Magical Shakti sets up big win

Shakti Gauchan bowled a memorable spell to set up Nepal’s thumping 10-wicket victory over hosts Malaysia in the World Cricket League Division 4 at the Selangor Turf Club.

Shakti’s figure 10-8-2-3, the best economy in one-dayers between nations, helped Nepal bowl out Malaysia to 69 all out in 32.1 overs before Nepali openers Anil Mandal (41 not out) and Subash Khakurel (24 not out) raced to victory in 12.2 overs finishing the match before lunch.

Shakti Gauchan

Man of the match Shakti bowled 41 dot balls straight as Malaysia struggled after losing early wickets. Amrit Bhattarai grabbed two-in-two removing Rakesh Madhavan and S Alagaratnam in 5^th over. Binod Das made it three-in-four-ball for pacers claiming wicket of H Ullah Khan (12) next over as Malaysia went down to 16/3.

Fromt hen on, Ahmed Faiz and Shafiq Sharif staged a minor recovery playing pacers with confidence and adding 36 runs for fourth wicket. But their recovery ended with introduced of spin.

Basant Regmi claimed Faiz (13) in his first over and Sharif (22) in his second to end the resistance. Then onward, Basant and Shakti combined to bowl 10 overs – from 21 to 30 – conceding only 5 runs.

Shakti took two-in-two in getting rid of KH Durrani and Nik Arifin in 21^st over making it 60/8. The last two wickets fell successively – one each to off-spinner Sanjam Regmi and Basant as Malaysia ended with a lowly total.

Anil Mandal

Man of the match Shakti bowled 41 dot balls straight as Malaysia struggled after losing early wickets. Amrit Bhattarai grabbed two-in-two removing Rakesh Madhavan and S Alagaratnam in 5^th over. Binod Das made it three-in-four-ball for pacers claiming wicket of H Ullah Khan (12) next over as Malaysia went down to 16/3.

Fromt hen on, Ahmed Faiz and Shafiq Sharif staged a minor recovery playing pacers with confidence and adding 36 runs for fourth wicket. But their recovery ended with introduced of spin.

Basant Regmi claimed Faiz (13) in his first over and Sharif (22) in his second to end the resistance. Then onward, Basant and Shakti combined to bowl 10 overs – from 21 to 30 – conceding only 5 runs.

Shakti took two-in-two in getting rid of KH Durrani and Nik Arifin in 21^st over making it 60/8. The last two wickets fell successively – one each to off-spinner Sanjam Regmi and Basant as Malaysia ended with a lowly total.

Basant also needs a special mention as it was a hattrick of his three-wicket haul. He is at the top of the top wicket-takers in the tournament with 9 wickets. Amrit Bhattarai is jointly second with USA’s T Allen with 6 wickets each.
In other matches, USA beat Tanzania by 7 wickets chasing the target of 93 in 9 overs.
After third round of match, Nepal is atop the league table with 6 points and net run rate of +2.95.
Brief Score: Nepal 71/0 in 12.2 overs (Anil Mandal 41 not out, Subash Khakurel 24 not out) beat Malaysia 69 all out in 32.1 overs (Shakti Gauchan 3/2, Basant Regmi 3/12, Amrit Bhattarai 2/19, Sanjam Regmi 1/6, Binod Das 1/28) by 10 overs. Man of the Match: Shakti Gauchan

No statute today will leave political, constitutional void

Frustrated by the top leaders´ failure to make any headway in resolving the disputes in constitution writing, Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Nembang cautioned top leaders of major political parties that the failure to promulgate the new constitution by Sunday will leave a political as well as constitutional void.

At a meeting held at the prime minister´s office in Baluwatar, Nembang urged the leaders to forge consensus or come up with an alternative in the remaining hours so as to avoid the looming crisis. 

“Failure to promulgate the new constitution will result in a political void because the interim constitution does not envision CA´s failure to promulgate the new constitution. I alerted the leaders about the impending consequences," Nembang told Republica.

The government will be the direct victim if the CA is dissolved without promulgating the new constitution because the government will turn into a caretaker one immediately after the CA and parliament cease to exist.

As per the interim constitution, the role of CA will come to an end once it promulgates the new constitution but will continue to exist as the legislature-parliament until an elected parliament replaces it. But the legislature-parliament will not be given continuity if the CA fails to promulgate the new statute.

Similarly, the status of president will also be questioned because the he was also elected from the same parliament. On the president´s term of office, Article 36C of the interim constitution states: the president shall continue in office until the new constitution is promulgated by the CA.

