Nepal Highlights

The government has lifted the ban on gold import, imposed a few months ago, after the government increased the import duty on its import. The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) lifted the ban Tuesday. According to the decision taken by MoCS, only commercial banks can import gold and the process will be monitored by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). NRB will prepare a manual to regulate the import and sale of gold and review the sales and import of gold every month. The import was banned a few months ago at the recommendation of NRB to save foreign currency.

Speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang has expressed dissatisfaction with the government for ending parliament session suddenly without even consulting him when a proposal to elect a Prime Minister was pending and urged the government to summon another session of the parliament immediately.   Talking to Kantipur daily, the Speaker urged the government to call a parliament session with consent from political parties and strive to resolve the differences at the House.   Speaker Nemwang said earlier, the end of the parliament session had worsened the environment for consensus.   According to existing regulations in the Interim Constitution and the parliamentary regulations, the Speaker does not have the authority to summon a parliament session.   The President summons and ends the parliament sessions at the recommendation of the Prime Minister, as per the existing provisions.   The government can recommend either for the winter session of the parliament or a special session fo...

Nepali Congress (NC) has interpreted the Supreme Court (SC) directives on the ongoing prime ministerial election earlier this week as an indirect ruling to elect Ram Chandra Paudel to the post of Prime Minister unopposed.   An unofficial meeting of NC parliamentary party Friday afternoon reviewed the SC directives and concluded that SC had directed the Speaker to declare Paudel elected unopposed as he is the sole remaining candidate for the post.   It has also decided to lobby with other political parties and the Speaker for such declaration based on the SC directives.   Terming the ongoing PM elections erroneous, the court had on Wednesday directed the CA chairman Subash Nemwang to review the parliamentary regulation so as to make the ongoing prime ministerial election result-oriented.   Since the court has said the ongoing process is erroneous and asked the Speaker to conclude it by reviewing the process, Paudel should be declared elected unopposed, said an NC leader ...

Mount Saipal, a 6,925 m high beautiful summit in far-western Nepal, has been scaled for the first time.   An expedition team of three French mountaineers and a Nepali climbing guide successfully scaled the mountain last month, more than half century since the beginning of mountaineering in Nepal.   Expedition leader Paulo Gabriel said, his team scaled the mountain on October 29, Kantipur daily reported from Humla.   They reached the summit on the tenth day of embarking from Chala village of Humla, said Gabriel.   A German expedition team which had gone with them returned from an altitude of 5,500m.   Mount Saipal lies on the border of Humla, Bajura and Bajhang. 

Political parties in the caretaker cabinet and those supporting the coalition have endorsed the government plan to present a full budget on November 19 for fiscal year 2010/11 without any new programmes and policies.   A meeting of the coalition partners called by caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at his official residence in Baluwatar Saturday afternoon approved the government decision to introduce the budget to prevent the country from plunging into a financial crisis.   Minister for Law and Justice, Prem Bahadur Singh, told reporters after the meeting, the coalition partners had agreed to present the budget on November 19.   However, the parties have asked the government not to introduce any new programmes and policies due to the caretaker status of the government.   UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikary said, the caretaker government would present a basic budget for the entire fiscal year without any new programmes and policies to keep the state running.   ...

Two persons including a minor has been injured when a stray bomb went off in Shreepur of Birgunj, Monday monring.  Alok Patel, 7, and Parasnath Kurmi, 52, have been wounded in the explosion.  The stray bomb went off when Patel found the unidentified object and started playing with it in front of Goldarbar in Shreepur.  Both the injured are undergoing treatment at Narayani sub-regional hospital in Birgunj.  Police are investigating on the incident. 

Judicial Council suspended Justice Om Prakash Subedi of Pokhara Appellate Court over his misconduct with women and uninformed absence on Monday. Subedi is suspended on moral ground according to the report prepared by Supreme Court judge Balaram KC. Subedi was on leave without prior notice. He had also made 'negative' remarks over the Constituent Assembly members.