The meeting which is underway in its own secretariat, New Baneshwor is expected to give a final shape to the polls’ ordinances and announce polls’ date today.

Started at around 3 pm this afternoon, the meeting is reported to review the latest developments.

The 28-year-old singer - who has been single since splitting from John Mayer earlier this year - has started a relationship with her longtime friend Michael, 35.

A source told America's Star magazine: "Katy and Michael have been hooking up. They were friends first, but Katy leaned on Michael for emotional support after her breakup with John. It's more of a sexual thing for her rather than a heavy-duty relationship.

"She is still calling John because she can't let go. And he still reaches out to her too because he loves to string his exes along."

While Katy wants a casual fling, Michael - who previously dated 'Charmed' actress Alyssa Milano - is said to be hoping it will develop into something more serious.

The insider added: "Michael is having a blast with her. He's been bragging to all his friends about Katy, and he's holding out hope that she will want to get serious. He would love for her to be The One."

City sacked manager Roberto Mancini earlier this month, saying the club had failed to achieve any of its stated targets for the season except qualification for the Champions League and are expected to appoint Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini.

"If we look at the next five years, I would say I want to win five trophies," City chief executive Ferran Soriano was quoted as saying by British newspapers on Friday.

"That may mean we win no trophies one year and two in another, but on average I want one trophy or title a year.

"If next year we don't win, but progress our football and get to the semi-finals of the Champions League, finish second in the Premier League and lose the FA Cup final again, that will be fine," the Spaniard added.

In his three-and-a-half years with the club, Mancini dragged City out of the shadow of their more successful neighbours Manchester United and broke a 35-year-trophy drought, winning the FA Cup in 2011.

They won the Premier League title for the first time in 44 years in 2012 but amid media rumours of discontent in the dressing room, City's defence of their crown never really got off the ground this season.

They finished a distant second, 11 points behind Manchester United, were beaten by Wigan in the FA Cup final and went out of the Champions League in the group stage.

"Roberto Mancini did very good for the club. He changed the mentality, he changed it from a club that was not winning to a winning club and that is very hard," said Soriano, a former vice president at Barcelona.

Explaining the decision to sack the Italian, Soriano added: "In the last year I think it's fair to say that our football did not progress or evolve as we hoped. If you play good football you will win and we have a fantastic squad.

"The squad we have is capable of winning the Premier League and is not a squad that should be kicked out at the first group stage of the Champions League.

"You know, these things can happen - this is football and we all understand football. But we have better players than that."

The saucy underwear model is seen flaunting her curves in a white crop top and red tartan trousers with the slogan printed on the waistband as she showcases the latest designs from her Under.me collection.

Israeli beauty Bar, 27, launched the range - funded and designed by her - in 2011 alongside former male model Dudi Balsar.

In the latest snaps for the fashionable lingerie line she is also seen kneeling on the floor as she playfully gazes into the distance in a turquoise blue bralet and matching briefs.

And she adopts a casual pose with her long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and natural make-up in another image where she wears an orange vest with matching knickers.

The stunning supermodel picked up an award for being a Style Icon at the Vienna Awards For Fashion & Lifestyle in Austria last month.

The Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture have already prepared drafts of the Book Policy and Copyrights Policy respectively.

Discussion is underway among the bodies concerned on the final drafts of the policies, it is learnt.

Officials of the bodies concerned said that probably both the policies would be implemented within this year 2070 BS.

At an inaugural ceremony of the 17th Nepal Education and Book Exhibition, that began at Bhrikutimandap from today, Spokesperson of the Education Ministry, Mahashram Sharma, said that the main objective of the Book Policy is to further benefit all the three sides.

Different books published by national and international publications are kept in the nine-day expo.

Similarly, representative of the Nepal Copyrights Registrar Office, Bishwo KC, said that there is a target to implement the policy from next year.

He also urged creators to file complaints on the issues of violation of their copyrights.

The Office has also made a provision to assign a Police Inspector as Nodal Officer at the Area Police Office level to look after the cases of copyrights violations.

Likewise, Chancellor of the Nepal Academy, Bairagi Kainla said that reading books is a medium to build a civilized and educated society.

Chancellor of the Nepal Music and Drama Academy, Ambar Gurung, said it is a matter of worries to see decreasing trend of reading books due to technology in recent days.

It is expected that some 100,000 people would visit the expo where there are around 115 stalls.

The party was formed unifying six various left parties—CPN-Unified, CPN-ML-Socialist, CPN-Unified Marxist, Marxist Communist Party, Bidrohi ML and the Independent Thought Group under the chairmanship of Rishi Kattel in April.

Issuing a press statement today, the party said that they got registered at the EC deciding to take part in the elections as a protest.

The polarisation in the current politics is necessary in order to compete for the national sovereignty, and national economy breaking the non-partisanship, and violations of the principle of separation of power, the statement read.

Scores of party leaders and cadres including party chairman Kattel had thronged the EC to get their party registered.

Leaders of three organisations working to ensure rights of Nepali migrants in India on Friday said that that they would launch protest programme as according to them, the government is likely to ignore their demands.

Speaking at an interaction programme at Reporters Club here on Friday, Chairman of Nepali Janasamparka Samiti Bal Krishna Pandey said “We would be forced to launch agitations if the government fails to guarantee our demands.”

According to him, the protest programme would include picketing Nepali Embassy in India, stopping remittance, staging sit-in at Indo-Nepal border among others.

Pandey vented his ire at the government saying that the government has neglected rights to vote of Nepali residing abroad.

Likewise, Chairman of Prabasi Nepali Sangh Loknath Bhandari said argued that they demand is an inborn right and urged the government to guarantee it.

Also speaking at the programme, advisor to Mul Prabah Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekata Samaj Mitra Lala Sharma blamed major political parties of being irresponsible towards ensuring voting rights of Nepalis living abroad.

More than 60,000 people packed into Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on a recent Saturday night to see the national soccer team play. Another 100 million tuned in to television to watch the match, underlining the appeal of soccer in Indonesia where attendance rivals the top English and German soccer leagues.

Among the fans are two of Indonesia's most powerful people - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and politically ambitious businessman Aburizal Bakrie. Their parties have long been battling for control over the sport and its huge audience, hoping this could be a factor in elections next year.

Bakrie, who leads the Golkar party and has said he will be a presidential candidate, seems to have wrested control of a unified soccer association that was formed in March after almost two years of the two groups running parallel associations and parallel leagues.

The association in charge of the sport controls marketing in the stadiums and on television.

"If you can control football, you are half way to controlling Indonesia," said a senior official at the Indonesian national soccer association, or PSSI.

"No political party campaign can get such a huge, devoted and noisy crowd. No wonder they (politicians) are dying to get hold of this."

Bakrie has own TV channel to both show matches and advertise his presidential ambitions. While he has announced his candidacy, Yudhoyono's Democrats have yet to announce their front-runner for the 2014 presidential polls, which will be preceded by parliamentary elections.

Several other candidates are also in the fray for president and latest opinion polls suggest the front-runners are Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo and former military general Prabowo Subianto.

But controlling soccer will provide an edge in the country of 240 million people, where the sport is widly popular despite Indonesia being ranked 170 out of 209 soccer-playing nations.

Weekend games are watched by 52 million television viewers, while about 12 million attend games each year, said Widjajanto, chief executive of PT Liga Prima Indonesia Sportindo, the operator of the Indonesian Premier League. The league will merge with the rival Indonesian Super League by 2014, according to the agreement thrashed out in March.

By comparison, Germany's Bundesliga had an attendance of about 13.8 million in the 2011-12 season, while England's Premier League attracted 13.1 million people to its matches.

Votes are not the only prize. The potential business, if the sport can get back on track, is also mouth-watering.

The Indonesian Super League's TV broadcasting rights were sold for just 1.3 trillion rupiah ($133.5 million) for 10 years in 2011. Widjajanto estimates that once there is a unified league, broadcasting rights and advertising would be worth at least $360 million a year.

PROXY WAR

"It's very clear that it's a proxy battle between the Democratic Party and Golkar for the 2014 elections," said Tjipta Lesmana, a university professor and former head of a PSSI committee, of the battle for control of the association.

