25,000 Nepalis return from Saudi Arabia

DOHA (QATAR), AUG 23 - Around 25,000 Nepali migrants, working illegally in Saudi Arabia , have return ed home under the amnesty programme introduced by the Saudi government, according to the Nepali Embassy in Riyadh. The embassy has said nearly 30,000 others have secured travel documents and are looking forward to leaving the country. The undocumented migrants still have nearly two months to either leave the country, or apply for legal status and keep working there. The government introduced a...

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GJM announces two-day shutdown of Darjeeling

DARJEELING , AUG 22 - The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha ( GJM ) Thursday gave a call for a two-day shutdown in West Bengal's Darjeeling Hills in the wake of the arrest earlier in the day of its assistant general secretary Benoy Tamang along with six party workers. "The Hills will be closed on Saturday and Sunday to condemn the unwarranted arrest of GJM leaders," GJM supremo Bimal Gurung said. Tamang, a close associate of the GJM supremo, is also the senior-most of the GJM leaders to be arrested so far....

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Nepal face uphill battle against India

ATHMANDU, AUG 20 - Having wasted a glorious chance against old foes Afghanistan, Nepal now face a daunting task of beating two Test-playing nations—India and Pakistan—to keep alive their semi-final hopes. Chasing a modest 170 for victory against Afghanistan, Nepal who were comfortably placed on 99-2 lost their way due to irresponsible batting from the lower order to lose the match by three runs. It will be a test of character for Nepal on Tuesday when they take on India U-23 that features several...

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Egypt's Mubarak to leave jail for house arrest

CAIRO, AUG 22 - Egypt's toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak is expected to leave jail on Thursday after a court ordered him released pending trial, but he will immediately be placed under house arrest. It was unclear when Mubarak might leave Cairo's Tora prison, or where he would be taken, with sources telling state media that two military hospitals where he has been treated in the past were possible candidates. The court order for Mubarak's conditional release came on Wednesday, but was quickly followed...

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Syria gas 'kills hundreds,' Security Council meets

BEIRUT/AMMAN, AUG 22 - Syria 's opposition accused government forces of gassing hundreds of people on Wednesday by firing rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held Damascus suburbs, killing men, women and children as they slept. With the death toll estimated between 500 and 1,300, what would be the world's most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s prompted an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York. The council did not explicitly demand a U.N. investigation...

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Bolivian says he's 123, may be world's oldest person

FRASQUIA, AUG 20 - Could this be the world's oldest person? Carmelo Flores Laura lives high in the Bolivian mountains, chews coca leaves, cooks on open fires and says he's 123 years old. Flores Laura was born on July 16, 1890, according to his government identification card. Bolivia's Electoral Tribunal confirmed his identity and his age. "His residence is in Frasquia, and as a profession he is a farmer," the office told AFP. According to the document, this Bolivian Methuselah was born in the...

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Leopard terror haunts Baitadi folk

BAITADI, AUG 21 - A leopard preyed on an eight-year-old boy at Bishalpur VDC-2 in Baitadi district on Sunday night. The man-eater whisked away Dambar Soni, son of Parma Soni, from his house while he was sleeping. The leopard entered Soni’s room through the window and took away the boy while he was sleeping with his mother. Villagers found some body parts of the boy around 500 meters away from the house on Monday. Leopards mauled two children to death and injured three women in Bishalpur and its...

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