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PAGE 6 www.thehimalayantimes.com NATIONAL • ONCE-OVER Wooden idols kept at the Gumraha Tharu Cultural Museum in Ghorahi, Dang, on Sunday. Two hurt in clash OKHALDHUNGA: A clash took place between the Young Communist League (YCL) and Youth Association cadres at Bilandu village in Okhaldhunga district. Buddhi Baral, the UCPN-M Bilandu VDC In-charge, and Nawaraj Mishra, a supporter of the CPN-UML were injured in the clash. They are undergoing treatment at the Sunkoshi Cooperative Hospital in Ramechhap district, police said. The clash broke out after an attempt was made on Ashok Shrestha, a Youth Association cadre in course of a dispute between youths over the matter of taking turns for playing the swing. — RSS Rastriya Samachar Samiti Nepalgunj, October 28 “I want to go home and if I tell this, my husband and inlaws would beat me,” said Ramawati Verma, a victim of domestic violence. When Ramawati shared her woes at a public dialogue programme, ‘Let’s end violence and light up lamp of peace in each house’ organised by the Fatima Foundation in Banjarepur of Indrapur VDC in Banke district, every woman present in the programme were moved to tears. Ramawati, whose house is at Bhangotan of Hirminiya THT Health facilities closure hits service seekers Himalayan News Service Bajura, October 28 As many as 26 health centres and sub-health posts across Bajura district were closed during Dashain festival. The closure of the health facility has hit the service seekers hard. Health sector in the district was severely affected after health workers left for their home during Dashain holidays. Locals bemoan that they were compelled to go to neighbouring district as all the health centres and sub-health posts except the District Health Office were shut during the festive time. Senior AHW Dipak Shah at the District Health Office said that more than 30 patients visited every sub-health posts and health centre. Local Binod Nepali complained that his wife died despite the district having parturition facilities at 22 health centres, as they Banke district victims seek justice VDC said, “I am left in the lurch. I want justice.” Another victim of domestic violence, Nasibun Janha (25) is bearing the pains of • DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ‘talak’. She was shocked when her husband gave her divorce two years after returning from abroad. “I don’t know why he gave me divorce, I want my share of property and rights,” she said. Other victims present also complained of domestic violence. Muslim leader Maulana Abuddin Khan said, “There is no provision in Muslim community to give ‘talak’ without fulfilling four preconditions.” The foundation has been running a project to free the VDC from domestic violence and has been organising training programmes from time to time. “Muslim women have been victims as most of them do not have access to education as well as economic benefits,” said human rights activist and advocate Abdul Ajij Musalman. Civil society leaders, political party repre- were closed during the Dashain period. “Had the health centres been opened, my wife would have survived,” he added. Though the Devlasdain Health Centre has 24 hour parturition service, the health facility was closed as all the health workers were on leave during Dashain. According to AHW Shah, patients were compulled to go for private clinic or at times had to go out of the district even for a common health problem. Local Prem Dhami said that he had to take his sick wife to another district as health facilities were closed in home district. “All the health centres located in the lower belt were shut. Thus, we were compelled to go out of the district,” he lamented. Altogether six women undergoing labour pain have died in the district for want of skilled health workers and equipments in the past six months. sentatives, journalists, women rights activists, Hindu and Muslim priests, and Muslim leaders present signed an eight-point commitment to stop domestic violence. “Programmes including training and awareness campaign for development of women leadership will be organised,” said Maimuna Siddiqui, acting chairperson of the foundation. The foundation has incorporated 5,000 women in the development mainstream by running empowerment programmes in various VDCs of Banke and Nepalgunj. Muslim children on the occasion of Id-Al-Adha in Taulihawa, Kapilbastu, on Sunday. Women urged to go for pre-natal checkups Himalayan News Service Okhaldhunga, October 5 Here is a noble and innovative idea to urge pregnant women to go for regular checkups. Health facilities in the remote VDCs in Okhaldhunga have initiated a novel way by sending invitation cards to pregnant women of the villages urging them to visit the health facilities for the timely checkup of their foetus and during the time of delivery. Interestingly, there are also incentives for each checkup. According to the health