Government in process of materializing constitution implementation – PM Prachanda

Government in process of materializing constitution implementation – PM Prachanda


Kathmandu, Feb 28: Ambassadors of China and India to Nepal, Ms Yu Hong and Mr Ranjit Rae, respectively called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', separately, this morning.

     Matters of bilateral interest and mutual concern were discussed during the call on at the Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar, according to the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

     In the meeting with the Chinese ambassador, PM Prachanda expressed that the expansion of connectivity between the two countries, infrastructure development and the implementation of the past agreements were moving ahead effectively.

     Stating that the government was in the process of materializing the constitution implementation by holding the local level election, PM Prachanda expressed the confidence that China would extend positive cooperation to this. He also believed that the development programmes would be moved forward under the 'One Belt One Road' initiative.

     Chinese ambassador Yu observed that the political and constitution implementation process in Nepal was moving ahead on a positive direction, and China always had goodwill on this. She also expressed the confidence that Nepal's infrastructure development was moving ahead positively and would take on added impetus in the days ahead.

Ambassador Rae had paid a formal call on PM Dahal. He is returning home after completing his tenure.  

In the meeting PM Dahal thanked ambassador Rae saying his role during his tenure in Nepal was effective and balanced. He further hoped that the bilateral ties between the two countries would be further strengthened in the days ahead. 

PM's press advisor Govinda Acharya shared that PM Dahal noted that high level bilateral visit made during Rae's tenure and developmental projects run with the support of India being speeded up were due to Rae's efforts.   

Similarly, Ambassador Rae also thanked the Government of Nepal and Nepalese for he received positive support while working in Nepal.  RSS

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Big award ceremony mistakes

Big award ceremony mistakes


 

PARIS, Feb 27, 2017 (AFP) - The Oscar mix-up that saw "La La Land" mistakenly named as Best Picture before "Moonlight" took the award might be the biggest such blunder, but it is by no means the first.

Here is a rundown of awards slip-ups:

- Oscars 2017 -

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced Sunday that "La La Land" had won Best Picture, at the climax of the 2017 Academy Awards ceremony. But as the film's crew gave their acceptance speeches, they realised the mistake and announced that "Moonlight" had actually won, prompting Beatty to mumble apologies.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm responsible for tabulating Oscar ballots, apologised, saying that Beatty and Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope.

- Miss Universe crowns wrong beauty queen -

In December 2015, the host of the Miss Universe pageant, comedian Steve Harvey, misread his cue card and announced that Miss Colombia had won, before apologising and correcting to Miss Philippines.

The event was live in Las Vegas before millions of viewers around the world.

Half-laughing, half-sobbing with emotion, Ariadna Gutierrez was fleetingly crowned and congratulated, but as she cradled a huge bouquet of flowers and blew kisses to the crowd, Harvey owned up to his blunder. "OK folks, I have to apologise. The first runner up is Colombia," he said.

"Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines," Harvey added as the music picked up again, with Wurtzbach looking stunned and mouthing "What?"

- Oscars 2014 -

In a prequel to Sunday's flub, actor John Travolta got it wrong when he was called on to announce the 2014 Oscar for Best Original Song, which was "Let It Go", sung by Idina Menzel for the animated film "Frozen". Travolta mangled Menzel's name and asked the audience to applaud "Adela Dazeem".

- Australia's Next Next Top Model -

In September 2010 Australia's Next Top Model award was announced as Kelsey Martinovich, before presenter Sarah Murdoch had to go back and announce that the winner was in fact Amanda Ware.

The two finalists had already made their winner's and loser's speeches when Murdoch, daughter-in-law of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, revealed the mix-up.

"Oh my God, I don't know what to say right now. I'm feeling a bit sick about this," Murdoch said. "This is what happens on live TV, folks. This is insane, insane, insane."

A bewildered Ware, 18, finally accepted the award and made a brief victory sashay down the catwalk, as 19-year-old Martinovich took the bizarre defeat gracefully.

Broadcaster Foxtel blamed the error on a "miscommunication" between backstage operators, and offered Martinovich a cash gift and a trip to New York as compensation.

- NRJ music mix-up -

French radio station NRJ messed up two years in a row, starting in 2009 when US singer Katy Perry accepted the station's best international song award. Seconds before the show ended, the presenter announced that the award was in fact meant for Rihanna.

