Cops uncover sandalwood racket‚ arrest 5

The sleuths deployed from Metropolitan Police Range, Hanuman Dhoka have busted a racket of red sandalwood smuggling in the capital on Tuesday morning.

Police said that five people have been arrested and two vehicles hauling the goods have been intercepted recovering 45.5 kg red sandalwood hidden in the two vehicles and a room of the racketeers.

Nurup Sherpa (27) of Sindhupalchowk, Tatopani-4, Lila Shrestha (24) of Guptang-1, Amar Shrestha, aka, Umesh (32) of Barabishe-6, Nima Chhiring (27) of Listi-1, and Padam Shrestha (47) of Jalbire of Sindhupalchowk have been arrested with the cache of the precious wood.

Police said Amar, Nima, and Padam, who all hail from Sindhupalchowk, are currently residing at Mahabaudha, Swoyambu, and Dhalku respectively.

Acting on a tip-off that Toyota vehicles (BA 1 CHA 9283 and BA 1 CHA 5020) were parked in suspicious manner in front of Heaven Mount Guesthouse and Gorkha Hospital in Thamel, the law enforcement unit found the cache of the banned goods hidden in the vehicles and room.

Police recovered 34 kgs of sandalwood from a compartment under a false bottom in the rear of the vehicle and 6 kgs from another vehicle. Similarly, police recovered another 25.5 kgs of the precious wood from a rented room of Amar Shrestha.

Police said they are investigating into the case.

Fringe parties to play spoilsport in poll preps

Some 33 agitating fringe parties led by the CPN-Maoist have once more decided to hinder the poll preparations being held throughout the nation. 

A meeting of the fringe parties held on Tuesday at the central office of the CPN-Maoist, Budhanagar decided to initiate various protest programmes in their bid to obstruct the citizenship issuing campaign and other election related preparations.

The dissident fringe parties also decided not to get themselves registered in the Election Commission (EC) until the annulment of 25-point pact reached among the parties on March 14 to form Chief Justice-led Interim Election Council. 

According to the protest schedule, the parties are said to be organising various campaigns on national sovereignty all over the nation from May 8 to 28. 

Issuing a press statement on behalf of the 33 parties, CPN-Maoist Secretary Dev Gurung termed the government’s citizenship distribution campaign a poly to issue citizenship card to the foreign nationals. 

Leader Gurung informed that they are organising protest programmes in each district to protest the citizenship distribution campaigns. 

The EC has just stared the citizenship distribution campaign throughout the nation aiming to hold the new CA polls by November. 

The parties are also said to be drawing attention of the concerned bodies regarding the purported appointment of former chief secretary at the helm of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

NRT withdrawal case goes into ANFA Disciplinary Committee

The Disciplinary Committee of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) is set to impose sanction on New Road Team (NRT), who decided to stay away from all sporting activities for at least one year on Saturday. 

“We received written information today from NRT of their intent of staying out for the 2013-14 season. The Disciplinary Committee will decide on the nature of penalty to be imposed on the club,” informed ANFA spokesperson and Vice-president Lalit Krishna Shrestha. “Since such incident is totally a strange one, the disciplinary committee has the sole authority to decide on the matter.”

The last season's tournament regulation had the provision of demotion and a fine of Rs 500,000 to any club quitting the league after registering at the ANFA. But since NRT have not registered the club for the new season, it is uncertain what kind of penalty would the governing body impose on the club. 

The Special General Assembly of NRT on Saturday had decided not to take part in any sporting activity for one year and focus on paying back the debts. 

Meanwhile, ANFA spokersperson Shrestha informed all the other 13 top-flight clubs, except for NRT, were registered at the ANFA today. ANFA had set the Sunday deadline for registration. The registered clubs were League champions Three Star, Manang Marshyangdi, Tribhuvan Army, Friends, Ranipokhari Corner Team, Nepal Police, Machhindra FC, Saraswoti Youth, Himalayan Sherpa, Jawalakhel Youth, Nepal APF, Sankata and the newly promoted side Boys Union.

