KATHMANDU, May 27 (Reuters) – Nepal’s warring political
parties said on Sunday they had failed to narrow their
differences sufficiently to agree on a new constitution for the
Himalayan republic before a midnight deadline, plunging the
country into fresh political turmoil.

A new constitution was widely seen as crucial to ending the
instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led
civil war in 2006 and subsequent overthrow of the monarchy, but
it has long been thwarted by demands for the country to be
divided into states along ethnic lines.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Nepal stood on the brink of fresh political turmoil on Sunday as wrangling over the young Himalayan republic’s first federal constitution ground towards a midnight deadline.

A new constitution is widely seen as crucial to helping end the instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006 and subsequent overthrow of the monarchy, but it has been thwarted by demands for the country to be divided into states along ethnic lines.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Nepali politicians on Tuesday proposed to ignore a Supreme Court deadline giving them until Sunday to draw up a new constitution for the Himalayan republic, saying they needed more time to agree on the boundaries and names of new states.

The new constitution is widely seen as crucial to helping end instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006 and the subsequent overthrow of the monarchy.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – In a siege-like atmosphere, Nepalese politicians on Tuesday huddled in a Kathmandu parliament building ringed by barbed wire and surrounded by riot police to thrash out the young Himalayan republic’s first federal constitution.

But with the Supreme Court’s deadline only five days away, politicians were gloomy about finalising a charter amid protests by those demanding the country be divided into states along ethnic lines.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Three climbers including a German physician died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, officials said on Monday.

Eberhard Schaaf, 61, from Aachen, Germany, who was climbing with the Eco Everest Expedition to remove decades-old garbage from the mountain, died on Saturday along the normal Southeast Ridge Route on the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) peak.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Three climbers including a German physician died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, officials said on Monday.

Eberhard Schaaf, 61, from Aachen, Germany, who was climbing with the Eco Everest Expedition to remove decades-old garbage from the mountain, died on Saturday along the normal Southeast Ridge Route on the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) peak.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Thousands of schools closed, roads were empty and businesses shuttered across Nepal on Sunday at the start of a three-day general strike over a state boundary dispute that could push lawmakers past a May 27 deadline to write a new constitution.

At least two dozen vehicles were damaged by stone-throwing activists, police said, and 46 people were detained in the capital Kathmandu, where children played football on normally traffic-choked streets.

KATHMANDU, May 16 (Reuters) – A line of diners, holding on
to the shoulders of the person in front of them, enters the
pitch dark hall at Nepal’s first blind restaurant, which treats
guests to food they can smell, touch and taste but not see.

The 16-seat dining room has been heavily curtained from
ceiling to floor in black, and the guests grope their way to the
table, guided deftly by the waiters — all of whom are visually
impaired.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Nepal is set to finalise its new constitution by a May 27 deadline, political parties said on Tuesday, in a breakthrough that could help end instability dogging the volatile Himalayan republic dependent on aid and tourism.

But some analysts suggested that key issues, like the boundaries between newly-created states, would remain unsolved and could be a source of further upheaval.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – A small plane owned by a private company crashed in northwest Nepal on Monday, killing 15 people including 13 Indians, officials said.

The Dornier aircraft owned by private Agni Air company was carrying 18 passengers and a crew of three on a flight from the resort town of Pokhara to Jomsom when it crashed while landing at the mountain airstrip.