Nepal takes back increases in fuel prices after protests
Katmandu, Nepal – The government on Sunday withdrew increases in gasoline, diesel and cooking-fuel prices after thousands of protesters clashed with police, blocked traffic and vandalized government vehicles.
Nepal’s government had raised prices Saturday to reduce losses by the state-owned monopoly distributor Nepal Oil Corp., which owes $213 million to the Indian Oil Corp.
The price increases were reversed at a Cabinet meeting Sunday, said Tourism Minister Pradip Gyawali.
Police used batons to beat protesters who gathered at three locations in Katmandu on Sunday, while demonstrators torched at least a half-dozen government motorcycles and cars.
Protesting drivers also blocked the main route to Katmandu, cutting off most transportation to the capital city.
The retail price of gasoline had been raised 25 percent to $4.54 per gallon, while diesel was increased by 11 percent to $3.03 per gallon. Kerosene rose 24 percent to $3.03 per gallon.
The higher diesel price was expected to increase prices for food and other commodities because trucks are the only practical means of transporting them in the landlocked, mountainous Himalayan nation.
Nepal Oil Corp. has a monopoly on the import and distribution of oil in Nepal, and the government fixes the retail rate. Most oil products are subsidized, and the government bears the loss.
NEW YORK
Rapper Rhymes faces assault charge in attack
Rapper Busta Rhymes was arraigned Sunday on an assault charge after he was reportedly accused of attacking a man for spitting on his car.
The New York Police Department released few details about Saturday’s arrest, saying only that the incident occurred Aug. 12.
Rhymes was arraigned on a charge of third-degree assault and was released on his own recognizance, said Barbara Thompson, spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He is due back in court Oct. 24.
LOS ANGELES
“Snakes” takes weak No. 1 over weekend
The high-flying thriller “Snakes on a Plane” technically debuted as the No. 1 movie but with a modest $15.25 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Distributor New Line Cinema included $1.4 million that “Snakes on a Plane” raked in during 10 p.m. screenings Thursday to get a head start on the weekend. Without those revenues, the movie’s weekend total would be $13.85 million.
The rest of the top 10: 2. “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” $14.1 million; 3. “World Trade Center,” $10.8 million; 4. “Accepted,” $10.1 million; 5. “Step Up,” $9.9 million; 6. “Barnyard: The Original Party Animals,” $7.5 million; 7. “Little Miss Sunshine,” $5.7 million; 8. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” $5 million; 9. “Material Girls,” $4.6 million; 10. “Pulse,” $3.5 million.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Cruise ship returns with whale on its bow
A cruise ship pulled into port Saturday with a a 25- to 30-foot dead whale pinned to its bow.
Federal officials said it did not appear the ship’s operators did anything wrong.
Crew members of the 2,000- passenger Summit said they were surprised to discover they had hit a whale after leaving Disenchantment Bay near Yakutat. They felt no bump, said a spokesman for Celebrity Cruises, which owns the ship.
The whale was tentatively identified as a humpback, an endangered species, and towed by a tugboat to a nearby beach.
A necropsy has been scheduled to help determine whether the whale was alive or dead when it was struck.
TUXTLA GUTIÉRREZ, Mexico
Early results close for Chiapas governorship
Voters chose a governor Sunday for Mexico’s poorest state – the latest political battleground for the leftist party that is disputing the results of last month’s presidential election.
Preliminary results in the southern state of Chiapas showed a tight race between leftist candidate Juan Sabines, 38, of the Democratic Revolution Party, and Jose Antonio Aguilar Bodegas, 56, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
With 11 percent of votes counted, Aguilar was leading with 50.41 percent compared with 45.85 percent for Sabines.
Polls closed with no reports of violence, although one election observer said irregularities were widespread. About 1,000 national and foreign observers monitored the vote.
LONDON
Pakistan interrogates key British suspect
Pakistani authorities interrogated a key British suspect Sunday in the alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound passenger jetliners. Britain’s top security official said police have gathered “substantial material” and indicated they were close to charging some of the suspects.
Rashid Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani descent, was arrested days before authorities said Aug. 10 that they had uncovered the plot to bomb 10 transatlantic jetliners with liquid explosives. Britain has arrested 23 people, including a brother of Rauf’s.
Rauf has been described by Islamabad as a key person in the alleged conspiracy.
British Home Secretary John Reid indicated Sunday that criminal charges could be filed in the next few days but did not disclose details.
