Rare rhino census begins

Nepal has started counting rare one-horned rhinos at a sanctuary where poaching during a decade of civil war likely cut the population by more than half, wildlife  officials said. “We started our census campaign on tracking (the) endangered one-horned rhinoceros,” Omkar Joshi, protection officer at the Bardiya National Park said. The census will last for at least two weeks, during which wildlife experts will comb the jungles of the rhino sanctuary in Bardiya National Park, 350km (218 miles) west of Kathmandu, he said.

Skills shortage

India Inc should brace up for a shortage of 5 million to 6 million skilled professionals in the next five years, as the country’s educational system is not geared to meet the demand, industry body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) said recently in a newspaper. The services and manufacturing sectors will be the hardest hit, according to reports of the PHDCCI.

According to the PHDCCI, educational institutions in the private and public spheres are not making systematic efforts to create and upgrade skill sets of professionals to meet requirements.In India, higher education continues to be steeped in bureaucratic controls. Because of pockets of political resistance, the sector has not been successful in inviting much-needed foreign investment and top institutes from abroad. Hundreds of thousands of students apply for a handful of quality openings, while many head abroad.

Bank card swindle

Police in Britain say an international criminal gang swindled thousands of drivers who used their ATM cards to buy gasoline.  So far, the theft has been linked to about 200 gas stations around the country, the BBC reported. The criminals got the cards’ PIN numbers and other details and withdrew small amounts from bank accounts over a period of time.

“Quite clearly this was well-organized and it was done on an international basis,” said Detective Inspector Paul Welton of the Humberside Police.

So far, investigators have no idea who the perpetrators are. The government of Sri Lanka has suggested the money might be going to the Tamil Tigers rebel group, but British police say they have no proof of that.

One victim, Sean Gillespie, told the BBC thousands of dollars was removed from his bank account.

“I knew how much had been taken but how it was taken was an absolute mystery to me,” he said.

Deity sweats

As the political stalemate in Nepal continued and the security situation worsened in the southern Terai plains, priests of a temple in the mountainous north reported “sweat” oozing out of the deity’s stone idol –  spelling further woes for the Himalayan nation. Priests at the famed Bhimsen temple in Jiri town in Dolakha district, 133km north of here., said the stone idol was “sweating”. According to popular belief, this heralds bad times for the country, especially the royal family.

Strike over camp woes

Nepal’s Maoists have threatened to begin nationwide protests unless the government promises to improve “inhuman” conditions at camps where former rebel fighters are housed, state media said. As part of a landmark peace deal ending a decade of bloody civil war late last year, the fighters have been confined to UN-monitored camps.