New party formation is like forming water by combining hydrogen and oxygen: Dahal

May 17, 2018-Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the unification between CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) is like forming water by combining hydrogen and oxygen.

Addressing a press conference organised at City Hall to make a formal announcement of the party unification, Dahal said, “the unification between CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) is like forming water by combining hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen cannot be separated once they turn into water.”

Dahal termed the unification between the two communist forces as a ‘great step’.

He said that the new party formed after the unification of two parties will work for stability, development and prosperity for people.

He admitted that malpractices were rife in communist parties and claimed a unified communist party would work to end such practices.

The former PM said he would devote his rest of his life for the development, prosperity and socialism in the country.

source:www.kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

MD course fee row: Medical students stage sit-in outside VC Khaniya’s office

May 17, 2018-Medical students staged a sit-in outside the office of Tribhuvan University Vice-chancellor Tirtha Khaniya on Wednesday, demanding that the varsity enforce the fee ceiling for Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree, as decided by the TU Executive Council on March 26.

Around 20 students gathered outside VC Khaniya’s office in TU campus, Kirtipur, for nearly two hours before they were admitted inside.

Dr Gunjan Khadka, one of the protesters, said that VC Khaniya allowed them only a brief moment to listen to their grievances.

“Once we were admitted inside his office building, we had to wait for another two hours to meet him. In a short meeting we had with him, we asked him what the university was doing to address the concerns,” said Dr Khadka.

The agitating students returned after VC Khaniya assured them that the TU was committed to enforcing the decision taken by the Executive Council.

The medical students started their protest after some medical schools refused to comply with the set fee structure. Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhiarahawa, and Gandaki Medical College, Pokhara, have filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the TU Executive Council to reduce the fee for MD course to Rs 2.2 million from Rs 3.1 million.

VC Khaniya has assured the protesting students that the TU would hire the best lawyers to fight the case.

“The decision taken by the TU Executive Council is final. We are not going to bend our knees before these colleges,” he told the students.

Earlier, the students had staged a protest outside the office of the Institute of Medicine, the body that governs the country’s medical schools. Dr Govinda KC, a senior orthopaedic surgeon and a staunch supporter of regulating the country’s medical education sector, has also thrown his weight behind the ongoing protest.

He had recently issued a statement demanding the government to scrap the affiliation of those colleges that are charging exorbitant fees by violating the regulation.


source:www.kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

Oli and Dahal shake on Nepal Communist Party

May 17, 2018-Eight months after the initial agreement between the CPN- UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) on a party unity, the two ruling left parties have reached closer to sealing the deal. The announcement will be made on Thursday.

Two separate meetings—UML’s standing committee and Maoist Centre’s headquarter—on Wednesday evening decided to seal the merger.  The new party will be known as ‘Nepal Communist Party’.

The breakthrough deal came after a two-hour-long meeting between Prime Minister and UML Chairman KP Oli and Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday morning.

Then UML’s standing committee meeting and Maoist Centre’s headquarter meeting closed the deal.

Oli and Dahal agreed to announce the merger on Thursday, coinciding with the 25th death anniversary of former UML general secretary Madan Bhandari.

As per the agreement, the new party will have 441-member central committee—with 241 members from the UML and 200 from the Maoist Centre.

It will have a 43-member standing committee with 25 UML representatives and 18 from the Maoist Centre. The party will have ‘Sun’ as its electoral symbol that has been used by the UML for long.

The Party Unification Coordination Committee (PUCC) has called a meeting on Thursday to resolve any ideological issues related to the unification. Both parties will dissolve their respective central committees before registering the new party with the Election Commission.

“UML’s standing committee meeting and Maoist Centre’s headquarter meeting have decided to finalise the party merger,” confirmed senior Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

Addressing the media after the standing committee meeting, UML Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai said the the unification process of the two major leftist force in the country has come to the home stretch.

“The UML standing committee’s decision is historic not only for Nepal but also for all our well-wishers across the world,” he added.

The UML and Maoist Centre decided to accept Oli and Dahal as the joint chairmen of the new party until the general convention.

Oli and Dahal are scheduled to address a function at Madan Nagar, Balkhu, at 8:30 on Thursday morning where they will formally announce the merger. That will be followed by a PUCC meeting at Baluwatar at 10am.

The PUCC will prepare the final text, including the political and ideological documents of the new party, according to Maoist leader Shrestha.

“The PUCC meeting will take necessary decisions to ensure the unification process is concluded by Thursday,” UML Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam said.

Top leaders of the UML and Maoist Centre are scheduled to visit the Election Commission at around 3pm to register the new party and will hold a press conference at the City Hall at around 5pm.

UML Secretary Bhattarai said the PUCC meeting will prepare party manifesto and statute. “If these tasks are completed on time, we visit the Election Commission tomorrow [Thursday],” he said.

Both parties have agreed to accept the role of the decade-long Maoist’s People’s War and peaceful struggle of the UML in the past decade in their political document.

On the ideological issue, the two parties have agreed to highlight the positive aspects of Janata ko Baudaliya Janabad (People’s Multi-party Democracy), currently undertaken by the UML, and Janabad of the 21st century, the guiding principles of the Maoist party and create a new ideological framework.

The UML secretary said the decision on the party’s guiding principle would be taken up by the general convention.

“The interim political report will, however, mention Samajbad unmukh Janatako Janabad (socialism-oriented people’s democracy),” he said, adding that the party’s political ideology will ensure multi-party system, pluralism, press freedom, human rights and environment for holding timely periodic elections.

Left parties in historic deal



source:www.kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

India flyover collapse kills at least 18 in Varanasi

At least 18 people have been killed and dozens trapped in the Indian city of Varanasi after a flyover collapsed, crushing vehicles beneath it.

The flyover was still being built when portions of its cement structure fell on the road being used under it.

Officials from the National Disaster Response Force said 18 bodies had been recovered so far.

A rescue operation is continuing for those believed to still be trapped, but their number and condition is unknown.

Photographs and video from the scene showed cars and a bus crushed beneath the weight of the concrete, many of which still held people inside.

Local media reported that a handful of people had been successfully rescued, as seven cranes attempted to lift the concrete pillar. A large crowd also gathered at the scene.

One eyewitness told reporters they were nearby when the collapse happened. "At least four cars, an auto-rickshaw and a minibus were crushed under it," they said.

Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Several vehicles were only partly crushed beneath the tonnes of concrete
India's NDTV also reported that many of those trapped are believed to be construction workers who had been building the flyover.

The cause of the collapse is not yet known, and an inquiry has been ordered, NDTV added.

Major collapses of buildings and other infrastructure are not uncommon in India, where the enforcement of construction standards is weaker than many Western countries.

In September, 33 people died when a six-storey Mumbai building toppled and more than 20 people died in 2016 when a flyover collapsed in Kolkata.

Other collapses with smaller death tolls are frequent.

Varanasi is the home constituency of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said he was "extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to the collapse".

"I pray that the injured recover soon. Spoke to officials and asked them to ensure all possible support to those affected," he tweeted.

source:www.bbc.com

EU paid Airbus billions in illegal subsidies, WTO rules

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that the European Union (EU) failed to comply with requests to end subsidies for Airbus.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) said the ruling in the dispute opens the way for placing tariffs on EU goods.

The USTR argued that European countries had given $22bn in state aid to Airbus to help launch its A380 and A350 jets, causing losses to US rival Boeing.

The European Commission said most of the disputed support ended in 2011.

It said it had "only a few" remaining things to do to be compliant and pledged "swift action" on those fronts.

What is the history of the dispute?
Tuesday's ruling in favour of the US, which brought the case on behalf of plane-maker Boeing, brings an end to a dispute which began in 2004 over $22bn (£16.3bn) in subsidised European financing for Airbus.

The WTO initially found in favour of the US in 2011. The US subsequently complained that the EU and certain member countries were not in compliance with the decision, prompting further wrangling between the two sides.

On Tuesday, the WTO dismissed an appeal by Airbus, saying the European plane maker had failed to fix the harm done to US rival Boeing.

Boeing chairman and chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said: "Today's final ruling sends a clear message: disregard for the rules and illegal subsidies are not tolerated."


source:www.bbc.com

Royal wedding: Meghan's half-sister hopes father will attend

Meghan Markle's estranged half-sister has said she hopes their father Thomas will attend the royal wedding.

Confusion remains over whether Mr Markle is willing or well enough to attend his daughter's wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor on Saturday.

He had told website TMZ he would not go amid a row over paparazzi photographs; then that he would; then that he could not, due to planned heart surgery.

Samantha Markle said he had faced an "unbelievable amount of stress".

Mr Markle became embroiled in controversy at the weekend, following reports that he staged paparazzi photographs of himself in the run-up to the wedding.

The pictures showed Mr Markle - apparently unaware he was being photographed - in a series of wedding-related activities, including being measured for a wedding suit.

source:www.bbc.com

Carillion board oversaw a 'rotten corporate culture', say MPs

Carillion's board presided over a "rotten corporate culture" and was culpable for its "costly collapse", two committees of MPs have concluded.

They also accused the government and big four accounting firms of failing to stop Britain's second biggest construction firm from going under.

The MPs said regulators should now consider banning the former directors from serving on other company boards.

Carillion collapsed under a £1.5bn debt pile in January.

It employed 43,000 people, about 20,000 of them in the UK, and thousands of jobs have been lost.

It also held numerous public contracts, such as the maintenance of schools and prisons, all of which had to be brought under government control.


source:www.bbc.com