"The association has been used for political purposes and both parties' executives realized that soccer has the influence to help them gather support."

Before the chaotic arrival of democracy 14 years ago, Indonesia's soccer was tightly regulated under the three-decade autocratic rule of former president Suharto. After his ouster in 1998, management of the sport went into decline.

In the new political era, freewheeling business interests gained influence. They included the Bakrie Group, founded by businessman Achmad Bakrie, whose son Nirwan became PSSI vice chairman in 2003. Nirwan is Aburizal Bakrie's brother.

In 2010, the government stepped in and the battle for dominance began.

Yudhoyono, elected a year earlier to a second term, dispatched his sports minister to wrest back control of the PSSI which resulted in Nirwan Bakrie and the PSSI chairman kicked off the association board in 2011. Bakrie's backers set up their own association and the rival Indonesian Super League.

HEART AND SOUL

The dispute scared off sponsors and ravaged club finances. The government also withdrew state financing that some clubs received each year, causing many to shut down.

The sport hit a low point late last year when a Paraguayan player, unpaid for so long he could not afford medical treatment, died. Media reported that some other foreign players had taken to the streets to beg because they had not been paid.

This year, Yudhoyono sent Democratic Party executive Roy Suryo to sort out the mess. "The government put me in the lion's den," Suryo said. He convened a congress in March attended by both sides. Dozens of police stood guard in case tempers flared.

By the end of the meeting, a deal was brokered and Indonesian soccer was again left with one controlling body and the promise of a single league, although the outcome seemed skewed in favor of the Bakries.

Djohar Arifin Husin, who is aligned with the Bakries, was named chairman of the PSSI while six of the board members, aligned to the Yudhoyono faction, walked out. Husin told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting that the deal was a major development for the future of Indonesian soccer.

Nirwan, although no longer affiliated with the association, is considered an influential figure in it. He dismissed suggestions that the battle for control of the PSSI was all about politics and money, calling it a dispute among people who loved the game but simply had different ideas how to run it.

"If you fall in love with your girlfriend, you give your heart but if you fall in love with football, you'll give your heart and your soul," he told Reuters.

Scan the list of past winners and runners-up. There's Gaston Gaudio and Albert Costa, Guillermo Coria and Martin Verkerk, Andres Gomez and Mariano Puerta. Not so much a ''Who's Who.'' More like a ''Who's He?''

The women's list features fewer out-of-nowhere names, yet does include those such as Iva Majoli, Anastasia Myskina and Francesca Schiavone, who all won the French Open while never making it past the quarterfinals at any other major championship.

With the year's second Grand Slam tournament set to begin Sunday at Roland Garros, there is little thought being given to that sort of stunning outcome, thanks to Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.

As seven-time major champion John McEnroe put it: ''It's pretty obvious who the favorite is.''

He meant, of course, Nadal, who won his record seventh French Open title last year and is 52-1 for his career at the place. Consider, too, the nearly perfect way the Spaniard has played after seven months off the tour because of a left knee injury: Since returning in February, Nadal is 36-2, reaching the finals at all eight tournaments he's entered, winning six.

''I am enjoying every moment, and eight finals in a row is wonderful,'' Nadal said. ''Four, five months ago, it was impossible to think about this.''

He wore a wrap of white tape below that troublesome knee while practicing Thursday afternoon on Court Philippe Chatrier with the temperature in the 40s (less than 10 degrees Celsius) for about an hour before heavy rain fell; the forecast calls for more wet weather in the coming days.

Nadal has cut down on the amount of time he spends training on court, one concession to the recurring knee problems, which also forced him to pull out of Wimbledon in 2009, when he would have been the defending champion.

''I'm really happy for him, and impressed that he's come back,'' said McEnroe, an analyst for Tennis Channel, among other TV outlets. ''It seems like he's barely lost anything, if at all. Right now, he seems to be finally, he says, playing the best he's been playing the whole year, which is sort of frightening for the other players.''

And yet Nadal will not be seeded No. 1 when the draw is held Friday.

That's because the French Open decided to strictly follow the rankings, and Nadal's time away deducted enough points that he is currently No. 4 (he'll move up one spot to No. 3 in the seedings, because No. 2 Andy Murray, the reigning U.S. Open champion, withdrew because of a bad back).

Tournament director Gilbert Ysern explained that while he could have opted to ignore the rankings - and even contemplated doing so, because Nadal is ''the best player on clay'' and Roland Garros ''is a bit like his garden'' - there wasn't a consensus it was the proper thing to do.

''You can understand the argument that those who are higher than him in the rankings in a certain way deserve their ranking,'' Ysern said, ''and to move these players back to move Nadal forward could have been considered unfair.''

Nadal, for his part, did not sound too fussed about the matter, saying, ''I had a very good chance to be No. 10 (given the time off), and there are lots of chances to be worse, and I accept the situation.''

So last year's French Open runner-up to Nadal, Novak Djokovic, will be seeded No. 1, and 17-time major champion Roger Federer will be seeded No. 2.

Djokovic handed Nadal one of his two losses of 2013, in the Monte Carlo final on clay last month, proof that Nadal is not completely invincible, even on the slow surface he dominates.

The No. 1-ranked Williams, meanwhile, has been unbeatable lately. She arrives in Paris having won a career-high 24 consecutive matches and is 36-2 with a tour-leading five titles this season. That's part of a stretch in which she's gone 67-3, including titles last year at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the London Olympics.

That 70-match stretch of excellence dates, probably not coincidentally, to her last match at Roland Garros, a shocking loss to 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France in the first round in 2012. It is her only opening loss in 50 career Grand Slam tournaments - precisely the sort of thing that seems to happen around these parts.

While there certainly are other women who realistically can harbor hopes of lifting the trophy in a little more than two weeks - defending champion Maria Sharapova is the best example - Williams appears to be playing as well as ever at the moment.

She already owns 15 Grand Slam singles titles, but the French Open is the only major tournament she's won fewer than four times. Her lone championship in Paris came in 2002.

''Nothing is ever perfect and I learned that last year when I felt perfect,'' Williams said. ''So I am still in a danger zone.''

The Xinhua News Agency quoted North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae as making the comments Friday to Gen. Fan Changlong in Beijing on the third day of a fence-mending visit to his country's most important ally.

Choe's mission marks the first high-level, face-to-face contact between the two governments in a half-year, an unusual gap during which Pyongyang angered Beijing by conducting rocket launches and nuclear tests and other saber-rattling.

Choe was expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and deliver a message from Kim before returning.

The accident took place when a bus (Ba 1 Kha 6138) heading towards Kathmandu from Kahule fell 10 meters off the road after the bus slipped in muddy road at 9:30 am.

Of the injured, four critically injured have been sent to Kathmandu for treatment and the remaining are undergoing treatment at Trishuli Hospital, according to the District Police Office.

Lafley is taking on the roles of chairman, president and chief executive officer, effective immediately, while McDonald is set to retire on June 30 after 33 years at P&G.

The move comes as some investors have pushed for faster improvements from the maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors. P&G unveiled a $10 billion restructuring program in February 2012. Since then, it has cut thousands of jobs and taken other steps to speed up its operations, improve its success with new products and do a better job in both fast-growing emerging markets and in larger, developed markets such as the United States.

"Bob retired, the board called me and I felt like duty called. I'm back to help maintain the business momentum and keep this productivity program going," Lafley told Reuters.

There was no single reason for McDonald's retirement, Lafley said. "I think it's a number of personal reasons."

McDonald, who had been Lafley's hand-picked successor, was not made available for an interview.

While the suddenness of the change was a shock, the move to bring back Lafley was not, said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel in Cincinnati.

"The board has a known quantity in Lafley. He knows everyone, he knows the systems, and now that Procter is on firmer footing, it expects Lafley to be able to push the company and its stock price higher," said McCormick, whose firm invests more than $9.1 billion, with P&G as one of its biggest holdings.

Lafley, who will celebrate his 66th birthday in June, said P&G's board asked him days, not weeks, ago to come back, but he did not say exactly when he got the call.

