काठमाडौं : प्रधानमन्त्री पुष्पकमल दाहालले बुधबार पत्रकार सम्मेलनमार्फत देशवासीका नाममा सम्बोधन गर्दै पदबाट राजीनामा दिनुभएको थियो । राष्ट्रपति विद्यादेवी भण्डारीले बिहीबार नेपालको संविधानको धारा २९८ को उपधारा (२) बमोजिम सात दिनभित्र राजनीतिक सहमतिका आधारमा प्रधानमन्त्रीको निर्वाचन सम्पन्न गरी मन्त्रिपरिषद् गठन गर्न व्यवस्थापिका संसद्मा प्रतिनिधित्व गर्ने राजनीतिक दललाई आह्वान गर्नुभएको छ ।

KATHMANDU: The Election Commission on Thursday has said that 12, 964 representatives in 278 local units have been elected in 34 districts of Province number 3, 4 and 6.  According to EC’s spokesperson , the results of five local bodies are awaited. He also further said that the vote counting in three Metropolis, Kathmandu, Pokhara Lekhnath and Bharatpur is going on.  Earlier, on May 14 first phase of local level elections were commenced for selecting local representatives in 283 local units. The vote counting in 278 local bodies has been completed so far. According to Election Commission, 278 candidates have been elected as mayors, 278 candidates have been elected as deputy mayors, 2,513 candidates as ward chief, 2,508 candidates as women members, 2,367 candidates as Dalit members. Election Commission also said that the preparations are underway to hold the second phase of local elections in 41 districts in Province number 1, 2, 5 and 7 on June 14. Meanwhile, CPN-UML’s 122 candidates have been elected as mayor or chiefs whereas Nepali Congress’ 104 candidates have been elected to top posts. Similarly, CPN-Maoist Centre’s 46 candidates have been elected as mayor or chiefs, as of now.

जेठ, काठमाडौं : दुई दिनसम्म चलेको सहमतिको प्रयास असफल भएपछि प्रधानमन्त्री प्रचण्डले प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालय सिंहदरबारबाट देशबासीलाई सम्बोधन गर्ने निर्णय लिए । प्रधानमन्त्री पुष्पकमल दाहाल प्रचण्डले पदबाट राजीनामा दिएका छन् । बुधबार देशबासीका नाममा सम्बोधन गर्दै प्रचण्डले राजीनामाको घोषणा गरेका हुन् । दस महिनाअघि नेपाली कांग्रेससँग गठबन्धन बनाई पालैपालो नेतृत्व गर्ने लिखित समझदारी र हालैका सार्वजनिक अभिव्यक्तिलाई सम्मान गर्दै प्रधानमन्त्री पुष्पकमल दाहालले बुधबार प्रधानमन्त्री पदबाट राजीनामा गर्नुभएको छ । करिब आधा घन्टा लामो सम्बोधनमा दाहालले नाम नलिईकन प्रमुख प्रतिपक्षी दल एमालेविरुद्ध आक्रोश पोख्नुभयो । एमाले आफूविरुद्ध बद्नियतसाथ खनिएको तर आफूले एउटा सफल प्रधानमन्त्रीका रूपमा मुलुकको राजनीतिलाई उच्च हैसियत दिलाउन सफल भएको दाबी उहाँले गर्नुभयो । ‘मलाई यत्ति थाहा छ, यो निर्वाचनमा संघीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्रले जित्यो र समग्रमा राष्ट्रले जित्यो । अब गणतन्त्र, सामाजिक न्यायसहितको लोकतन्त्र, धर्मनिरपेक्षता र समानुपातिक समावेशी शासन प्रणाली थप संस्थागत भएको छ । नेपालको सार्वभौमसत्ता, स्वतन्त्रता, भौगोलिक अखण्डता र स्वाभिमान थप सुनिश्चित भएको छ’,  मंगलबार नै व्यवस्थापिका संसद्मार्फत राजीनामा घोषणा गर्ने दाहालको योजनालाई प्रमुख प्रतिपक्षी एमालेले संसद् अवरोध गर्ने चेतावनी दिएर असफल बनाएपछि सञ्चारमाध्यममार्फत जनतालाई सम्बोधन गर्दै उहाँले राजीनामा घोषणा गर्नुभएको हो । सम्बोधनलगत्तै दाहालले शीतलनिवास पुगेर राष्ट्रपति विद्यादेवी भण्डारीसमक्ष राजीनामा बुझाउनुभएको थियो । राष्ट्रपति भण्डारीले दाहालको राजीनामा स्वीकृत गरिसक्नुभएको छ ।

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  (In Arabic.)