AEG warns of "ugly stuff" in MJ's wrongful death trial

An attorney for the concert promotion company AEG Live warned jurors they would see a very different view of the charismatic Michael Jackson as the company seeks to prove it was not liable for the pop star's death.

Marvin Putnam, making his opening statement in what is expected to be an emotional wrongful death trial, said AEG officials had no idea that Jackson was taking the surgical anesthetic that led to his death.

He said the three-month civil case would bring to light "some ugly stuff" about the singer's private behavior.

"The public Michael Jackson was very different from the private Michael Jackson," Putnam said. "He erected a wall between himself and his family. Even his family wasn't sure what was going on at the house. He kept those who might have been able help him at a distance."

He said Jackson had been using the powerful anesthetic propofol for years to help him sleep "and almost no one knew."

"AEG, like everyone else, was an outsider," Putnam said. "They had no idea. It was going on behind locked doors."

The "Thriller" singer's mother, Katherine, is suing privately held AEG Live, promoters of a never-realized series of comeback concerts by Jackson, for negligence in hiring Dr. Conrad Murray as his personal physician.

Murray, convicted in 2011 for the involuntary manslaughter of Jackson with a propofol overdose, was caring for the singer as he rehearsed in Los Angeles for a series of 50 "This is It" shows in London in 2009.

Brian Panish, representing Jackson's family, said AEG Live ignored red flags when it hired Murray and should have been aware that the singer had addiction problems years before he agreed to perform the concerts.

Jackson, 50, drowning in debt and seeking to rebuild a reputation damaged by his 2005 trial and acquittal on child molestation charges, died in Los Angeles in June 2009.

In his opening argument, Panish said AEG Live failed to do proper background checks on Murray, who asked for $5 million to care for the singer. Background checks would have revealed Murray was in debt and was a cardiologist even though Jackson had no known heart issues, Panish said.

"When a red flag comes up, do you turn away or do you look into it?" Panish said. "AEG ignored the obvious red flags and they hired Dr. Murray."

AEG Live contends that it did not hire or supervise Murray, saying that a proposed contract with him was never executed. The concert promoters also have said they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.

"This case is about the choices we make and the personal responsibilities that go with that," Putnam said on Monday.

Katherine Jackson, 82, along with her children Randy and Rebbie, were among family members attending Monday's packed opening of the trial. Jackson's three children, who could be called as witnesses later, were not there.

Panish said Jackson had known problems with prescription drug addiction dating back to use of the painkiller Demerol following a burn injury when he was shooting a Pepsi commercial in 1984.

Jackson in 1993 announced he was canceling a world tour to seek treatment for his painkiller addiction.

In the days before the trial began, Panish denied the Jackson family is seeking $40 billion in damages from AEG Live, as some media had reported this month.

The final amount will be determined by the jury should it hold AEG Live liable for negligence.

A handful of Jackson fans gathered outside the court, saying they were hoping for justice for the "King of Pop."

Jackson fan Julia Thomas, 40, an office worker from Colton, California, said she hoped the trial would demonstrate what she said were the wrongs AEG Live committed against Jackson.

"They're about to be exposed because they bullied Michael, they stressed him into the grave to the point that he needed sedatives to sleep," Thomas told Reuters.

Elton‚ Madonna end decade-old feud

Sir Elton John has said that his nearly decade-long war of words with Madonna has come to an end.The pair has been exchanging insults since 2004, when John, 66, accused Madonna of lip-syncing in her live concerts.

Earlier, John claimed his comments were intended to be off the record, so when the feuding pop stars coincidentally dined at the same restaurant in France, a few days later, he felt obliged to apologise.

Now, he has told the US television show Extra that he sent over a note as the Queen of Pop came to the restaurant.

“She accepted our apology and then we bought her dinner. She was really great about it. I was very relieved because she had every right to say ‘I don’t want to talk’,” he said. A few days later Madonna dedicated a song to him at a concert in Nice.