Lafley said he is "fully engaged" in coming back and wants to finish the work that has been started on the productivity program.

"65 is the new 45," he joked, adding that he aims to build momentum at P&G by focusing on growth in emerging markets and innovation in brands and products.

Last summer, hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management said it had a stake in P&G worth roughly $2 billion, or 1 percent of the company. CEO William Ackman, who has shaken up management at other companies, most recently J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N), has blamed McDonald's team for missteps.

However, Ackman's pick for J.C. Penney, Ron Johnson, was ousted last month and replaced by his predecessor, Mike Ullman.

A Pershing representative was not immediately available for comment.

Lafley first joined Cincinnati-based P&G in 1977 and served as president and CEO from 2000 to 2009, when he handed the position over to McDonald. He stepped down as chairman in 2010.

"(P&G) wanted to bring someone back who knows the company well and can handle running it, both in the interim and to provide strategic guidance," said David Larcker, director of Stanford University's Rock Center for Corporate Governance.

"Reaching out to a successful past CEO can give the markets confidence, while still allowing time for a company to evaluate its strategy."

P&G also stood by its fiscal year, ending June 30, and fourth-quarter guidance. For the fourth quarter, P&G said profit should fall to 69 cents to 77 cents per share, from 82 cents per share a year earlier.

P&G's stock was up 54 cents, or 0.7 percent, in after hours trading after closing at $78.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.

At an interaction on 'Youth participation in CA' organized here today by the Nepal Independent Youth Association, he said the main cause of delay is lack of agreement among parties. They could not forge consensus on threshold and candidacy in election, he said.

Shrestha said the government will wait for some time and if consensus not forged, it will declare election through its own process.

The government formed for election will not engage in political strategies and it does not care whether the declaration benefits one or the party. We are discussing with parties, as declaration without necessary infrastructure will be immature, he added.

The minister also said the youths should come to national politics without shouldering the parties.

Video footage on Sky News showed the plane at London's Heathrow's airport with smoke bellowing out of its right engine.

"It's right engine was on fire. This plane was coming over and suddenly the tone of the engine changed dramatically. I'd almost say it was like a blowout or an explosion," witness Clive Cook told Sky News.

The airport, Europe's busiest, closed both its runways to deal with the incident, but one has since been re-opened.

A spokesman for the London fire brigade, which attended the incident, said they believed the fire was now out.

"There has been an incident involving a BA aircraft at Heathrow airport this morning and both runways have been closed as a result," a spokeswoman for the airport said. "All passengers have been safely evacuated from the plane in question."

Memorial, which has fought political repression since Soviet times, refuses to comply with the law which critics describe as a crude attempt to reassert Putin's authority after tens of thousands called for him to quit during protests last year.

The law obliges foreign-funded non-governmental organizations involved in "political activities" to operate under a label which has echoes of the Cold War and overtones of treason. Memorial says it also helps the state tighten controls.

"We're not sitting and waiting. We're staging a counter-attack," Memorial's head, Alexander Cherkasov, said. "They're taking us back to the ideas of the (Soviet) past. It's a sign of madness."

Inspired by Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and five others' wish to create a monument to remember the victims of dictator Josef Stalin's repression, Memorial started work in 1987 as the Soviet Union opened up under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Its initial goal was to document the Communist totalitarian past, but it developed quickly into a human rights organization and criticized the detention of anti-Putin protesters last year at a rally that turned violent.

While addressing an event to mark the United States of America's 237th Independence Day at his residence, Bodde said, "I want to stress that holding free and fair election soon is the best way to ensure a democratic, prosperous and inclusive Nepal."

While saying an election is pre-requisite for democracy, the US envoy also added that "a country without regular, free and fair elections cannot be considered as democracy".

According to him, if an election date is announced, the US government would be ready to extend necessary help to happen this possible. He also reminded that Nepal was also one of focus countries for President Barack Obama's development initiatives on food, security, maternal and child health and climate change.

Declaration of Independence was announced on 4 July 1776, but it took 11 more years for the US to adopt its constitution on 17 September 1787.

Though Independence Day is observed as the birthday of the United States on July 4, this year the US embassy in Kathmandu observed it in advance so as to escape the possibly bad monsoon season.

High level government officials, including Vice President Paramananda Jha, former Chief of Army Staff Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, Chief Secretary Lila Mani Paudel, representatives from the diplomatic community in Kathmandu, among others were present.

Apparently the guests at his parties will be sued for $5 million if they talk about it in public or on social-networking sites.

"Now I just don't trust anybody. Literally, my phone never rings. I only have, like, four people that I keep in contact with. I don't need a bunch of friends to make me happy. I just need the people close to me that I love, that's all," contactmusic.com quoted Bieber as saying.

According to the sources, guests at parties are required to sign a confidentiality agreement before entering the house, promising not to reveal details of Bieber's physical health, philosophical, spiritual or other views or characteristics.

This also includes a ban on tweeting, blogging or other forms of social media.

The news came after Bieber's close friend posted a photo of the singer appearing to smoke marijuana on Instagram and it seems the pop star is struggling to get over the abuse of trust, isolating himself from pals as a result.

The Competition is organised by the Nepal Sitoriyo Karate Association.

At a press conference organised here today, Chairman of the Association, Dawa Gurung, said that players of 70 schools of Nepal, eight of India and two of Bangladesh would participate in the competition.

There would be competition for 208 medals including 52 gold, 52 silver and 104 bronze medals.

Gurung said the competition would be held in four categories—children, cadet, junior and senior.

A main organising committee under the leadership of Karate Chief Coach, Mahesh Kumar Shrestha, as well as different sub-committees have been formed to organise the competition successfully.

The three-day competition will be held at the covered hall of the Tripureshwor-based National Sports Council.

Putting forth 10-point demand related to the Constituent Assembly elections and accusing the interim government of being indifferent, Mahato had begun the hunger strike on Tuesday.

Sadbhawana Party General Secretary Manish Suman claimed that Mahato was forcefully taken away.

He told THT Online over phone that an ambulance was brought to Ratna Park, and he did not know where leader Mahato was taken.

Police had to use force while picking up the protesting leader. They resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the party cadres assembled at the site.

According to Suman, scores of Sadbhawana cadres have been hurt in the police intervention.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt a team of doctors from the Bir Hospital had visited Mahato at Shanti Batika to inquire about his health condition this morning.

Subsequently, he was rushed to the hospital where he has been admitted.

The soldiers were searching for militants during a patrol when they were ambushed in the village of Hardu Buchoo, 30 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of Srinagar near the forested area of Tral, the spokesman said.

"The militants fired at the soldiers from outside the village, when the cordon was laid and three of our soldiers were killed," Lieutenant Colonel Ankur Vashist told AFP in Srinagar.

The militants fled into the forest and the army called in reinforcements, Vashist said. Another soldier was wounded in the ensuing gun battle with the militants, he said.

The bodies of the slain soldiers have not yet been retrieved, he added.

The ambush comes a day after government forces killed a top militant from outlawed group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Srinagar during an early morning gun battle.

Armed rebels have fought Indian security forces in Kashmir since 1989 for the independence of the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead so far.

Militants killed four police in April in an ambush, while a group of militants disguised as cricketers gunned down five paramilitary police in March in an ambush in Srinagar.

Indian Kashmir has been tense since the execution in February of a local man over a deadly 2001 attack on the national parliament in New Delhi.

Mohammed Afzal Guru, a local separatist, was convicted over the attack, but he retained widespread support in Kashmir where many doubted his guilt.

Much of Kashmir has since been put under curfew repeatedly while protests and strikes have disrupted daily life.

Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan along a UN-monitored line of control, but both claim it in full and have fought two wars over its control.

New York police received a call on Thursday night from an employee at the 47th Street high-rise building where Bynes lives, said NYPD spokesman Detective Brian Sessa.

The employee reported that someone was smoking marijuana in the lobby.

When police arrived, they were directed to Bynes' apartment, where the actress invited police in, Sessa said.

Officers detected a strong smell of marijuana in the apartment and observed the bong - a tube-shaped water pipe commonly used for smoking marijuana - in the apartment, according to Sessa.

