Woman jailed for shouting and screaming during sex

A WOMAN has been jailed for breaching court orders that she stop shouting and screaming during sex with her husband. 

Caroline Cartwright, 48, was remanded in custody until May 5 charged with three breaches of an Anti Social Behaviour Order which banned her from "making excessive noise" during sex anywhere in Britain. 

Houghton le Spring Magistrates' Court heard that police arrested her on April 18, on April 22 and again on April 26 after reports from neighbours she was flouting the ban with husband Steve. 

Cartwright was arrested yesterday and charged with the third breaching order offence. 

Prosecutor Claire Ward said neighbours had complained to police on three separate occasions about early morning noises of shouting, moaning, groaning and a bed banging against the wall coming from the Cartwrights' home. 

Accompanied by two dock officers, she spoke only to confirm her name, age and address and enter her not guilty pleas. 

Cartwright, whose husband sat in the public gallery, elected to be tried by jury and the case will be transferred to Newcastle Crown Court at a later date. 

A bail application from defence solicitor Peter Lothian was refused. 

During an earlier hearing, neighbours including one who was partially deaf said they had not enjoyed a solid night of sleep for two years because of the Cartwright's sexual encounters. 

After a series of complaints, the local council's environmental health department placed recording equipment in the flat next door to the couple's house in Tyne and Wear. In the subsequent 23 recordings that were made - through a soundproofed wall - and played to Sunderland magistrates, the sound of slapping and screaming was clearly audible. One neighbour said: "I heard sounds of a sexual nature, they were really loud, and there was a lot of moaning and groaning and screaming as if in pain. It wasn't just the woman, it came from both parties." 

North Korea: Ready to go to war with U.S., South Korea

This undated photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left,
with a senior military officer at an undisclosed location 

Seoul:  North Korea said it's ready to fight a war with the United States and South Korea, as the two allies kicked off their annual joint military drills Monday, according to state-run media. 

"Hundreds of thousands of troops are poised for a war carrying nuclear war equipment," North Korea's KCNA news agency reported, saying Pyongyang considers the drills to be practice for a preemptive strike on the North.

The international community has been negotiating with North Korea over its nuclear program for years.

The most recent talks between North Korea and the United States ended Friday with little visible progress. They were the first high-level talks since the death of North Korea's longtime leader, Kim Jong Il, in December and the subsequent transition of power to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un.

Kim's death threw into flux U.S. plans for renewed diplomacy with North Korea, including formal talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program and possible resumption of U.S. food assistance.

The North Korea government was expected to suspend its uranium enrichment in exchange for food assistance as part of a deal that was to be announced around the time of Kim's death.

The annual Key Resolve military drills that began Monday involve 2,100 U.S. troops with their South Korean counterparts. Washington insists the exercises are defensive in nature and unrelated to any geopolitical events.

The current military drills are scheduled through March 9, with a second set of overlapping exercises beginning March 1 and running through the end of April.

South Korea and the United States regularly hold military drills, and just as often North Korea denounces them as a provocation.

KCNA reported Saturday that Kim Jong Un, the new North Korean leader, visited military units in the southwest of the country, including one that fired upon a South Korean island in November 2010, killing two civilians and two marines. North Korea said its forces were responding to a South Korean military drill in the area.

While visitng the troops, Kim Jong Un "ordered them to make a powerful retaliatory strike at the enemy, should the enemy intrude even 0.001 mm into the waters of the country where its sovereignty is exercised," KCNA reported. 

Facebook flooded with fury

KATHMANDU, MAR 18 -

As the outrage against the government’s decision to provide Rs 20 million to an Everest expedition to be led by Prakash Dahal intensified from all quarters, social networking sites Facebook and Twitter became the most vibrant spaces for popular frustration at the move.

Apart from annoyance over the stalled peace process and news of corruption, many observed the decision as yet another case signifying the “gradual decline in the so-called socialist principles” of the Maoist party.

While the country witnessed protest rallies throughout the day, Sushil Adhikari reacted by posting a line on his Facebook wall—it would be wise to dissolve the Constituent Assembly if climbing Everest were to ensure timely peace and constitution.

