mansion on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley.

One of the king's ancestors had received the land as dowry and the king's father, Mahendra, had begun building a mansion on the extensive property.

Soon after his ascension, King Gyanendra renovated the sprawling mansion, adding a swimming pool, tennis court and helipad.

Though the Nagarjuna residence is not among the seven palaces taken over by the government, it remains to be seen how long it would remain in the possession of the royal family.

There's one silver lining, however.

The crucial election on Nov 22, which will decide if the king keeps his crown or becomes a commoner, falls on a Thursday

August 24, 2007

http://www.intelligenceonline.com/ The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which provides access to confidential government papers in the U.S. and Britain is being usedby private firms to business intelligence ends.

In a study on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the United States, the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government revealed that 60% of requests officially submitted under the law emanate from the private sector. Companies which work for the government use the FOIA to examine the internal processes leading to the signing of contracts and to glean details of the bids submitted by their competitors. In both the United States and Britain (where a FOIA was introduced in 2000), private groups funnel most of their requests for information from FOIA through highly specialized law firms and business intelligence concerns (see graph below).

The companies in question, which know the FOIA in and out and can submit a large number of requests,