Everest summit
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal headed out to Lukla in order to lead a cabinet meeting on climate change on Mount Everest. A total of 109 people are joining him there including 24 ministers and 25 Sherpa mountaineers. They will fly to Kala Patthar tomorrow for the meeting.
No show
Mount Everest might be the only place where the prime minister can except any cooperation from his counterparts. Yesterday, he had to tell off the main opposition leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, for missing a Constitutional Council meeting. Nepal said the government could not nominate heads of various constitutional bodies as planned because the interim constitution stipulates that the opposition party should be present at such meetings. Dahal also missed the meeting that nominated Anup Raj Sharma to the position of chief justice. He sent his apologies to the prime minister yesterday saying he had been busy with his own party's business. (The Kathmandu Post)
Rape inquiry
Home Minister Bhim Rawal was questioned by Women, Children and Social Welfare Committee today about the progress in a rape case in Achham,in which a female police was allegedly raped by six of her colleagues. It was reported on Wednesday that three of the accused had been released, and no charges would be pressed against the other three. The committee members asked Rawal why DIG Parwati Thapa, who had been investigating the case, was transferred to Kathmandu, to which Rawal responded that she had completed her tenure in the far-western region. The government had formed a commission to investigate the allegations, but in a ruling on 23 November, the Supreme Court said the panel was unnecessary because the case was sub judice. (Kantipur)