During the meeting took place at Koirala’s residence at Maharajgunj, the EU Ambassadors were learnt to have expressed happiness over the successful completion of the November 19 CA election in Nepal and expressed gratitude to Koirala for his support to that end.

On the occasion, the NC President said his party would lead the process of constituting a consensus government as it is going to be the largest party in the new CA and pledged to initiate the constitution making process and form a new government by taking all the parties into confidence, according to NC central member Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat who was also present in the meeting.

The EU Ambassadors expressed satisfaction over the peaceful and fair CA election, wished for the formation of a new government as soon as possible and acceleration in the constitution drafting, Dr. Mahat said. The EU ambassadors also stressed the need of holding the local bodies’ election soon, he added.

The meeting focused on the discussions about the people’s mandate they gave through the November 19 election for drafting a new constitution on time and the matters of local bodies’ election and a new government formation, said Ambassador and delegation Chief Rensje Teerink after the meeting.

Koirala’a personal secretary Laxman Dhakal also confirmed the EU ambassadors’ meeting with the NC President Koirala by issuing a press note.

BERLIN: More than 80,000 emergency personnel including firefighters and soldiers were on duty Saturday, working aggressively to contain the most dramatic floods in Germany in a decade. Thousands of residents were still unable to return to their homes, and bridges and streets were impassable in many regions of eastern and southern Germany.

Twenty people reportedly have already died in the floods acrosscentral Europe after several days of heavy rains.

German news agency dpa said people in Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt were anxiously waiting downstream as the crest of the Elbe river approached Saturday, while residents further upstream were starting to clean up the debris that was left along the river.

In Magdeburg, authorities evacuated a nursing home and turned off electricity in several parts of the city. Where the Saale river meets the Elbe, about 3,000 people had to leave their homes.

High water levels were also reported in Hungary, Slovakia and theCzech Republic, while thousands of people in Austria were busy shoveling away mud left by the receding floodwaters of the Danube.

In Hungary, around 2,000 residents of the town of Gyorujfalu northwest of the capital of Budapest were evacuated because authorities were afraid the levees wouldn’t withstand the pressure of the Danube’s waters. Another 980 residents had to leave their homes along the river out of precaution.

The rising waters of the Danube, Europe’s biggest river, were expected to reach Budapest on Monday. The water levels were already at 28.2 feet (8.60 meters) on Saturday and expected to rise to 29.4 feet (8.95 meters) at the peak of the flood — inching close up to the top of the river’s flood fences, which are 30.5 feet (9.30 meters) tall.

In Slovakia, the Danube was still on the rise in the towns of Sturovo and Komarno near the Hungarian border. The situation in Komarno was especially critical as several protective barriers started leaking and volunteers had arrived to reinforce them with sandbags.

In the Czech Republic, the waters were dropping further and clean-up work was under way. However, anti-flood measures were to remain in place as heavy rains and thunderstorms were forecast for the weekend.

Before departing to Brussels after completing her four-day visit she issued a press statement and urged one and all to work in a creative way to hold the election within November.

Following her meetings with state authorities, the Election Commission (EC), National Human Rights Commission, the leaders of the political parties, members of the civil society as well as the international community, Lambert said, “Holding the elections before the end of 2013 will send a strong signal to the people of Nepal and to the international community that its leaders are committed to meeting the rights and aspirations of Nepali people for a stable, prosperous and democratic Nepal.”

She further added that credible, transparent and inclusive elections are essential to stabilizing the political situation, restoring crucial democratic institutions, and completing the interrelated processes of finalizing a constitution on the basis of the past achievements and securing a lasting peace.

Lambert welcomed the efforts undertaken by the Interim Election Council and the High-Level Political Committee to engage with those parties who currently have objections to the process to adopt a constructive attitude to ensure the widest possible political commitment for elections with a view to fully representing the views of the people.

BRUSSELS; European Union nations on Wednesday called for more intensive testing for a month to try to contain the scandal in which horsemeat was sold as beef.

The emergency meeting at EU headquarters included nations most affected by the horsemeat scandal that has swept through Europe, with millions of burgers and frozen meals recalled across the continent.

Ireland’s Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney suggested the scandal would likely spread further as more countries test beef.

Germany said Wednesday it had received a shipment of tainted frozen meals and Norway pulled products from its stores.

Ireland found horsemeat in burgers last month after routine testing.

“Once we got the positive test and the investigation was under way, obviously other countries followed suit,” said Coveney, who chaired the meeting. “As they tested they found that the problem has been getting bigger and bigger.”