Bynes grabbed the bong and threw it out the window, he said. The actress lives on the 36th floor, The New York Daily News reported.

Bynes, 27, a former child star who had her own TV comedy sketch show on Nickelodeon at age 13, was taken into custody and charged with tampering with physical evidence, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of marijuana.

She pleaded no contest earlier this month in California to driving with a suspended license, according to The Los Angeles Times, one of a number of recent run-ins with the law.

The Nikkei rose 0.9 percent to 14,612.45 after dropping as much as 3.5 percent to 13,981.52 in the afternoon. In morning trade, it rose as high as 15,007.50, as investors picked up some of the beaten-down stocks after the market's largest one-day drop in two years on Thursday.

The broader Topix gained 0.5 percent to 1,194.08.

The epicentre of the quake was located at a depth of 385 miles (620 km) in the Sea of Okhotsk, 244 miles (390 km) west of the nearest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake was felt in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the main city on the Kamchatka peninsula and home to a nuclear submarine base, and on Sakhalin island, where Russia's largest liquefied natural gas project is located.

Regional emergency authorities issued a tsunami warning for Sakhalin and the Kurile islands, advising residents of dangerous areas to seek high ground, but lifted the warning several minutes later.

Residents of northern Japan felt the quake but there was no tsunami warning from Japan's meteorological agency.

Waze is seeking more than $1 billion and is fielding expressions of interest from multiple parties, said Bloomberg, citing a source.

Other media have reported that Facebook Inc has held talks to buy Waze for as much as $1 billion.

Google and other parties approached Waze after the Facebook talks became public but none of the bidders are close to clinching a deal, Bloomberg said, adding that the start-up might decide to remain independent.

Waze could not immediately be reached for comment. Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Waze uses satellite signals from members' smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, which it then shares with other users, offering real-time traffic info.

According to the police three persons including a driver of a Kathmandu-bound tanker (Na 4 Kha 3264) transporting petrol were killed after it fell into the Trishuli River at Ghoptebhir of Darechowk VDC-3 along the Prithvi Highway on Thursday midnight.

Police has identified the deceased trucker as Gopal Singh Lama of Padampokhari VDC-8 of Makawanpur. However, Area police office at Muglin said that the bodies of the other two killed in the same tragedy have been charred beyond recognition and their identities are yet to be established.

The tanker is completely damaged after it reportedly caught fire after it fell off the road.

When asked, Jiblal Chudali, police Inspector at District Police Office, Chitwan informed that they have not found the bodies of the other two victims at the site of the accident. However, he confirmed one death.

After a preliminary investigation, police estimated that the tragedy occurred at around 11 pm last night due to the contracted road. The accident site is 4 kms east from Muglin Bazaar.

Meanwhile, a woman was killed in a road accident at Khairahani here along East-West Highway on Thursday evening after a truck (Na 1 Kha 7342) heading towards Narayangadh hit a scooter (Na 12 Pa 9857) she was riding on.

Police identified the deceased biker as Amrita Pandey of Kathar VDC-7. Critically injured Pandey died while undergoing treatment at Bharatpur Hospital where she was wheeled into.

Police said they have arrested the truck driver and also impounded the vehicle.

The 38-year-old Beckham, who said last week he will retire from the sport after the season, will be with French champion Paris Saint-Germain when the team travels to Lorient for the final round.

"It's been a very special place for me," Beckham said. "After 22 years of playing football I'm going to take a few months to enjoy time with my family."

Although PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti said it is unlikely Beckham will play, it has not been officially decided yet.

When PSG clinched the league title on May 12, Beckham became the first English player to win the championship in four countries after success with Manchester United, Real Madrid and the Los Angeles Galaxy. He also played on loan with AC Milan and made 115 appearances for his country, a record in England for someone other than a goalkeeper.

"I just feel that it's the right time. I feel that I've achieved everything that I could in my career. I wanted to go out as a champion," Beckham said. "I've finished my career in a team that has treated me like I've been here for 10 years."

In his four-month stint with the Paris club, Beckham has won over his teammates.

"I think his retirement is a huge loss for football, but I also understand his decision," Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said. "I didn't know him personally before he signed for Paris, but I have got to know him here. He has been a model of professionalism."

Beckham has clearly made a strong impression on his teammates despite playing only 14 games for PSG.

"David is an incredible person. I can't speak highly enough of him. But first and foremost, he's a great footballer who has had an amazing career," France international Blaise Matuidi said. "I can only wish him every success for the future and I'm so happy to have been able to play and train alongside him. For me, it has been an honor."

Beckham drew a roaring ovation from the 44,983 spectators at Parc des Princes last Saturday when he was replaced in the 81st minute by Ezequiel Lavezzi. PSG beat Brest 3-1 as Beckham set up the second goal in the 32nd with a corner kick from the left.

"We spent four great months with him. He brought a lot to the team with his experience," PSG defender Mamadou Sakho said. "He's a great footballer and off the pitch, he's a fantastic person and a genuinely nice guy. I am proud to have played alongside a player like that."

Appointed captain last Saturday for PSG's last home game this season, Beckham was overwhelmed and reduced to tears as he left the field.

After the final whistle, teammates hoisted Beckham off the ground and repeatedly tossed him in the air.

"To end my career in front of a crowd like that, with players like that, it's very special," Beckham said.

The club had a fireworks show and a trophy ceremony after that game. Draped in an English flag, Beckham reveled in the moment as he sprinted onto the stage erected in the middle of the field.

Somehow, Beckham could be back soon in the French capital but with a different uniform.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said last week that he is negotiating with Beckham, hoping the former England captain will work with the French club after retirement, possibly in an ambassadorial role.

"He's very interested to continue being involved with the big project of Paris Saint-Germain," Al-Khelaifi said. "He believes in the project, he believes in the club, he loves the club."

Also, Lyon will contend with Saint-Etienne and Lille for the last Champions League spot while Ajaccio, Sochaux and Troyes will try to stay in the French league.

The 34-year-old centre-back, who signed from Leeds United in 2002, announced his retirement from international football last week and says he is eager to start work with new manager David Moyes.

"I am delighted to have signed for another year and I am looking forward to working with the new manager," said Ferdinand.

"Who wouldn't want to play in this fantastic team in front of 75,000 fans each week? It has been an incredible journey and I am glad it will continue.

"I can now fully concentrate on my club career, which has worked well for me over the past few years. This is a great team to be part of and we are now moving into a new era with the club, which is very exciting."

Moyes, who will officially succeed Alex Ferguson as manager on July 1, said he was pleased Ferdinand had committed himself to another season at Old Trafford.

"It is clear for everyone to see that Rio has had one of his best seasons with the club," he said.

"Even from the outside, you can see what a big character Rio is around the dressing room. I am delighted he has signed a new contract and I am looking forward to working with him."

Ferdinand has made 432 appearances for United since his move from Elland Road 11 years ago and recently collected his sixth Premier League winners' medal at the club.+

Fawaz Gruosi, the founder of the Swiss firm, said the necklace was part of the company's 20th anniversary collection paraded by 20 models at the glitzy event at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes outside Cannes on Tuesday night. Sharon Stone and Paris Hilton were among the guests.

Gruosi said 80 bodyguards, local police, hotel security, and De Grisogono staff had been on duty but when a check was made at the end of the night the diamond necklace was missing.

"We don't know exactly what happened ... it was one of the most beautiful items we had," Gruosi told Reuters Television.

"The police are trying to figure out what happened."

A Cannes police source said authorities were investigating whether it was a theft, a problem of inventory or a loss, the source said.

Another Swiss jeweller, Chopard, had gems worth $1.4 million stolen in the first week of the 12-day festival on the glamorous French Riviera, which attracts thousands of actors, filmmakers and journalists.

Police said the Chopard jewellery had been in the safe of a room at the Suite Novotel hotel in central Cannes, which had been rented by an employee of the jeweller.

The entire safe was removed from the wall and taken during the night of May 16. Someone entered without forcing the door or using the magnetic key card, a police source said.