facilities, they have sent invitation cards to the women of 30 VDCs out of the total of 56, in the district. Assistant Health Worker, Indra Gautam of Kuntadevi Sub-Health Post said, “We provide eggs as incentives to the pregnant women visiting the health facilities. Four eggs are given to a woman who comes for the check-up for the first time. Similarly, we provide them six, eight and nine eggs for the second, third and fourth check-ups respectively.” According to Senior Health Worker, Manahari Adhikari of the Pokalibased Sub-health post said, “Despite the health facilities very few pregnant women come for regular checkups, so we had to start the drive.” Health workers said that many pregnant women in the remote areas do not visit the health facilities out of ignorance and still others owing to the poor finan- THE HIMALAYAN TIMES, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012 THT cial conditions of their families or long distance to the health facilities. “As there is ignorance about the reproduction health, women in Palapu, Kalika, Balakhu, Pokali, Rani Ban, Ragani and remote places prefer to visit the witch doctors and take herbs, putting their and their babies’ life at risk,” said a local Bishnu Budhathoki. According to the health workers of the concerned health facilities, they have been also conducting awareness campaigns in the rural parts regarding the reproductive health of the pregnant women. At their health facilities, they have increased many facilities targeting pregnant women who visit for the checkup of their foetus. Over dozen lakes face extinction threat Himalayan News Service Mahendranagar, October 28 More than one dozen lakes in Kanchanpur district are facing shrinking and extinction threat. However, no efforts on the part of authorities have been initiated to conserve these lakes. Most of them, popular for religious tourism destinations, are losing their depth every year. The existence of more than half a dozen lakes situated inside the Suklaphant Wildlife Reserve is on the verge of extinction. The lakes situated both inside and outside of the wildlife reserve are losing their natural form. Rara Lake, Rani Lake, Baunne Lake, Sikari Lake, Salgaaudi Lake and Baba Lake located inside the Suklaphant Wildlife Reserve are shrinking every year, thanks to the government’s apathy for the sorry state of the lakes. These lakes are losing their charm among tourists due to lack of maintenance and conservation efforts. Wild lives in the reserve are also hit hard as the lakes are drying up. Meanwhile, the Suklaphant Wildlife Reserve has constructed around half a dozen artificial lakes for animals. Spread over 10 hectares land, Rara Lake is home to birds of various species and Magar crocodile. Though human settlements around the lake were recently removed, no concrete efforts have been made to conserve the lake. Chief Conservation Officer Yubaraj Regmi, said they were unable to maintain the lakes located inside the reserve due to fund crunch.
THE HIMALAYAN TIMES, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012 www.thehimalayantimes.com INTERNATIONAL • THE WORLD OVER Reuters Bishop Guido Marini (right) looks on as Pope Benedict XVI holds the pastoral staff during a mass at the end of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, on Sunday. No trim for Greek debt BERLIN: Germany’s finance minister has dismissed all suggestions that governments and other public creditors could agree to a so-called haircut on their Greek debt holdings. However, Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio broadcast on Sunday that a debt buyback programme under which Greece could get loans that would enable it to pay off much of its debts could be considered. Greece is pushing for an extension of the deadline to meet the terms of its bailout programme, a move that is expected to incur a great deal of extra costs. The private creditors of Greece had agreed earlier this year to take a hit on their Greek debt holdings but publicsector creditors were spared the burdern of debt. —AP Six die in accident MANILA: A speeding bus on Saturday slammed into a concrete wall that surrounded a house after its brakes failed while it was negotiating a downhill curve in an accident that killed six people and injured 43 others in the central region of the Philippines. Police said on Sunday that the impact of the unfortunate incident hurled the bus conductor out of the vehicle in Cebu province’s Toledo city. All the casualties were from the bus itself. Police moved in and arrested the driver. — AP Freighter missing MOSCOW: Officials said on Sunday that a Russian ship with 11 people on board has gone missing in the stormy seas off the nation’s Pacific Coast. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said that it had received a signal on Sunday from an emergency buoy of the freighter Amurskaya in the Sea of Okhotsk. The ship was en route from the coastal town of Neran to Feklistov Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Another ship, which was travelling nearby, was ordered to search for the missing freighter and its crew, but couldn’t immediately locate it. An amphibious plane has been sent to the area to help in the search. — AP Tsunami downgraded WASHINGTON: A tsunami warning for Hawaii has been downgraded, according to an advisory that was issued on Sunday by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. Evacuation orders that had earlier been sent were also lifted for the coastal areas, a Hawaii civil defence official said. At least 100,000 people in Hawaii were ordered to move away from the shoreline to higher ground late on Saturday after a tsunami warning, but the first waves were less forceful than had been feared and no damage had been initially reported. Sources said that the tsunami had been triggered by a powerful earthquake off Canada’s Pacific coast. — Reuters Protesters blocked THESSAONIKI: A military parade commemorating Greece’s entry into World War II was held without interruption as hundreds of Greek police and troops were deployed to keep anti-austerity protesters away. Authorities deployed some 2,000 police in the northern city of Thessaloniki on Sunday, and for the first time ever, the armed security forces lined the annual parade route, including some from an elite quick reaction force that has served in Kosovo. A few hundred left-wing protesters were easily kept at bay until the parade ended and the officials attending it had departed. Last year, people protesting the government’s tough austerity policies during the country’s economic crisis overran the parade ground, insulted officials and forced the evacuation of the then Greek President Karolos Papoulias. — Reuters Drone strikes kill 3 SANAA: Suspected US drone strikes killed three Al-Qaeda militants on Sunday in the northern Yemeni province of Saada in the first such raid against the militant network there, tribal sources said. — AFP Hurricane Sandy to hit US east coast tomorrow Reuters Hatteras Island, October 28 Weather forecasters warned today that Hurricane Sandy will affect a large area of the US East Coast but said it was too early to pinpoint where the storm, which has the potential to be the biggest to hit the mainland, would make landfall. Government officials in several states in Sandy’s path faced tough decisions on emergency plans, including mandatory evacuations in vulnerable coastal areas, and residents scrambled to buy supplies before the storm arrives on tomorrow. On its current projected track, Sandy is most likely to make US landfall between Delaware and the New York/New Jersey area, forecasters said. However, the Miamibased National Hurricane Centre said it could not yet predict the precise point. “It is still too soon to focus on the exact track ... both because of forecast uncertainty and because the impacts are going to cover such a large area away from the centre,” the NHC said in an advisory. While Sandy’s winds were not overwhelming for a hurricane, its width was what made it exceptional. Hurricane force winds extended 165 km from its centre while its lesser tropical storm-force winds reached across 1,125 km. This image taken from NOAA's GOES satellite on Sunday, shows Hurricane Sandy. US emergency officials braced for the potentially massive impact of a so-called "Frankenstorm" as the hurricane lumbered north. Sandy could have a brutal impact on major cities in the target zone. In New York, city officials discussed whether to shut the subway system in advance of the storm, which could bring the country’s financial nerve centre to a standstill. The storm could cause the worst flooding Connecticut has seen in more than 70 years, said the state’s governor, Dannel P Malloy. The storm was moving over the Atlantic parallel to the US coast at 20 km/h, but was forecast to make a tight westerly turn toward the US coast tomorrow night. Tropical storm conditions were spreading across the coast of North Carolina and gale force winds are forecast to begin affecting the New York area and southern New England, the NHC added. Sandy could be the largest storm to hit the US, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website. 