Also, questions will be raised if the president exercises executive powers as the constitution clearly defines the president as the constitutional head of the state.
"I had to alert the leaders because questions will definitely be raised from various quarters on the legitimacy of the government, head of state and other institutions as well," Nembang said. 
The government and international donors have spent billions of rupees for constitution making. He said people will seek the details and clarifications.

Nembang told the leaders the new constitution would stoke dissatisfaction among various communities but that would be manageable. "But the situation without a constitution will definitely be unmanageable," he explained. He said there will be anarchy in the society because various groups have already started fortifying their camps with the intent to fish in troubled waters in case of CA´s failure.

Nembang argued that the institutions whose legitimacy would be questioned will not be able to contain confrontation between various groups.

Leaders, including UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, responding to Nembang´s concerns said they realize the gravity of the situation. But, there was no concrete progress toward bringing the new constitution until late Saturday night.


Source myrepublica

Security forces put on high alert

 The three security agencies under the Home Ministry have been put on high alert to prevent possible violence in case Constituent Assembly (CA) is dissolved. 

One third of police in the Valley have been mobilized in the area around the CA premises in Baneshwar assessing the next 24 hours to be critical. Reserve and strike forces have also been kept on alert to assist them if required. 

Nepal Police, Armed Police Force (APF) and Central Investigation Department under the Home Ministry have been jointly mobilized with a Nepal Army representative coordinating their plans. The security agencies have received information that a few groups were prepared to protest, believing an incomplete constitution would be drafted, if it is drafted at all, while others were active to incite communal violence by capitalizing on these protests. 

A joint security command post will be formed at the Home Ministry with ministry officials, representatives of the army and all three bodies under the ministry. Similar command posts will also be in place in all the districts. Such command post in the Valley will be kept at the Metropolitan Police Commissioner´s Office in Ranipokhari, Kathmandu. The command posts including Nepal Army representatives will mobilize commanders on the field to assess the prevailing security situation. 

Separate command posts will also be in place at the Nepal Police and APF headquarters. "A matured security plan has been implemented considering analysis of all possible security challenges," Nepal Police Spokesperson DIG Binod Singh said. 

The Home Ministry has been implementing security strategy since mid-April and has been adjusting the strategy based on 15-day security analysis. Security sources said the regular weekly meeting of the central security committee held on Friday was also being held on Monday in the last couple of weeks. 

Three different plans
The security agencies have made three different plans anticipating three different eventualities on Sunday, according to security sources. Plan A includes handling the challenges that may result if the constitution is drafted. Plan B deals with the challenges that may arise immediately after dissolution of the CA and Plan C with normal situation.

The security officers do not anticipate big security threats if the constitution is drafted reasoning that a few unsatisfied groups taking to streets would not pose serious security challenges. There may be attempts to flare the situation through infiltrations in the protests but the officers do not see that as a big threat. 

They expect the most serious challenge if the constitution is not drafted. They expect that groups may try to fuel violence capitalizing on the uncertainty and political vacuum after CA dissolution. "The current ethnic division will add direct challenges if the constitution is not drafted," a DIG with Nepal Police said. 

The officers fear that there may also be confusion about official orders if dispute over the legitimacy of the existing government continued after the CA dissolution. A senior security officer claimed that they were mentally prepared on what to do if the president and prime minister emerged as parallel power centers in such a scenario. 

Nepal Army has been carrying out an advisory role in the present scenario as a coordinator. The army intelligence doesn´t expect the situation to deteriorate to the extent that requires clamping curfew or declaration of state of emergency. Their role will change in case of emergency or curfew.

Source myrepublica

Peace returning to Terai as armed groups come to talks

 Law and order is coming to Saptari which is regarded as the most sensitive district in security point of view in the past. 

The terrible situation in the rural areas has been coming down to normalcy. 

Until a few months ago, one could hear abduction, looting, and donation terror from early in the morning, but the situation is now comparatively better, locals say.

The people of Saptari are now feeling peace after the government increased administrative activity and held talks with Terai armed groups, say locals. 

Madhes was much plagued after Jay Krishna Goit group rebelling from UCPN (Maoist) in 2061 BS declared armed war for a separate state.

Displaced locals have been returning to villages and hilly people have also started to come to Terai but it will take time for them to stay in the villages, said locals. 

Saptari SP Ganesh Bahadur Thapa says police has increased patrol in villages, police posts have been established, criminals have been taken action and arms are seized.

