Process likely to get new push after Dashain

KATHMANDU, OCT 14 -
If top political leaders translate their rhetoric into reality and everything goes as planned, the constitution writing process is likely to get a new push immediately after the Dashain festival.  

A meeting of the seven-member high-level taskforce formed to sort out more than two hundred contentious and crucial issues of a new constitution has decided to hold intensive discussions from October 19.

UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was appointed coordinator of the task force on Wednesday with a member each from other seven parties and the panel held a second meeting on Thursday. Emerging from the meeting, top leaders  of the parties expressed their commitment to engage in point-wise ‘intensive and serious’ discussions on the contentious issues in the new constitution from Oct. 19.

“The basis of settling the disputes would be all past agreements among the parties, including the 12-point understanding and interim constitution which has envisaged the progressive restructuring of the nation,” said Dahal after the meeting. The task force during the Dashain festival will analyse the concept papers submitted to the CA last year by eight thematic committees to expedite the task of writing the constitution after Oct. 19.  The task force will also prepare a list of contentious issues.

 Dahal said the formation of the task force is positive spadework to speed up the work of constitution drafting. However, the task of settling the disputes is a tough one. There are sharp differences among the parties on political system, federalism  and judiciary, among others. There is no indication so far that the parties are willing to concede ground on any of these issues.

Top leaders of major parties including Dahal, NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Poudel, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and CA Chairman Subash Nembang were present in the meeting. Poudel said the constitution drafting process is moving in a positive direction. Echoing Poudel’s sentiment, Speaker Nembang said that he came out of the meeting with a positive impression.

Blast in Chinese coal mine kills 20, traps 17

The blast happened as the world still celebrated Chile's dramatically successful rescue of 33 miners trapped for more than two months.

Some 276 workers were in the Chinese mine when the explosion happened and 239 escaped, according to the state work safety administration.

It wasn't clear how far underground the miners were trapped or what their conditions were, including whether or not they are alive.

The more than 70 rescuers at the scene faced two major difficulties in reaching the miners: excessive gas levels and chunks of coal loosened by the blast that fell into the shaft, according to China Central Television.

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The level of gas inside the mine was 40 per cent, far higher than the normal level of near one per cent, the state-run broadcaster reported.

The gas wasn't specified, but methane is a common cause of mine blasts, and coal dust is explosive.

The bodies of the 20 dead miners had been located and rescuers were trying to retrieve them.

China's state-run media had joined the breathless global coverage of the Chilean mine rescue, and the country's propaganda and mine officials are likely to face pressure to be just as open about the progress of its rescue efforts.

China's mining industry is the most dangerous in the world, with 2600 people killed in accidents last year, and the country's leaders have been making a high-profile push in recent years to improve mine safety.

Premier Wen Jiabao has even ordered mining bosses into the mines with their workers or else risk severe punishment.

Yesterday's blast at the state-run Pingyu Coal & Electric Co Ltd mine happened as workers were drilling a hole to release pressure from a gas buildup to decrease the risk of explosions, according to the work safety administration.

The mine in the city of Yuzhou is two hours' drive outside the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou and about 690km south of Beijing.

China had its own stunning mine rescue in April, when 115 miners were pulled from a flooded mine in the northern province of Shanxi after more than a week underground. Agency.

George W. Bush launches Facebook contest

IF you've ever wanted to ask former US President George W. Bush in person about his new memoir "Decision Points," start getting your questions ready, a posting on his Facebook page says.

The message - left on a page which the former president launched in June to publicise his memoir, due to hit the shelves November 9 - tells contestants to submit five questions they’d like to ask Mr Bush.
After 100 finalists are chosen, each will be asked to submit a two-minute video. The top five videos will then be posted on Mr Bush’s Facebook wall and viewers can vote for the winner.
That person will receive round-trip airfare to Dallas, an opportunity to interview Mr Bush about his book and a signed copy of Decision Points.

West End actor shot in face by accident in rehearsal

AN actor was shot in the face by accident during an on-stage duel in a musical in London’s West End.

David Birrell, 35, was rushed to University College Hospital with a serious eye injury after another actor fired a faulty gun, which was meant to fire blanks, reported the London Daily Telegraph yesterday.

The musical, Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, at the Donmar Warehouse theater was immediately canceled. The accident happened during a scene in which Birrell’s character challenged another to a duel.Theater staff were investigating the incident.

Birrell has starred in musical Monty Python's Spamalot and had TV roles in Coronation Street, Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat and The Bill.

UN suppressed report on rights violations in Afghanistan

THE United Nations buried a report into rights violations in Afghanistan between 1978 and 2001 that accused Soviets, Islamists and US forces of "atrocities", a Swiss newspaper said.

The revelations emerged a day after the UN published a hotly contested report into crimes committed by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic Congo at the end of the 1990s.
A UN report "on crimes committed in Afghanistan between April 1978 and December 2001 was deliberately suppressed by the United Nations for political reasons", Le Temps said after obtaining a copy of the 300-page document.
"The famous 'mapping report', which was finalised in December 2004 after a year of work, was supposed to be published in January 2005," the newspaper said. "It was not and, after a succession of other reports, was forgotten."
The report covered the tumultuous period from the military coup in April 1978 through the Soviet invasion, the rise and fall of the Taliban up against the US-led coalition force. It accused "Soviets, communist chiefs, Islamist militants and even American forces" of having "taken part to varying degrees in atrocities", the newspaper said, citing torture, summary executions, mass rape and the use of child warriors.