In 2010, The Black Eyed Peas were named best international group of the year, a mistake corrected just a few minutes later when the German group Tokio Hotel got the nod.

Amendment process will conclude soon: Thapa

Amendment process will conclude soon: Thapa


Baglung, Feb 27: CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Ram Bahadur Thapa on Sunday said the constitution amendment process would soon reach a conclusion.

Speaking at a press meet organized by Press Centre Nepal Burtiwang Unit Baglung, Thapa claimed that the process would further advance in the upcoming parliamentary session.

He added that the process was moving forward with support of the main opposition party, which has been steadfastly opposing the constitution amendment proposal. "UML also has agreed to bring the amendment proposal into a process," Thapa said, adding "All the parties seem to be ready to address the Madhes issue albeit minimally."

Leader Thapa stressed on need for a positive role from all the parties and civil society to make the elections announced by the government a 'success'. He urged the Madhes-based parties to be responsible as there were no other options than to participate in the elections.

He was of the opinion that all the parties have agreed in principle to settle the dispute dogging the provincial border demarcation through a federal commission. RSS

VITOF honours three for promoting village tourism

VITOF honours three for promoting village tourism


Pokhara, Feb 27: Village Tourism Promotion Forum Nepal (VITOF) Pokhara Chapter on Sunday honoured three individuals committed to promoting village tourism.

Nepal Tourism Board CEO, Deepak Raj Joshi and VITOF – Pokhara Chairman Taranath Pahari conferred the 'Excellent Leadership Award' along with appreciation letters and shawls to tourism coordinator based at Sirubari of Syangja, Jum Gurung, Tourism Committee Chairman of Ghalegaun Lamjung, Prem Ghale and Parbat District's Chitre Community Homestay Chairperson, Sushila Devi Gurung.

Joshi took the occasion to share his view that Nepal held enough possibilities in rural tourism. He hailed the contribution of late Captain Rudraman Gurung to start rural tourism in the country as 'extremely important'.

The NTB Chief also spoke of plans to launch Rural Tourism Mart in the second week of April in Pokhara in coordination with VITOF for promoting rural tourism.

VITOF Pokhara Chairman Pahari recalled Capt Rudraman Gurung's exploits in spearheading the launch of homestay in Sirubari and in advancing the concept of rural tourism and homestay.

VITOF Pokhara on the same day announced two journalism awards in memory of Rudraman. The 'Rudraman Memorial Tourism Journalism Award' will be conferred on two journalists of the western region including Pokhara during the VITOF annual general assembly. The award carries a purse of Rs 11,111 each. RSS

Thousands protest in Manila as Duterte jails top critic

Thousands protest in Manila as Duterte jails top critic


MANILA, Feb 25, (AFP) - Ex-Philippine leader Benigno Aquino joined thousands of people on the streets of Manila Saturday as protests broke out against President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs.

Demonstrators amassed near the national police headquarters, with some warning the Duterte crackdown foreshadowed a repeat of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, which was toppled in a bloodless "People Power" revolution 31 years ago.

"We are taking the matter seriously. We are warning our people about the threat of rising fascism," protest leader Bonifacio Ilagan told AFP after leading more than 1,000 protesters at a morning rally.

Ilagan, a playwright who was tortured over two years in a police prison under Marcos' martial rule in the 1970s, cited the "culture of impunity" arising from Duterte's crackdown.

Duterte, 71, won the presidential election last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

He launched the crackdown after taking office in June and police have reported killing 2,555 drug suspects since then, with about 4,000 other people murdered in unexplained circumstances.

He has not ruled out using martial law to prevent what he describes as the country's slide to narco-state status.

Duterte, who ranks Marcos as one of the country's best-ever presidents, last year allowed the Marcos family to bury the former leader's remains at Manila's Cemetery for Heroes, leading to large street protests.

Wearing a black shirt Duterte's predecessor Aquino marched alongside political allies and around 2,000 other protesters.

Aquino denounced the government's treatment of Senator Leila de Lima, the top critic of the Duterte drug war, who was arrested on Friday and faces life in prison if convicted of drugs charges.