"We are working with high alert even if situation has somewhat improved. We are engaged in crime control by minutely analyzing the information received", said SP Thapa. 


Source myrepublica

Maoist CA members attacked

KATHMANDU, May 10: Banda enforcers on Thursday attacked Maoist lawmakers Sudan Rai and Laxmi Gurung in Koteshwor while they were on way to participate in CA meeting. 

Rai informed RSS that he sustained minor injuries. Meanwhile, UCPN (Maoist) condemned attack on its lawmakers and termed the attack a move to disrupt communal harmony. 

71 arrested in capital
Police arrested around 71 protestors from the capital enforcing banda on Thursday.

Govt invites banda enforcers for talks
The government has invited various agitating groups enforcing bandas in various parts of country for talks. Issuing letter to 12 agitating groups on Thursday, the government asked agitators to form a five-member talk team to hold talks with the government. 

The peace ministry has also informed that the government has made necessary arrangements to talk team of Far-west region stranded in Bardiya.

Strikers burn Republica, Nagarik dailies

BUTWAL: Supporters of Brahman Society, who are protesting the ethnic-based federalism have burnt Republica and Nagarik dailies on Thursday morning. They had seized the papers from newspaper delivery vehicles heading for Bhairahawa. 

According to Mahesh Sharma of the distribution section of the newspapers, 2,100 copies of Nagarik and 500 copies of Republica were burnt by the protestors. The society activists said they burnt the newspapers because they did not report their strike. 

Banda cripples normal life
Normal life has been affected all across the country including in the capital since early Thursday morning due to a banda enforced by the joint struggle committee comprised of various caste groups.

The committee includes the Chhetri Samaj Nepal, the Brahman Samaj Nepal, the Khas Kshetriya Ekata Samaj, the Thakuri Samaj Mahasangh, Nepal Dasnami Samaj, the Bibhed Mukti Pragatisheel Samaj and the Dalit Janajagaran Sewa Sangh. 

Public and private transportation have come to a grinding halt, giving commuters a tough time in the capital. Likewise, businesses and marketplaces have remained closed.

Banda enforcers have descended on the road, rallying and chanting slogans at various places in the valley including Satdobato, Kalanki and Gongabu. Security has been stepped in the streets. Reports say more than two dozens banda enforcers have been detained.

The agitators have called today’s banda opposing the idea of carving out federal states based on ethnicity and demanding recognition of their identity in the new constitution. They have maintained that such state restructuring will adversely affect communal harmony and poses a risk of territorial disintegration.

Our Baglung correspondent Dilip Poudel reported that the banda has crippled life in Daulagiri zone. Hundreds of passengers have been stranded as vehicles on all long and short routes from the district headquarters have stayed off the road.

Far-west talks team stranded

A talks team, with 50-odd members, from the far-western region has been stranded in Bardiya due to the strike. The team representing the people of the region, who have been enforcing strike in region for the past two weeks demanding an undivided far-west, were on their way to the capital to hold talks with the government. 



KATHMANDU


KATHMANDU


KATHMANDU


TANAHU


PALPA


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KAILALI




Source Myrepublica

Massive storm system weakens after 12 deaths

Weary residents may get some good news Thursday as the monster storm system that already battered many Midwestern states and caused a dozen deaths is expected to weaken.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center downgraded its outlook for severe weather from moderate to slight over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. It said there was only a 5% probability of tornadoes through Thursday morning.

The death toll from the enormous storm system that plowed through the Midwest and spawned more tornadoes as it moved east was at 12 late Wednesday, authorities said.

Hardest hit was Harrisburg, Illinois, a town that was thrashed by a pre-dawn EF4 killer tornado that packed 170 mph winds. Six people were killed in the southern Illinois city, many were injured or left with harrowing stories like Justin Hicks.When we woke up half the roof was coming off the house," said Hicks. "We managed to get the small children in the closet, and about the time the small children were in the closet my wife and I noticed the walls separating from the house."

Hicks' home was destroyed but he says it could have been much worse"We're very lucky to be alive," he said. " It happened so fast. I woke up to a chaos, and I'm sure a lot of people woke up to chaos. I wasn't expecting it to be that bad."

The dead included four women and two men. The tornado had a preliminary rating of EF4, the second most powerful on the rating scale, according to the National Weather Service.

The twister appeared to have been on the ground for several miles, said Mayor Eric Gregg. The path of destruction was about three or four football fields wide, he said.

