We are close to consensus: Parties

KATHMANDU, MAR 01 - Top brass leaders of major political parties who went to the President's office in Sheetal Niwas Friday morning to hold discussion on forming an election government have claimed that they have inched closer to consensus.

Nepali Congress Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel and UCPN (Maoist) leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara made such claim following the meeting.

During the meeting, the leaders briefed President Ram Baran Yadav about the latest political developments and recent agreements made among the parties, sources said.

The top leaders on Thursday had agreed to finalise a package deal on forming an interim government under Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi before the first week of March.

The political parties have been making efforts to form an election government under the leadership of Chief Justice Khilraj Regmi before March 7.

Meanwhile, the case challenging the proposal to form a CJ-led government is currently under consideration in the Supreme Court.

The apex court on Sunday referred the case to a special bench that will sit on March 7.

The parties have been preparing to form the government prior to the scheduled hearing.

However, the leaders are yet to finalise the citizenship, voter's list, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, among other issues, put forth by Madhes-based parties.

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'Former crown prince improving gradually'

KATHMANDU, FEB 27 - The health condition of Former Crown Prince Paras Shah , who is currently undergoing treatment at the Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok after suffering from a major heart attack , is said to be improving gradually.

According to a press release published by Dr Parinya Kunawut of Samitivej Hospital on Wednesday it is said that some movements have been observed in his limbs. "His condition remains critical but stable. Some spontaneous movement of the limbs has been observed today. The blood pressure and heart rate are maintained without the need of medication," the statement reads.

Shah had been admitted to the hospital after he suffered a heart attack last Tuesday.

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11-year-old girl commits suicide

BIRATNAGAR: A girl committed suicide by consuming poison in Morang district on Monday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Himali Dahal (11) of Indrapur-7 at Birat Chowk in the district, according to the District Police Office, Morang.

She died while undergoing treatment at Koshi Zonal Hospital, said police.

Further investigation into the case is underway.

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Egypt hot air balloon crash kills 19 tourists

CAIRO: A hot air balloon crashed near the Egyptian town of Luxor on Tuesday, killing 19 tourists who were aboard, a spokesman for companies that operate balloon flights in the area told Reuters.

Spokesman Ahmed Aboud added that one tourist and the balloon pilot had survived the crash, which happened after a gas explosion at 1,000 feet. He said the tourists were from a variety of countries but did not immediately have information on their nationalities.

"There were 20 passengers aboard. An explosion happened and 19 passengers died. One tourist and the pilot survived," he said by telephone. Aboud is the representative of eight companies that operate balloons in Luxor.

The accident happened over the west bank of the Nile river. Hot air ballooning at dawn is popular with tourists who go to Luxor to visit its pharaonic temples and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings, including in Tutankhamen's.

Egypt's tourism industry has suffered a sharp downturn in visitor numbers since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, with two years of political instability scaring off foreign tourists.

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Bangkok Hospital docs requested to join Paras treatment

KESHAV P. KOIRALA
KATHMANDU: A team of doctors from the Bangkok Hospital has been requested to assist with the treatment of Nepal's former Crown Prince Paras Shah, the Samitivej Hospital said on Monday evening.

After suffering a massive cardiac arrest six days ago, the 42-year-old wayward royal is receiving treatment at the Sukhumvit-based Samitivej Hospital in a comatose state.

In a medical bulletin this evening, Dr. Kunchit Piyavechviratana, intensivist at the hospital, described Shah's condition as very critical but stable.

He informed that there has been no bleeding from the high profile patient's stomach over the last two days. Shah had developed internal bleeding from his stomach on Saturday.

The 42-year-old, who suffered a massive cardiac arrest on February 19, is admitted to the CCU of the hospital and has been kept at the ventilator life support. Dr. Piyavechviratana said Shah's blood pressure is maintained without the need of any medicine, suggesting that his blood pressure is in the satisfactory range.

Yesterday, the doctors attending Shah had reduced the medicines needed to maintain the blood pressure.

"The doctors from both hospitals agree with the present line of treatment," the doctor said.

Meanwhile, former King Gyanendra and Queen Komal are preparing to fly to Bangkok on Wednesday to see their ailing son. Other members of the royal family, including Paras Shah's wife Himani and sister Prerana, are already in the Thai capital.

