Musharraf from office for life

 Lawyers say a Pakistani court has banned former military ruler Pervez Musharraf from running for public office for the rest of his life.

One of Musharraf's lawyers, Saad Shibli, says he plans to challenge Tuesday's ruling in the Supreme Court.

Judges had already barred Musharraf from running in the May 11 parliamentary election because of his actions while in power.

The Peshawar High Court handed down the lifetime ban Tuesday after hearing an appeal by Musharraf's lawyers to allow him to run in the upcoming election.

Musharraf returned to Pakistan last month from self-imposed exile to make a political comeback, but his fortunes have gone from bad to worse.

He is currently under house arrest in connection with a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power.

10 nepalese political parties apply for registration

KATHMANDU: Ten political parties applied for party registration at the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday for the purpose of taking part in the forthcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) election.

The political parties applying for the registration are CPN-UML, UCPN-Maoist, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Nepali Congress, CPN-ML, Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party, Sadbhawana Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal-Democratic, and Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat).

According to the EC, 34 political parties have already taken the application form for the party registration.

Earlier, 33 political parties were represented in the first Constituent Assembly. As per the legal provision, the political parties except these 33 will require the signatures of at least 10,000 voters to be eligible for registration at the Commission for the upcoming elections.

A total of 54 political parties had taken part in the first 2008 CA election. Currently, the number of political parties registered at the EC is 119.

The Commission will remain open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm for the party registration every day. The EC has said that atmosphere conducive for the election was created with the beginning of the party registration process.

2 unattended houses robbed

Police have said that two incidents of robberies were witnessed in the capital on Monday.

Gold ornaments and others valuables worth around Rs.4, 30,000 was stolen from the room of Ganesh Prasad Timilsina of Setiopamarga on Monday.

According to a complaint lodged with police, unidentified persons sneaked into the room of Timilsina after breaking the bolt of the main door and fled with gold ornaments weighing five tolas.

Police said that the room was unattended when the incident occurred.

Similarly, property worth over Rs.3, 21,000 was robbed from the house of Shashi Chalise at Geetanjali, Chandole on Monday.

Police said that unidentified persons barged into the house after breaking the padlock of the main door of the second floor and robbed of Rs.30, 000 in cash, gold ornaments weighing five tolas before fleeing from the scene.

It is learnt that the incident was premeditated as the house was unattended when the incident occurred and the robbers cunningly succeeded in their attempts.

Raped 5 girl dies in central India

 An official says a 5-year-old girl has died after being raped in central India.

District official Bharat Yadav says the girl suffered cardiac arrest late Monday at a hospital in Nagpur city where she was being treated for injuries from the assault.

He says the girl was allegedly raped by a friend of her parents and dumped at a farm near their home.

Yadav says two men have been arrested.

India has seen a recent sharp rise in numbers of rapes and sexual crimes against women and children. Officials say the spike has resulted from more people reporting the crimes.

The attack came four months after the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked outrage across India about the treatment of women in the country.

Dahal calls on Indian PM Singh

Chairman of the UCPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal who is on a visit to India held talks with Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.

During the meeting held at the Indian Prime Minister's residence at 7 Race Course Road, Dahal urged the Government of India to support political stability and economic development of Nepal.

The political parties of Nepal have moved ahead in the process of taking forward the political process started after the 12-point agreement reached between the then CPN-Maoist and seven political parties, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been formed and the peace process has almost reached close to a logical conclusion, Chairman Dahal said and requested Prime Minister Singh to support it as the stability process of Nepal would move ahead through the election of the Constituent Assembly (CA). 

Emphasizing on the need of cooperation from neighbouring countries for the political stability of Nepal, the UCPN-Maoist Chairman urged the Government of India to support in the CA election and the agenda of economic development, said Dahal's aide Shiva Khakurel. 

On the occasion, Dahal put forth the three-country partnership proposal to Indian Prime Minister Singh.

Taking the proposal put forth by Dahal in a positive way, Prime Minister Singh said that it would be better to forward the proposal after making the bilateral partnership broad and extensive.

The Indian Prime Minister assured of forwarding the proposal in the near future.

Prime Minister Singh said that the Government of India would provide all possible assistance for the stability and