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The highest point on Earth got a bit higher Tuesday (Dec 8) as China and Nepal finally agreed on a precise elevation for Mount Everest after decades of debate. The agreed height unveiled at a joint news conference in Kathmandu of 8,848.86m was 86cm higher than the measurement previously recognised by Nepal, and more than four metres above China's official figure. The discrepancy was due to China measuring the rock base on the summit and not - as with the new reading - the covering of snow and ice on the peak.

One of the world’s leading experts on humanitarian work with street children and children affected by war has been arrested on pedophilia charges. Canadian humanitarian worker Peter Dalglish, who helped found the charity Street Kids International, was taken in by police in Nepal on Sunday (April 8), Xinhua news agency reported. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police said they wanted to question Dalglish over claims he was involved in pedophile activities in Kavre district, around 50 kilometers north of the capital, Kathmandu. An initial investigation claims the 60-year-old had offered children foreign trips and better education before sexually...

A wild leopard sparked alarm in Nepal's capital on Wednesday (June 1) after it spent hours wandering through a residential neighbourhood before being sedated and captured. A Kathmandu resident alerted the police around dawn after he spotted the big cat in the compound of his house. Police called in zoo and wildlife officials who tracked the animal as it clambered over rooftops and padded through backyards, while local residents watched from their balconies.

As I walked into the department this bright brisk morning, coffee cheerily in hand, the live global seismogram display in the atrium caught my eye with an alarming event that had just happened during my bike ride into work. *gasp* that looks bad *gasp* that looks bad BIG earthquake, somewhere in the vicinity of Central/Southern Asia. Indeed, an earthquake deep (>200 km) beneath the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan had shaken a huge swath of Central and South Asia. The great depth of the earthquake meant less extreme shaking at the epicenter (nobody lives closer than 212 km from the...

A major earthquake has struck eastern Nepal, near Mount Everest, two weeks after more than 8,000 died in a devastating quake. The latest earthquake hit near the town of Namche Bazaar, near Mount Everest. The US Geological Survey said it had a magnitude of 7.3. An earthquake on 25 April, centred in western Nepal, had a magnitude of 7.8. The latest tremor was felt in northern India and Bangladesh. In the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, which was badly damaged last month, people rushed out of buildings as the quake struck at 12:35 local time (07:50 GMT).

The avalanche of ice and rocks fell on the village of Langtang just after the ground started shaking that Saturday morning. Even before the family of Dawa Tamang could run for safety the debris had engulfed them. Tamang, 35, has a dazed look on his face at the courtyard of Kathmandu Medical College (KMC) where his family was evacuated by helicopter on Monday. Tamang himself was in Kathmandu with his elder son. Doctors examine his two-and-half year old son Thindup who broke both his legs while the family tried to escape from their house. His five-year-old daughter Pasang Lhamu escaped...

People stranded in remote villages and towns across Nepal were still waiting for aid and relief to arrive on Tuesday, four days after a devastating earthquake destroyed buildings and roads and killed more than 4,600 people. The government has yet to assess the full scale of the damage wrought by Saturday’s 7.9 magnitude quake, unable to reach many mountainous areas despite aid supplies and personnel pouring in from around the world. Prime minister Sushil Koirala told reporters the death toll could reach 10,000, as information of damage from far-flung villages and towns has yet to come in. ... The figure...

- BREAKING NEWS - KATHMANDU REGION HIT WITH MAGNITUDE 6.7 AFTERSHOCK [No further details, yet.]

Turkish Airlines has the first slot for landing at the Kathmandu airport, just after 6 a.m. In winter, this often means long hours circling over the hills south of the Kathmandu Valley and waiting for dense fog to lift. Wednesday wasn't any different. About 6 a.m. local time, Flight TK726 crossed from India to Nepal and the pilot advised passengers that fog over the airport meant a 90-minute delay. But not to worry, he said, there was plenty of fuel. About 7:15 a.m., the Airbus A330 with 224 passengers attempted a landing but had to abort. The plane circled and...

KATHMANDU SNIPPET: The Annapurna Post vernacular daily reported on Sunday that the arrest was made on April 13. Identified as Mohsin Khosravian, the suspect is currently in police custody.

 The security officials at the Embassy speculated that the suspect was scouting the facility with a harmful intention "for he carried a tourist map of the Lazimpat area" where the Israeli mission is located. 

He had stayed in a Thamel-based hotel. After his arrest, the suspect told police that he had ventured out to find out a shop to repair his laptop.

 According to the report, the Nepal Police's Central Bureau...

