A frost-bitten Dutch climber today gave the first graphic account of the conditions on K-2 that led to one of mountaineering’s worst disasters.

The brother and girlfriend of Limerick climber, gerard McDonnell, missing and presumed dead in the Himalayas are to travel to the area to meet the leader of the ill-fated expedition.

Nepal’s deposed king gave up his crown of peacock feathers, yak hair and jewels and, with the streets slicked by rain and the air filled with metaphor, left his palace forever.

The world’s last Hindu kingdom became its newest secular republic as Nepal’s MPs, led by former Communist rebels, abolished the monarchy that had reigned over the Himalayan land for 239 years.

NEPAL’S lawmakers abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic yesterday, ending 239 years of royal rule in the Himalayan nation.

Nepal stood on the brink of becoming the world's newest republic today after swearing in an assembly charged with ending 239 years of royal rule.

The former leader of Nepal’s Maoist insurgency captured a seat today on a new assembly that will chart the Himalayan country’s future, election officials said.

The former leader of Nepal’s bloody Maoist insurgency captured a seat today on a new assembly that will chart the Himalayan country’s future, election officials said.

Nepal today ordered an investigation into a helicopter crash that killed 24 people including a Cabinet minister and several top international conservationists in the Himalayan nation’s worst helicopter accident.

Rescuers in Nepal said there were no survivors in the wreckage of a helicopter found days after it disappeared while carrying the forestry minister and 23 other people, including foreign officials, aid workers and journalists.

Fresh rainfall and fog cover over mountains in eastern Nepal was hampering rescuers today as they searched for a helicopter reported missing with 24 people on board, officials said.

NEPALESE police opened fire yesterday on tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who defied a curfew and marched toward the capital, killing at least three and wounding dozens more.

Soldiers and police patrolled Nepal’s capital Kathmandu today to enforce a shoot-on-sight curfew aimed to keep anti-monarchy protesters off the streets, but opposition leaders said they would still hold a planned rally.

SECURITY forces fired on thousands of pro-democracy protesters in southeastern Nepal yesterday, killing at least four, and the government reimposed a curfew in the capital to prevent a massive rally urging the king to loosen his grip on power.

THOUSANDS defied a curfew and shoot-on-sight orders in Nepal yesterday and marched in city streets demanding that King Gyanendra restore democracy.

WITH Nepalis living under a state of emergency, civil rights suspended and dissent against the king banned after he seized power, they are reading some bizarre things in their newspapers.