Nepal

HONG KONG -- From the battles for India in the 19th century to the recovery of the Falklands in the 1980s, Gurkhas have been synonymous with Britain's glory days. So it is little wonder that many Gurkhas -- the fierce soldiers of Nepal -- are finding it tough to leave Hong Kong, preferring to stay on even as Britain leaves its last Asian colony."This is the second home for the Gurkhas," says Man Bahadur Gurung, a retired British army major. "Although we've been to Malaysia, Singapore -- so many places -- well.

It wasn't long after Dr. James Higgins became chief of the Curtis National Hand Center at Union Memorial Hospital last January that he answered a call from Operation Smile, the Norfolk-based humanitarian group that provides free surgery for needy children with facial deformities. He already knew Dr. Randy Sherman, the group's chief medical officer. Sherman was a visiting professor at a school where Higgins studied. But this conversation would prove more life changing for him – and dozens of people in Nepal.

It wasn't long after Dr. James Higgins became chief of the Curtis National Hand Center at Union Memorial Hospital last January that he answered a call from Operation Smile, the Norfolk-based humanitarian group that provides free surgery for needy children with facial deformities. He already knew Dr. Randy Sherman, the group's chief medical officer. Sherman was a visiting professor at a school where Higgins studied. But this conversation would prove more life changing for him – and dozens of people in Nepal.

At Sykesville's Merry Main Street holiday celebration early in December, Burke Holbrook and his buddy Benjamin Skalka seemed like just two of the many kids that night enjoying the sights and sounds of the holiday season. The two 5-year-olds attended the festivities with their parents, walked along the decorated Main Street, enjoyed the town's Christmas tree and visited Santa Claus as part of their preparations for Christmas. But Christmas 2011 has a special meaning for these two, who started their lives a world away, literally, in an orphanage in Nepal.

The Kingdom of Nepal is a small, isolated and impoverished nation that occupies critical geopolitical space, wedged between the world's two emerging global powers, China and India. What happens there, on the roof of the world, may seem obscure but resonates widely. Peace, stability and democracy in Nepal are in America's interest. Thus the Nepalese king's announcement Monday that he would restore the nation's parliament - after the last several weeks of people-power demonstrations in Katmandu - is a very welcome development for Southeast Asia and beyond.

IF NEPALESE King Gyanendra's goal is to end the violent insurrection that has been building since 1996 and that essentially controls all but his kingdom's cities, his declaration of a national emergency a week ago seems destined to backfire. The king fired Nepal's prime minister and elected government, suspended democracy and civil liberties, and cut all air, phone and Internet links to the roof of the world - a lockdown still largely in place. In taking Nepal's nascent constitutional monarchy back to feudal autocracy, the king has turned a messy three-way struggle - among himself, Nepal's political parties and the armed rebels now ruling its villages - into an even more dangerous war with just two sides, the 250-year-old dynasty and supposed Maoists modeling themselves after Peru's Shining Path.

Add another exotic cuisine to the growing list of those offered at Baltimore-area eateries. A new Parkville restaurant/carryout claims to be the first here to have food from Nepal on its menu. Nepal native Chandra Chhantyal opened Mount Everest at 1842 E. Joppa Road about a month ago. His cousin - and Everest manager - Lok Chhantyal - describes Nepal's cuisine as similar to Indian, but says it's not as spicy. He says the restaurant serves some of the most popular dishes from Nepal, including mo mo - a meat dumpling mixed with Nepali spices, cooked in a steam pot and served with a traditional Nepali soup ($8.99)

NEW DELHI -- He was introduced as Mr. Prachanda, a future aspirant to the presidency of Nepal. Never mind that Nepal has no president, and remains, on paper at least, the last Hindu kingdom in the world. Nor that Prachanda, which means fierce in Nepali, is his nom de guerre and that he is the leader of Nepal's feared Communist rebels. Yesterday, Prachanda, in a rare public appearance, received a rock star's reception at a newspaper-sponsored conference about India and the region that was headlined by an eclectic lineup of politicians and corporate titans, including former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

WASHINGTON - The United States could cut off aid to Nepal if King Gyanendra - who declared emergency rule, sacked the government and jailed civil society leaders more than two weeks ago - does not quickly restore basic rights and move toward democracy, the U.S. ambassador to Katmandu said yesterday. "Assistance to Nepal is at some risk, particularly security assistance," said James Moriarty, a former National Security Council official who was posted to the Himalayan kingdom by President Bush about seven months ago. The Bush administration's tough message to the king, which Moriarty said would be coordinated with U.S. allies, came on the same day that Amnesty International warned that a "human-rights catastrophe is looming" in Nepal after Gyanendra's sweeping emergency decree.