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One of the report's three authors, American Barnett Rubin, said that the UN must have decided not to publish it "at the request of (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai because it mentioned people still in the Afghan government," the report said.

But in an email to AFP, Dr Rubin added that the report contained previously published material and denied that any "secrets" were being hidden from the public.
"The report was a compilation of previously published reports. It contained no revelations based on new research," Dr Rubin wrote.
"Every statement in the report is already part of the public record.
"No 'secrets' are being suppressed. The report has been freely available on the Internet for over a year."
Source.

Titanic 'to return to big screen in 3D'

JAMES Cameron's blockbuster Titanic, the second-biggest earner in film history, will be released in 3D in 2012, a year that will also see a 3D re-release of Star Wars.

The Hollywood Reporter said film studios Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment were planning on re-releasing Titanic in April 2012, 100 years after the mammoth passenger steamship plunged into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
That could put it out in theaters around the same time George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace is due out in 3D, the first in a planned series to do so.
The company in charge of converting Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's tragic love story into 3D has not yet been chosen, but the cost is estimated at $10 to 15 million US dollars, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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प्रधानसेनापति बेलायत प्रस्थान

काठमाडौ, आश्विन १७ - प्रधानसेनापति छत्रमान सिंह गुरुङ आइतबार बिहान बेलायत प्रस्थान गरेका छन् । बेलायती सेनाका सेनाध्यक्षको निमन्त्रणामा सेनापति गुरुङ, पत्नि कमला, उपरथी नेत्र बहादुर थापा र प्रमुख सेनानी शिवसंकर गुरङका साथ त्यसतर्फ प्रस्थान गरेका हुन् । १० दिने बेलायत बसाइका क्रममा गुरुङले बेलायती समकक्षी जनरल सर्र पिटर वालसँग भेटवार्ता गर्ने साथै उनको सम्मानमा राखिएको रात्री भोजमा समेत सहभागी हुनेछन् ।  यस्तै बेलायतको हार्स गार्डर् परेडमा फस्ट बटालियन जेन्डर गार्डले उनको सम्मान गर्ने नेपाली सेनाले जनाएको छ  । सेनापति गरुङले गोर्खा संग्राहलय, गोर्खाजको मुख्यालय, बेलायती डिफेन्स एकेडेमी, लण्डन स्थित नेपाली राजदुतावास लगायत भ्रमण गर्नेछन् । बेलायतले नेपाली सेनालाई तालिम तथा बन्दोबस्तीका सामाग्री सहयोग गर्दै आएको छ ।

साना दलले सभामुखलाई भेटे/सहमतिपछि मात्र अर्को प्रक्रियामा जान आग्रह

काठमाडौ, आश्विन १७ - संविधानसभामा प्रतिनिधित्व गर्ने १६ वटा साना दलहरुले शान्ति प्रक्रिया,संविधान र  सरकार निर्माणका विषयमा दलहरुबीच सहमति भएपछि मात्र नयाँ प्रक्रियमा जानुपर्ने बताएका छन् । सभामुख सुवास नेम्वाङसंग आइतबार भेट गरेर ती दलका नेताहरुले पूर्व सहमतिपछि मात्र संसदमा प्रधानमन्त्री चयनका लागि नयाँ प्रक्रियाको थालनी गर्न आग्रह गरेका हुन् ।
माओवादी र एमालेले नयाँ प्रक्रियमा जान सभामुखलाई दवाब दिइरहेका बेला साना दलहरुबाट यस्तो आग्रह भएको छ । आधारभूत विषयहरुमा बुँदागत रुपमा पूर्व सहमति हुनुपर्ने सानादलहरुले भनेका छन् । राष्ट्रिय जनशक्ति पार्टीका सह अध्यक्ष प्रकाशचन्द्र लोहनी,नेकपा संयुक्तका अध्यक्ष चन्द्रदेव जोशी,समाजवादी पार्टीका अध्यक्ष प्रेमबहादुर सिंह सहित माले र परिवार दलका नेताहरु सभामुखलाई भेटेका थिए ।
माओवादी अध्यक्ष पुष्पकमल दाहालले प्रधानमन्त्रीबाट आफ्नो उम्मेदवारी फिर्ता लिएपछि एक्ला उम्मेदवार काँग्रेस नेता रामचन्द्र पौडेललाई उम्मेदवारी फिर्ता लिएर अर्को प्रक्रियमा प्रवेश गर्न दवाब परिरहेको छ । काँग्रेसले शनिबार पत्रकार सम्मेलन गरी प्रधानमन्त्री को हुने देखि शान्ति र संविधान लगायत विषयमा प्याकेजमा सहमति भएपछि मात्र उम्मेदवारी फिर्ता लिने बताएको थियो । यसअघि नै काँग्रेसको उक्त अडानमा साना १६ दलले समर्थन जनाएको थियो ।
Ngawang Tenji Sherpa