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WORLD NEWSThursday 29 October 2015

Man arrested in notorious
Australian double murder

Bidhya Devi Bhandari of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified
Marxist-Leninist waves her hand after she was elected as Ne-
pal’s new president in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 28,
2015.

Associated Press

Nepal’s parliament
elects nation’s first
female president

BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Police Detective Inspector Jason Dickinson holds up a photo of Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson
Associated Press and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce, during a press conference in Sydney, Wednesday,
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese lawmakers elected Oct. 21, 2015.
a longtime women’s rights campaigner to become the
country’s first female president Wednesday, as the Hima- Associated Press
layan nation pushes for more gender equality in politics
and work life. SYDNEY (AP) — A man was Her daughter was mur- pect Pearce-Stevenson’s
Bidhya Devi Bhandari, the 54-year-old deputy leader of arrested for the murder of dered sometime later, he killer wanted her to appear
Nepal’s Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist, a woman whose skeletal said. to be a Milat victim.
had lobbied actively for the new constitution to require remains were found in an Police allege several peo-
that either the president or vice president be a woman. Australian forest 1,200 ki- ple were involved in the Khandalyce’s body was
Nepal has been trying to shift from a traditionally male- lometers (750 miles) from double murder, the theft of discovered in July after
dominated society, where women are mostly limited to where her daughter’s body the mother’s identity and a driver spotted the suit-
working at homes or on farms, to one in which women was discovered dumped related frauds over several case dumped on the side
have equal access to opportunities and legal rights. in a suitcase, police said years. of a highway near the
Lawmakers cheered as Bhandari’s name was announced Thursday. Fraudsters used the moth- small South Australia town
as the new president. An ally and party colleague of The arrest Wednesday er’s cell phone for three of Wynarka. Police sifted
Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, Bhandari had been came a week after police years after her death to through dozens of missing
considered the favorite for the largely ceremonial job. identified the remains of make family and friends persons profiles to try to
Bhandari said her election — by a vote of 327-214 against Karlie Jade Pearce-Ste- believe she was still alive, figure out who the remains
Congress party leader Kul Bahadur Gurung — marked a venson, 20, and her 2-year- police said. They con- belonged to, even receiv-
first step toward assuring the new constitutional guaran- old daughter Khandalyce vinced Pearce-Stevenson’s ing a call from British police
tees of equality are fulfilled. The constitution, adopted last Pearce. The breakthrough mother to deposit money investigating the disap-
month, also requires that one-third of the country’s law- came seven years after into the dead woman’s pearance of Madeleine
makers be women, and that women be included in all police say the pair were bank account, which con- McCann, who vanished
government committees. murdered at different times tinued to receive govern- during a 2007 family vaca-
And last week, Onsari Gharti was elected as the country’s and in different locations. ment benefits, South Aus- tion in Portugal.
first female Parliament speaker. The 41-year-old suspect tralia Police Detective Su- The identities of both bodies
Bhandari has been a leading political figure since 1993 was arrested at the Cess- perintendent Des Bray said had stumped police in two
when her late husband, Communist party Madan Bhan- nock Police Station, 150 ki- on Tuesday. states until they received a
dari, was killed in a car accident. lometers (95 miles) north of Pearce-Stevenson’s credit tip on a crime prevention
She led demonstrations against the former King Gyanen- Sydney, and would appear card was used in several hotline three weeks ago.
dra in 2006, helping drive the country toward ending his in nearby Maitland Local cities, with the final transac- The caller suggested the
authoritarian rule and restoring democracy. Court on Thursday charged tion in March 2012. girl in the suitcase might be
Bhandari is Nepal’s second president since then. She re- with the mother’s murder, Her bones were spotted Khandalyce Pearce, who
places President Ram Baran Yadav, who was elected in a police statement said on by bicycle riders in 2010 in left with her single mother
2008 for a two-year term that was extended when efforts Thursday. the Belanglo State Forest, from their Outback home
to draft a new constitution stalled over seven years.q Police said the investiga- about 150 kilometers (90 town of Alice Springs in
tion into her daughter’s miles) south of Sydney. The 2008 to go traveling.
murder was continuing. forest is infamous for be- DNA tests confirmed the re-
New South Wales Police ing a dumping ground for mains were indeed Khan-
Detective Superintendent victims of Australia’s most dalyce’s. Police then used
Mick Willing said police al- notorious serial killer, Ivan blood samples from the
lege Pearce-Stevenson Milat, who was convicted medical records of Pearce-
was murdered on Dec. 14 in 1996 of murdering seven Stevenson to identify her
or 15, 2008. backpackers. Police sus- remains.q