Palpa : In the last 12 months, 12 leopards have died in Palpa.

Among them ten are adult and two are baby leopards, said the District Forest Office, Palpa.

The forest cats were found dead in different places including Baudhapokharathok, Palung Mainadi, Khanichhap Deurali, Satyabati and Chanppani.
Two baby leopard found in Argali also died after 10 days, said the forest office.

An injured male leopard which was found in Khanichhap was sent to Chitwan National Park. The leopards are generally noticed nearby road side, forest and kitchen garden, said officials of District Forest Office.

The in-fighting between leopards, with other wildlife, and human encroachment, among others, are the reasons for leopards entering into human settlement, said Ranger at District Forest Office, Palpa, Yam Lal Bhusal.

Kathmandu : The paddy plantation has been completed on 90 percent farmland across the country.

According to the Director General at the Department of the Agriculture Yuvakdwaj JC, the paddy plantation has been completed on 92.19 per cent in high hill, 92.70 in mid mountain and 88.76 in Tarai.

The favorable monsoon credited for timely plantation of the paddy as the country heavily depend on monsoon for the same.

A new needle-free DNA vaccine against the Zika virus is being tested in people, US health officials have announced - moving forward in the fight against the virus that has been linked to serious birth defects.

As a part of an early study run by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), about 80 volunteers in the US aged 18 to 35 will receive the NIAID Zika virus investigational DNA vaccine.

If the vaccine appears safe and produces a good immune response against the virus, researchers plan to start a Phase 2 trial in 2017 in countries where Zika outbreaks are occurring, said Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID.

The vaccine contains a small, circular piece of DNA called a plasmid. Within that plasmid are genes that code for certain Zika virus proteins, 'Live Science' reported.

These will cause an immune response against the virus, thus protecting from infection, the researchers said.

This type of vaccine is known as a DNA vaccine, and researchers have used it in the past for diseases such as West Nile virus.

All the volunteers will get at least one dose of the vaccine, and some will get two or three doses that are spaced out over a number of weeks.

The vaccine will be given with a needle-free "jet injector," which uses a high-pressure stream of fluid to inject the vaccine into the muscle.

Researchers will continue to follow the participants for two years to measure how long their immune response lasts, Fauci said. PTI

Kathmandu : The Naya Shakti Nepal has congratulated chairman of CPN Maoist Center Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on his being elected the Prime Minister and wished him success for his new term in office.

The press statement released by party spokesperson Khimlal Devkota further reads that the party opines for fully proportional representative and directly people elected presidential system as the suitable system for the country.

It is stated that that the current failure parliamentary system has become the main cause of instability in the country.

The press statement further suggests for successful tenure of Dahal to expedite reconstruction projects, to control of black marketing, to maintain good governance, to address Tarai issues and to conclude the remaining task of peace process.

Kathmandu : President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly-elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda amidst a special ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Sheetal Niwas today.

On the occasion, the newly-elected Prime Minister took oath in the name of the country and the people.

Similarly, CPN (Maoist Center) lawmaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara has also been sworn in as a Deputy Prime Minister.

CPN (Maoist) lawmakers Daljit Sripali, Gauri Shankar Chaudhari have also taken the oath of office and secrecy as ministers.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Bimalendra Nidhi has been sworn in as a Deputy Prime Minister while Ramesh Lekhak took the oath of office and secrecy as a minister today.

Present at the function were Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, the outgoing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Chief Justice Sushila Karki, Speaker Onsari Gharti, the former Vice President, the former Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers, former Ministers, Heads of Constitutional Bodies, Chiefs of the security bodies, government high-ranking officials, heads and representatives of the diplomatic missions, leaders of different political parties, journalists, industrialists and businessmen among others.

Kathmandu : The Nepali national cricket team has been announced to play in the ICC World Cricket League Championship in the Netherlands this month.

A selection committee comprising ICC representative Venkatapathy Raju, the former chief coach of the national team Jagat Tamata and captain Paras Khadka announced the 15-member squad.

The team includes Gyanendra Malla (vice-captain), Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Sharad Bheswakar, Sompal Kami, Sagar Pun, Binod Bhandari, Raju Rijal, Karan KC, Anil Mandal, Sandip Lamichhane, Bikram Sob, Rajesh Pulami Magar and Sunil Dhamala.