SECRETARY TILLERSON:  Well, thank you very much as well, Your Excellency, and I think it was, in many respects, a truly historic event this afternoon, this Arab Islamic American Summit.  And first, I want to congratulate the King, first for convening such a historic event, but also on his remarks.

And in many ways, you, I’m sure, found parallels between the King’s remarks and those by the President.  I was particularly struck by the King’s strong commitment, just as the President expressed, to fight against those forces that are the cause of terrorism, extremist activities, and was particularly encouraged by his strong encouragement as well to address many of the root causes and aspects of reform that are necessary throughout the region:  a strong support for the development of youth, education, enabling women.  These are all important elements to a new forward-looking society, a new forward-leaning society.  And I found the King’s remarks in that regard truly remarkable.

I think with respect to President Trump’s remarks this afternoon to the summit, I think what you heard is the expression of this administration’s policy and views not just toward this region, but toward American relationship with the Muslim world here as well as more broadly.  And I think the President clearly was extending a hand and understanding that only together can we address this threat of terrorism that has befallen all of us, not just in this region but worldwide.

As I think all of you know, the President leaves tomorrow to travel to Tel Aviv, and then after that, the Vatican to have an audience with the Pope.  And I think the context of all of this where the President begins his journey here at the home of the Muslim faith under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosque – this great faith, the Muslims – then to travel to the home of Judaism and then to the great leader of Christianity, that the President is clearly indicating that this fight of good against evil has nothing to do with religion.  It has nothing to do with country.  It has nothing to do with ethnicity.  This is clearly a fight against good and evil.

And the President is convinced with all sincerity that when the three great faiths of this world and the millions of Americans who practice these three great faiths – when we unify with our brothers in faith the world over, we can prevail over this – these forces of evil and these forces of terrorism and destabilization.  And when we succeed in dismantling these forces, we create enormously positive conditions for the advancement of human rights everywhere, because it is these forces that are most oppressive to peoples.  It’s these forces that are most oppressive to women.  It’s these forces that prey on those who are less able to care for themselves.  So I think in our view, and I know the President’s view, defeating these evil forces is the first step on advancing human rights worldwide, and he clearly has that in his mind as well.

So I think it was a historic event today.  Again, we thank His Highness The King for convening such an event.  I think only the King and the President of the United States could have convened such a well-attended summit on Muslim-Islamic-American issues.  So we again thank His Highness and I think it was, again, an extraordinary afternoon for all of us, and one that I would tell you gives me great hope about our ability to finally address this most daunting challenge of our time.

QUESTION:  (In Arabic.)

(In English.)  And another question for His Excellency (inaudible): Do you have – you said a lot of (inaudible) regarding Iran.  When are you going to (inaudible) while you are saying (inaudible)?  I mean, (inaudible) Iran?

SECRETARY TILLERSON:  With respect to Iran and their absence here – and I think His Excellency clearly addressed why Iran is not here today – Iran continues its hegemonic activities in this region in Yemen, in Iraq, in Syria, and its support of Hizballah in Lebanon.  And until Iran shows its willingness to be a good neighbor, I think is the words that were used by many, that shows its willingness to cease its enablement of the kind of destabilizing activities that go on, their payment of foreign fighters, their payment of militias to go into other countries and destabilize those countries, then Iran will not have a place around this table that was set today.

So it is our hope that – and we have a new leadership or a renewed leadership beginning another term in Iran – that they will begin to examine what this behavior is gaining for them, and rather, they will find their way back to a place that Iran historically enjoyed:  good relations with its neighbors.  And that’s what we hope they find their way back to as well.

In the meantime, we will continue to take action to make it clear to Iran when their behavior is unacceptable – and that means in terms of carrying out and supporting acts of terrorism, continuing the development of their ballistic missile programs – we will continue to take action through sanctions and we will continue to encourage others in the global community to take action as well so that Iran understands this is not acceptable.

So we will be dealing with Iran in the economic sanction front and we will be dealing with Iran in these countries where they have decided to put their presence militarily.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  (In Arabic.)

