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HARDLINE Maoists led by guerilla commander Prachanda - "the fierce one" - were heading for a stunning victory in Nepal's elections last night, sealing the fate of the Himalayan nation's 300-year-old Hindu monarchy and the widely reviled King Gyanendra. Officials in India, which has traditionally wielded overwhelming influence over Nepal, were reported to be "gulping in barely concealed shock" over a result that seems likely to see a new Maoist government tie the small but strategically important country more closely to Beijing. International strategists believe the election result will lead to a significant extension of Chinese influence in a region...

TONY BLAIR SAYS RELIGION MUST BE SAVED FROM EXTREMISM (Friday Church News Notes, April 11, 2008) On April 3 former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that religion must be saved from extremism. Blair’s speech was a part of “The Cardinal’s Lectures” at the Westminster Cathedral sponsored by Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England. Blair, who became a Catholic last year, said that religion must become the centerpiece of a program to solve the world’s problems. To do this, it must reject “extremism,” “exclusion,” and “strange convictions.” He was referring to Islamic terrorism, of...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

NEW DELHI: Despite the huge diplomatic snub by China as it summoned India's ambassador at 2am on Saturday to protest against Tibetan activists breaking into the Chinese embassy in Delhi, the government here is silent on the reported deployment of Chinese troops in Nepal. According to reports, China stationed forces on the Nepalese side of the border with Tibet last week, in order to keep tabs on protests by Tibetans in Nepal over the past few days. The Chinese forces were in plainclothes, but armed with small weapons, sources said. This has rung alarm bells in India's security apparatus, but...

Nepalese Police Beat Monks, Refugees in Tibetan Protest; 40 Arrested March 24, 2008 KATMANDU, Nepal — Police in Nepal broke up a protest by 200 Tibetan refugees and monks near the offices of the United Nations on Monday by beating them with bamboo sticks and arresting 40. The refugees demonstrating in Katmandu were demanding that the U.N. investigate the recent crackdown in Tibet by Chinese authorities. Chanting "China, stop killings in Tibet. U.N., we want justice," the protesters were marching to U.N. headquarters when police stopped them about 300 feet from the office and snatched their banners. When the Tibetans...

BEIJING — Thousands of Buddhist monks and other Tibetans clashed with the riot police in a second Chinese city on Saturday, while the authorities said they had regained control of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, a day after a rampaging mob ransacked shops and set fire to cars and storefronts in a deadly riot. Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Protests in Tibet and NepalSlide Show Protests in Tibet and Nepal Related Times Topics: Tibet Back Story: Somini Sengupta Discusses Mt. Everest Decision (mp3) Enlarge This Image Reuters Residents in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, walked through Barkhor, an ancient part of the...

About 100 people who came from Nepal to work at a north Alabama factory seemingly vanished from a pair of apartment buildings, along with a lot of furniture and appliances, and can't be located, officials said Tuesday. Immigration agents are trying to determine what happened to the Nepalese workers, among hundreds brought to the United States to work at a DVD factory operated by Cinram Inc., said Lauren Bethune, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Homeland Security. "We do not in any way consider it a security threat, but we do think it is important," she said. A Huntsville...

MOTIHARI, India -- The city of Motihari shows off the worst of India. The streets are a dirty, noisy mess of people and animals, cars and rickshaws, litter, sewage and poverty. It's a heaving frontier town, in the state of Bihar, which has the distinction as India's poorest, most backward, and most lawless. Just the same, Motihari has some history. The British writer, George Orwell was born here in 1903 (his father worked for the Indian Civil Service) and this is where Mahatma Gandhi began his "satyagraha" in 1917, his resistance to British rule, better known to Indians as the...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A senior al-Qaida operative lived in New Jersey and posed as a student while conducting surveillance of financial institutions as possible targets for a terror attack, according to a published report. The operative, identified by U.S. officials in Washington as Dhiren Barot, 32, entered the United States on a student visa, The Record of Bergen County reported in Thursday's editions.

He was a darling to all those who lived in the harsh and hostile mountains under the protective gaze of Sagarmatha. He was a blessing for the Sherpas. He worked tirelessly to bring water and electricity in the upper reaches of the mountains where they lived. He built hospitals and schools. He was a true mountaineer in all sense and sensibilities. On the morning of 29 May, 1953, Edmund Hillary stepped on the summit of Mt. Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, shot into limelight and refused to fade away even after the evening of his life. Sir Edmund was concerned...

Health Authorities Check 44 Passengers On Flight From India To Chicago CHICAGO (STNG) ― Forty-four American Airlines passengers in 17 states -- including Illinois -- are being tracked down for testing after U.S. health authorities learned a woman on a flight from India to Chicago was suffering from a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, officials said Friday. The 30-year-old Sunnyvale, Calif., woman was diagnosed with the deadly disease in India in August, authorities said. She was a passenger on Flight 293 from Delhi to O'Hare Airport to San Francisco on Dec. 13. "She certainly knew she had TB," said Dr. Marty...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A coalition force led by Canadian soldiers captured a Taliban explosives factory and cleared insurgents operating around a highway in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. The Canadian military says a Canadian unit, a company of Afghan army troops and a Nepalese company backed by artillery and air support took on insurgent elements that had been operating around Highway One. The military says the explosives factory that was captured Saturday produced improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Kandahar Police Chief Sayed Aka Fakid claims that coalition forces killed 30 insurgents and wounded nine more. There were no Canadian...

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A U.S.-based television channel investigating the existence of the legendary Yeti in Nepal has found footprints similar to those said to be that of the abominable snowman, the company said on Friday. A team of nine producers from Destination Truth, armed with infrared cameras, spent a week in the icy Khumbu region where Mount Everest is located and found the footprints on the bank of Manju river at a height of 2,850 meters (9,350 feet). One of the three footprints discovered on Wednesday is about one foot long, or is of similar size and appearance as shown...

(DINGBOCHE) -- Birds, mice and Chinese herbalists have long understood the health benefits of sea-buckthorn berries, but now farmers in Solu Khumbu are looking to make money from these tart-tasting fruit. At Dingboche, in the shadow of Ama Dablam, the Khumbu Alpine Conservation Council has been teaching villagers to make a healthy juice from the wild berries, which they can sell to thirsty tourists heading for Everest Base Camp or transport to Kathmandu's cafes and bars for the cocktail crowd. The council has given priority to those villagers, particularly women, who do not own tourist lodges or camp-sites and need...

KATHMANDU: Though the Maoists are still on the US list of "terrorist" organisations, the US government has approved the visa for a senior Maoist leader, in what could be the dawning of Washington's realisation that the rebels are a key player in Nepal's politics today. Maoist MP Janardan Sharma aka Prabhakar, who is also one of the deputy commanders of the rebels' guerrilla forces, the People's Liberation Army, was given visa by the American embassy in Kathmandu to take part in the ongoing General Assembly that kicked off in September. Prabhakar is part of a Nepali delegation of MPs that...

NEW DELHI: India has sharply rapped Nepal on the knuckles for a third postponement of Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for November 22. In the wake of Maoists walking out of government and a failure to come to a resolution on the question of representation, the Koirala government has postponed elections to the Constituent Assembly indefinitely. In a testy statement, the MEA said on Friday, "The repeated postponement of elections erodes credibility and affects the process of democratic transformation and legitimisation in Nepal." While Maoists are unwilling to face elections, the government too has not taken any step that could clearly...

Kathmandu (dpa) - The ambassadors from European Union member countries and EU representatives based in Nepal Thursday said they were disappointed over the withdrawal of the Maoists from the country's interim government. Issuing a statement, the ambassadors and representatives said the scheduled elections in November must be held on time and failure to do so will damage the credibility of the peace process. ``If the elections cannot be held on time with the full support of all parties, this will be a betrayal of the people's aspirations and damage the credibility of the peace process in their eyes and in...