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Neither curfew, tear gas nor King Gyanendra's offer to give up control of the state stemmed the fury of his subjects yesterday as, for the first time in 17 days of demonstrations, protesters broke through police lines to pierce the ancient heart of the city, reaching within blocks of Narayanhiti Palace. Police officers pushed them back through the warren of narrow, sunless alleys, firing tear gas, whipping cane batons and infuriating the protesters even more. "Dogs!" they screamed, eyes red from the tear gas, as paramedics rushed in to pick up the injured.

Underwear was nobody's biggest concern in March when fires raced through a refugee camp in Nepal, leaving behind a smoldering expanse of ash and ruin. Food, water, shelter, pants and shirts ranked higher for the 10,000 inhabitants who'd lost everything. But thanks to a relief effort that Cockeysville native Robin Contino helped coordinate, these refugees from neighboring Bhutan got all that plus undergarments, school uniforms and other valued items that could easily have been forgotten amid the chaos.

NEW DELHI -- Defying nearly everyone's expectations but their own, Nepal's former Maoist rebels took a commanding lead yesterday in partial results from last week's election, a showing that could have profound effects on the Himalayan nation. With the votes tabulated in more than two-thirds of the 240 seats contested by direct election for an assembly charged with writing a new constitution, the Maoists have won 105 and are ahead in seven more districts, Nepal's Election Commission reported.

KATMANDU, NEPAL // The all-seeing eyes of Buddha stare blankly over Katmandu's Palace Square from a huge wooden portal. The door is shut tight. But standing here on the very day in November when Maoist rebels signed a peace accord ending 10 years of turmoil and isolation in Nepal, I could almost hear the giant door crack open, bidding visitors back. A Hindu adage says guests are like gods. But travelers have largely stayed away since 1996 when Maoist insurgents began a terror campaign.

I will probably never visit Prague in the Czech Republic. Though I once spent a month in India, I didn't tour the Taj Mahal. And it would take a live sighting of Shakespeare to make me return to Stratford-upon-Avon in England. That's because I don't like crowds, the trash they leave, tour-bus fumes, full parking lots, long lines. There comes a point when it's simply not worth seeing the Louvre's Mona Lisa or Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa if it means being pushed, squeezed, elbowed and distracted.

NEW DELHI -- After a decade of armed struggle and the deaths of thousands of people, Maoist rebels and the government of Nepal entered into a peace agreement yesterday designed to bring one-time fighters into the political mainstream of the state they once swore to overthrow. As onlookers cheered and Nepalese in the streets celebrated, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel leader Prachanda signed an accord calling for the Maoists to surrender their guns and assume positions in an interim government and parliament.

NEW DELHI -- He was introduced as Mr. Prachanda, a future aspirant to the presidency of Nepal. Never mind that Nepal has no president, and remains, on paper at least, the last Hindu kingdom in the world. Nor that Prachanda, which means fierce in Nepali, is his nom de guerre and that he is the leader of Nepal's feared Communist rebels. Yesterday, Prachanda, in a rare public appearance, received a rock star's reception at a newspaper-sponsored conference about India and the region that was headlined by an eclectic lineup of politicians and corporate titans, including former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

NAGARKOT, Nepal -- By the millions, they walked for hours across the highest mountains in the world, then stood for hours more in the baking sun, occasionally braving fist fights, death threats and fear -- all to cast a ballot that would help usher democracy into their Himalayan kingdom.As the sun set last evening on the first real day of democracy for Nepalese in more than 30 years, many of them refused to go home. Instead, they helped police escort ballot boxes on hours-long treks to town centers, where they gathered in clusters throughout the night to follow the count, watching and waiting to see the final results of Nepal's long and sometimes bloody march toward freedom.

In a wholesale killing of royalty not seen since the deaths of the last Czar of Russia and his family in 1918, the King of Nepal and at least a dozen relatives were reported shot to death in their palace in Katmandu over dinner last night. Early reports were sketchy and contradictory. The Associated Press said that Crown Prince Dipendra, a 30-year-old graduate of Eton College in England, opened fire, killing his parents, King Birendra Bir Birkram Shah Dev and Queen Aiswarya, and the other royal family members before shooting himself.

Russian investing in utilities discussed WASHINGTON -- Russian, American, European and Japanese officials are negotiating over whether Russia should be allowed greater latitude to invest in utilities, pipelines, natural gas facilities and other infrastructure in the United States and Europe. In a draft declaration for endorsement at a Group of 8 summit meeting next month in St. Petersburg, Russia, broadened access for Russia is paired with something the West wants: endorsement of market principles and greater access for foreign investment in the energy industry of Russia, one of the biggest oil and natural gas producers in the world.

KATMANDU, Nepal -- The Nepalese parliament voted yesterday to call elections for an assembly to redraw the country's constitution, an action that could signal the beginning of the end for the monarchy that has ruled this Himalayan kingdom for more than 200 years. During the same session, the newly sworn-in prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, asked Nepal's Maoist rebels, who have waged a bloody decadelong insurgency in the countryside, to come to the bargaining table. "I urge the Maoists to renounce violence and to come for dialogue," Koirala said to widespread approval from members of the house.