De Lima, Aquino's former justice minister, said the arrest was an act of revenge for her decade-long efforts to expose Duterte as the leader of death squads during his time as mayor of the southern city of Davao.

 'Yes to peace'

Aquino on Saturday also rejected allegations by Duterte spokesmen that people associated with the previous government were plotting to destabilise the new administration.

"How can we be causing destabilisation when we are actually offering to help," Aquino said.

At one point, tempers rose as several protesters confronted a dozen young people who raised clenched fists while holding up a pro-Duterte banner nearby.

"Why did you sell your soul?" a white-haired man in a black shirt said, jabbing his finger at one of the Duterte supporters and telling him the president was "responsible" for drug-related murders.

"They (deaths) are still being investigated," the young man replied calmly.

Television footage showed police hosing down a group of at least 100 people protesting the drug killings, though no one was seriously injured.

In a separate demonstration Saturday, around 150 anti-Marcos protesters chanting "Exhume him" marched on the cemetery where he is buried, but riot police stopped them near the gate, an AFP photographer saw.

Hundreds of Duterte supporters began gathering at a park across the city on Saturday for a planned overnight vigil to demonstrate public backing for Duterte's drug crackdown.

"Yes to peace, no to destabilisation," one of their banners read.

Another banner identified its owners as "Friends of Bongbong Marcos", the dictator's son Ferdinand Jnr.

Seven killed as three suicide bombers attack Pakistan court

Seven killed as three suicide bombers attack Pakistan court


TANGI, Pakistan, Feb 21, 2017 (AFP) - At least seven people were killed when multiple Taliban suicide bombers attacked a court complex in northern Pakistan Tuesday, the latest in a series of assaults which have raised fears militants are regrouping.

     One bomber was briefly on the loose inside the busy complex in the Tangi area of Charsadda district but was killed by police some 20 minutes after the attack began, officials said.

     A second bomber was shot dead by security forces and a third died when he detonated his vest outside the main gates of the facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to police.

     The attack was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) faction of the Pakistani Taliban, which carried out a series of apparently coordinated assaults last week including a powerful bomb blast in Lahore which killed 14 people.

     Earlier this month the group vowed a fresh offensive on targets in Pakistan including the judiciary.

     "So far seven people have been killed and 15 wounded," Suhail Khalid, district police chief, told AFP, adding that a lawyer was among the dead.

     Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office condemned the latest assault.

     "We are a steadfast nation and will not be deterred by such attacks. Our government will continue to fight against terrorist elements and we will succeed," a statement said.

- Bloodstained books -

     The three attackers had opened fire on police and thrown grenades as they tried to battle their way into the complex, Khalid said.

     "Bomb disposal experts told us that each bomber was wearing seven to eight kilogrammes of explosives," he told reporters.

     Hundreds of people including lawyers, judges and citizens normally attend the court complex.

     An AFP reporter at the scene said the area was littered with human remains, while a pile of law books stained with blood and riddled with bullets lay strewn outside an office.

     Police scoured the area for evidence as military helicopters whirred overhead. An old man whose four-year-old grandson died in the attack wept.

     Another man who witnessed the attack, Muhammad Hussain, said he was about to enter the complex when he heard the blast.

     "When I looked up I saw three armed men, hurling grenades and opening fire," said the 35-year-old civil servant, adding he sought shelter in a nearby police barracks from where he heard the gunbattle.

     "This continued for some minutes and then I heard another big bang. Some minutes after a policemen told me that it's all over."

     Lawyers and the judiciary are frequent targets in Pakistan. Among last week's assaults was a bomb blast targeting a van carrying judges in Peshawar, which killed their driver.

     Last August JuA along with the Islamic State group claimed a suicide bombing in Quetta that killed 73 people, including many of the southwestern city's legal community.

     Police and troops had been on high alert in Pakistan after last week's wave of attacks, which killed more than 100 people.

     Most, including the Lahore bomb, were claimed by JuA, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or Pakistani Taliban) group.

     But the Islamic State group claimed the deadliest of last week's assaults, a suicide bomb at a Sufi shrine in Sindh province on Thursday which killed 90 people and wounded hundreds.

     The emergence of IS and a TTP resurgence would be a major blow to Pakistan, which had enjoyed a dramatic improvement in security over the past two years after a military-led crackdown begun in 2014.

     Islamabad launched a violent crackdown in the wake of the recent attacks, saying it killed dozens of "terrorists" and carried out strikes on militant hideouts along the border with Afghanistan. Hundreds of families have been displaced by the firing on both sides of the border, according to officials.

     Last August JuA along with the Islamic State group claimed a suicide bombing in Quetta that killed 73 people, including many of the southwestern city's legal community.

TIA Health Desk to be hugely modified

TIA Health Desk to be hugely modified


(Kalpana Poudel)

Kathmandu, Feb 15: An international-standard 'health desk' that was established within Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) following an outbreak of the Ebola virus in African countries is to be repaired and modified. The Gorkha Earthquake in April 2015 inflicted damages to medical equipment meant for the desk.

The World Health Organisation is to provide monetary aid of Rs 3.5 million to the Epidemiology and   Disease Control Division under the Department of Health to upgrade the TIA health desk.

The desk was set up targeting foreign air passengers entering the country via TIA in the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic in the Africa.

The desk was established by the government bearing in mind the risk of the probability of its infection in the country from tourists mainly from the affected countries. 

 

Division's Director Dr Bheem Acharya said the Department decided to mend the desk with the realization that the TIA health desk must be effective. Acharya said the TIA health desk will render services in a largely modified form and the delivery of quality services will be focused.

A thermal scanner camera installed at the entry zone targeting passengers was also damaged by the earthquake. This camera casts a focus on forehead of the passengers arriving from abroad and measures their body temperature.  If body temperature of any passenger is above the normal range, he/she will be called to the desk for further consultations and checkup.

Five health professionals including the health assistant, senior auxiliary health worker and a health assistant have been deputed around the clock to handle the desk. To date, the District Public Health Office, Kathmandu mobilizes staff on a rotational basis to run the desk.    But Director Acharya now sees the need of creating separate government posts to look after the desk.

Such types of desk has been set up along the Nepal-India border points in Kakarvitta of Jhapa, in Biratnagar (Rani customs office), Rasuwagadi, Kanchanpur (Gaddachauki), Bhairahawa (Belahiya) and  Nepalgunj (Jamunaha). RSS

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Construction of traffic barriers picking up pace in three hilly districts

Construction of traffic barriers picking up pace in three hilly districts


Baitadi, Feb 14: Construction of concrete traffic barriers along the main highways is picking up the pace in three far western hilly districts Baitadi, Darchula and Bajhang, with almost 50 percent of the construction completed, the contractor said.

Places where the construction is ongoing include Jaya Prithivi Highway, Satabajh Jhulaghat stretch under Dasharath Chand Highway, Satabajh-Jhulaghat road section under Dasharath Chand Highway, 26.5 kilometer of Satabajh-Khalanga under Mahakali Highway.

With funds worth approximately Rs 200 million by the World Bank, the project is a part of the security plan launched by the foreign branch of the Division of Roads and Traffic Police.

The contract has been awarded to Gauri, Parbati Surya JV Construction while started from 2072 B.S., the project aims to complete by the end of the fiscal year 2074 B.S.

Constructing concrete barriers along 11.45 kilometers of the total 106 kilometers Khodpe-Bajhang road has been completed, said a supervising consultant Pankaj Chand.

Likewise, the construction on 4.7 kilometers of the total 37 kilometers Satabajh-Jhulaghat road and on 10.3 kilometers of the total 126 kilometers Satabajh-Gokuleshwor road is on, Chand said. 

The motive of the construction is to control road accidents especially in the hilly areas where many roads are narrow with many twists, said Chand.

Likewise, a driver Dharma Nanda Joshi also lauds the move as a means to control road accidents. With the roads guarded by barriers, drivers can drive confidently and cautiously, he said. RSS (Photo available)

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IT and Mobile Fest in Pokhara from Thursday

IT and Mobile Fest in Pokhara from Thursday


Pokhara, Feb 14: Federation of Computer Association Nepal – Kaski and Pokhara Electronics Entrepreneurs Association are jointly organizing the 8th Information technology and Mobile Fest in Pokhara beginning this Thursday.

The festival to be held until February 19 aims to inform the public on the latest technologies in information and communication sector to enter Nepal, Association – Kaski Secretary, Bishwas Bhandari said on Monday.