QUESTION:  (In Arabic.)

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  (In Arabic.)

QUESTION:  Thank you very much, (inaudible).  Traveling from Pakistan, (inaudible) summit today.  My question, Your Excellency, the foreign minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is that Pakistan has been fighting against this terrorism since 9/11 and we (inaudible) more than 50,000 innocent lives.  How has been the assessment in this conference that there could be shared learning from the experiences that Pakistan has fought in this war against terror?

And my question to Excellency is:  The partnership desired today with the Muslim world must have certain processes to move forward.  There is a lot of fear among the Muslim community, including myself and my friends, there is a notion of Islamophobia all around in different countries.  When partnerships have been sought and desired and there are great response from all – most of the Muslim countries that were present today, how these processes then have their (inaudible) learn to bridge the gap and (inaudible) the fears among the Muslim communities?  Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  Can I take the second part?

SECRETARY TILLERSON:  No, I was going to take the – you can —

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  Oh, no, no, go ahead.  You can —

SECRETARY TILLERSON:  I’m happy to.  With respect to, I think, the relationship and how the Muslim world is viewed, if – I assume you listened to President Trump’s speech this afternoon.  I hope he dispelled the concerns that many might have with that speech.

And in terms of specific processes, much of what came from the two days that we’ve been here in Riyadh working with our counterparts in the kingdom as well as working with the GCC countries – and we had a very good meeting this morning among the GCC countries – was to put in place specific plans of action that, working together, I think we will also improve the understanding among ourselves:  the creation of the center to counter extremism messaging, the working together on disrupting terror financing networks, clearly the economic activities between this region and the United States are all helpful in terms of strengthening those relationships.

But I think perhaps the point you’re making, and it is an important point, is that all of us have to strive to understand each other’s cultures better, understand each other’s perspectives better.  And I think on this trip, I know the entire delegation traveling with the President has gained a much greater appreciation for this region, the rich history, the rich traditions and cultures of this region, and also a much better understanding of the Muslim faith by traveling to this special place, the special place of the two holiest sites.  All of this is, I think, useful to us understanding everyone better here, and we hope – we hope people in the Muslim community will make a similar effort to understand the American people’s interest and concerns that they may have.

But I think importantly, out of this speech the President delivered this afternoon, what he said, again, is this fight is ours together.  It is not between us.  It is ours together.  And it’s only together that we will ultimately prevail and that it is not a fight among religions, not a fight between Shia, Sunni, it’s not a fight between Christians, Jews, any of the faiths.  This is a fight of good against evil, and in all of those three great faiths that millions of Americans follow, we are guided by that same tenet.  This is what unites us in attacking this evil face of terrorism that has befallen us and has hurt so many around the world.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  I think Pakistan had – can play a big role in the war against terrorism and by sharing its experiences and by learning from the experiences of others.  I want to add my voice to what Rex said about the issue of the importance of tolerance and (inaudible).  I believe that the fact that this summit took place is historic.  I cannot overemphasize the importance of it to the history of the world.

This is a – unless we are able to move from notions of a clash of civilizations and move towards a partnership among civilizations, we will not be able to eradicate the scourge of terrorism or – which emanates from extremism, and extremism emanates from ignorance.  People in the Muslim world believe there is enmity towards them in the West, and so they use that to recruit psychopaths who go and murder people, who then increase the negative attitude of people in the West towards Islam.  That causes Western countries to take steps that then fuel the cycle in the Islamic world, and also vice versa.  You have extremists in the West who take very bigoted positions or ignorant positions towards the Islamic world which causes them to recruit psychopaths who demands things or try to do things that provoke a reaction in the Islamic world, and the vicious cycle continues unless we move away from this.

And then if we are able to move away from this, we’re able to isolate the terrorists as mere criminals and psychopaths, and then it becomes a law enforcement matter and we can deal with it much more effectively.  The President deserves a lot of credit for taking this step, making his first visit outside the U.S. to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and Land of the Two Holy Mosques, and then going to Israel and then going to the Vatican to deal with the Jewish world and with the Christian world in order to try to bring the three religions together.