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Banks rush to NRB for cash due to tight liquidity

KATHMANDU, FEB 25 -

A tight liquidity situation in the bank ing sector has prompted a number of bank s to obtain standing liquidity facility (SLF) from the central bank for the first time in a year. The SLF is a short-term cash injection by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) into bank s and financial institutions (BFIs) facing a short-term liquidity problem or mismatch.

NRB charges 8 percent interest on the SLF which is higher than the interest rate on the inter- bank lending and treasury bills. According to the central bank , the interest rate on inter- bank loans is more than 6 percent while the interest rate on treasury bills is above 4 percent.

“The first to obtain SLF was H&B Development Bank which has been hit hard by fraud committed by its employees,” said an NRB official. “Last week, Nabil Bank and the Bank of Asia also obtained the facility.”

H&B took Rs 1.59 billion under the SLF after it was nearly sunk by staff misconduct. “H&B is still continuing rollover of the SLF but on a smaller scale of Rs 247.9 million after repaying most of the amount,” said the NRB official.

Nabil took a total of Rs 5 billion on two occasions while the Bank of Asia received Rs 3 billion from the central bank , according to the NRB official. Meanwhile, Nabil’s chief executive officer Anil Gyawali said that Nabil didn’t take the SLF from the central bank because it was facing a liquidity tightness. “The money was taken in order to address the temporary mismatch in liquidity after major companies paid their income taxes to the government in mid-December,” he added. “We knocked on NRB’s door after liquidity was unavailable in the inter- bank market on the particular day we received the SLF.”

Although all the bank s are not facing a tightness in liquidity, a few of them are hard up due to sluggish deposit growth and a huge amount of money stuck in the government treasury as it has not been able to spend it, said the central bank .

The government has said that about Rs 45 billion remains unspent in its coffers. The central bank has asked a few bank s with a credit to deposit ratio (core capital plus credit to deposit) of more than 80 percent to submit a plan on how they are going to bring it down.

According to NRB, the credit to deposit ratio as per its directive remains at 75 percent in the bank ing system while the pure credit to deposit ratio stands at 80 percent. The central bank has barred BFIs from crossing the CD ratio of 80 percent.

However, a central bank official said that excess liquidity in the system had improved as of last Friday.

“There was excess liquidity of Rs 8 billion initially which went up to around Rs 12 billion on Friday,” said the central bank official. It is expected that a certain amount of excess liquidity is expected to remain in the bank ing system in order to address any shortfall.

After liquidity was found to be tight in the system, the government had provided Rs 5 billion to Rastriya Banijya Bank from the pension fund in order to ease the shortage.

“Although the government should not give the money meant for pension distribution immediately, we released the amount now to address the recent tightness in the liquidity situation,” said finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) had asked NRB to issue repo (injection of liquidity by purchasing treasury bills held by BFIs) after liquidity tightened. The central bank , however, does not want to issue repo immediately saying that it would first allow the market to solve the problem on its own.

However, NBA president Rajan Singh Bhandari said that the central bank ’s refusal to entertain the request would result in a rise in the interest rate on both deposit and credit. “Hiking the interest rate on loans is not a pleasant choice, but we will be forced to do so if NRB refuses to issue repo,” he added.

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CJ-led govt influenced by western forces: Gajurel

NEW DELHI, FEB 25 - CPN-Maoist Vice Chairman CP Gajurel said that western forces have had an influence over the current floating proposal to form an election government under the leadership of chief justice.

Addressing a program organised by the All India Nepal Ekta Manch at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on Monday, Gajurel said that the idea seems to have come through the European Union (EU).

Answering a query regarding the accusation of CPN-Maoist leaders that the CJ-led government was an Indian agenda, Gajurel said, "It looks like, the idea came floating from the EU nations; however, India also seems to support the idea."

Gajurel opined that forming a government under the leadership of chief justice is a conspiracy. "This is a move by the western forces to weaken the national bodies. It is an indication that the political forces have failed. This could also be an opportunity for the foreign forces to disable the judiciary and take control," said Gajurel.

Gajurel also raised question over CPN-UML's support for the same although many of the party leaders were not satisfied with the proposal. He further said that his party would protest against the decision. He claimed that the only option to solve the current political impasse is to have a round table meeting of all the forces involved in the Constituent Assembly (CA).

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