Maoist ministers in the interim multi-party government in Nepal on Thursday resigned en masse in an apparent bid to pressurise Prime Minister G P Koirala to quit and allow formation of a new administration led by the former rebels.
Nineteen parties in the Parliament have already confirmed that they will be voting in favour of the no-confidence motion.
As India makes efforts to deepen its diplomatic and economic engagement with its neighbours, Nepal on Saturday said there is a "historic opportunity" in taking bilateral ties with India to the "next level" and that it must be seized by both the countries.
There were rumours of the army going for a coup, but for now it does not appear to be so. But the conditions for a civil war exist. If the Maoists decide to take to the streets to counter the rallies and demonstrations of the opposition parties there will be violence. If violence escalates, the army could intervene.
Out of the 73 results declared so far, CPN-Maoists bagged 43 seats, CPN-UML - 12, Nepali Congress of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala - 10, Madhesi People's Rights Forum - 5, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party - 2 and Terai Madhesh Democratic Party - 1. Determined to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy, Maoists in Nepal on Sunday emerged as the surprise single biggest gainers in the early results for the key Constituent Assembly polls,while several political heavyweights lost
With Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' resigning over the issue of sacking of the army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal, the land-locked country plunged into street protests and strikes affecting business. Strike in the Tarai region, the lifeline of Nepal, has hampered businesses heavily.
With Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' resigning over the issue of sacking of the army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal, the land-locked country plunged into street protests and strikes affecting business. Strike in the Tarai region, the lifeline of Nepal, has hampered businesses heavily.
The government issued a circular that all government offices, schools and colleges will be closed to celebrate the historic peace accord that aims to put an end to the insurgency that claimed 15,000 lives.
The draft agreement was struck on November 8 and had been due to be signed last week but was postponed as both sides said some issues still had to be resolved. A Tuesday deadline was then set.
During his visit, Mukherjee visited the hotbed of Madhesi protests Janakpur and met ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiments in Pokhra.
Bowing to intense pressure from Hindu groups and political parties both at home and abroad, Nepal's Maoist government on Wednesday reversed its decision to replace the Indian priests at the Himalayan country's most revered Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu with the local Brahmins. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Prachanda during a special address to Parliament telecast live by the state-run television.
The policemen left two separate letters from the Ministry of Information and Communications at the radio station, one asking the station to stop operation until further notice and the other asking to handover transmission equipment, the report said.
Deuba was elected as the 40th prime minister on June 6 with the support from Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre, which is now a part of Left alliance and opting for merger with Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist.
"I don't think there's any change. There's no change in their status," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, commenting on the issue in the backdrop of a meeting between a top American envoy in Kathmandu Nancy Powell and Maoist leader Prachanda.
Amid chants of Buddhist scriptures, Nepal PM K P Sharma Oli on Monday offered prayers at an ancient temple in Kathmandu to mark the reconstruction of five heritage sites demolished by last year's deadly earthquake.
For India to endorse Nepal's Buddhist conference will be like sipping from a poisoned chalice, warns former RA&W official Jayadeva Ranade.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
The main contest is likely to be between the Maoists and the Nepali Congress, but neither of the parties have retained the support they had in 2008. Shubha Singh reports
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was accorded a warm reception as he arrived at the Indian Space Research Organisation headquarters in Bengaluru on Saturday morning.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences to his Indian counterpart and said there is no greater loss than losing one's mother.
Just where do stars like to travel? Let's take a look.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
Nepal's Cabinet on Monday passed a special resolution asking India to open the border entry points to ease supplies of essential goods like medicines, gas and petroleum to the landlocked country, reeling under acute shortage due to blockade of key trade points.
The 70-year-old was the only contender in the election.
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing at least 1,300 people. The toll is expected to rise further.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis after President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives and announced dates for mid-term elections at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli on Sunday, sparking protests from a section of the ruling party and various opposition parties.
Bhutan firmly abides by the one-China principle meaning Taiwan and Tibet are part of China and stands ready to work with China for an early settlement of the boundary issue and advance the political process of establishing diplomatic relations, it said.
Eyewitnesses of the Nepalese passenger plane crash have said that they had a close shave as the Yeti Airlines plane, with 72 onboard, including five Indians, crashed near their settlement and a bomb-like blast was heard.
Ending a political deadlock, Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Saturday invited the Maoists to form a government, more than a month after they emerged as the biggest party in the Constituent Assembly polls.
So have the Maoists in Nepal been tamed? Are they going to go the way of other radical movements around the rest of the world, humbled and defanged by democratic politics? It all depends on how the chairperson of the party, Prachanda, gets his comrades to handle their victory.
Waving red flags, 5000 militant cadres forced their way into the Durbar Square city centre where their chief Prachanda declared Kathmandu valley as the Newa Autonomous State.
The peace talks between the government and the Maoists, which were postponed about a month ago, will resume in Kathmandu on Monday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy Shyam Saran started hectic parleys with Nepalese leaders on Thursday to help form a consensus government amidst deepening political crisis in Katmandu.
Xi Jinping's recent actions in South Asia have amply demonstrated the disastrous impact of China's embrace, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and China expert.
Notorious 'bikini killer' Charles Shobhraj, who is serving a life term in a prison in Kathmandu for the murder of an American tourist, has now approached the former rebel Maoists, seeking 'justice and protection'. In similar letters written to Maoist chief Prachanda, second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai and his wife Hisila Yami, who is also the Physical Planning and Works Minister, the French national has alleged that he was being ill-treated in the Central Jail.
Many world leaders on Monday condoled the death of former president Pranab Mukherjee, saying they have lost a true friend who made immense contributions to the strengthening of India's relations with their countries.
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