IT conference will be held during the event which will also host an extensive exhibition on technology, regional level typing competition, quiz contest, cost-free maintenance and repair of computers and mobile phones, and an exhibition of the local products related to IT.  

The festival will present 125 stalls for the visitors and mobile phones of 25 varying brands will be put on sale with five to 50 % discount on offer. RSS

Two brothers killed after falling off cliff

Two brothers killed after falling off cliff


Baitadi, Feb 14: Two brothers were killed after falling off a cliff here at Ganjari on Monday.

The deceased have been identified as Kare Dhami, 40 and his brother Pare Dhami, 30, of Ganjari – 2, local Basanta Bista said. The two brothers were heading home from Dudilakhan Bazaar in the evening when they slipped off the Bhanu cliff. Both reportedly died on the spot.

The younger brother also fell from the cliff while trying to save his elder. District Police Office, Baitadi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Heramba Sharma, said a police team has been dispatched to the incident site, which is located at a distance of a day's walk from the district headquarters. RSS

Displaced villagers take out demonstration

Displaced villagers take out demonstration


Bhimdattanagar, Feb 13: The locals displaced during the Shuklaphanta National Park expansion drive on Sunday took out a demonstration at Bhimdattanagar of Kanchanpur.

The locals demonstrated in front of the office of a task force formed for land acquisition in the national park area and for providing land compensation to those affected.

Shuklaphanta National Park Chief Conservation Officer, Ved Kumar Dhakal, said the displaced villagers have opposed the commission report that updates information on 1480 families.

In line with the commission report, the taskforce was preparing to provide land compensation and economic relief after investigating the documents of the displaced families. According to the displaced families there are 2473 families affected by the land acquisition and that the government should address them all.

"We have been demanding that each family be given 10 katha of land as compensation," said Madan Pant, a displaced person. "We do not agree on five katha land and Rs 500, 000 as relief," he added.

During the expansion drive in 2002 (2058) BS, the government had provided 10 katha land per family displaced in the process. The taskforce has established a liaison office at Bhimdattanagar for filling the data form for an update. The taskforce has even set up a time window from February 12 to April 15 for the displaced locals to update their information. RSS

Swiss back new citizenship rules in defeat for rightwing

Swiss back new citizenship rules in defeat for rightwing


GENEVA, Feb 12, 2017 (AFP) - Swiss voters on Sunday approved a measure to make it easier for third-generation immigrants to become citizens, crushing rightwing nationalists who had stoked fears about granting nationality to more Muslims.

The "Yes" camp met the two criteria for a win by securing a majority of total votes and a majority of Switzerland's 26 cantons, the public broadcaster RTS and national news agency ATS said.

Fifty-nine percent voted "Yes," according to provisional figures given by the polling institute gfs.bern, and at least 14 cantons were in favour, according to official results.

The government as well as most lawmakers and political parties supported the proposal.

Under it, the grandchildren of immigrants will be able to skip several steps in the lengthy process of securing a Swiss passport.

But the rightwing Swiss Peoples Party (SVP), the largest party in Switzerland's parliament, fought against it by putting issues of Islam and national identity at the centre of the debate.

Reacting to the defeat, SVP lawmaker Jean-Luc Addor said his side was "alone against everyone in this campaign".

"The problem of Islam, I'm afraid, it will catch up with us in a few years," he told RTS.

According to a migration department study, less than 25,000 people in the country of about eight million currently qualify as third-generation immigrants, a definition meaning they have at least one grandparent who was born here or acquired Swiss residency.

Nearly 60 percent of that group are Italians, followed by those with origins in the Balkans and Turkish nationals.

Debate on the proposal had nothing to do with religion at the outset, said Sophie Guignard of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern.

It was the SVP, a party repeatedly accused of demonising Islam, that focused on the risks of more Muslims becoming citizens and the possible "loss of Swiss values", Guignard told AFP.

Sunday's referendum is one of four each year for voting on subjects affecting federal as well as local laws and institutions.

- Poster controversy -

The "No2 camp faced heavy criticism over a widely-distributed poster showing a woman staring out from a black niqab with a tagline urging voters to reject "uncontrolled citizenship".

The SVP is not officially responsible for the poster.

