Kathmandu, July 29 : The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) today decided to pay Rs 500 million to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of petroleum products to Nepal, in a bid to end a worsening fuel crisis.

Out of the Rs. one billion to be paid as per the previous announcement, the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation is set to pay 50 per cent to the Indian Oil Corporation.

The remaining fifty percent of the amount would be submitted by the first week of August, Kantipur quoted Director at NOC Digamber Jha, as saying.

Kathmandu, July 29 : Senior UML leader Iswor Pokharel has said that CPN-UML won’t join the next government under Maoist leadership unless the Nepali Congress 
(NC) is a part of it.

"We can never trust the Maoists as they showed dishonesty by changing their decision overnight and refusing to back our Presidential candidate," Kantipur quoted Pokharel as, saying.

“The UML will join the Nepal Government under Maoist leadership only if the Nepali Congress is on board,” he added.

He also said a majority of UML leaders are against forging any kind of alliance with Maoists.

Kathmandu, July 29 : The CPN (Maoist) with a view to form a new Government in Nepal has started its homework and sought support from parties represented in the Constituent Assembly (CA).

On Monday, Maoist leaders held a meeting at the parliament secretariat and sought support from all 25 parties represented in the Constituent Assembly, for forming a new government under Maoist leadership.

Kathmandu, July 29 : Nepal’s caretaker Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today met former CPN (UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal to discuss the current political situations in Nepal.

It was reported that Nepal had advised Koirala on letting President Dr Ram Baran Yadav lead the Nepali delegation to the 15th SAARC summit since the current government does not have legal authority to take important decisions.

Kathmandu, July 29 : The Constituent Assembly (CA) of Nepal has issued a directive to the Government, asking it to take immediate steps to maintain communal harmony in the wake of the ongoing protests against the Vice President Parmananda Jha for taking oath in Hindi language.

On Monday, the Constituent Assembly unanimously passed a ''proposal of public interest'' presented by Maoist Constituent Assembly member Chandra Prakash Gajurel.

The proposal expressed worry that agitations could harm communal harmony in the country.

Kathmandu, July 29 : Nihita Biswas, the girlfriend of master criminal Charles Sobraj, has said that she is receiving extortion calls on her cell phone.

Twenty-year-old Biswas claimed that she has been getting these calls soon after announcing her plans to marry Sobraj.

"Who is that reporter who dragged my name in the media following the attempt of my kidnapping and call for kidnapping and SMS through the telephone number 
9841798001. The SMS came two times through this very number," Biswas said.

A man also demanded ten million rupees, she added.