India border weapons plan revived By Subir Bhaumik, BBC News, Calcutta India's Special Services Bureau (SSB) has revived a programme to provide weapons training to youths in border villages after a gap of seven years. The SSB is a para-military agency now responsible for guarding the country's borders with Nepal and Bhutan, It was formed in 1963 after India's humiliating defeat in the 1962 border war with China. Its brief was to train border populations for behind-the-lines partisan warfare. Ten days In 2001, the SSB was placed under the Home Ministry and given the job to guard India's borders with...

Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft. Nepal Airlines said the animals were slaughtered in front of the plane - a Boeing 757 - at Kathmandu airport. The offering was made to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu god of sky protection, whose symbol is seen on the company's planes. The airline said that after Sunday's ceremony the plane successfully completed a flight to Hong Kong. "The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," senior airline official Raju...

Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god Tue 4 Sep 2007, 13:37 GMT   KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said. "The snag in the plane...

It is strange that all Indian discourse on Nepal avoids scrutiny of the role the West is playing through the auspices of the United Nations Political Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), established vide Security Council resolution 1740 (2007). Recent visitors to the country speak of the Terai disturbances, the growing extortion and lawlessness of Maoist cadres, the rising hills-plains divide, and the danger that elections scheduled for November 22 may be cancelled on some pretext. Some have taken note of the mushrooming growth of dance bars as the only means of income in a stagnant economy. Yet they seem unaware of...

An aggressive nationwide parallel policing and volunteering campaign unleashed by Young Communist League (YCL) members in Nepal has worried many in the Himalayan kingdom. Aside from ordinary people, those concerned about YCL activities include everybody from Prime Minister GP Koirala, former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, former US President Jimmy Carter and the US Ambassador to Nepal, James F Moriarty. The YCL - the junior wing of former Maoist rebels - was reactivated after the recent peace agreement between the Nepal's seven-party alliance (SPA) and the Maoists in November 2006. The Maoists claim that the YCL has more than 300,000...

The 48-year-old Gandak Agreement between Nepal and India on the use of water of Gandaki River has to be reviewed, local state-owned newspaper The Rising Nepal reported Saturday. The Agreement on the Gandak Irrigation and Power Project was signed between the then deputy prime minister Subarna Shumsher Rana on behalf of Nepali government and the then Indian Ambassador Bhagwan Sahay in Kathmandu, on Dec. 4, 1959. The cross-border project is for using the Gandaki River for irrigation, electricity generation and flood control. "But none of the provision have benefited Nepal," the report said. The report says despite being the upper...

Carter asks US to embrace Nepal MaoistsKATHMANDU: Former US President Jimmy Carter called on his country’s government Saturday to establish relations with Nepal’s former rebel Maoists, who remain on a list of US terrorist organisations. “My opinion is that the US should establish some communication with the Maoists. The people of Nepal have accepted them as political players,” Carter told journalists at the end of a four-day visit to Nepal. The US remains highly critical of the Maoists, despite the fact they signed a landmark peace deal last year and entered government in April. Earlier this week the US...

A band of former soldiers, ex-police personnel and victims of Maoist guerrillas have united in Nepal to form a Hindu army with suicide bombers to fight Islamic and Christian zealots as well as communists. Called the Nepal Defence Army, the group is headed by a former policeman who says he joined the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist as a schoolboy but has now begun waging war on his former comrades. The ex-cop, who today calls himself 'Parivartan' (change), claims his band has nearly 1,200 trained soldiers who possess arms and have the expertise to manufacture explosives. Earlier this year,...