On a humorous note, referring to the recent super hit movie Loot, Kosmos Biswokarma, editor of Face To Face, an environment magazine, wrote, “Nischal Basnet, director of Loot, is planning a sequel called ‘Loot 2’ with Dr Baburam in the main role.”

The public also spilled its fury by recalling a number of incidents from the past when the government refused to provide funds even if the requests were worth heeding. Many recalled how the government had rejected cyclist Puskar Shah’s request for tax exemption while climbing the tallest peak last year.

Expressing his frustration, Shah himself wrote on Facebook, “This is the same country that had rejected me of support with just a bottle of drinking water when I was about to climb the Everest carrying flags of all the nations across globe.”

Some, on the networking sites, were found seeking connections with the filial relations of Prakash, who was given the grant. Referring to the pressure Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal could have put on the prime minister to okay the amount for his son, Saloja Dahal, commented on Facebook, “Only if my dad was a politician like Prachanda …” “I don’t believe this is happening in the party that claims to carry the communist agenda,” said Gopal Pandey, a shopkeeper at Baneshwor, who hails from Sarlahi. “These leaders are virtually looting the taxpayers’ money.”

Meanwhile, opposing the media reports “defaming” Prakash, his supporters also created a page on Facebook. The page, liked by 529 users until late Saturday evening, was filled with comments and posts that stated it was a conspiracy of opposition parties to defame Prakash.

Students protest decision

Sister organisations of two opposition parties, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML, staged demonstrations in various districts to protest the government’s decision to provide Rs 20 million to a UCPN (Maoist) team involving Prakash,

son of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, to climb Mt Everest.

The UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU), the NC-aligned Nepal Students’ Union and another student union took out a protest rally in Kohalpur, Banke. The rally starting from Pipal Chautara went through Kohalpur bazaar before converging at New Road, where the protesters burnt a portrait of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. Earlier, they had halted vehicular movement for one hour. They chanted anti-government slogans saying that the government had misused taxpayers’ money by providing a huge amount to the Everest expedition. They also demanded that the government roll back its decision immediately and punish those who okayed it.

Banke President of ANNFSU Surya Rokaya warned of a series of protests if the government did not revoke the decision. Bageshwori Multiple Campus Unit President Bhola Sharma accused the government of misusing state funds on unnecessary things.

In Dolakha, student unions affiliated with the NC and the UML rallied in Charikot against the government decision.

India Budget 2012 : Delhi pledges IRs 2.7b in grants to Nepal

KATHMANDU/NEW DELHI, MAR 18 -

India will give IRs 2.7 billion in grants to Nepal in 2012-13. This is what Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced on Friday while unveiling the budget for 2012-13.

New Delhi had given grants worth IRs 1.5 billion in 2011-12 and IRs 1.67 billion in 2010-11 to Nepal.

India’s proposed loans and grants to foreign governments amount to IRs 51.48 billion this year. In South Asia, Bhutan continues to top the list of countries receiving Indian grant. While Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are ahead of Nepal in terms of the Indian grants amount, Bangladesh and Maldives will receive relatively less amount than Nepal.

On concerns about the Indian budget’s incentives for agriculture that may impact Nepal’s exports and imports, experts here said the budget had no major policy shifts to make a big difference.

Given Nepal’s dependence on India, with over 60 percent of trade being done with the southern neighbour, the Indian budget is closely watched by Nepali policymakers and business community.

Nepal is basically concerned about Indian policies on agriculture, as Nepal’s agriculture is less competitive than India, and more facilities to Indian farmers mean Nepali farmers’ misery. Nepali farmers have always been suffering from the import of cheap Indian agriculture products through porous border between the two countries. “India has not increased direct subsidies to farmers, which is our concern,” said Rameshwor Khanal, economic advisor to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.  “However, a number of missions announced in the areas of horticulture to food processing may affect our agriculture sector.”

The Indian budget has announced a number plans to increase agriculture productivity, including National Food Security Mission, National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Plm, National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology and National Horticulture Mission.

Besides these programmes, the budget also reduced customs duty on the import of agriculture machineries and other inputs to enhance productivity. Basic customs duty on sugarcane planters, root or tuber crop harvesting machines, weeders, and tillers has been slashed to 2.5 percent from 7.5 percent earlier. Customs duty on specified coffee plantation and processing machineries has been reduced to 5 percent from 7.5 percent.