7.7 Richter quake hits islands off west coast of Canada Agence France Presse Vancouver, October 28 A major 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada today, prompting some people fearing a tsunami to move to higher ground. The epicenter of the tremor was located 139 kilometres south of the town of Masset, the US Geological Survey said. Numerous aftershocks, some as large as magnitude Anti-Assad protest dispersed Reuters Mecca, October 28 Saudi authorities quickly dispersed a protest by hundreds of Syrian pilgrims calling for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and denouncing what they said was international failure to stop bloodshed in Syria. Protesters held up rebel flags and marched toward the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, east of the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where more than 3 million Muslim pilgrims congregated for the annual haj. No one was hurt when two police vehicles drove slowly in the direction of the protesters with the sirens on as the officers asked the crowd through loudspeakers to leave the area. The protesters swiftly dispersed and merged with thousands of other pilgrims in the area, the witness said. Saudi officials made it clear in recent days that they want a politics-free pilgrimage and urged pilgrims to focus on performing the rituals. This year’s haj took place against a backdrop of divisions among Muslims, with Shi’ite Iran and US-allied Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar backing opposing sides in Syria’s civil war. Saudi Arabia has led Arab efforts to isolate President Bashar al-Assad’s government and has supported the rebels with money and logistics. At the protest, dozens of security guards already deployed in the area stood by without interfering. “Syria lives forever despite of you Assad,” the protesters shouted as they streamed by a giant wall at Jamarat Bridge used for the ritual stoning of the devil, one of the main rites of the haj. Another slogan went: “We don’t want Bashar, all Syriansraise your arms up!” The Syrian crisis also was evident at Mount Arafat, scene for the haj’s main rites, on Thursday when some Syrians held up rebel flags despite a call by Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti to avoid raising national and factional slogans. 4.6, followed the initial quake, Canadian officials reported. The regional West Coast- Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre also issued a regional warning for coasts located near the epicentre of the earthquake. Emergency officials in British Columbia said a small tsunami had been recorded on a deep ocean pressure sensor, but its effect was not immediately known. The officials urged residents in low-lying coastal areas to be alert to instructions from local officials and be prepared to move to higher ground. “The tsunami alarm went off and everybody went to the evacuation site,” Danny Escott, owner of the Escott Sportfishing lodge near Massett, told AFP by telephone. Natural Resources Canada said in a statement that the temblor was felt across much of north-central British Columbia, including Haida Gwaii as the Queen Charlotte Agence France Presse Rome, October 28 Italian ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s warning that his centre-right party could withdraw its support for the government was seen by the press today as a declaration of war against Prime Minister Mario Monti. “In the next few days we will decide with the leadership of my party whether it is better to immediately Islands are otherwise called, Prince Rupert, Quesnel, and Houston. “There have been no reports of damage at this time,” the ministry added. However, experts said tremors exceeding magnitude 7.0 were extremely dangerous. “A 7.7 is a big, hefty earthquake. It’s not something you can ignore,” said Gerard Fryer. He explained that the latest tremor had occurred partly under an island, but mostly withdraw our confidence or to keep it, given the upcoming election (in April),” Berlusconi said at a press conference on Saturday after he was sentenced to jail for tax fraud. “We need to weigh this government policy that leads to a spiral of recession for our economy” against the way “a vote of no-confidence could be seen by the world of finance,” he added. Reactions to Berlusconi’s under shallow water. “I think we have to be thankful it happened where it did,” Fryer said. “If that were a heavily populated area, it would have caused significant damage.” The earthquake reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released. The Islands has a total population of 5,000. Muslim pilgrims cast seven stones at a pillar that symbolises Satan during the annual haj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca on Sunday. Five killed in P’ppine clash Associated Press Manila, October 28 Philippine marines who were searching for long-held hostages battled Al-Qaeda-linked militants in a fierce clash today that killed three marines and two insurgents in the south, officials said. The fighting continued sporadically through the day in the mountainous hinterlands of Patikul town in Sulu province, where the Abu Sayyaf movement has survived in jungle encampments despite years of US-backed Philippine military offensives. At least 10 other marines were wounded in the clash, regional military spokesman Lt Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said. Regional military commander Major General Rey Ardo ordered air force planes and navy ships to back up the government forces, ensure the recovery of the slain marines and transport the wounded to a hospital. Cabangbang said the marines had been deployed to check the reported sighting