NEPAL: New War Erupts as UN Peace Mission Gets Nod

Five people have died and a curfew has been imposed in a district in Nepal's plains region after a clash between Maoists and activists for regional autonomy left a student dead.

NEPAL: New War Erupts as UN Peace Mission Gets Nod

Five people have died and a curfew has been imposed in a district in Nepal's plains region after a clash between Maoists and activists for regional autonomy left a student dead.

NEPAL: Revolutionary Politics, Feudal Justice

While former Maoist outlaws have traded battle fatigues for grey suits and seats in Parliament, torture victim Pradesh Bahadur Bista is making the rounds of hospitals for proof that his chronic pains were caused by daily torture during 100 days of illegal detention by soldiers of the Nepali Army.

NEPAL: Parliament Opens Doors to Maoists

Former Maoist rebels entered the parliament that once outlawed them Monday, filling enough seats to become the second-largest party in the temporary government.

NEPAL: Parliament Opens Doors to Maoists

Former Maoist rebels entered the parliament that once outlawed them Monday, filling enough seats to become the second-largest party in the temporary government.

NEPAL: Women and Children Count too, in Maoist Camps

United Nations monitors will begin counting weapons and soldiers of the Maoist army in camps across Nepal next week, and activists are concerned that the needs of women and children there could be overlooked.

NEPAL: Civil Society Protests Laggard Gov’t

Civil society activists who led the fight against the former royal regime are now risking jail to protest against the government they helped push to power.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: US – Last Stop for Bhutanese Refugees?

Washington's offer to resettle most of the 106,000 Bhutanese refugees who have stagnated in camps in Nepal for 16 years has provoked a whirlwind of reaction that could finally sweep away official inertia toward their plight.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: A ‘New Nepal’ for All?

Cycle and foot traffic will swell on the two-lane highway that runs through Nepal's 'tarai' (plains region) Dec. 25. Normally the road teems with buses that pack passengers onto their roofs and careen from stop to stop, speeding trucks with squealing brakes and a few personal cars. But the Nepal Sadhbhawana Party (NSP)has called a general strike on that day and motorised vehicles risk being attacked by mobs.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Women Push for Space in Peace Plans

Government and Maoist leaders holding high-level talks to finalise Nepal's interim constitution have discovered they have one thing in common: none of them can say that at least a third of their party workers are women.

HEALTH-NEPAL: Mobile Camps Treat Uterine Prolapse

While women in the capital Kathmandu fight for representation on the political bodies designing the 'new Nepal', in the remote western region Bhakti Oli has just claimed her right to health care after more than 35 years.

RIGHTS: Indigenous Declaration Still Powerful – UN Forum Chief

The United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will remain influential despite being sidelined by an arm of the UN General Assembly last week, predicts the chairperson of the world body's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Children Feared Bound for Maoist ‘Peace’ Camps

Even before Maoist leaders could assign their soldiers to camps as part of the peace deal ending Nepal's 10-year insurgency, United Nations officials appeared on the doorstep Monday warning that children will not be allowed into the cantonments.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Children Feared Bound for Maoist ‘Peace’ Camps

Even before Maoist leaders could assign their soldiers to camps as part of the peace deal ending Nepal's 10-year insurgency, United Nations officials appeared on the doorstep Monday warning that children will not be allowed into the cantonments.

NEPAL: Peace Delayed, Dying Continues

Government and rebel leaders failed to sign an agreement Thursday to formally end a 10-year insurgency that killed up to 14,000 Nepalis, scarred the lives of tens of thousands more, and continues to claim victims.

NEPAL: Peace Delayed, Dying Continues

Government and rebel leaders failed to sign an agreement Thursday to formally end a 10-year insurgency that killed up to 14,000 Nepalis, scarred the lives of tens of thousands more, and continues to claim victims.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Get Back to Basics, South Asia’ – Oxfam

Every 30 minutes an Afghan woman and six Indian women die in childbirth, yet annually India welcomes 150,000 "medical tourists" who fly in for cheaper treatment than they can receive at home in the 'developed' world.

POLITICS-NEPAL: A Deal’s Not Enough

Since Monday, small groups of journalists and onlookers have stood for hours at a time on the roadside outside the Nepali prime minister's house waiting for word of a deal between the government and former Maoist rebels. But keeping a sitting vigil on the street, civil society leaders say a breakthrough will mean the hard work is just beginning.

ENVIRONMENT: Global Forest Users’ Body Takes Root

One of the most grassroots of people's movements has planted an international seed.

LABOUR-NEPAL: Workers’ Friend or Foe?

Nepal's government says it is poised to give some protection to the majority of its workers who labour in the informal sector but a bill now circulating in government would remove some rights of employees in 'special economic zones'.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Doubts Over Leaders Cloud Sustainable Peace

"We believe that a nation that has suffered many horrors - murders, rapes and other crimes - is able to progress only if those experiences are told."