NC convention postponed
The Central Working Committee meeting of the Nepali Congress on Sunday decided to postpone its 12th general convention from 26-30 August to a later date following the fifth round of prime ministerial elections. The new convention date has been set for 17-21 September.

West Seti closes
The 750 MW West Seti Hydro Project has decided to close down as its promoter Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (Australia) has expressed its inability to continue funding for office operations. The company fired two thirds of its staff in February, and the project's license expires in December.

No bonus
The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies clarified on Wednesday that a bonus will not be distributed to employees of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) as the company is running at a huge loss. Earlier, the corporation announced a bonus to its employees based on profits from the preceding year. It withdrew its decision after separate government directives, following which NOC's employees' association halted supplies for three days. They returned to work only after NOC management assured them of the distribution of bonuses 'as per the law'. "The agreement...was to provide bonus as per the law and the directives from the government and the CIAA are as good as laws," said Purushottam Ojha secretary at the ministry.

"Deport him"
On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Committee on International Relations and Human Rights instructed the government to initiate a probe into the alleged threats to Maoist lawmaker Ram Kumar Sharma by an official of the Indian embassy. Lawmakers at the meeting said the accused embassy official should make an apology and should be deported if found guilty. Sharma had on Friday disclosed that he received a death threat from an official at the Indian embassy for lobbying with Madhes-based parties for the prime ministerial election. Sharma submitted a letter to the CA Chair Subas Nemwang requesting arrangements for his security on Sunday.

Oberthur wins
The Supreme Court has refused to instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to halt the process of awarding the Machine Readable Passports printing contract to Oberthur Technologies. A joint bench of Justices Khil Raj Regmi and Krishna Prasad Upadhyay ruled it was not necessary to halt the process. Nar Bahadur Khatri and Hem Mani Subedi had separately filed a writ petition before the apex court saying the government decision was flawed.