India plotting our downfall, say Nepalese Maoists
European Investment Bank has expressed interest in financing solar park projects in India, the Asian Development Bank senior investment specialist Don Purka said on Thursday.
Nepal's lawmakers on Monday rejected Maoist chief Prachanda and his NC rival Ram Chandra Poudyal for the fifth time in the Prime Ministerial elections, plunging the country into a deeper political crisis in the absence of a government.
A 16-year-old Delhi school boy on Saturday had a brief tryst with destiny, equaling the world record of being the youngest to step atop the world's highest peak, only to have his feat overturned hours later by a 13-year-old American. Arjun Bajpayee, became the youngest Indian to climb the 8,848 metre Mount Everest early today morning via the traditional South Col route in Nepal. He equaled the record of Nepalese boy, Sherpa Temba Tsheri, who also climbed the peak.
Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor met his Nepalese counterpart on Tuesday, as he began a crucial four-day trip, amid protests by hundreds of Maoists at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. The police arrested over a dozen Maoist cadres who attempted to wave black flags at the Tribhuvan International Airport, said the police.
Nepal Maoist supremo Prachanda on Tuesday blamed India's 'naked interference' for the lingering political crisis in Nepal, as the former rebels served an ultimatum to the embattled government to resolve the deadlock by January 24 or face an indefinite general strike.
As the Maoists paralysed normal life in Nepal for the second day in running, the government beefed up security on Monday amid warning by a top former rebel leader that they may declare a new constitution from the streets.
Waving red flags, 5000 militant cadres forced their way into the Durbar Square city centre where their chief Prachanda declared Kathmandu valley as the Newa Autonomous State.
"It is wrong to link us with the Indian Maoist movement, he said. There is no involvement (of Nepalese Maoists) in the Indian Maoists' movement," the party's senior leader, Baburam Bhattarai, told media-persons.
India and Nepal on Friday launched their crucial two-day home secretary-level talks in Kathmandu. The two sides are expected to ink an extradition treaty and formulate a border security and management strategy. Home Secretary G K Pillai, who arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday evening, commenced the bilateral security meeting with his Nepalese counterpart Govinda Kusum and is likely to seek tough action against those carrying out anti-India activities from this country.
Bollywood star Manisha Koirala has made a high-profile visit to the memorial of her grandfather B P Koirala, the first elected Prime Minister of Nepal, fuelling speculation that the Nepali beauty was set to join politics.
A group of Maoists on Friday severely thrashed two Indian priests and tore their clothes and sacred thread at Nepal's famous Pashupatinath temple, marking a violent turn to the agitation over their recent appointment. Some 40-50 Maoists, posing as devotees, entered the fifth century Hindu shrine at around 1330 hrs and dragged out the priests -- Girish Bhatta and Raghavendra Bhatta, both aged 32,officials said.
On the eve of his maiden official visit to New Delhi, Premier Madhav Kumar Nepal affirmed on Monday that his country would not allow its soil to be used against India and sought the giant neighbour's cooperation in the fields of infrastructure development and power generation.
Maoist chief Prachanda has alleged that India and the United States had planned to launch an anti-China campaign, even a possible attack on the Communist giant, using Nepalese territory. "The US-India plan had to face challenges from our party and that triggered the conspiracy against my government," Prachanda, who quit following a rift with his coalition partners over his controversial decision to sack the army chief, said at a training programme of the Maoists in Kathmandu.
Nepal attaches 'great importance' to its relations with India which are based on mutual respect, goodwill, understanding and cooperation, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has said.
Nepal on Friday sought India's co-operation in moving the peace process forward, giving indications ahead of Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon's visit that it was looking forward to closer bilateral ties.
Nepal's coalition cabinet headed by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has scrapped the erstwhile Maoists-led government's controversial decision to remove the army chief Geneeral Rookmangud Katawal. The cabinet in its meeting on Thursday nullified the Maoists-led government's decision.
In a major breakthrough, Nepal's ruling coalition partners on Saturday sorted out the vexed issue of portfolio distribution and power sharing after they 'tentatively agreed to a deal' to give the 20-day-old Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist government a "full shape" by Sunday.
Stepping up his anti-India rhetoric, Maoist supremo Prachanda has accused it of backing a 'conspiracy' to restore monarchy in Nepal, which had turned into a republic from a kingdom just a year ago. Prachanda, who quit as premier after a dispute with President Ram Baran Yadav over the issue of sacking of the army chief, said the present Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) -led government is 'just a puppet' and efforts are on to 'murder the infant republic'.
"I was very proud to be on the tallest point of the earth," this was how Krushnaa Patil described her feelings after becoming the youngest Indian women to scale the Mount Everest. Patil, 19, a first year student from Pune, achieved the feat on May 21 as part of the Eco Everest Expedition 2009. "I felt like dancing on the Everest, but I didn't," said Patil.
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