Although the budget has announced slashing subsidies on petroleum products and fertilisers, it has made it clear that it would continue providing subsidies on food to enhance India’s food security situation. “More subsidies and benefits to Indian farmers may affect Nepali farmers’ interests at a time when Nepal is all set to remove agriculture development fee on imports,” said trade expert Ratnakar Adhikari.

Nepal has pledged to the World Trade Organisation that it would remove such a fee from the next year.

The Indian budget has raised standard excise duty from 10 percent to 12 percent. “As most of the goods imported from India, including vehicles and tobacco products among others, are subject to the increased excise duty, the price of imported goods may go up due to increased production cost,” said Khanal.

As no excise duty is imposed on goods imported to Nepal from India, it will not affect vehicle prices here. “Automobile price will not go up here due to a hike in excise duty in India,” said Saurabh Jyoti, president of Nepal Automobile Dealers’ Association. India has raised excise duty on small cars to 27 percent from the current 22 percent.

An increase in the income tax exemption threshold to IRs 200,000 from the current IRs 180,000 is expected to increase Indians’ disposable income. “This will create more demand and fuel price rise in India,” said Khanal. “The rise in Indian inflation may also catalyse Nepal’s inflation.”

Sibchu firing toll goes up to three

KUMANI/DARJEELING/KOLKATA: The Sibchu firing that catapulted the Dooars and the Darjeeling Hills into a state of unrest took a new turn on Saturday as a third victim, Nita Khawas, 23, died in a Siliguri hospital in the afternoon.

The death added to the tension in the Hills that may explode any day.

The hotspot, however, was Kumani in Kalimgpong where central interlocutor Lt Gen (retd) Vijay Madan held talks with GJM leaders only to be told that there was no question of talks without the inclusion of Gorkhaland in the agenda.

Madan tried hard to reason with the GJM team, led by its president Bimal Gurung and comprising Roshan Giri and H B Chhetri during the meeting at Khumani, near Sibchu.

He asked them to give peace a chance, especially after three-way talks seemed to have made headway, with GJM almost agreeing to the interim arrangement: a Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council with more powers.

Madan asked them not to jeopardize the tripartite talks, but GJM leaders ruled out the Council, harping on the formation of Gorkhaland with inclusion of Dooars and Terai.

As the meeting was being held, Adivasi Vikash Parishad spokesman John Barla said: "We shall never allow Dooars and Terai to be part of Gorkhaland. Nor will we allow GJM to hold rallies here."

Amid the Centre's efforts to broker peace, state home secretary G D Gautama said: "The state government will not succumb to pressure in dealing with the violent mode of agitation." His statement came after Gurung, against whom an FIR has been lodged, said any attempt to arrest him "will put the Hills on fire".

GJM president Bimal Gurung threatened to intensify the stir if any attempt was made to arrest him, but chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee made a last-ditch attempt to buy peace. Addressing a public function on Saturday, the CM said: "The problem in Darjeeling can be sorted out through peaceful political talks and we are ready for that... We cannot compromise with violence." The CM was speaking at the annual combined parade of West Bengal and Kolkata Police Force here.

Meanwhile, GJM's indefinite strike call since February 9 demanding a CBI inquiry into the Sibchu police firing on February 8, which left two of its supporters dead, seemed to have had no effect in the plains. In the Hills, the situation was tense as the 23-year-old Nita, a resident of Sitong II block under Mongpu Latpanchar constituency, died around 2.30pm on Saturday. The police firing victim and GLP member was brought to the Siliguri hospital from Darjeeling on Tuesday. She is the third police firing casualty. Three others are admitted in hospitals.

Ahead of Madan's visit, the GJM put off its elaborate agitation programme, which included gheraoing police stations, in the Hills. GJM members restricted themselves to squatting on the road at Chowk Bazaar. The fourth day of the bandh was generally peaceful even as police continued extensive raids since Friday night, and arrested GJM members Puran Loreng, Sanjay Tamang and Bikas Rai from Bojonbari. The arrests were in connection with the burning of the Bijonbari block office on Tuesday. The three were produced in court and given 14 days' judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Lakshman Prasad, owner of a garage, was brought back to Malbazar on Saturday in custody of the police. On Thursday, he had gone to Kumani to repair a truck, but was beaten up by GJM supporters.