KATHMANDU: Britain's Prince Harry has joined one of the most fearsome units in the British Army the Gurkhas and is undergoing intensive training with the legendary brigade. The prince, 22, who is currently serving as an officer in the posh cavalry regiment, the Blues and Royals, is taking part in intensive training with the legendary unit to improve his fighting skills. He is reportedly undergoing a four-day exercise with the 3rd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. At the end of the exercise, Harry, a 2nd lieutenant whose own unit has gone to Iraq without him because...

Thousands of royalists have wished Nepal's King Gyanendra happy birthday, despite a large protest led by a Maoist youth group. Liam Cochrane reports for VOA from Kathmandu. King Gyanendra's 60th birthday turned out to be a noisy affair both inside and outside the palace, highlighting the divisions in Nepalese politics. Outside, around 10,000 protesters, led by the Maoist's Young Communist League, rallied through the streets chanting slogans. They carried placards showing digitally manipulated images of the king being hanged and attacked with an axe. Durga Prasad Ojha was one of the young protesters venting his anger at the legacy of...

WASHINGTON -- Even by the standards of the luminaries who sweep through Washington, the little girl in front of Lafayette Elementary School almost six miles north of the White House was special. Politicians, power brokers and the occasional celebrities who come through town hope to be respected and maybe, in a childlike place in their grown-up hearts, genuinely liked. Sajani Shakya, 10, is worshipped. In Nepal, Sajani is a living goddess, one of about a dozen such goddesses in her homeland who are considered earthly manifestations of the Hindu goddess Kali.

When they fought their 10-year 'People's War' inspired by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's teaching that power comes "out of the barrels of a gun", Nepal's Maoist guerrillas were condemned by Beijing for "bringing disrepute" to their great leader. But now Maoist supremo Prachanda's son is on a China tour on the invitation of the country's intellectuals. Ever since the insurgents made their peace with the Nepal government and became a dominant partner in the ruling coalition, Beijing has been doing some quick re-thinking on its Maoist policy. As a sign of that, the son of Maoist supremo Prachanda Thursday flew...

As Nepal lurches from crisis to crisis, echoes of Hitler's successful campaign to destroy the Weimar Republic in Germany grow ever louder. Not a day passes without a new outrage by the 'Brown Shirts' of the Young Communist League (YCL), or what Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala more correctly labeled the 'Young Criminals League'. Unfortunately, the transitional state in Nepal has proved every bit as hapless as its post-World War I predecessor in Germany. The result is a disastrous--and still deteriorating--security situation, enabled both by the presence of Maoist leadership figures in the interim regime and the holding of the...

Jimmy Carter arrives in Kathmandu June 14, 2007, 06:31 AM Other news, World http://www.imedinews.ge/en/news_read/45620 KATHMANDU, Nepal, June 13 (UPI) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in Nepal Wednesday on a mission aimed at encouraging peaceful democracy in the Himalayan country. During his four-day visit, Carter is to meet with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Prachanda, chairman of the Maoist former rebels, Nepal News reported. The Carter Center in Georgia said in a statement that the former president's visit aims to to encourage Nepal's political leaders to continue on the path to peace as they prepare to hold constituent...

The U.S. should talk with Nepal's former rebels who Washington still considers terrorists despite their joining mainstream politics, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said Saturday. Carter met Maoist leader Prachanda, who only goes by one name, and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai a day earlier when the former guerrillas urged him to help remove them from the U.S. government's terrorist list. "My opinion is the United States should establish some communication with the Maoists because it is obvious that the people of Nepal have accepted the Maoists as playing a role in the shaping of the future of this country," Carter...

Nepal Maoists' chief Prachanda Friday asked former US president Jimmy Carter to intercede with Washington to take his party off the US list of terrorist organisations. Carter met the top leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which is outlawed in the US, marking the first public interaction between the rebels and an American citizen of his stature. 'I told Carter we would like to establish amicable diplomatic relations with the US,' Prachanda said after the nearly hour-long meeting. 'We are ready to hold talks with Washington at any level.' The Maoist chief also said Carter wanted to know...