This is the way to proceed.  This is the way we move from enmity to partnership.  This is a fight – not a clash of civilization, this is a fight for civilization.  It’s as the President said, it’s good versus evil, and good includes everybody – Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, everyone.  And evil includes everyone who seeks death and destruction, irrespective of their faith.  And so the importance and significance of this conference today is that it is the first step where there’s an outreach and there’s a desire to say we need to work together, and we need to work together in order to support good versus evil and we need to take concrete steps to do that – to do so, and I think we have a number of concrete steps that came out of the conference:  the launching of the global counter-extremism center, the agreement on dealing with financing of terrorism and extremism, the recognition – which is the most important part – the recognition that we have to work together in order to build a better future for our children and their children.  That’s the first step in the process towards dealing this – with this issue.

They say in medicine that diagnosis is half the cure.  Well, we’ve diagnosed the problem, and the diagnosis of the problem is that we need to pull the rug out from under the forces of evil by seeing this as a common problem that meets a common solution, and seeing ourselves as children of God irrespective of what our religion is.  That’s how we deal with this problem.  Thank you.

MODERATOR:  I’m afraid we don’t have much time because you have to catch up with your next appointment.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  Do you want to take another question or —

SECRETARY TILLERSON:  That’s fine.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR:  Okay.  Thank you very much.

जेठ, काठमाडौं : एमाले प्रचार बिभागले आयोजना गरेको पत्रकार सम्मेलनमा ओली देउवामाथि खनिए । ओलीले भने,  बिचरा प्रधानमन्त्री आत्तिएर थाल खाउँ कि भात खाउँको अवस्थामा हुनुहुन्छ ।’  माओवादी अध्यक्ष प्रचण्ड प्रधानमन्त्री बनेकै दिनदेखि निरन्तर खरो आलोचना गर्दै आएका नेकपा एमाले अध्यक्ष केपी शर्मा ओली मंगलबार एकाएक प्रचण्डको प्रतिरक्षा र कांग्रेस सभापति शेरवहादुर देउवाप्रति आक्रामक रुपमा प्रस्तुत भएका छन् । उनले अघि भने, ‘मैले बिहान (तीन दलका शीर्ष नेताहरुको बैठक) पनि कुर्सी चाहियो भन्ने नेताजीलाई सोधेँ, लोकलाज भन्ने केही हुन्न ? २०/२२ दिन पनि पर्खिन नसक्ने ? यस्ता मान्छेले अस्थिरता ल्याए ।’ ‘अहिल्यै प्रधानमन्त्री देऊ’ भनेर लोकलाज बिर्सिएको आरोप लगाउँदै ओलीले भने देउवाले प्रचण्डलाई कुर्सी मागेर ‘थाल खाउँ कि भात खाउँ’को अवस्थामा पुर्‍याएको टिप्पणी समेत गरे । नेपालमा लोकतन्त्रको आन्दोलन चलिरहेका बेला बेलायतका गल्लिमा बरालिँदै हुनुहुन्थ्यो । उहाँलाई केही मतलबै छैन । प्रधानमन्त्री बन्नको लागी मात्र देउबाको दाउ देखिएको छ । नेपाली जनतालाई केदिने भन्ने कुराको मतलब छैन कुर्सिको हतारो देउवालाई के यो देउवाको लागी योग्य कुरा हो र   ओलीले भने, ‘राजीनामा दिनुभयो भने हामीले रोक्ने कुरा त भएन, प्रधानमन्त्री चयनको प्रक्रियामा भाग लिन्छौं । सकेसम्म सहमतिको प्रक्रियामा जाउँ भनेका छौं । कांग्रेसले विगतको गल्तीबाट प्रायश्चित गर्ने हो भने सहमतिका आधारमा प्रधानमन्त्री चयन गर्न सकिन्छ ।’

We have already won:

1. By daring to make impossible, possible!  

2. By believing in ourselves and sticking to our values to build 21st century leadership for Nepal; now Nepalis across the nation and worldwide applaud our courage and values.

3. By enduring amongst seemingly insurmountable odds. We were prevented from getting our election symbol, and had 7 days to make our new “istakot” symbol known to nearly 300,000 Voters!

4. By being transparent when no one else were. Clean money, clean politics!

We have won the hearts and minds not just from neutral citizens but also other political party youths, Ranju Darshana’s candidacy is the start of the deep transformative change. Now a whole generation of Nepalis are ready for change, ready to take a risk, and ready to make sure Nepal is led by visionary leadership.

