News stories by Naresh Newar

KAVRE DISTRICT, Nepal, May 05 (IPS) - Just over a week after a dreadful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal, displaced families are gradually – but cautiously – resuming their normal lives, though most are still badly shaken by the disaster and the proceeding aftershocks that devastated the country.

CHITWAN, Nepal, Apr 11 (IPS) - At dusk, when the early evening sun casts its rays over the lush landscape, the Chitwan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 200 km south of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, is a place of the utmost tranquility.

BAJURA, Nepal, Mar 04 (IPS) - If not for a group of her school friends coming to her rescue, Shradha Nepali would have become a bride at the tender age of 14.

DABI, Nepal, Aug 27 (IPS) - Living in a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, which barely protects her family from the torrential rainfall or scorching heat of this remote village in southern Nepal, 36-year-old Kamala Pari is under immense stress, worrying about her financial security and children's safety.

BANKE, Nepal, Aug 11 (IPS) - Barely 100 km north of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, the settlement of Jure, which forms part of the village of Mankha, has become a tragic example of how the country's poorest rural communities are the first and worst victims of natural disasters.

KATHMANDU, Jun 27 (IPS) - Intense competition during harvest season for a fungus dubbed ‘Himalayan Viagra' – coveted for its legendary aphrodisiac qualities – has sparked violence in Nepal's remote western mountains, causing concern among security officials here about the safety of more than 100,000 harvesters.

KATHMANDU, Aug 03 (IPS) - Ten years after she was trafficked to an Indian circus, 22-year-old Radha has returned home stateless, with no document to prove she is a Nepali citizen. Her parents are Nepali but she married a fellow Indian circus member, and does not qualify to be a Nepali citizen any more.

KATHMANDU, Jul 12 (IPS) - As the chief of building codes and earthquake safety of the Lalitpur Municipality, located about 10 km from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, Sainik Raj Singh has the tough job of cracking down on builders who fail to comply with the government's construction regulations.

KATHMANDU, Nov 23 (IPS) - Nepal now ranks 11^th on a list of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, yet it remains one of the least disaster-prepared nations globally.

KATHMANDU, Oct 11 (IPS) - Social activists in Nepal agree that the one reason why this impoverished country will miss the gender-linked Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations is the persistence of child marriage.