GUWAHATI: Nepal is turning out to be the latest sanctuary for separatists of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) with the outfit forging links with Maoist guerrillas in the neighbouring country. The sensational revelations were made by Ghanakanta Bora and his wife Tulsi, both senior ULFA leaders, who surrendered to army and civil authorities on Tuesday in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district. "The ULFA have set up some bases in Nepal with the help of Maoist guerrillas and the outfit was preparing to shift a large number of cadres and leaders to the neighbouring country," a senior Army Commander...

A former Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross has told of his joy at being given the right to live in the UK. Tul Bahadur Pun, 84, who wanted to move from Nepal for medical reasons, promised to be a "credit" to Britain and expressed "deep gratitude". He was initially told he did not have enough British ties to move but was eventually granted a visa because his case was "exceptional". Former Rifleman Mr Pun was awarded his medal for World War II action in Burma.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Hundreds of people have flocked to a remote village in eastern Nepal to see a "sweating" idol of a Hindu god, a sign of impending turmoil or natural disaster for the devoutly religious nation. Witnesses said that sweat seeped out of the idol of the Bhimeshwor god at a temple in Dolakha, a few hours drive from Kathmandu, during evening prayers at the weekend.

After joining the government through pressure tactics, Prachanda has begun to advocate the Presidential form of Government, with a view to monopolizing political power in his own hands. The threat is credible, particularly since the arms surrender by the Maoists is extremely suspect. The recent attack upon a police station in Banke district by armed Maoists should convince Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala that it was a mistake to accommodate Prachanda’s men in the interim regime, without ensuring a complete surrender of arms. If the aged Nepali Congress leader now wishes to salvage his reputation in the Himalayan kingdom, he...

Nepal's former Maoist rebels have threatened to launch fresh street protests to press for abolition of the monarchy. "If the government and political parties do not agree to declare a republic in two weeks then we will begin massive protests in parliament and on the streets," Maoist chief Prachanda told a May Day rally in Kathmandu. "We still want unity with the seven political parties but it now depends on their willingness to accept a republic," Prachanda, whose nom de guerre means "militant" or "terrible", told thousands of supporters. The Maoists signed a landmark peace deal with the government in...

Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) - The United States said that India changed its view of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) after Maoist Chairman Prachanda traveled to New Delhi in November last year. The "Country Reports on Terrorism," released by the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism on April 30, said the U.S. was the only country that still classified the Maoist insurgency as a terrorist organization at the end of 2006. "Imperialist" United States and "expansionist" India were the targets of a considerable amount of Maoist venom, especially in the period leading up to the April...

It's now official. Well, as official as it can get. The much-anticipated election to Nepal's Constituent Assembly, scheduled for June 20, is off. The Election Commission of Nepal (what would aspiring democracies do without Indian models to ape?) has said that it requires at least another three-and-a-half months to organise a free and fair poll. That means an autumn election, unless it is delayed further. Never mind the public posturing of the so-called 'mainstream' parties, including the Nepali Congress. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, totally clueless about what's happening in his country - even if he knows, he's unable to...

The question of Maoist weapons has become contentious The leader of Nepal's former Maoist rebels says they still have thousands of combatants not confined in camps and weapons not stored away in containers.The remarks by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who still uses his war name, Prachanda, appear to fly in the face of the registration and confinement process. The first stage of the process, being supervised by the United Nations, began in January and has just been completed Concern over public displays of weapons by the Maoists has risen recently. Under November's peace agreement, the Maoists' army moved into 28...

A Nepalese teenager hailed as a reincarnation of the Buddha has vanished for a second time in southern Nepal, a member of his support committee said Saturday. Ram Bahadur Bomjam, 17, who shot to fame in 2005 when his supporters said he had begun a meditation session that would go on uninterrupted for years, went missing on Thursday night, the committee member said. "He suddenly disappeared from his meditating site in the jungle of Bara," said Raju Shah, a member of the committee set up after the boy became a local media sensation. "He told his priest Indra Lama that...