Our members and friends joined us from far away districts and even overseas to help us in this overwhelming time. Together we faced much challenges and in the end created a scenario where many Nepalis felt we already WON the challenge before winning the votes!

Not only was the right combination of skills and talents important here, but the unwavering persistence of our entire team was key. 

KATHMANDU: Indian government had demonetised INR 500 and 1,000 on November 8 last year as part of the ‘crackdown on rampant corruption and counterfeit currency’.  The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police on Tuesday has said that two Indian Nationals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in smuggling the fake Indian currency of face value IRS 50,50,000 from Budanilakantha Municipality-2. Acting on a tip-off, a special police team deployed from the CIB arrested 34-year-old Kiran Barma aka Kiran Kumar Soni and 40-year-old Anil Kumar Soni of Haryana in India, from their rented rooms in Budanilakantha Municipality, on the northern outskirts of Kathmandu, yesterday.

by Jessika KC, New York

A moment of truth

Finally, collided

A hearts desperation

From its isolation.

Another ending started from the Beginning

Another daylight saved by the night.

The curtains fall

Revealing light

Endure the plains

With flying kites

A widow standing beyond the trees

As the clouds pass by we see.

The suns desire

For the moon to come

The eyes reality

From the tears begun

Under the light that hid darkness

Was a small change of nothingness?

A small craving for a reality

A strong sigh escaped from brutality

A slight fade

Under a tunnel with no cave

The extinctions we need to save

And tame the things we take

But we have been blinded

Cant you tell?

The soft intricate lines

While you can’t change time

The clock begins to tick

Untouchable gaze

Which reveals a maze

Under the seas we see the needs

Of people who put in greed

Covered by what’s in the hope

Why can’t they cope?

Too invisible to the human eyes

What can’t we find?

The cold rage

From the fire haze

Leaving a presence of a halo

Saying hello

To dignity

Where we store out pride

Where there go our lies

Ritu kc, Tirsana Budhathoki is a Nepali Model from Nepal. She is a singer/actress and has acted in more than a 100 Nepali music videos. Her debut movie is “Pahilo Manche” with Sushil Chettri, Tirsana is in the lead role of the film and even in real life she always fights against crime and corruptions.

Cool personality, open-hearted and friendly open minded lady Tirsana considered herself as a unique character. Most people assume that she is a hot and sexy model, however, without even knowing her, some judge her as nothing; which in my opinion is utterly sick. She says “I have lots of pain and lots of struggle in my life only I know who am I, I don’t care about people’s judgments, even intentionally people post my fake photos on YouTube and many others medias, I’m anxious about that.

 I suggest them to be just human, learn to respect another lady like your mother and sisters “.

She believes that positives things lead to a positive life. She has a dream to be a world record holder soon. She says “I want to show the whole world Who I am” I want to prove soon what I’m capable of doing and I want to paint my life filling the countries of Nepal.

She feels proud to be Nepali and even sings the song “Ma hu nepal ko chori”. Tirsana now is in New York and feels very happy to be here. She is planning to act in English music video, but currently, her main dream is to be a world record holder. Every day she spends her time to do practice as well as to collect the materials.

She added, “my main aim is to introduce my country to the world.”

China’s drone maker DJI-Innovations is denying reports that it’s pulling out of the Chinese market. The Shenzhen-based drone giant issued a statement on China’s social media platform Sina Weibo on May 20, rejecting suggestions it was planning to move its business and headquarters abroad after the Chinese authorities’ tightened rules clamping down on unregulated private drone use. DJI is the world’s largest drone manufacturer, with 70% of the global consumer drone market. Over 80 % of its drones are sold overseas.

China released a raft of new rules to crack down on unregulated private drone use on May 16, in reaction to a spate of disruptive drone incidents. DJI says it has been closely following the debate on the dangers posed by drones and has worked out practical ways to avoid the security risks. The company also says it’s going to hold a news conference in the coming days to further elaborate on the issue. Real-name registration was first initiated in 2015.  The process was accelerated following several cases of disruption to flights at airports across the country caused by drones being flown too close to airport runways.

In April, civil flights in Chengdu, Hangzhou, Dalian, Nanjing and Shanghai were disrupted by drones on several occasions, with nine cases at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport alone, causing 34 flights to be canceled and 112 flights turned back or sent to alternative airports.