Negotiations in Nepal between former Maoist rebels and mainstream parties on resuscitating the Himalayan nation's stalled peace process have intensified, officials said on Friday.
Politicians said they were hopeful that the latest round of talks would lead to a breakthrough in resolving differences over a year-old peace pact, but the Maoists cautioned that key hurdles had yet to be overcome.
A leading member of Nepal's main communist party, Amrit Bohara, said that meetings were in progress between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist leader Prachanda and other top leaders.
"We are hopeful that there will be some kind of breakthrough," he said.
But a Maoist official said there was still deep disagreement over demands by the former rebels for sweeping electoral reforms as well as the integration of their fighters into the pro-royal Nepal army.
The Maoists are also calling for the immediate abolition of the Himalayan nation's monarchy.
"We are hopeful of reaching an agreement, but up to now no basis for agreement has been created," said senior Maoist leader Dev Gurung.
The Maoists, who ended a decade-long insurgency late last year, stormed out of an interim government in September, complaining they were not being given equal representation in the peace process.
The ex-rebels have also accused loyalists of embattled King Gyanendra of seeking to undermine elections aimed at deciding the country's political future. As a result of the dispute, these polls have been postponed twice.
"Royalist forces are conspiring against the elections, so unless we abolish the monarchy, the Constituent Assembly elections will not take place," Gurung said.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS