Full Coverage: Nepal

01/31/2006 The women of the Tistung village in Nepal have formed the Tistung Women’s Association, according to reports from a researcher, Mr.Ekaram Singh. The panel of women has been constituted with the objective of raising awareness among the locals on health, education and culture.

01/30/2006 ActionAid chief executive Ramesh Singh, himself a Nepali, voiced his personal concerns about the current political situation in Nepal in a recent interview with The Kathmandu Post.

01/30/2006 in terms of democracy, Nepal is probably the worst of all 42 countries in which ActionAid works, according to the organisation's chief executive, Ramesh Singh, himself a Nepali.
* OneWorld UK Guide to Nepal

01/27/2006 Capacity building and training programmes have enabled Saraswati Parajuli of Sindhupalchok district, Nepal, to set up a medical centre on Mankha highway, and to provide essential health services and medicines in her village. This is a result of the initiatives of the Local Governance Programme of UNDP Nepal.

01/24/2006 Negli ultimi 4 giorni la situazione politico sociale in Nepal è seriamente peggiorata: centinaia di persone arrestate, tra cui anche parlamentari e uomini politici, nella capitale e in numerosi villaggi del paese vige il coprifuoco, uccisione da parte delle forze governative di presunti ribelli maoisti, le linee telefoniche fisse e mobile sono pressoché interrotte. In questo contesto di forti restrizioni alle libertà civili del popolo nepalese - che chiede il ritorno a un sistema democratico dopo il colpo di stato imposto dal re Gyanendra lo scorso 1 febbraio 2005 - la Fondazione Pangea Onlus sta continuando le attività del Progetto Sharma che come obiettivo quello di ridare una speranza di vita concreta a centinaia donne con programmi di microcredito e sostegno alle loro attività così da aiutarle a emanciparsi e a rendersi indipendenti.

01/24/2006 Reporters Without Borders today condemned the censorship and police violence against journalists which have accompanied the Nepalese government’s crackdown on the opposition’s efforts to stage pro-democracy demonstrations in the past few days.

01/23/2006 The targeting of human rights defenders, political leaders and journalists in Nepal, and the arbitrary use of preventive detention orders, have been condemned by a leading Asian rights group following the break-up of a pro-democracy rally in Kathmandu at the weekend by army and police authorised to shoot and kill.
* OneWorld UK Nepal Guide

01/23/2006 In Nepal, at least 14 rebels and six soldiers have been killed in renewed fighting between Maoist rebels and the army. The incident took place around 180 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu. The rebels have taken advantage of increasing protests against the autocratic King Gyanendra to intensify their armed struggle.

01/21/2006 Six political activists, including Nepal Sadbhawana Party leader Rajendra Mahato, were arrested for defying curfew and staging demonstrations as thousands of troops patrolled the streets of the capital to enforce the regulation aimed at thwarting a massive anti-King rally.

01/20/2006 KATHMANDU, Jan 20 (IPS) - Except for heavily-armed police and troops, the streets of Nepal's capital city were nearly empty Friday but opposition leaders were still vowing to hold planned protests after a dawn-to-dusk curfew ended.

01/20/2006 The editor of a monthly news magazine in Nepal was among the victims of a wave of arrests of opposition activists ahead of a planned pro-democracy rally in Kathmandu today.
* Government detains activists to foil rally
* Secretary-General calls on all sides in Nepal to resume dialogue and halt violence
* Two GEFONT trade union leaders arrested

01/20/2006 A statement by the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says that over a hundred persons have been arrested in a serious escalation of repression in Nepal.

01/19/2006 Reporters Without Borders today called on the international community, especially the United Nations, to persuade the government to rethink its plans to create a Broadcasting Authority with broad powers over radio stations, cable TV and online media, and to increase the cost of a radio broadcasting licence by at least 10 or 20 times.

01/19/2006 Anju Chhetri, born in a lower-middle class family in Biratnagar, in Nepal, was drawn towards women-oriented journalism when, as a student of history, she found that women were either excluded from historical accounts or grossly misrepresented. Understanding full well that she could not rewrite history in the absence of well-documented historical sources or the resources for historical research, she decided to write the 'history' that was available to her -in the form of journalism.

01/16/2006 YK:n pakolaisjärjestö UNHCR patistaa Nepalin hallitusta päästämään Nepalin itäosissa asuvat bhutanilaiset pakolaiset maasta. Yli 100 000 bhutanilaista pakolaista on asunut Nepalissa leireillä jo 15 vuoden ajan. He pakenivat kotimaastaan olojen käydessä sietämättömäksi nepalia puhuvalle vähemmistölle.

01/16/2006 The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is urging the Government of Nepal to let the most vulnerable Bhutanese refugees living in exile in the eastern part of this strife-torn Himalayan kingdom leave the country.

01/16/2006 The bill drafting committee under the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers has finally approved the second amendment ordinance of the Labour Act 2048 BS with major changes in the Act. A meeting of the Committee, headed by Law Minister Niranjan Thapa, on Friday finalised the Labour Act second amendment ordinance 2062 BS, according to sources at the PMO.

01/16/2006 Winning People’s Will for Girl Child Education describes the process, outcomes and lessons learnt from a UNESCO project to educate girl children in two communities in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal.

01/14/2006 Although all human beings are alike in terms of basic physical traits, each of them is unique in terms of behavior and personality. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined adolescents as those who are in between the age group 10-19. Adolescence is regarded as a period of transition from childhood to adulthood. One of the distinguishing characteristics of adolescents is that they have needs that are entirely different from those of adults. Neelam Pradhananga opines in The Rising Nepal.

01/12/2006 A large number of computer users will be able to see the features of Nepali version of Microsoft office and Linux for the first time which can be operated in Nepali in the CAN INFOTECH- 2006 to be held from January 25 to 30.