A spokesman for Chopard, a sponsor of the Cannes festival, later played down the report, saying the value had been exaggerated.

Jewellers and fashion houses use the world's largest film festival at Cannes as a promotional showcase, lending gowns and accessories to celebrities who are photographed on the famed red carpet and at parties along the palm-lined Croisette waterfront.

Prime Minister David Cameron appealed for calm after 25-year-old Lee Rigby was butchered outside a London army barracks on Wednesday, while an extra 1,200 officers were deployed on the capital's streets in a bid to reassure the public.

The intelligence agencies meanwhile came under scrutiny after it emerged that the two murder suspects, who were injured in police gunfire at the scene, had been known to the security services.

Both men, aged 28 and 22, are believed to be Britons of Nigerian origin. One of them had frequented meetings by the now-banned Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun, its UK leader Anjem Choudary told AFP.

The two chief suspects are under arrest in separate hospitals. They are both stable and their injuries are not life threatening, police said.

In a brazen mid-afternoon attack in Woolwich, southeast London, the pair apparently hacked Rigby with knives and a meat cleaver before attempting to explain their actions in an Islamist tirade to passers-by.

The victim, who has a two-year-old son Jake, was a machine gunner who served with NATO-led forces in Afghanistan in 2009, the defence ministry said.

The Sun newspaper on Friday reported that the victim's girlfriend was herself serving with the Royal Military Police in Afghanistan and was flying home after receiving the news.

Police searched five properties in London and one in a village in eastern England, and announced the arrests of a man and a woman, both aged 29, for conspiracy to murder.

"This is a large, complex and fast-moving investigation which continues to develop," a spokesman said.

Detectives are sifting through witness statements, social media and security camera footage, while forensic experts have been combing the scene in Woolwich for evidence.

Media reports citing witnesses said the men first ran over their victim in a car before finishing him off with the knives.

A government source said "we will be looking into the possibility that they were known" to the security services.

British media are naming the suspects as 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo and 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, both from London.

Islamist preacher Choudary told AFP Adebolajo was from a Nigerian family, converted to Islam in 2003 and took the name "Mujahid". He regularly attended sermons by banned Islamist preacher Omar Bakri, the Al-Muhajiroun founder.

"He used to attend some of our activities over the years. Very peaceful chap actually, not violent at all," Choudary said, adding that he lost contact three years ago.

Chilling onlooker footage showed the man thought to be Adebolajo still holding his weapons and saying they killed Rigby "because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers".

Footage released by the Daily Mirror on Friday showed the moment that police gunned down the two suspects as they charged towards officers.

Cameron condemned the attack as a "betrayal of Islam".

Speaking after chairing a second meeting of COBRA, the government's emergency response committee, the prime minister branded the murderers "sickening".

"This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life. It was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country," he said outside his Downing Street office.

The murder is the first deadly Islamist attack in Britain since 2005, when suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport network.

In the video, which has gone viral on the Internet, Adebolajo demanded Cameron's government "bring our troops back".

"You people will never be safe. Remove your governments, they don't care about you," he said.

The soldier's family issued a statement paying tribute to a "loving" family man.

"Lee was lovely," it said. "He would do anything for anybody, he always looked after his sisters and always protected them. He took a 'big brother' role with everyone.

"He wanted to live life and enjoy himself. His family meant everything to him. He was a loving son, husband, father, brother, and uncle, and a friend to many," it added.

The extra police officers on the city's streets were concentrating on religious venues and transport hubs, but there were no reports of any reprisals overnight Friday.

A female scout leader who confronted the assailants shortly after the attack said she told them: "It is only you versus many people. You are going to lose."

The Muslim Council of Britain has described the murder as "a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam".

US President Barack Obama condemned the killing as "appalling" and "horrific", saying there was "absolutely no justification for such acts".

Obama told Americans their country was at a crossroads, and must move on from the counterterrorism policies deployed after the September 11 attacks to confront a new era of diverse global threats and homegrown radicals.

He argued that the idea of a "boundless" conflict everywhere radicalism took root, be it in Pakistan or Arab Spring nations or Somalia, was now obsolete.

"A perpetual war -- through drones or Special Forces or troop deployments -- will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways," he said, seeking to shape his second term and his own political legacy in a major speech.

"We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us," Obama said, warning that some post-9/11 tactics like enhanced interrogation of terror suspects had "compromised our basic values."

But he also mounted a firm defense of his covert drone war as legal and just and the best way to confront terrorism plots against Americans, though warned that undisciplined use of the tactic would invite abuses of power.

Obama said he had signed a new policy directive codifying guidelines for the use of US drone strikes because "to say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance."

The guidelines state that drone attacks can only be used to prevent imminent attacks and when the capture of a suspect is not feasible and if there is a "near certainty" that civilians will not be killed.

The rules would follow the same criteria as those used for attacks on US citizens who have aligned themselves with foreign terror groups.

But the administration still has wide discretion to use a covert strategy condemned by some rights groups and civil libertarians.

On Wednesday, the administration said for the first time that it had killed Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen -- and that three other US citizens also died in anti-terror strikes abroad.

Speaking at the National Defense University, Obama said that he would be "haunted" for the rest of his life by the deaths of civilians in strikes he had ordered -- but had no choice but to act when Americans were at risk.

But he said his policies had been successful in neutralizing the threat of action from core Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, though cautioned the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was too risky to become the norm.

Obama also signaled a major new effort to close the Guantanamo Bay camp for terror suspects in Cuba, which he billed as harmful to US interests, too expensive and a relic of a past age of counterterrorism tactics.

He pledged to lift a personal moratorium on transferring Guantanamo Bay inmates to unstable Yemen and promised to appoint senior envoys in the State Department and Pentagon to oversee transfers. Yemen welcomed the announcements.

The president also called on the Pentagon to designate a site on US soil to hold military tribunals for terror suspects now at Guantanamo Bay, and said Congress must now drop efforts to thwart his closure plans.

"I know the politics are hard. But history will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism and those of us who fail to end it," Obama said.

He offered no solution for inmates deemed too dangerous for release but who cannot be tried because evidence against them was obtained through coercion and may not be admissible in court.

Obama was repeatedly heckled by Medea Benjamin, leader of the Code Pink anti-war group, who shouted : "You are commander in chief. You can close Guantanamo today!"

The president also urged Congress to amend the legal authorization for US counterterrorism operations adopted after the September 11 attacks, saying it did not reflect the evolved threat.

"Unless we discipline our thinking and our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight," he said.

But Republicans warned Obama's strategic rethink was premature.

"We are still in a long, drawn-out conflict with Al-Qaeda," said Senator John McCain.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said Obama had signaled a "retreat from the threat of Al-Qaeda."

Rights and civil liberties groups mostly welcomed Obama's speech, but demanded prompt action.

"The time to take our country off the global warpath and fully restore the rule of law is now, not at some indeterminate future point," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Center for Constitutional Rights praised Obama's pledge on Guantanamo but added that without immediate steps, he would not escape the "harsh judgment" of history.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, Lukla, aircraft of Tara Air and Sita Air made flights to and from the Tenzing-Hillary Airport as the weather improved this morning.

Likewise, helicopters have also resumed their service.

Hundreds of trekkers and mountaineers visiting the Everest region were left stranded in Lukla as the regular flights were cancelled and even helicopters could not provide their service for two days.

A few helicopters, however, had managed to airlift some tourists from nearby Surke yesterday.

The airport is at an elevation of 2800 m in Lukla, referred to be the gateway to the Everest region.

The collapse on Interstate 5 took out the northbound and southbound sides of the span and occurred at about 7 p.m. local time in Mount Vernon, 55 miles north of Seattle, Washington State Patrol spokesman Trooper Mark Francis said.

"I've got reports of vehicles and people in the water," Francis said. He added that he did not know if anyone was injured.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. It was not raining in the area, Francis said.

Fighting that erupted on Monday near Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's largest city, has killed at least 20 people and ended an uneasy six-month calm between the army and fighters from the M23 rebel group.