of hostages. Syrian jets bomb east Damascus Reuters Amman, October 28 Syrian fighter jets bombarded suburbs of eastern Damascus today, continuing the air raids launched on Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods in the capital since a UNbrokered ceasefire was supposed to begin two days ago, opposition activists said. There were large explosions and huge plumes of smoke as Russian-made warplanes hit the adjacent suburbs of Zamalka, Irbin, Harasta and Zamalka, they said. A statement by the Harasta Media Office, an activists’organisation, said electricity, water and communications had been cut and dozens of wounded at the Harasta National Hospital had been moved as the bombardment closed in. Activists also reported fighting in the suburb of Douma to the northeast, where Free Syrian Army fighters have been attacking roadblocks. Damascus is ringed by Sunni districts. comments were splashed across the front pages of the Italian press on Sunday, with the leading Corriere della Sera saying “Berlusconi threatens to topple Monti”, while other headlines declared “Berlusconi attacks Monti” and “Berlusconi against Monti”. “Berlusconi in his bunker has declared war on Monti and Merkel,” leftwing daily Il Fatto Quotidiano said, referring to Berlusconi’s accusa- PAGE 7 “The size of this alone, affecting a heavily populated area, is going to be history making,” said Jeff Masters, a hurricane specialist who writes a blog posted on the Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com). Sandy could hit Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, DC and Philadelphia, one of the most densely populated regions of the country and home to tens of millions of people. Forecasters said Sandy was a rare, hybrid “super storm” created by an Arctic jet stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm, possibly causing up to 30 cm of rain in some areas, as well as heavy snowfall inland. Sandy killed at least 66 people as it made its way through the Caribbean islands, including 51 in Haiti, mostly from flash flooding and mudslides, according to authorities. The approaching storm forced a change of plans for both presidential candidates ahead of the November 6 election. The White House said President Obama canceled a campaign appearance in Virginia and another stop in Colorado, and will instead monitor the storm from Washington. Republican challenger Mitt Romney rescheduled campaign events planned for Virginia and was flying to Ohio instead. 10 killed in reprisal attacks in Nigeria Agence France Presse Kaduna, October 28 A suicide attacker drove a car bomb into a Nigerian church today, sparking fierce reprisals that saw a Christian mob burn a man alive in a day of bloody violence that left at least 10 people dead and 145 wounded. Christian youths took to the streets of the northern city of Kaduna with machetes and sticks after the blast, targeting those they believed to be Muslims as anger again boiled over due to repeated church bombings in recent months. Attackers beat a motorcycle taxi driver near the church, then put his bike on top of him before dousing him with petrol and setting him on fire, an AFP correspondent who saw the violence said. Two other bloodied bodies apparently killed by the mob were seen near the church. A rescue official also spoke of the man being burnt and said rescuers could not save him because the mob was too violent. The mob also attacked an ambulance in the ensuing violence, but there was no indication that rescuers were wounded. “So far we have eight dead and 145 injured from the church blast,” Musa Ilallah, regional coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, said, noting that his death toll included the suspected bomber. The attacker rammed what residents said was an SUV into St Rita church, shaking the Malali neighbourhood of Kaduna, a city that has suffered a wave of deadly violence blamed on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. “All of a sudden it drove on high speed and rammed into the church wall, forcing its way into the church premises,” said witness Samuel Emmanuel. “Initially I thought the driver had lost control of the vehicle. Suddenly there was a huge explosion as the car reached the church building. It was dust, fire and smoke all over.” The bomb attack has been confirmed and rescuers had been rushed to the scene. Berlusconi ‘declares war’ on Italy PM Reuters AFP / RSS tion that the Italian prime minister was following policy dictated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Berlusconi, who was sentenced to jail for tax fraud last week, had earlier announced he would not run in next year’s election but vowed to remain in politics to reform the justice system that found him guilty. The scandal-hit threetime premier was toppled in November last year.
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Forget CA revival, Prez tells parties

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