1959 memo lists government regulations for Yeti hunting. Really. If you're planning to hit the Himalayas in search of an Abominable Snowman, you better be ready to do things by the book. At least, that'd be the case if you were conducting your search in 1959. These days, if you head out in search of a Yeti, you'll probably get a lot of giggles and funny looks, but back in 1959, the American Embassy in Kathmandu was taking such expeditions seriously. In a memo issued on Nov. 30 of that year, the embassy listed three specific regulations for Yeti searches...

Nepali man bites snake to death in revenge attack KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A Nepali man who was bitten by a cobra snake bit it back and killed the reptile in a tit-for-tat attack, a newspaper said on Thursday. Nepali daily Annapurna Post said Mohamed Salmo Miya chased the snake, which bit him in his rice paddy on Tuesday, caught it and bit it until it died. "I could have killed it with a stick but bit it with my teeth instead because I was angry," the 55-year-old Miya, who lives in a village some 200 km (125 miles) southeast of...

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The United States called on Nepal's embattled king to stay out of politics completely as Washington welcomed his pledge to restore the country's parliament. 'We believe that he should now hand power over to the parties and assume a ceremonial role in his countrys governance,' Adam Ereli, deputy State Department spokesman, said after King Gyanendra announced his latest move to end 19 days of violent street protests. Gyanendra, who took absolute power last year after sacking a government he declared corrupt and incapable of battling Maoist insurgents, agreed late yesterday to reinstate the parliament dissolved in 2002....

US orders its citizens to leave Nepal Kantipur Report http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=71887 KATHMANDU, April 24 - The embassy of the United States in Kathmandu on Monday has ordered mission family members, US employees and citizens to leave the country due to the deteriorating situation and ongoing security concerns after 18 days of pro-democracy movement and general strikes. "Under ordered departure, mission family members and non-emergency American employees would depart Nepal as soon as possible. American citizens should also depart Nepal as soon as possible," the embassy said in a statement. At least 14 people have been killed and hundreds other injured across...

Nepalese police have rounded up scores of opposition activists in clashes on the streets of the capital. Security forces fired tear gas as pro-democracy protesters hurled stones and scuffled with officers, in protest at King Gyanendra's absolute power. The government says nearly 200 people were taken away in trucks, but the opposition put the number much higher. The clashes followed a crackdown on activists on Friday, when protests were stymied by a curfew and mass arrests.

Defying India’s ban on them, Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas held a secret meeting in Delhi on Sunday to discuss the expulsion of three top leaders, Nepal’s army said today. Royal Nepalese Army spokesman Brigadier-General Dipak Gurung told the media here that the Nepalese government has conveyed the matter to India. According to army reports, Maoists belonging to the north-west regional bureau of outlawed Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) met in the west Delhi locality of Narela, in Sector V Central Park, to discuss a circular the latest activities in the underground party. The circular confirmed the demotion of the deputy leader...

Not only do they share the same first name but now, Charles Sobhraj aka the Serpent, serving a life term in a Kathmandu prison for the murder of an American backpacker, and Carlos the Jackal, the most dreaded terrorist in the 70s who masterminded the killing of Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics of 1972, will now be sharing the same lawyer as well. Since Sobhraj’s arrest in 2003 he has been serving out a 20-year jail term in the city. After a long delay, his appeal will be finally decided in the Patan appellate court on March 10. Last...

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Suspected communist rebels bombed the American information center in Nepal's capital Friday, damaging parts of the building but causing no injuries, police said. It was the first time the rebels, who oppose U.S. support to the Nepalese government, have directly attacked an American government agency in Nepal. During the attack, which occurred just minutes after the center closed for the weekend, assailants threw two bombs from the parking lot and fled, police said. The explosion damaged parts of the building housing the auditorium and the education counseling section. Soldiers cordoned off the area and searched the area....

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Thousands of people rampaged through Kathmandu, setting fire to a mosque and Arab targets and ransacking employment agencies after 12 Nepalese hostages were murdered in Iraq. Two men were shot and slightly wounded by security guards when they tried to storm the Egyptian embassy, which represents Iraqi interests in the Himalayan kingdom, police and a doctor said. The streets returned to normal after the government clamped an indefinite curfew and declared a national day of mourning Thursday for the victims of the worst hostage massacre in Iraq since the US-led invasion. Demonstrators, some chanting "Punish the Muslims!",...

Protesters Stone Nepal Mosque After Iraq Killings Nepalese protesters shout slogans as they stand on the dome of a mosque during a demonstration in Kathmandu to protest against the killijng of 12 Nepalese hostages in Iraq (news - web sites). Around 4,000 people set Kathmandu's biggest mosque ablaze and smashed up private job recruitment agencies in response to the killing of 12 Nepalese jobseekers in Iraq, witnesses said(AFP/Devendra M. Singh) Nepalese protester (R) shouts slogans as he stands beside a burning tyre during a demonstration in Kathmandu. The government clamped a curfew on the city after mobs ransacked a mosque...