"We have the best chance in many years to bring peace, stability and development to this country and this region," Ban said on a visit to Goma with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

A day earlier, the bank announced it would provide $1 billion to help finance health and education services, hydro-electric projects and cross-border trade aimed at fostering development and peace in the conflict-ridden Great Lakes region.

Ban has said the money is contingent on countries in the region honoring a peace deal brokered by the United Nations in February to try to end two decades of conflict in eastern Congo.

This week's fighting was the first since November, when M23 troops routed the army and briefly seized Goma, despite the presence of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers.

Ban said a new U.N. Intervention Brigade tasked with neutralizing armed groups across the eastern border region would be deployed within the next month or two to support the existing 17,000-strong U.N. mission.

"This time, we're going beyond the traditional way of peacekeeping missions. (The brigade) has been mandated with a clear and robust mandate to enforce peace when it is necessary," he said.

The first troop contingents for the brigade, which will include some 3,000 soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi, have already begun to arrive.

Ban told Reuters that Congo's U.N. mission, MONUSCO, would begin using surveillance drones in August to monitor the border - a thickly forested area of rugged terrain with few roads.

CEASEFIRE

Following three days of heavy weapons exchanges on the outskirts of Goma, the rebels announced a ceasefire hours before Ban and Kim's arrival.

M23 spokesman Amani Kabasha demanded that Congolese President Joseph Kabila also sign a formal ceasefire. "We're very happy that Ban Ki-moon is coming to Congo so he can see that the real problems are deeper than they appear," he said.

M23 is made up of members of a previous Tutsi-dominated rebellion who integrated into the army after a 2009 peace deal.

They deserted en masse last year accusing the government of failing to honor the terms of the deal and have since expanded their demands to include calls for sweeping political reforms.

Talks between M23 and Congo's government, which had been taking place in Uganda, have stalled.

U.N. experts have accused Rwanda, one of 11 African nations that signed the regional peace deal in February, of sending troops and weapons across the border to support the M23 last year. Rwanda denies the accusation.

Ban said he would push President Paul Kagame to stick to the terms of the U.N.-brokered peace deal when he travels to Rwanda on the next leg of his three-country trip on Thursday.

"I believe that he has to show there's a strong commitment to keeping this (peace agreement)," he told Reuters. "He said to me that he's very strongly committed to full implementation of this framework agreement. That is why I am going there."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said 15 people, including five children, were wounded on Tuesday and Wednesday when shells fell on a densely inhabited Goma neighborhood and around a nearby camp for civilians displaced by war.

The Human Rights Watch group said on Wednesday that a 2-year-old girl had been killed by one of the shells, which the United Nations later said had been fired from M23 positions.

"Thousands of people live in the neighborhoods located close to the fighting," said Rachel Bernhard, head of the ICRC's delegation in Goma. "These residents and displaced people are once again caught in the crossfire, their lives at risk."

The dead man, Ibragim Todashev, 27, was a friend of suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev and was under investigation for alleged ties to a triple homicide in Massachusetts in 2011, according to media reports citing law enforcement officials.

The FBI has made no official comment about the shooting since a brief statement on Wednesday morning when it said Todashev was killed after he suddenly attacked an agent during an interrogation at his Orlando condominium.

"We are not commenting on the incident at this time to ensure we don't impact their (the review team's) efforts," an FBI spokesman said.

Todashev's death was a bizarre twist in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation and it remained unclear what caused his alleged attack or what the main focus of the FBI's questioning was.

Investigators believe Tsarnaev may also have been involved in the 2011 murders, but they added there is no evidence at this time connecting that crime with possible motives or activities leading up to the Boston bombings.

The independent FBI "Shooting Incident Review Team" plans to meet with friends of Todashev, including his housemate Khusen Taramov, who told Reuters he was contacted Thursday morning by the bureau.

Taramov, 22, had accompanied Todashev to what they believed was to be their final interview with agents on Tuesday night, but which ended in Todashev's death.

Taramov said he will cooperate with the FBI review of the shooting, though he was skeptical of the agency's public version of events. "Honestly, I don't believe it," he said.

FBI officials also spoke to Reni Manukyan, the 24-year-old Armenian-born wife of Todashev, a hotel housekeeping manager who traveled to Orlando from Atlanta, to help with funeral arrangements.

In Grozny, Chechnya, Todashev's father said he plans to travel to the United States, where he suspects his son was tortured and killed.

"I suspect that they tortured my son and that he suffered a painful death," said Abdulbaki Todashev, wiping away tears at the home he shares with one of his wives in the mostly Muslim region of Chechnya in Russia's North Caucasus.

"I will try to go to (the United States) and get to the truth," he said.

Government records show that Todashev entered the United States on a Russian passport in 2008 with a visa for work-and study-based exchange programs, according to a law enforcement source.

Later, he was granted permanent residency, the source said, adding that he lived in Boston at first but later moved to Florida.

Manukyan said she was interviewed by FBI agents in her home in Atlanta the same night her husband was being questioned in Orlando. FBI officials never asked her or her husband about the 2011 murders, she said.

"The interviews were always about Tsarnaev and the bombings. How did we know him and what was the relationship with him," she said.

Todashev is one of at least two friends of the elder Tsarnaev, also of Chechen ethnicity, who federal investigators have been looking at closely since Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, were first identified as suspects in the marathon bombing on April 15, killing three and injuring 264 others.

U.S. media sources reported that Todashev, a mixed martial arts fighter, confessed to his involvement in the unsolved 2011 triple homicide in a Boston suburb, fingering deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the process. The victims, including a close friend of Tsarnaev, had their throats cut in an apartment. News reports said marijuana was strewn over their bodies.

Taramov said Todashev was trailed constantly by agents for the past several weeks and questioned repeatedly by phone and in face-to-face interviews that lasted as long as five hours. The housemate said he was questioned as well.

Taramov also said he never heard anything from agents about the triple murders until after Todashev was killed and he heard what the FBI was saying on the news.

"They were asking different questions like how did we meet the guys (Boston bombing suspects), the kind of relationship we had with the guys," Taramov said, adding the agents asked about their views on America.

Federal court officials in Boston delayed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's first appearance in court until July 10, when he will face a probable cause hearing on charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

Of the 86 detainees who have been cleared for transfer or release, 56 are from Yemen, where al Qaeda has a dangerous presence. There are 80 more prisoners who are not cleared and an unknown number of those are Yemeni as well.

Most of the Yemeni prisoners were captured more than a decade ago. Previously, they were a smaller percentage of the detainees, which included higher numbers of Afghans and Saudis.

But as the United States worked out agreements with other countries to transfer detainees to their homelands, it remained reluctant to do so with Yemen because of security concerns.

Repatriation of Yemeni prisoners was halted in 2010 after a man trained by militants in Yemen attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound plane in 2009 with a bomb concealed in his underwear.

The Obama administration so far has been skeptical that Yemen is stable enough to receive the transfers. Officials fear the consequences of a repatriated Yemeni eventually attacking the United States or its interests.

Yemen is home to an al Qaeda wing that was once described by Washington as the movement's most dangerous branch. Impoverished and turbulent, Yemen is located next door to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and major crude shipment routes.

Militants allied to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took advantage of Arab Spring chaos in Yemen in 2011 to seize control of some towns in the country's south. They were pushed from those towns last year but continue to fight government forces.

Recent developments, however, appear to have triggered reconsideration in Washington. Yemen's new president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has made tackling militants a top priority.

Supporters of shutting down Guantanamo said they were encouraged by Obama's pledge on transfers to Yemen but noted that he included heavy caveats during his wide-ranging speech on Thursday on how the United States will narrow its global war on terror.

When renewing his pledge to close Guantanamo, Obama said, "I am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen, so we can review them on a case by case basis. To the greatest extent possible, we will transfer detainees who have been cleared to go to other countries."

Wells Dixon, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York organization that has represented a number of Guantanamo prisoners, said he was not encouraged by Obama's statements.

"While I welcome his lifting the ban on transfers to Yemen, and his renewed commitment to closing the prison, I am deeply troubled by his comment that cleared detainees will be released only 'to the extent possible,'" Dixon said.