People’s war anniv: ‘UML should honour pact’

KATHMANDU: Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has stressed that the seven-point agreement between the CPN-UML and his party remains the cornerstone of Jhala Nath Khanal’s election as prime minister. His party, therefore, expects UML to abide by the letter and spirit of the bilateral agreement.

Dahal attributes the continued deadlock over the Cabinet expansion, 10 days into the prime minister’s election, to UML’s failure to take ownership of the agreement, which says that the Home, Defence and other important ministries will be “distributed appropriately and in a spirit of mutual respect.”

The Maoist party, however, is open to discussing an explanatory document to clarify various aspects of the Feb. 3 agreement whose legitimacy has been questioned by the Nepali Congress and a section of the CPN-UML. Two senior leaders in the prime minister’s party, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and K P Oli, have strongly objected to the Maoist claim for the Home portfolio on grounds, among others, that the seven-point deal was “a secret one” between Khanal and the Maoist leadership.

“I had hoped that Jhala Nath Khanal had taken the consent of his party leaders before signing the agreement,” the Maoist chairman said in an exclusive interview to The Kathmandu Post on Saturday evening, on the eve of the 15th Anniversary of the Maoist “People’s War.” Dahal and a number of senior Maoist leaders were scheduled to leave for Thawang, Rolpa, on Sunday morning to mark the anniversary.

“Jhala Nath Khanal was elected as the prime minister on the basis of the agreement. So we can’t accept any amendment to the agreement,” he said. “First, the amendment should be owned up by the UML. Once that’s done, we can discuss its language and offer explanation if required. But we can’t compromise on the terms of the agreement.”

Asked if and when the Khanal Cabinet would take full shape, Dahal was hopeful the task would be completed in a day or two and expected his party to get the Home Ministry. UML Chairman Khanal was elected prime minister on Feb. 3 with the support of the Maoist party after 16 rounds of failed election which started

last July. But the absence of the Maoist party in the Cabinet now has put a new question mark over the long-term stability of the Khanal government and peace and constitution processes.

Dahal dismissed suggestions that the UML-Maoist deal was a secret one, adding that a number of UML and Maoist leaders were involved in the drafting process, which, by implication, meant that the process had come under purview of the larger party machineries.

"We had agreed to expand the (UML-Maoist) alliance. If we look at the inherent spirit of the deal, nobody in Nepal has the capacity to break it-because we have a clear majority. If we remain determined to implement the deal we will get two-thirds in the House."

Prime Minister Khanal polled 368 votes in the prime ministerial race early this month. There is now talk of MJF-Nepal (25 seats) and TMLP-Nepal (9 seats) joining the ruling coalition. Dahal, however, said: "There are efforts to break the alliance from those inside and outside the country. They want instability and indecision in Nepal,"Lauding the achievements of "People's War," Dahal said there had been many ups and downs in national politics since his party launched it in February 1996, but establishment of "republic and commitment to federalism were historic gains."

"We are neither dogmatic nor have we compromised entirely with reactionaries. We have brought about epochal changes in this period. It may seem obvious to us and for those who have lived through these changes but history will judge differently."

Dahal expressed confidence that the peace process will be completed by May 28. "As far are issues of constitution writing are concerned, some may remain unsettled until May 28, such as restructuring of the state and forms of government. Those issues can be resolved through referendum. If parties make remarkable progress, people will likely give us additional time to settle remaining issues."

‘Ultra-leftist govt can’t guarantee peace, statute’

KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) Central leader Prakash Sharan Mahat said on Sunday that the government formed with an ultra-leftist agenda cannot guarantee peace and timely statute in the nation.

Mahat, who is in Japan at present to mark his presence in a programme, claimed that the government fortified by secret deals cannot steer the nation in an appropriate direction.  

He added that the NC will not participate in the current government with leftist polarisation, reiterating that the party is committed to piloting the peace process to a logical conclusion.

In another context, Mahat appealed to the Nepalese abroad to assist the economic development in the nation.