We received a petition asking: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Keep trying to honour the 2004 pledge to give retired Gurkhas the right to become citizens of the UK on retirement and to pay retired Gurkhas a fair pension." Details of petition: "The Government promised citizenship rights to retired Gurkhas following a major campaign in 2004, but hundreds of retired Gurkhas who should have the right to citizenship are having their applications unfairly held up by the Home Office. The Gurkhas are also fighting the Government decision to only allow Gurkhas who retired after 1st July 1997...

The arrest of a Nepalese gun runner in Baramullah early this month is unraveling clues that confirm the expanding network of terror in and around India, aided by Pakistan based terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) and the ISI. Pasang Lama, a resident of Humla district near Kathmandu, has been acting as a conduit between Maoists in Nepal and LeT in Jammu & Kashmir, orchestrated by the ISI which, since the peace process between India and Pakistan began in 2004, has been trying to cobble together a coalition of terror groups targeting India. The ISI's game plan in Nepal is not...

As observers of the Nepalese political scene well know, American Ambassador James F. Moriarty has a penchant for frequently firing verbal missiles at the Maoists. Some might go further and say he has developed this proclivity into a fine art. Others, however, wonder whether his overuse of that instrument has not only reduced its credibility but indeed rendered him, in public perception, a loose canon on the US diplomatic ship of state. Yet others, even less kind, now assert that he may have become the classic 'paper tiger', a phrase that Mao Zedong famously used to mock the United States'...

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Former rebels were set to join the country's interim parliament on Monday in the Maoist communists' first step toward entering mainstream politics after agreeing to end their decade-long insurgency, officials said. The former rebels were originally allotted 73 seats but 10 more were added during the weekend, giving them 83 members in the 330-seat interim Parliament to be formed Monday. That would make the ex-rebels the second largest group in the legislature. It would be the rebels' first foray into the political mainstream since entering peace talks and signing a peace accord with the government last year...

At least 18 people have died in the past week from a cold wave caused by icy air from the Himalayas over the southeastern lowlands of Nepal, a media report has said. Nine people died in the last three days in the Rautahat district, 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of the capital Kathmandu, the state-owned Nepali language daily Gorkhaptra reported Thursday. Another nine people had died in southeastern Nepal from cold in the past week, the newspaper reported, noting temperatures in the terrai region hit a low of eight degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit). The deaths came as cold air...

You have to hand it to the "Fierce One." A man oversees the greatest crimes Nepal has ever experienced, and now he's being hailed as a peacemaker? What has to be watched, of course, is what happens now that the paper has been signed. "Talk's cheap," as the saying goes. This is how it was with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Daniel Ortega was the smiling face, and behind the scenes the behavior of the Sandinista version of "Maoism" alienated tens of thousands by stealing their land and meager belongings in the name of "socialist" solutions. They poured into the resistance...

The encomiums were endless. One of the nation’s largest selling newspapers was not referring to Cuban leader Fidel Castro or to the Chinese President Hu Jintao but Maoist killer usurper Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias ‘Prachanda’, of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The latest poster boy of the Indian media. The Maoist, whose hands are smeared with the blood of thousands of innocent Nepalese citizens, was being hosted by the daily at its annual jamboree called the ‘Leadership Summit’. And like any other radical killer, the man, who thrived and prospered on anti-India propaganda, had the Indian media eating out...

THE Gurkhas, famed for their ferocity on the battlefield, are to recruit their first women soldiers. British diplomats in Nepal, where more than 200 soldiers are taken on each year, confirmed plans to scrap selection rules that have kept the Gurkhas an all-male bastion since 1816. As the news leaked in Kathmandu last week, the embassy was inundated with inquiries from women and had to post signs saying the plans had yet to take effect. The decision to bring the Gurkhas into line with the rest of Britain’s armed forces emerged in a review now awaiting ministerial approval.