RIGHTS-NEPAL: School Children Bear the Brunt of Civil War

It was a combined fear of the Maoist rebels and the Royal Nepal Army that prompted Shiva Khadka, a fourth-grader from Sarnath village in southern Nepal's Sarlahi district to quit school and cross the porous Indo-Nepal border. Today, the 15-year-old works as a waiter in India's bustling capital city.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Nepali Journalists Live Dangerously

Press freedom in Nepal is in peril. And on Tuesday to mark World Press Freedom Day, about 1,500 journalists braved arrest to march through the capital in a bid to remind the international community that many of their colleagues are still languishing in detention centers since King Gyanendra seized power in February.

NEPAL-TIBET: First Regular Bus Service on the Earth’s Highest Point

History was made this week as China-controlled Tibet opened the doors of its once forbidden capital to ordinary Nepalis, with the launch of the first trans- Himalayan bus service linking Kathmandu with Lhasa.

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Emergency Lifted as Nepal King’s China Card Fails

Himalayan geopolitics was at play again as thousands of Nepalis braved arrest on Sunday and openly marched through Nepal's capital Kathmandu on International Labour Day, demanding the restoration of democracy after King Gyanendra lifted a state of emergency imposed three months earlier.

HEALTH-NEPAL: Women Volunteers Deliver

Shova Baral deftly tilts back the small boy's head and with her other hand squeezes drops from a red, teardrop-shaped capsule into his gaping mouth. Her colleague Ishwori Baral places a chewable tablet inside.

CORRUPTION-NEPAL: All the King’s Men Try to Fix a Broken Humpty Dumpty

In the wee hours of Wednesday several jeep-loads of heavily armed policemen arrived at the residence of former Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. He was packed into one of the vehicles and driven away - arrested on charges of corruption.

NEPAL: Prominent Student Leader’s Arrest Could Galvanise Anti-King Protests

It is perhaps too much to say that Lady Luck had never smiled on Gagan Kumar Thapa, a 28 year-old charismatic Nepali student leader at the forefront of Nepal's pro-democracy protests. But luck indeed never seemed to favour him.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOK-NEPAL: Mourning for Democracy

''The last thing the world needs is another failed state in South Asia, but that is what threatens to emerge in Nepal, where a spiralling conflict between the army and insurgents has taken a turn for the worse,'' said a 'New York Times' editorial recently.

POLITICS: India’s Resumption of Arms to Nepal Not Due to China – Analysts

India's plan to resume military assistance to Nepal, suspended after the Feb. 1 'royal coup' has nothing to do with China's offer of support to the regime of King Gyanendra, beleaguered by a nine-year Maoist insurgency, say security experts.

POLITICS: Nepal Bracing For U.N. Human Rights Monitors

Nepal is bracing for an invasion by international human rights monitors in the wake of strong condemnations of its rights record at the 61st session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva that ended Friday.

NEPAL: New School Year Sees Private Schools Targetted by Maoists

As the new school year began this week, the latest targets in Nepal's bloody Maoist insurgency are private schools that the rebels have threatened to bomb if they defy a call to close. This prompted a strong United Nations rebuke, which stated unequivocally that an attack on education and educational institutions is an attack on the next generation of Nepalis.

MEDIA-NEPAL: District Reporters ‘Jobless in Their Jobs’

Before King Gyananedra's Feb.1 declaration of emergency- rule, journalist Rameshwor Bohora was a frequent traveller to the Himalayan kingdom's rural areas - where large swathes of Nepal are under Maoist rebel-control.

EDUCATION-NEPAL: Schools Still Beyond Reach for Girls

As the United Nations urged Nepal's government and Maoist rebels to leave school children out of the insurgency that has claimed over 11,000 lives since 1996, UNICEF said Monday the Himalayan kingdom would have difficulty meeting a global goal of getting an equal number of girls and boys in schools.

MEDIA-NEPAL: Living Dangerously With the Censors

For community radio broadcaster Ghama Raj Luitel, life is a daily struggle of living dangerously in emergency-ruled Nepal where jail remains a distinct possibility at every waking moment.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Nepal Avoids Censure Resolution in UN Commission

By signing a last-minute agreement with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Nepal avoided condemnation by the international community Monday for the abuses committed by government security forces.

NEPAL: An Unusual Combination of Fear, Ennui and Uncertainty

Though spring is in the air in the Himalayas, there is not much cheer in Nepal - now under emergency rule. The mountain trekkers have failed to arrive in numbers and tourists, that are the lifeblood to the economy of Kathmandu Valley, are staying away from the kingdom out of fear of Maoist rebels who have blockaded the capital.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Activists Call for Firm Action on Nepal

Leading civil society groups pressed the United Nations Commission on Human Rights this week to adopt a resolution condemning the regime in Nepal, where hundreds of protesters were arrested Friday.

NEPAL: Shortage of Weapons Hampers Army’s Pursuit of Maoists

Nepal's over-stretched military is being further strained by rebel Maoists that over the weekend called a 11-day transport strike to blockade the capital Kathmandu. Already the rebels have burnt seven trucks on a key highway, disrupting traffic.

NEPAL: Communism’s Last Bastion in High Altitudes

In the past nine years, Nepal's Maoist movement has grown so fast that it has now become a proud citation for revolutionaries round the world. To them, the Maoists from an impoverished Himalayan kingdom give intellectual sustenance at a time when the days of communists toppling the state have long gone.

MEDIA-NEPAL: Bad News From All Sides

Jail is just one threat facing Nepal's under fire journalists.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Vigilante Justice Goes Astray

The international community and the Nepali government seem to be at diametrically opposite ends.