The nations also proposed that investigations in Ireland, France, the Netherlands and other nations should now be coordinated by the EU’s Europol law enforcement agency.

”What was clear, was the absolute unity of purpose of the member states to get to the bottom of this,” said Britain’s Environment Secretary Owen Paterson. “We do not know exactly what has gone wrong.”

The testing proposal envisions requiring EU members to test 6,500 beef samples for traces of horsemeat and a harmful equine medicine known as Bute during the month of March. Results would be announced April 15.

The plan will now be considered at a specially called meeting of food and animal health experts on Friday, when the 27 member states are expected to back the call.

Representatives of Britain, Ireland, France, Romania, Poland, Luxembourg and Sweden attended Wednesday’s meeting.

In Britain and Ireland there is great sensitivity about eating horse, but that does not exist in other EU nations like France and Belgium.

Germany’s agriculture and consumer protection ministry said a shipment of frozen lasagna containing horsemeat was delivered to at least one trader in western Germany.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority spokesman Kenneth Vikse said Wednesday that leading store chains, Findus and other producers had recalled processed products. Earlier Wednesday, small supermarket chains in neighboring Denmark withdrew lasagna products.

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has warned that investigating war-crimes committed by both sides will derail the ongoing peace process.

Bhattarai while maintaining that Nepal is committed to try all war-crimes by forming Truth and Reconciliation Commission and transitional justice mechanisms, claimed that war-crimes should not be prosecuted through existing legal mechanisms.

Speaking at a program in the capital on Friday, the Maoist Prime Minister said that investigating war-crimes committed by both sides- Maoist and the government- will derail the peace process.

He asserted that Nepal will try all cases of war-crimes including murders, rapes, extortion, forced disappearances through TRC.

Arguing that the government has already pushed to form the TRC, he accused political parties of not supporting its move to endorse the ordinance, that has been awaiting the President’s endorsement for some months now.

Cameron delayed the long-anticipated address on Europe at the last minute to deal with the hostage crisis in Algeria. Aides said a new date and venue would be announced later.
He had been expected to spell out his plans to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the 27-nation bloc and to promise a rare referendum on any deal he struck. Some politicians said that move could redefine Britain’s role in the world, alienate key allies and determine Cameron’s own political fate.
Cameron had been planning to say that the EU faces three major challenges: the euro zone debt crisis, faltering competitiveness and declining public support, particularly in Britain.
“If we don’t address these challenges, the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit,” Cameron had been due to say, according to extracts of his postponed speech released by his office.
“I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union to be a success and I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it.”
But, he intended to say there was growing frustration about the widening gap between the EU and its 500 million citizens and that the status quo was untenable.
AUSTERITY
Harsh austerity measures imposed in many European states are making the problem worse, Cameron planned to say.
“There is a growing frustration that the EU is seen as something that is done to people rather than acting on their behalf. And this is being intensified by the very solutions required to resolve the economic problems,” he was going to say.
“People are increasingly frustrated that decisions taken further and further away from them mean their living standards are slashed through enforced austerity or their taxes are used to bail out governments on the other side of the continent.”
Cameron, who wants to stay inside the EU, has argued that the upheaval created by the euro zone crisis has given Britain a chance to renegotiate the terms of its membership of the bloc.
There was no mention in the advance extracts of a possible referendum on Britain’s role in Europe.
International allies, business leaders and political rivals have all warned that the debate over Britain’s future in Europe risks isolating London and could pave the way for a British departure from the EU after 40 years.
But Cameron had been due to say it would be wrong to avoid the debate on reforming Europe and Britain’s place in the Union and that voters across the continent were losing patience with the EU.
“There is a gap between the EU and its citizens which has grown dramatically in recent years and which represents a lack of democratic accountability and consent that is – yes – felt particularly acutely in Britain,” he was to have said.
Under pressure from all sides, Cameron must tread a delicate path on Europe, a politically toxic issue that brought down former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and will have to confront the problem in the coming weeks.
A vocal minority in his Conservative Party is lobbying for a referendum on whether Britain should leave the EU. A bigger group of mainstream Conservatives on Wednesday published a list of areas where it wants to reclaim powers from the EU.
The popular mood has hardened against Brussels in recent years in Britain, polls suggest.
The UK Independence Party, a fringe group that wants to quit the EU, has pulled ahead of the Liberal Democrats, Cameron’s pro-EU junior coalition partner, in some surveys and Cameron is trailing in the polls before an election due in 2015.
In his postponed speech, he had been due to urge EU states to join him in addressing his worries about the Union’s future.
“Europe’s leaders have a duty to hear these concerns. And we have a duty to act on them,” he was going to say.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)