"What does that mean? Are men going to be released and reunited with their families or not? If men are not released soon, especially to Yemen, the crisis at Guantanamo will worsen and men will die. They cannot be let down again; it's cruel and inhumane," he said.

Retired Rear Admiral Don Guter, who served as the judge advocate general and was the Navy's top judge on September 11, 2001, praised the move to lift the ban on Yemeni transfers.

"That's really created paralysis on that issue so removing that moratorium is a great step," Guter said.

Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, said in a statement that the Yemeni government will work with the United States to ensure the safe return of detainees and work toward their rehabilitation.

TIMING OF TRANSFERS

Calls on Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay camp have risen as a hunger strike at the U.S. naval base in Cuba lingers. Prisoners are in the fourth month of their strike to protest the failure to resolve their fate after 11 years of detention.

More than 100 people have joined the protest and 32 have lost so much weight that they are being force-fed.

Transferring prisoners to Yemen was one of several steps Obama announced to move toward closing the prison.

Other moves included designating a site in the United States for military commissions, and including a new senior envoy at the State Department and Defense Department to oversee transfers.

Lifting the ban does not mean transfers to Yemen will immediately take place. Current law requires the Defense Department to certify for each transferred prisoner that the destination country is not a state sponsor of terrorism and would take action to make sure the individual would not threaten the United States.

Unless those provisions are removed or expire, they would have to be followed. No prisoners have been certified yet so it is not known how long the process takes.

Obama called on Congress to lift those and other restrictions that it placed on prisoner transfers starting in 2011. If it were so inclined, Congress could do this in the coming months as it works on defense legislation. The restrictions have had bipartisan support in the past.

The youngest of all the remaining Guantanamo prisoners is a Yemeni named Hassan Mohammed ali bin Attash, who is 26 or 27 and is an alleged al Qaeda member accused by the United States of being part of Osama bin Laden's security detail. He is not among those cleared for release or transfer; the United States wants to continue holding him indefinitely.

Some Republican reaction to Obama's speech showed it may be difficult for Obama to secure congressional support for lifting the restrictions on transfers.

"What's changed in Yemen?" asked Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, who wants Guantanamo to stay open. "I think this issue of transferring to Yemen is very troubling, given the history we have with Yemen and terrorist activity there."

Maitighar, Durbar Marg, Putalisadak, Jamal, Baneshwor, Naxal and Gongabu were the worst affected areas where traffic came to a grinding halt for hours. SSP Hemanta Bahadur Pal, Spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office, said traffic congestion in the areas caused chain effect throwing vehicular movements across the city out of gear. “The areas were under knee-deep water. Vehicles and pedestrians faced a tough time with the waterlogged roads in the rush hour. Dozens of vehicles got stuck in different places as water entered the exhaust pipes,” he said.

A man was reportedly washed away by the Thulo Khola in Gongabu.

Long-route buses did not leave Gongabu Bus Park for their destinations fearing landslides along the national highways.

Floodwater entered houses in many parts of the city and squatter settlements along the Bishnumati River in Kalimati and New Baneshwor. Floodwater also entered the Prime Minister's Office and a fire engine was deployed to extract it.

Lowland areas in Gongabu, Lazimpat, Lagankhel, Teku, Kalanki, Naikap, Tinthana, Sinamangal, Koteshwor, Bafal, Kuleshwor and Kirtipur were also inundated. However, no loss of life was reported till evening.

SSP Pal said they were collecting information about the damage caused by floods elsewhere in the Valley.

Valley surpasses average for May

KATHMANDU: The Kathmandu Valley has surpassed the average precipitation for the month of May. The Valley so far has received 137.6 mm rainfall, which is above the average rainfall of 123.6 mm for the month of May. According to Senior Meteorologist Rajendra Prasad Shrestha, the Valley received 41.6 mm of rainfall till 5:30pm on Thursday.

READ ALSO: It never rains but it pours

THT editor recounts how floodwater dampened his evening after work

UCPN-M Spokesperson Agni Sapkota, who is close to party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, today said his party was ready to keep intact the provision of one per cent vote threshold and new strength of 491-member CA to ensure November election.

NC and UML have made it clear that they would in no way compromise on the issues of threshold and new strength of the CA and that they have intimated their stances to Khil Raj Regmi, chairman of the interim election government.

Addressing a function here, Sapkota said they were ready to discuss all issues, including the 25-point presidential decree and the 11-point political understanding reached among the four major political forces on March 13.

Saying that his party was committed to the 25-point presidential decree and 11-point understanding, Sapkota said the CPN-Maoist, a breakaway faction of the UCPN-M, was hell bent on disrupting the election. He also said that they were not averse to the idea of roping in the CPN-M and other dissident groups to expand the High Level Political Committee and the Interim Election Council of Ministers.

NC leader Deep Kumar Upadhayay said it was unfortunate to see that even the parties who were in favour of holding election were divided over the issues of threshold and revised strength of CA. “Those who fail to secure even one per cent valid votes of the people have no right to represent them,” Upadhayay said.

CPN-UML Secretary Shankar Pokharel said UCPN-M was opposing the provision of one per cent threshold as provoked by the fringe parties, who would not win even a single seat in the CA under the first-past-the-post system.

But CPN-M Secretary Dev Gurung made it clear that they would not take part in the election unless the 25-point presidential decree and 11-point political understanding were scrapped and a round table conference was held to form an interim government led by parties.

Miffed by Ghimire’s failure to visit the district till evening although he was scheduled to arrive in the afternoon, irate locals today shut the bazaars and disrupted vehicular movement chanting slogans against the minister.

Earlier, an agreement had been reached that the matter would be resolved in the presence of the minister at a meeting today. “Security personnel were deployed from early morning and a temporary helipad was built for the visit and all the blockades of the highway were removed. But the minister did not come,” said Eyub Rain, a local. Agitators have staged a sit-in at Bisanpur chowk with Miya’s body.

Speaking on the minister’s behalf, Chief District Officer Harikrishna Poudel said his visit was hampered by the adverse weather. “We are urging the agitators to end the road blockade,” he said.

The highway blockades that came into effected after Miya’s murder are yet to be lifted. Though police had escorted some vehicles on Wednesday night, the agitators disrupted the road from Thursday morning, leaving dozens of vehicles stranded at Kanchanpur, Mahuli, Rupani, Kathona and other places. The agitators have laid tree logs across the road and burnt tyres to obstruct the highway, and the bazaars on the highway have also remained shut to protest the murder. A struggle committee led by Haji Dabul has also been formed to intensify the agitation, with demands like martyr’s status for Miya, guarantee of security for the Muslim community, and arrest of the murderers at the earliest, and the presence of the Home Minister for Miya’s last rites.

Almost half of Sunsari district remained shut today to protest the murder, as members of the Muslim community held demonstrations at different places of the district demanding that the government be serious regarding security for the community.

Vehicular movement was disrupted and bazaars were shut in places with Muslim majority such as Bhantabari, Kosi Barrage, Laukahi, Bhokraha, Pakali, Jhumka, Duhabi, Khanar, leaving passengers in the lurch. Passengers heading to Pokhara, Kathmandu and other places have been stranded in Itahari for the past two days.

the poll date. — HNS

Demanding a fully proportional electoral system in the Free Student Union election, Limbuwan aligned student unions including Federal Student Union, Limbuwan Student Council, and CPN-M aligned ANNISU-R jointly shut the campus today.

They padlocked the office of the election committee, campus administration, accounts section, and also burnt all election related documents.

Student organisations which are participating the FSU poll, are demanding a conducive environment in the campus for the poll. They have called on the agitating student unions to solve the problem through peaceful dialogue. With the padlock on, the campus has become tense.

staging a fast unto death since Tuesday, deteriorated today.

Chief of Emergency Department at Bir Hospital Dr Dhruva Prasad Singh, who checked up Mahato’s health said the level of sodium in the SP leader’s blood had dropped. What is however more worrisome is that the doctor found acetone positive in the fasting leader’s urine, which could affect Mahato’s kidneys and other vital organs of the body, Singh said.

He advised Mahato to discontinue his fast. “He is diabetic and therefore sitting on a fast unto death is not good for him,” he added.