This Just In: Harrisburg's path of destruction

The scene in the southern part of Harrisburg, was one of debris and collapsed houses. Commercial and residential buildings were crushed. A tractor-trailer could be seen laying on its side, off the highway.

"When the sirens were going on this morning ... it was eerily quiet. I had a gut feeling something was wrong," Gregg told reporters.

"We will rebuild this city. This will make us stronger," Gregg said.

There were no reports Wednesday evening of anyone missing, the mayor said.

Harrisburg resident Caleb Cattivera said he rushed to his workplace early Wednesday only to find it gone. "I know a lot of people who live back near there."

Resident Les Winkeler said, "You just hoped your house didn't come down around you."According to the sheriff's office, some 100 people were injured and between 250 and 300 houses were damaged or destroyed.

Among the structures hit was the Harrisburg Medical Center. CEO Vince Ashley said the tornado took out 80 feet of exterior wall, exposing patient rooms, and a significant portion of the roof.

A smaller tornado caused significant damage in the music resort city of Branson, Missouri.

Nearly 200 people were hurt across the region, officials said.

Two twisters were reported Wednesday night near Hodgenville, Kentucky. Winds in excess of 100 mph were reported in northwestern Alabama.

Tourist town of Branson, Missouri, hit

At least six counties in Kentucky suffered storm damage. A shaken and bruised Steven Vaught of Greenville, Kentucky, recounted how he and his two dogs tumbled when his trailer rolled several times down the hill. They all survived.

"It's a joy to be here. I don't know how I'm here," Vaught told CNN Nashville affiliate WSMV. "The good Lord just didn't call me. It wasn't my time."

iReport: Branson Hilton windows blown out

An apparent tornado near Cassville, Missouri, left one person dead, the Barry County Sheriff's Office said. That person was thrown out of a mobile home, the sheriff's office said.

One death each has been reported in Buffalo and Puxico, Missouri officials said.

"I woke up this morning and looked outside and saw houses were destroyed," said Steven Scharmanzer in Branson. "I've never seen anything like this in the 20 years I've lived here."

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who declared a state of emergency, said the damage there was in at least the tens of millions, but there were no reported deaths. "We are confident that Branson will be back bigger and better than ever," Nixon said.

An EF2 tornado smashed at least seven miles of the city's commercial strip, leaving 33 people hurt, most with minor to moderate injuries.

The city's convention center and an attached Hilton were damaged, as was a portion of Branson Landing, a large shopping and entertainment complex.

City Administrator Dean Kruithof said about five or six of the city's roughly 40 theaters were damaged.

"We have so many people who want crews in here to clean up, who want to start rebuilding," Kruithof said.

There were also three deaths Wednesday evening in Tennessee, authorities said.

Source CNN

Bomb explosion outside NOC office kills 3, injures 6

Three persons have been killed and six others injured in a bomb explosion in front of the Nepal Oil Corporation office at Babarmahal in the capital on Monday afternoon

Krishna Bahadur Tamang, apparently in his mid-thirties, of Baireni-9, Dhading was killed on the spot in the blast, SP Rajendra Shrestha, chief of Kathmandu police, said. The identities of the other two--one of whom also was killed on the spot and the other who died in Bir Hospital during treatment--are yet to be established, according to the police officer.

Among the injured were Som Bahadur Tamang of Bara, Raghunath Khadka of Bhaktapur, Lal Bahadur Tamang, of Dhading, Bishnu Pulara, an NOC employee, of Dhangadi, Basu Shrestha of Luvu, Lalitpur and Man Bahadur Kunwar and Bhim Bahadur Kunwar of Achham. All the injured are undergoing treatment at Bir Hospital.

Speaking to the media, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, who visited the explosion site, said preliminary investigation suggested the involvement of Samyukta Jatiya Morcha, an armed outfit, in the blast that happened at around 1pm.

Kathmandu police chief Shrestha, however, declined to name any particular group behind the broad daylight explosion carried out in the capital´s one of the sensitive areas, only some 200 meters south of the country´s administrative hub Singha Durbar, poising grave question to the city´s security arrangement.

"We have identified who are behind the explosion. We will soon track them down and make arrests, " the police officer said. Security personnel have currently cordoned off the incident site.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has talked to chiefs of security agencies with regard to the incident and instructed them for improved security situation in the country. Likewise, a meeting of security chiefs, following the incident, is underway in Singha Durbar.

Source myrepublica