Nepal’s government and communist rebels signed a peace deal today to end a decade-long insurgency, paving the way for the guerrillas to join the country’s interim government.

NEPAL plans to investigate whether a centuries-old tradition of worshipping a virgin girl as a “living goddess” or Kumari has violated the child’s human rights, a senior official said yesterday.

TENS of thousands of communist rebels and their supporters held their first big rally in the Nepalese capital in recent years yesterday, waving red flags and yelling slogans against King Gyanendra.

Nepal’s government today suspended the national police and intelligence chiefs while they are being investigated for alleged human rights abuses against protesters during last month’s pro-democracy movement, an official said.

Nepal’s Parliament reconvened today for the first time in four years, after weeks of often-bloody protests forced the king to give up absolute power and return the country to democratic rule.

Nepal’s government imposed a daytime curfew in Katmandu and surrounding areas today, a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators swept through the capital and clashed repeatedly with security forces.

Nepal’s royal government imposed a new curfew today in the capital Kathmandu and surrounding areas where clashes between security forces and tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters a day earlier left at least three dead.

Nepal’s government announced tonight that a dawn-to-dusk curfew would be extended for a second day in the capital Katmandu in an attempt to foil a planned rally against King Gyanendra’s direct rule.

Nepal’s royal government pledged today to hold municipal elections next month despite a boycott by major parties, disruptive demonstrations, the assassination of a candidate and rebel violence that left 26 dead over the weekend.

Nepal’s government, which has been battling a communist insurgency, has banned passengers from riding on the back of motorcycles to stop drive-by shootings by rebels, it was announced today.

Communist rebels today said that Nepal’s royal government may have had a hand in a landmine explosion that killed 38 people and wounded 71 others on a bus, and vowed to conduct their own investigation into the attack.

A New York-based rights group urged Nepal’s army today to investigate and halt widespread human rights abuses, including alleged abductions by security forces of rebel sympathisers, in its fight against a communist insurgency.

King Gyanendra dismissed Nepal’s government yesterday and declared a state of emergency, taking control of the Himalayan kingdom for the second time in three years.