Nepal Highlights

State Minister for Physical Planning and Works Sanjaya Kumar Sah has been sacked by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at the recommendation of Sah's mother party Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Loktantrik (MJF-L). Sah had exercised to split the party by forming a separate group within the party.

Kathmandu- Dec, 26  A UML Constituent Assembly (CA) member was killed in a road accident in Bhaktapur last night. Dambar Bahadur Khadka, CA member elected from Sankhuwasabha electoral constituency no. 2 representing UML, was killed when a passenger bus numbered Ba 1 Kha 6465 hit the motorcycle numbered Ba 38 Pa 9109 he was riding in Kaushaltar, Saturday night.

Kathmandu,26 Dec- The government has commenced the distribution of Machine Readable Passports (MRP)s on Sunday.Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala embarked on the distribution officially by providing diplomatic MRPs to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subash Chandra Nembang, and Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha amid a programme organised at the prime minister’s residence in the Capital today.

Former Crown Prince Paras Shah opened fire at son-in-law of foreign minister Sujata Koirala, Rubel Chaudhary, at Tiger Tops Resort in Chitwan National Park over a personal dispute Saturday night, reports say.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has sought clarification from five financial institutions including a development bank for not following the NRB directives asking them to explain why their licenses should not be annulled, Nagarik daily reported.

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order in the name of the District Attorney's Office, Achham to file cases against all accused of raping Suntali Dhami at the District Police Office, Achham during Dashain festival last year.   The District Police Office, the District Administration Office and the District Attorney's Office had exempted three accused - Dan Singh Bhandari, Biradatta Badu, Nariman Mahatara – citing lack of evidence.   Hearing on a case filed at the SC by the victim, Suntali Dhami, a joint bench of SC Justices Balram KC and Bharatraj Uprety said on Wednesday, the complaint of the victim itself is evidence enough to file a case against the accused in incidents of such nature.   The SC bench further said, the exemption on the accused would be denial of justice to the victim.   Cases have already been filed against three other accused policemen.

Newly appointed coordinator of the secretariat formed by Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) to manage and monitor arms and former combatants staying in various cantonments across the country, Balananda Sharma, has prepared an action plan to take over the management and monitoring of the cantonments before United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) wraps up its operation in Nepal.   Sharma called a meeting of the secretariat Wednesday, one day after his appointment as coordinator, and presented his plan before the secretariat members and also apprised chief secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire and Acting Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar about the logistic and manpower requirements.     According to the plan presented by Sharma, a central Operation and Situation Centre and a security mechanism in each camp will monitor the former combatants and the arms, while a central Administration Section with representation in each camp will look after the monitoring.   At present, the Joi...