It was commissioned by the Committee Against Facilitated Citizenship, which has several SVP members and was co-chaired by Addor.

Guignard said mainstream politicians and journalists viewed the poster as "a violent attack against Muslims".

Addor defended it again on Sunday by saying its intent was to "affirm the identity of this country and the need to preserve it."

Political initiatives that either directly or implicitly target Muslims may be on the rise in the West, notably including US President Donald Trump's travel ban against seven mainly Muslim countries, which has now been rejected by two US federal courts.

The SVP in 2009 successfully persuaded Swiss voters to approve a ban on new mosque minaret construction, while religiously-charged messages have been a part of multiple referendums on immigration since.

Germany elects 'anti-Trump' Steinmeier as new president

Germany elects 'anti-Trump' Steinmeier as new president


BERLIN, Feb 12, 2017 (AFP) - Billed as Germany's "anti-Trump", centre-left former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Sunday as the new ceremonial head of state.

The 61-year-old, who regularly polls as Germany's most popular politician, will represent the EU's top economy abroad and act as a kind of moral arbiter for the nation.

His Social Democrats (SPD) hope the appointment will boost their fortunes just as their candidate Martin Schulz, the former European parliament president, readies to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in September elections.

Steinmeier received 931 of 1,239 valid votes after Merkel's conservatives, lacking a strong candidate of their own, agreed to back him to replace incumbent Joachim Gauck, 77, a former pastor from ex-communist East Germany.

The vote was held in Berlin's glass-domed Reichstag building by a special Federal Assembly, made up of national lawmakers and electors sent from Germany's 16 states -- among them deputies but also artists, writers, musicians and national football coach Joachim Loew.

With his snowy white hair, round glasses and dimpled smile, Steinmeier is one of Germany's best-known politicians, having twice served as top diplomat under Merkel for a total of seven years.

Though the trained lawyer is usually measured in his speech, in the thick of last year's US election campaign Steinmeier labelled Donald Trump a "hate preacher".

After the billionaire won the White House, Steinmeier predicted relations would get "more difficult" and said his staff were struggling to detect any "clear and coherent" foreign policy positions from Trump.

- 'Antidote to populists' -

As Steinmeier has prepared for the new post, which he assumes on March 19, he has vowed to serve as a "counterweight to the trend of boundless simplification", calling this approach "the best antidote to the populists".

The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper judged that Steinmeier looks set to be "the anti-Trump president".

Steinmeier is only known to have lost his cool once, in 2014, when he yelled at Berlin protesters who had accused him of being a "warmonger" over his Ukraine policy. The outburst was so unusual it became a minor YouTube hit.

A policy wonk by nature, Steinmeier served as advisor and then chief of staff to Merkel's predecessor, the SPD's Gerhard Schroeder.

In 2009, Steinmeier ran against Merkel and lost badly, only to return years later to serve in her cabinet.

Political scientist Michael Broening of the SPD's think-tank the Friedrich Ebert Foundation said that "as foreign minister, Steinmeier often acted as a voice of reason, bridging gaps and bringing people together".

"It is hardly surprising that Steinmeier has branded himself as the essential anti-Trump," he added.

Steinmeier is well known in the world's capitals, but his appointment worries some in eastern Europe, who see him as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He raised eyebrows with NATO partners last year when he criticised a military exercise in Poland as "sabre rattling".

- 'Changed equation' -

Having Steinmeier move into the presidential Bellevue Castle in Berlin has emboldened the SPD.

After years in the shadow of Merkel, the Social Democrats are smelling blood as the chancellor faces deep divisions within her own conservative camp, and the rise of the hard-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) after opening German borders to a million asylum-seekers since 2015.

Since Schulz took over the candidacy in late January, the SPD has risen sharply in the opinion polls.

It scored 32 percent -- its highest in a decade and only one point behind Merkel's conservatives -- in an Emnid poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which asked in a headline: "Is this the beginning of the end of the Merkel era?"

The election may still be more than seven months away, but the SPD finally hopes to have a realistic shot at toppling Merkel.

"For Germany's Social Democrats, Steinmeier's election is a prelude to something bigger to come: a victory in September's elections against Merkel," said Broening.

"While this seemed impossible only a few days ago, the recent rise in polls has changed the equation."

