… I emailed several times to the technical department aka webmaster about the security flaw. But enough is enough. Maybe this will catch his freaking attention.

I haven’t broken or deleted anything from the site, so this isn’t really a black hat hack per se, just a white-hat defacement to have the webmasters attention.

Also, to clarify – no I am not a turkish hacker or any other country fanatic hacker. I believe in boundaryless world and wont post all those crap patriotism crap, the flags and copy pasted javascript animations.

Just because I have a chance, I would like to dedicate this intrustion to my lovely darling – A.T. aka g0ld. Enjoy fixing the hole before someone else does more damage. Good luck.

– Eg0 K1ll3r”

Update: The Himalayan times website has been resumed on June 30.