Nepal will play two matches against the hosts Netherlands on August 13 and 15 at their home ground.

The ICC selected the national team by sending its representative at a time when the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) is under suspension.

Kathmandu : Neighbouring countries India and China have congratulated Chairman of the CPN Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on his being elected the new Prime Minister of Nepal and wished him sucess for his new term in office.

After Prachanda elected to the prime minister Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned him and wished for his successful term.

According to Dahal's press aide, Purna Karki, Indian Prime Minister Modi also invited Prachanda for India visit during their telephone conversation.

Similarly, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai reached at Dahal's residence in Lazimpat and congratulated to him on the behalf of the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and people of China.

Kathmandu : CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has been elected as the 39th Prime Minister of the country, securing a clear majority in the Legislature-Parliament on Wednesday. It is Prachanda’s second innings as the PM.

Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar announced that Prachanda was elected as a Prime Minister as he secured 363 votes out of 573 votes cast, while 210 lawmakers voted against him.

Prachanda was backed by the largest party in the House, Nepali Congress, constituents of the United Democratic Madhesi Front and the Federal Alliance and some other fringe parties. The CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal lawmakers voted against Prachanda.

Total 298 votes were needed for Prachanda to be elected the PM from the existing 595 members of the House.

It would be the second stint of the Maoist leader as the Prime Minister as he had led the government after the first Constituent Assembly elections, from August 18, 2008 to May 25, 2009.

He had resigned on May 4, 2009 after the then President Ram Baran Yadav turned down the Cabinet decision to remove the then army chief Rookmangud Katawal and ordered Katawal to stay put in the office.

He has also become the only communist to be elected Prime Minister twice. The other five communist prime ministers had never made a comeback to Baluwatar.

NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba had proposed Prachanda as new Prime Minister.

CPN (Maoist Center) leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) Chairman Upendra Yadav, Madhesi People's Right Forum Democratic (MPRF-D) chief whip Yogendra Chaudhary, Parshuram Tamang of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), and Sarvendranath Shukla of the Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) had seconded the proposal.

Similarly, Laxman Lal Karna of Sadbhawana, Jayadev Joshi of CPN (Unified), Ganga Chaudhari of Tharuhat Tarai Party Nepal and eight other lawmakers in parliament had seconded Prachanda.

Kathmandu : Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has filed his candidacy for new Prime Minister today.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba proposed Dahal's candidacy while Maoist Centre leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Federal Socialist Forum Chair Upendra Yadav, Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party leader Sarbendra Nath Shukla, Sadbhawana Party Co-chair Laxman Lal Karna, CPN (United) leader Jayadev Joshi, Akhanda Nepal Party leader Kumar Khadka and an independent lawmaker Chandreshwar Jha seconded it.

The Legislature-Parliament Secretariat has prepared the schedule to register the candidacy to the post of PM from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm today.

The Parliament Secretariat will publish the final list of candidates at 4:30 pm today itself.

Similarly, the voting for the post of the new Prime Minister is scheduled to be held at the Legislature-Parliament tomorrow.

But, the CPN (UML) has decided not to filed its candidate for the election for Prime Minister.

However, Party will vote against Prime Minister candidate Prachanda and maintain its status as a responsible opposition.

Chief of the party's Publicity and Publication Department Yogesh Bhattarai said they have take this decision in favour of a responsible political culture and environment in the context of the party raising voice for national consensus.

As per the Parliament Regulations, the parliament will elect the Prime Minister through a division of votes although there is only one candidate. The UML has so far urged the parties that are a part of the ruling coalition it is leading also to vote against Prachanda.

Kathmandu : The Legislature-Parliament Secretariat has published the schedule for the election of a Prime Minister.

The time for filing the candidacy has been fixed from 11:00 am to 16:00 pm Tuesday, as per the schedule. The final list of the candidate(s) will be published by 16:30 pm the same day, the Parliament Secretariat said.

The details of the candidate(s) will be presented before the meeting of the Legislature-Parliament to be held on August 3 and discussions will be held over the candidates following the due process. After this, the Parliament will go for voting to pick a new Prime Minister through majority.