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Child labourers found in Ilam's hotels and restaurants

Child labourers found in Ilam's hotels and restaurants


Ilam, Feb 13: As many as 17 child workers were found to have been forced into labour at more than six dozen restaurants and hotels in Ilam downtown.

An inspection carried out in coordination of District Child Welfare Committee at 79 hotels and restaurants unveiled a better truth of 15 children between 14 to 18 years of age being used for manual labour, assistant Chief District Officer, Sujan Phagole said.

He added that two children below 14 years of age were also found during the inspection. The law bars the use of children below 14 years of age in manual work. The team found out that the two children were living at their relatives' residences and had been attending school. Of the 15 other children, seven are boys and the rest girls.

Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2056 stipulates as crime the use of children below 14 years of age in manual work. RSS

Aftershocks rock Philippines quake city

Aftershocks rock Philippines quake city


SURIGAO, Philippines, Feb. 12 : (AFP) - Thousands of residents of a city in the southern Philippines huddled on the streets Sunday, two days after a deadly quake, as aftershocks continued to hit the region.

The 6.5-magnitude quake struck Surigao and nearby areas of Mindanao island late Friday, killing six people and injuring more than 200 others, with more than a thousand homes destroyed or damaged, according to officials.

People who had fled their damaged homes wrapped themselves in blankets and sacks for a second night as they slept side by side on the pavement on Saturday, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The state seismology office in Manila said it had recorded 130 weaker quakes in Surigao, a city of 152,000 people, and in the predominantly agricultural region around it since the quake struck.

However authorities said there were no reports of further casualties or damage. Early on Sunday, long lines of people carrying pails and jugs queued for water rations supplied by fire trucks after the quake cut off tap water supply.

"We're still being hit by aftershocks, and as of now we do not have tap water supply. The people are suffering," provincial information officer Mary Escalante told ABS-CBN television in an interview.

"Buildings that suffered structural damage have been closed," she said, adding some schools and gyms that were meant to serve as evacuation centres were among those damaged by the quake.

The quake also damaged bridges and roads and knocked out the power supply, though electricity was restored in most of Surigao on Saturday. President Rodrigo Duterte was scheduled to visit the city on Sunday to inspect the damage and lead the relief effort, officials said.

An average of five earthquakes, most of them undetectable except through instruments, hit daily across the Philippines, which lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. The last lethal quake that hit the country measured 7.1-magnitude. It left over 220 people dead and destroyed historic churches when it struck the central islands in October 2013.

The Kunduz province and neighboring Baghlan and Takhar provinces have been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple of months as Taliban has been trying to challenge the government forces in the once relatively peaceful region.

UN chief appoint new envoy to Libya

UN chief appoint new envoy to Libya


TRIPOLI, Feb. 12 : (Xinhua) -- The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on Saturday has appointed the Palestinian diplomat Salam Fayyad as the new UN special envoy to Libya and the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya.

The United States, however, objected to the choice of Fayyad, saying that the United States was "disappointed to see a letter indicating the intention to appoint the former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister to lead the UN Mission in Libya."

"For too long the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel," Haley said Friday.

The U.S. objection to the appointment was condemned by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. According to the organization member Hanan Ashrawi, the U.S. objection was "unconscionable."

"We hope that saner voices will prevail and that the U.S. will take back this irrational and discriminatory decision immediately and not deprive the UN of such a highly qualified individual," Ashrawi said in a statement.

Fayyad, 64, was a prime minister of the Palestinian authority from 2007 until 2013. He is also a former finance minister.

Fayyad was appointed to replace the German diplomat Martin Kobler, who has served as the UN special envoy to Libya and the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya since November 2015.

Kobler sponsored peace dialogue sessions between Libya's political rivals for over a year in order to end the state of political division in the country. Eventually, a peace agreement was signed by the rivals and a new government of national accord was appointed. However, the country still suffers political crisis despite the signed agreement.

N. Korea fires ballistic missile: Seoul defence ministry

N. Korea fires ballistic missile: Seoul defence ministry


SEOUL, Feb. 12 : (AFP) - North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Sunday, drawing a strong rebuke from US President Donald Trump who vowed "100 percent" support for key ally Japan at a press conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The missile, the first test since Trump became president, was launched around 7:55 am (2255 GMT Saturday) from Banghyon air base in the western province of North Pyongan, and flew east towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the South Korean defence ministry said.

