Thursday, February 7, 2013

UCPN-M is anti federalist party: Lekhi


KAILALI: Chairman of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), Raj Kumar Lekhi said the Unified CPN-Maoist was an anti-federalist force.

Speaking at a press conference organised here today, he said the UCPN-Maoist leaders have talked about federalism superficially just to deceive the general public but in reality, they do not want federalism in the country.

He said the UCPN-Maoist leaders are just gossiping about many things and cheating the Nepali people. The UCPN-Maoist leaders have been in fact betraying the nation and its people.

NEFIN Chairman Lekhi said, "NEFIN is against ‘One Madhesh, One Province’, and one Tharuhat province as well.”

"It is good to make multi-states addressing the rights of the indigenous nationalities and backward people, " he added.

President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, and major four political parties including the UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML did not want the fresh Constituent Assembly elections, he said, blaming that President Dr. Yadav and Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai both have been caretaker, now.

In a different note, he said life threat to Gopal Budhathoki, the editor of Sanghu Weekly, was an anti-press freedom act and demanded that the person who threatened Budhathoki be brought to book.

Nepali rupee gains over Rs 2 against dollar


KATHMANDU, FEB 07 -

The US dollar has become cheaper against the Nepali currency, consistently over the last one month.  The value of US dollar has come down by Rs 2.62 in the last 25 days, coming down from Rs 87.90 on January 14, to Rs 85.28 on Thursday as fixed by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Pegged with the Indian currency (IC), the value of the Nepali currency against the US dollar fluctuates in line with the movement of IC. On Wednesday, the US dollar was at its weakest against IC in the last three and half months as the greenback dipping to IRs 53.15.

The fluctuation in the value of US dollar has affected gold price heavily in the domestic market. The price of gold has been cheaper by Rs 300 per 10gm. On Wednesday, gold traders fixed the price of gold at Rs 48,100 per 10 gram, coming down by Rs 300 compared to the price on Tuesday.

With the wedding season on fullswing, the downfall in gold price has provided relief to the general public. The gold price had surged until a few days ago following the hike in customs duty on gold by Rs 700 per 10gam.

As the decline in the value of US dollar also reduces price of crude oil in the international market, it will help Nepal Oil Corporation to reduce its loss. With the dollar losing its strength, it will also reduce the price of imported goods, particularly those goods imported from third countries other than India. It also augurs well for foreign loan payment as the country should pay less whenever the domestic currency becomes stronger against the dollar.

Weakening of the dollar, however, may affect the remittance inflow as beneficiaries here get little in Nepali currency terms.

Smoker Canadian family cause flight to be diverted


A flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia to the Dominican Republic was diverted to Bermuda after a family of four were found smoking in the washroom.
The Sunwing flight was travelling from Halifax to Punta Cana Friday evening. According to police in Bermuda, a passenger informed a flight attendant that people were smoking in one of the aircraft's washrooms.
Dave Shellington, a passenger on the plane, is quoted by Bernews as saying, "They were smoking in the plane's washroom and when they came out they got into a bit of an argument with the attendants, they could not say where they put their cigarette butts and that caused a bit of a commotion. From there it kind of escalated..."
The people smoking in the washroom turned out to be a family of four; a mother, father and two sons, 16 and 22. All except the 16-year-old became verbally abusive and refused to extinguish their cigarettes. When incidents like this occur, safety regulations require the pilot to land at the nearest airport. The plane touched down in Bermuda around 9 p.m.
Daryl McWilliams, the vice-president of media relations for Sunwing, was quoted by CBC as saying, "I can't believe that passengers did this. I'll bet you it's been 20 years since smoking was allowed on aircraft."
After the plane touched down, the family was removed from the plane by police and the three uncooperative members of the family were taken into custody. They were later released on bail but their travel documents were confiscated.
Members of the family refused to tell the airlines whether there were cigarettes on board and what they did with the butts. As a result of this, the airline flew a mechanic to Bermuda to check out the plane. But by the time the aircraft had been examined and cleared, the flight crew had exceeded their maximum allowed working time. They needed a minimum of 12 hours off.
Around 2 a.m. the remaining 170 passengers were allowed to leave the aircraft and taken to Bermuda hotels to spend the night. The plane took off for the Dominican Republic later on Saturday.
In addition to the cost of diverting to Bermuda, flying the mechanic down and putting the passengers and crew in a hotel for the night, Sunwing is also on the hook for paying for the night the passengers paid for and missed in Punta Cana.
The National Post reports Sunwing has yet to decide whether the airline will attempt to recoup the costs from the family.
The 54-year-old man, 52-year-old woman and their 22-year-old son are expected to appear in a Bermuda court today. It is not known how they will leave Bermuda but according to McWilliams, they will never fly with Sunwing again.


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/342780#ixzz2KDCFymaR