Mahato’s 10-point demand includes immediate declaration of Constituent Assembly poll date and formation of Constituency Delimitation Commission.

Meanwhile, SP Spokesperson Santosh Mehta issued a press release urging the government to address the party’s demands. “The government is not paying any attention to our demands. We condemn the government’s apathy,” Mehta said in the release.

Tarai Madhes Democratic Party leader Sarvendranath Shukla said immediate announcement of poll date and formation of the Constituency Delimitation Commission were subjects that were constantly being debated in the four-party mechanism and they would happen soon. “All of the constituents of the four party mechanism want these two things to happen soon. Nobody is opposing it. We have our own way of doing things and Mahato has his way. He chose to sit on a fast unto death. That his choice,” Shukla said.

Ministers Madhav Poudel and Bidhyadhar Mallik held talks with SP negotiators today but talks were inconclusive. SP General Secretary Manish Kumar Suman said the party will intensify protests from tomorrow in Tarai districts.

“Both the NC and UML are working to foil the election on different pretexts,” Dahal alleged at a picnic organised by Newa Rastriya Mukti Morcha at Chovar, to mark its establishment day.

He said NC and UML floated the idea of threshold, which is not practiced anywhere in the world, so as to foil the election.

Dahal said Nepal is going to hold election to the Constituent Assembly, not parliamentary election.

Claiming his party was for holding election within mid-December, he said there was conflict among those wanting election and those who didn’t want it. Dahal urged all to create pressure on the forces that were against election. He said UCPN-M had stepped down from government to institutionalise change and to ensure the constitution of the federal republican set up, and therefore election was a must to resolve the political turmoil.

He urged HLPC convener Jhala Nath Khanal to call a meeting of the committee immediately. Dahal expressed discontent over the abrupt postponement of the HLPC meeting today. He said the meeting’s agendas were the election date and election laws, but Khanal postponed it at the last minute. Dahal further said Khanal was only following the footsteps of NC president Sushil Koirala, who, during his month-long tenure, had called the meeting only twice.

Yuichiro Miura and his party, including his second son Gouta, arrived at the summit at around 9:00 am, according to Miura’s website, besting the previous age record by four years.

But he may not have his name on the title very long: Nepal’s Min Bahadur Sherchan, the former record holder who turns 82 on June 20, is on the mountain again and trying to reach the summit.

Just today, the Cabinet waived the royalty of Rs 7 million that Sherchan and six other Nepali mountaineers would have to pay the government for climbing Everest.

Sherchan, the first oldest person to scale Everest in 2008, is planning to scale the tallest peak again.

“I feel like the happiest person in the world,” Miura said in a satellite telephone conversation with his office in Tokyo. “I’ve never been more exhausted than this but I can keep on going even at the age of 80.

“I can see the Himalayas below me and it’s beautiful. I have stayed strong, strong and strong to be here,” he said. His wife Tomoko, 80, told the adventurer: “You’d better come home soon. I’m not sure if I am happy or not to have a husband who has so many dreams,” she told reporters. “He is the kind of person who does whatever he believes in, no matter what other people say.”

His daughter Emiri, 52, said: “I believe he will keep on going even when he turns 90 or 100.”

Miura was on his way back down the mountain today, a Nepali tourism official said, confirming the successful ascent. “He reached the summit this morning and is currently descending to Camp Four,” the official, Gyanendra Shrestha, told AFP from Everest Base Camp.

Five climbers feared dead

KATHMANDU: Five climbers, including the first Hungarian to scale Mt Everest, are missing and feared dead on Nepal’s treacherous Kangchenjunga mountain, tourism officials said on Thursday. The climbers — two from Hungary, two from Nepal and one from South Korea — went missing on Monday afternoon as they attempted to climb the 8,586-metre peak, the officials said. “We are not sure what caused their disappearance — it could be an avalanche or a fall,” Dipendra Paudel, an official at Nepal’s tourism ministry, said. The climbers were last seen at a level of 7,800 metres, Paudel said. “There is very slim chance of their survival,” he said.

‘Weather not friendly’

KATHMANDU: The Mt Everest season has set in and new records are frequently being reported, but adverse weather has affected climbers not only of the roof of the world, but also other mountains. Weathermen say clouds and snowfall in high altitudes have played spoilsport. Besides, thunder showers pose a threat to climbers. Senior weather forecaster Rajendra Prasad Shrestha said the weather system developed by clouds carrying wind from the east has resulted in major weather change in the eastern and central regions. “There may be only three to four hours of visibility . He suggested that mountaineers shelve their plans for a three to four days.

Shakya, a PhD from Mumbai University, had been working as an independent researcher since his retirement 15 years ago.

Talking to THT today, Shakya, however, said he is yet to receive the appointment letter.

“I had no clue that I would be appointed NPC Vice-chair. When I met Chairman Khil Raj Regmi last time, we only discussed some issues related to planning. He did not tell me he wanted to give me this responsibility,” Shakya added.

The government also dissolved the commission formed to resolve the squatters’ problem by the UCPN-Maoist-led government, today.

Nepali Congress and CPN-UML had been demanding that all political appointments made by the erstwhile Baburam Bhattarai government be scrapped. The demand also included dissolution of the Landless Squatters’ Problems Resolution Commission.

The Cabinet further decided to delegate the authority of Department of Foreign Employment to the Nepali Embassy in Saudi Arabia so as to facilitate the homecoming of Nepali migrant workers.

Poudel said the government also authorised the Finance Secretary to negotiate and accept a loan of Rs 1.98 billion (14 million euros) from the German government.

The government accepted Rs 2.30 billion assistance from World Bank for financial sector reforms.

It extended the tenure of Major General Pawan Kumar Pandey by seven months and 17 days. The government also gave permission to a six-member team led by Chief of Army Staff Gaurav Shumsher JB Rana to visit China at the Invitation of the Chinese Army.

Forty-one others were injured, 13 seriously, when a bus heading to Darchula from Mahendranagar veered off the road and fell 50 metres below the road into a river at Gokuleshwor, Thulasaini at about 6:00 am.

Police have identified the deceased as Gopalsingh Khatri, 32, of Sarmoli, Darchula, Narasingh Dhami, 38, of Kharkada, bus owner Krishna Bhatta, 40, of Mahendranagar and driver Karan Saud, 26, of Sarmoli.

According to SSP Chhabilal Banjade of Mahakali Zonal Police Office, Indian nationals Motiram Bhatta, 80, Mahadev Bhatta, 50, and Mathura Bhatta, 61, of Baluwakot, India are also among the dead. Among the 13 seriously injured, ten are Indian nationals from Baluwakot, said SSP Banjade, adding they have been taken to Pithauragadh of India for treatment.

Police said six persons had died on the spot and one succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment. Rest of the critically injured have been referred to Dhangadhi, whereas others are now undergoing treatment at local health facilities, they added.

Police suspect the accident might have occurred due to overloading as the bus was carrying more than 60 passengers whereas its capacity was 24. Police also said that most of the passengers on board were candidates of the Teachers’ Service Commission examination, which started today.

A joint team of police and army personnel carried out rescue operation.

The women have been protesting almost everyday demanding stern action against the culprit. The women, who were picketing the District Police Office in Nawalparasi to pile pressure on the authority, which allegedly did nothing even after a rape case was filed revealing the perpetrator’s identity, warned of agitation throughout the zone, on Thursday.

Irate agitators charged that police was protecting the rapist instead of arresting him. They said they would continue their protest until the rapist was held and sentenced as per the law.

Manasowa Pandey, a leader of the movement said, “If our demand is not addressed, we will launch protests throughout the zone garnering the unanimous support of all the women against the irresponsibility of Nawalparasi Police Administration. Our protest will spread from the district to the zone and then to Kathmandu, if our voice isn’t heard.”

Earlier, the agitating women had picketed the police post and the district administration office and demonstrated on the highway.

The police administration informed that the case had been registered in court, and the alleged rapist was at large.

On April 5, Niraj Subedi of Sunwal had raped a local girl. The victim was rescued and kept at the Parasi-based Temporary Relief Service Centre for Women Victims of Domestic Violence.