It flew about 500 kilometres (310 miles) before falling into the sea, a ministry spokesman said, adding the exact type of missile had yet to be identified.

"Today's missile launch... is aimed at drawing global attention to the North by boasting its nuclear and missile capabilities", the ministry said in a statement. "It is also believed that it was an armed provocation to test the response from the new US administration under President Trump," it added.

Trump responded with an assurance to visiting Japanese Prime Minister Abe that Washington was committed to the security of its key Asian ally. "I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent," Trump said, without elaborating further.

Abe denounced the launch as "absolutely intolerable" while top government spokesman Yoshihide Suge told reporters in Tokyo that it was "clearly a provocation to Japan and the region".

North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology but six sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang's first nuclear test in 2006 have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.

- 'Clear provocation' -

Last year the country conducted numerous tests and launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland. A South Korean army official quoted by Yonhap news agency ruled out the possibility of a long-range missile test, describing the device as an upgraded version of the North's short-range Rodong missile.

Seoul-based academic Yang Moo-Jin said the latest test was "a celebratory launch" to mark the February 16 birthday of Kim Jong-Il, former ruler and father of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un.

Pyongyang often celebrates key anniversaries involving current and former leaders with missile launches, Yang, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.

South Korea's acting president Hwang Gyo-Ahn vowed a "corresponding punishment" in response to the launch, which came on the heels of a visit to Seoul by new US Defense Secretary James Mattis last week.

Mattis had warned Pyongyang that any nuclear attack would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response. In January leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that Pyongyang was in the "final stages" of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in an apparent attempt to pressure the incoming US president. Trump shot back on Twitter, saying "It won't happen."

James Char, senior analyst at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the launch was Pyongyang's "way of showing characteristic defiance against... Trump".

- Test for Trump -

Washington has repeatedly vowed that it will never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation and the latest launch poses a test for Trump, who will need the help of Beijing, Pyongyang's closest ally, to deal with the reclusive state.

Relations between the two superpowers have thawed in recent days after Trump reaffirmed Washington's "One China" policy in what he described as a "very warm" telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping.

The US leader pledged to honour a decades-old position that effectively acknowledges Taiwan is not separate from China -- a policy that Trump had suggested a few weeks ago he might jettison, angering Beijing.

"The recent Trump-Xi phone call would be considered an important platform from which the two powers will move forward," Char said. Analysts are divided over how close Pyongyang is to realising its full nuclear ambitions, especially as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM.But all agree it has made enormous strides in that direction since Kim took over after the death of his father in December 2011.

Shopkeeper arrested for selling stale food

Shopkeeper arrested for selling stale food


Rajbiraj, Feb 10: A shopkeeper based in Rajbiraj was arrested on Thursday in accusation of black marketeering.

Police arrested Umesh Prasad Sah, owner of Aadarsha Sweet Centre located on the roadside at Rajbiraj Municipality – 3. The 42 – year – old shopkeeper was arrested for selling stale Samosa, a fried or baked dish with savoury filling, said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Daan Bahadur Karki.

The District Police Office, Rajbiraj received verbal complaints after people who consumed the Samosa from Sah's shop started falling ill.

The police responded quickly with a raid at the shop and found rotten and stale food items kept for sale. Police have sought an extension of Sah's custody to proceed forward with legal action. RSS

Kalikot locals demand completion of Lalighat – airport road stretch

Kalikot locals demand completion of Lalighat – airport road stretch

Kathmandu, Feb 10: The residents of Kalikot have presented Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak with a memorandum demanding immediate completion of the road linking Lalighat area to the district's airport.

The delegation led by Bhupendra Jung Shahi, a leader of Nepali Congress – Kalikot, demanded that the motorway from Lalighat to the airport be completed citing the flights to and from the airport were set to resume from Saturday.

The locals also pressed for construction of motorway in all 30 VDCs of the Kalikot district, prioritizing Dailekh – Kalikot – Jajarkot motorway and construction of a concrete bridge over the rivers.

The Minister responded to the memorandum by underlining government's high priority for Karnali region's development. Lekhak added that the Ministry would instruct the Road Department for completing the road construction at the earliest. RSS