NEPAL: Ceasefire Brings Hope of End to Violence

Nepalis waited Sunday to learn if the violence that has overwhelmed rural life here in recent years would end, at least temporarily.

NEPAL: In Dark Days, a Light for Rural Women

Days before government minister Durga Shrestha updated a global meeting on Nepal’s efforts to improve life for its women, about two dozen village women celebrating graduation from a training centre danced, sang, staged a puppet play and, finally, accepted their certificates proudly from a local official.

ECONOMY-NEPAL: Human Exports Keep Growing

Namrata Pandey leaves in 10 days for a job as a domestic worker in Israel but she has an eye to a future move to the United States, a path she says some friends and family have trodden.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Democrats Demand Power Back

It was like being with a group of friends crowded together to poke fun at a common foe.

NEPAL: Promises Aplenty But No Delivery

For the vast majority of Nepalis who live outside the Kathmandu Valley, neither the words of the king, the Maoist insurgents or international agencies, nor the deeds that sometimes follow their promises, are improving their deprived lives.

POLITICS-NEPAL: At War With Whom?

Few people were likely surprised this week when the king's government jailed former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. He was three times premier in an era that the monarch says featured a series of inept, corrupt administrations that allowed a Maoist uprising to fester and grow.

NEPAL: Indigenous People Seek More, Get Less

The glass bangles on their arms are shattered, they are forbidden to put saffron-coloured powder in their hair and to wear red - reserved for those "blessed" with a husband - for the rest of their lives. Widows in Hindu societies are traditionally treated in ways that today have become striking symbols of paternalism.

NEPAL: Hopes Depart With UN Peacemaker

After a week of political twists and turns, a top United Nations peace broker left here urging the major players to transform their words into deeds.

NEPAL: Refugee Crisis Builds Up as Civil War Rages On

A little over a year ago, Laxmi Budha had everything going for her. The wife of a village politician-cum-trader in Nepal's far-west Humla district, she ran her husband's commodity dealership while he tended to the people on behalf of the Nepali Congress party.

NEPAL: India Opening Doors for All to Talk

As a political face-off between Kathmandu and New Delhi continues, India is laying out the red carpet for Nepal's opposition leaders to discuss ways to end the crises bedevilling the Himalayan nation.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Maoists, Parties Take Tentative Steps Closer

Nepal's political stalemate, which started in 2002 with the dismissal of parliament, hit a new low last week when seven major political parties declared they would boycott municipal elections the government plans to hold by April next year.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Conflict Pushes More Kids to Work

Dipak Budhamagar wants to be a farmer like his father, who was killed by Maoist insurgents during the Tihar festival last November for fleeing a rebel work camp after a month's forced labour.

/UPDATE*/POLITICS-NEPAL: Battle of Perceptions Favours King

Four months after Nepal's King Gyanendra seized power through a bloodless coup, the nation's beleaguered political parties are finding it increasingly difficult to win public support for their pro-democracy protests.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Commission’s Autonomy Questioned

Nepal's human rights groups and political parties are questioning the legitimacy of the newly formed national human rights body, calling it a lapdog institution appointed by the royal government to subvert the human rights regime.

SOUTH ASIA: Maoist Overture to Enter Nepal’s Mainstream Politics?

While India denies that its security agencies helped arrange meetings between a top Nepali Maoist leader and its political establishment, analysts welcome dialogue with the rebels as a key to ending a seemingly intractable crisis in the neighbouring Himalayan kingdom.

NEPAL: Strange Restraint in the Face of Indian Revelations

Nearly four months after the royal coup in Nepal, the Indian press this week unveiled secret links between India's intelligence services and Nepal's Maoist rebels. But curiously, the revelations have failed to kick up a raging controversy in Nepal.

NEPAL: The Final Nail in the Coffin for Media Freedom

After months of sermonising on the need for a "nationalistic" and "responsible" media, the government of Nepal - directly controlled by King Gyanendra - passed an ordinance aimed at taming it.

NEPAL: For Squatters, Kathmandu Carries Scent of Reform

Crossing a bridge over the Bagmati River the women inside the tiny three-wheeled taxi or ''tempo'', clamp their shawls over their faces to block the stench of the polluted water.

NEPAL: Civil Society Caught Between the Devil and Deep Blue Sea

It isn't easy working for Nepal's civil society these days. Groups pushing for the return of constitutional democracy after the Feb. 1 royal takeover are being harassed by state security forces, while rural development workers are squeezed between the army and Maoists as they battle for supremacy of the hinterlands.

NEPAL: Explosive Devices Take Their Toll on Children

Improvised explosive devices and landmines left behind in current skirmishes between Nepal's security forces and rebel Maoists are posing a great risk to Nepali children, whose innate curiosity and need for play often lure them directly into harm's way.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Displaced Await Action

The United Nations labelled it a ''pre-crisis'', yet no one in Nepal appears to know what to do next.