Nepal's government has released more political detainees and plans to restore some mobile phone services snapped after King Gyanendra imposed emergency rule last month, officials said yesterday.
At least six politicians or activists, including Prakash Sharan Mahat, a former junior minister of foreign affairs, were released Wednesday in Katmandu after weeks of detention, Chief District Officer Baman Prasad Neupane said. Two others were released elsewhere.
Police have detained more than 500 politicians, human rights activists and journalists since Gyanendra, a constitutional monarch, seized power Feb. 1, suspending many civil liberties. Several leaders of political parties have been put under house arrest.
The house arrest rules for some of the political leaders have been relaxed, the Kathmandu Post newspaper said. Madhav Nepal, chief of the Communist Party of Nepal, was seen traveling in a car in Katmandu, although security officials escorting didn't allow him to speak to reporters, it said. Several politicians were released two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, a senior Nepalese telecommunications official said postpaid mobile phone services would resume next week.
"The process will start from Sunday. The subscribers will have to register again, providing all personal details, before their connections are activated," said Madankaji Shakya, a Nepal Telecom official.
Mobile phone services were shut down, apparently to prevent opposition supporters from organizing protest rallies -- now illegal under the state of emergency -- and alerting each other about police presence. But the shutdown has hurt common people because a third of Nepal's phone lines are cellular. On Wednesday, the country's main royalist party, the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, urged Gyanendra to lift curbs on political parties, release all detainees and restore fundamental rights.
Gyanendra said he imposed the emergency because the government failed to quash a Maoist rebellion that has killed more than 10,500 people. The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, have been fighting since 1996 to abolish the monarchy and establish a communist state.
The king's actions have provoked an international outcry, with several nations cutting aid that Nepal needs to battle the rebels and fight widespread poverty.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS