Kathmandu, Apr 28 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal met Nepali Congress (NC) President Girija Prasad Koirala on Tuesday morning and urged him to support the government to sack Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Rookmangad Katawal.

The meeting took place at Koirala''s residence in Maharajgunj where Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and party leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha were also present.

Kathmandu, Apr 27 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has urged CPN (UML) chairman Jhala Nath Khanal to support the government''s decision to sack Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Rookmangad Katawal.

The move came after Khanal met Dahal at his residence on Monday morning to propose an option acceptable to both the Maoists and the Nepali Congress (NC).

Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa ''Badal'' was also present.

Kathmandu - At least five people were killed trying to put out a forest fire in western Nepal, police said Saturday. The fire broke out in a community forest in Hastipur village of Gulmi district, about 300 kilometres west of the Nepalese capital, on Saturday morning and was now threatening three other nearby villages.

"The five, including three women, were killed when they were trapped by the blaze while trying to control the spread of the fire," said Rajendra Prasad Palikhe, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Gulmi district.

He said the fire was burning out of control, fanned by strong winds and dry conditions.

Kathmandu- Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has cancelled his official visit to China scheduled for early May due to a developing political crisis in the country, officials said Saturday. "The visit was cancelled to allow the prime minister to engage in political debates in Nepal to resolve the current dispute," said Om Sharma, the prime minister's press advisor.

The cancellation followed growing splits between the ruling coalition partners over the Maoist-led government's attempts to remove the country's army chief.

Kathmandu - Nepal's largest mobile phone service provider Nepal Telecom Saturday announced plans to start services in the Mount Everest region enabling climbers to make phone calls from the top of the world's highest peak. The plans to install mobile phone service in the Everest region are to connect the last few isolated areas in Nepal with the rest of the country and the world.

Stockholm - Mobile and broadband operations helped lift pre-tax earnings for Nordic telecommunications group Telia Sonera, the group said Friday.

The group said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 14 per cent year-on-year to 8.8 billion kronor (1.05 billion dollars).

Sales in the quarter increased 11 per cent to 27.5 billion kronor, while net income was flat on 4.4 billion kronor.