Nepal’s legislators are due to adopt the country’s new constitution, drawn up after years of political wrangling.
The new constitution will be unveiled with a grand ceremony in Kathmandu on September 20.
The controversial constitution will see the Himalayan nation become a secular, federal republic with seven states.
However, it has been opposed by some groups who want Nepal to be a Hindu nation. Minority ethnic groups also fear it will create discrimination.
Protests organized by the Tharu and Madhesi ethnic groups in the south have disrupted parts of Nepal for weeks.
At least 40 people have been killed in the unrest.
The Nepalese authorities have imposed a curfew and deployed security forces but the protests have delayed road transport to the capital, Kathmandu.
“The constitution that will be promulgated is the outcome of many years of struggle by the Nepali people,” Prateek Pradhan, media adviser to PM Sushil Koirala, told Reuters.
“It addresses the aspirations and demands of all sections of Nepali society in an inclusive and representative manner.”
The demand for the new constitution was raised by Maoists rebels whose 10-year civil war ended with a peace deal in 2006.
In 2008, the Maoists won elections to a constituent assembly, leading to the abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy. But amid squabbling, the assembly failed to draw up a new constitution.
Nepal, which has a population of 28 million, is still recovering from the devastating earthquake in April that killed thousands.
A Nepalese boy has been rescued after surviving for five days in the quake rubble.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25 and killed more than 6,000 people.
A huge crowd cheered as rescuers brought the teenage boy out of the rubble in the capital, Kathmandu. The boy has now been taken to a field hospital.
Meanwhile, bad weather is hampering the delivery of relief to remote villages, a Nepal government spokesman said.
The government has been criticized for its response to the disaster.
Outside Kathmandu, the relief effort has relied heavily on helicopters, with mountainous roads blocked by landslides triggered by the earthquake.
In the capital, rescue workers from Nepal and the US worked for hours to free the boy from the rubble of the building.
The 15-year-old boy, named in the media as Pema Lama, eventually emerged blinking into the sunlight, to cheers from a crowd.
He was carried out away on a stretcher with a blue brace strapped around his neck, and has now been taken to an Israeli-run field hospital.
Andrew Olvera, an official from the US Agency for International Development, earlier told the Associated Press news agency that the boy had been trapped between the collapsed floors of the building but was not “too far down”.
Frustration has been growing in parts of rural Nepal over the pace of relief efforts, with some badly-affected villages yet to receive any assistance.
The UN has appealed for $415 million to help provide emergency relief over the next three months. Officials say last week’s quake injured at least 11,000 people.
The UN says more than 8 million people have been affected by the quake and some 70,000 houses have been destroyed.
Despite extensive damage, experts say the number of casualties in many villages was lower than feared because people were working outdoors at the time the quake struck.
In Kathmandu, riot police clashed on April 29 with protesters angry at a lack of transport out of the city and delays in distributing aid. Thousands were waiting for buses to take them to rural areas.
Witnesses said a truck carrying drinking water was forced off the road and protesters climbed on top of it, throwing the bottles into the crowd.
However, there have been some signs that parts of Katmandu are returning to normal.
Some people have decided to return to their homes, having spent several nights in the open. Cash machines have been refilled and some shops and street vendors have once again started trading.
More than 1,000 people have been reported dead in Nepal after a powerful earthquake struck the country on April 25.
More than 1,700 people had been injured.
Many more are feared trapped under rubble, officials say.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck an area between the capital, Kathmandu, and the city of Pokhara, the US Geological Survey said.
Tremors were felt across the region, with further loss of life in India, Bangladesh, Tibet and on Mount Everest.
The government has declared a state of emergency in the affected areas.
Nepali Information Minister Minendra Rijal said there had been “massive damage” at the epicenter, from where little information is emerging.
“We need support from the various international agencies which are more knowledgeable and equipped to handle the kind of emergency we face now,” he said.
Photo Reuters
The US is sending a disaster response team to Nepal and has released an initial $1 million to address immediate needs, the USAid has said.
Rescuers are digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the capital trying to reach survivors, as thousands prepare to spend the night outside as darkness fell.
A number of historic buildings have been destroyed.
Among those wrecked was the landmark Dharahara tower, with many feared trapped in its ruins.
After the earthquake struck, frightened residents came out into the streets. Mobile phones and other communications have been disrupted.
There are also reports of damage to Kathmandu airport which could hamper relief operations.
With little known about the extent of the damage around the earthquake’s epicenter, there are fears the death toll could rise.
Aftershocks continued to ripple through the region hours later.
The tremor triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least eight people, and another five in Tibet, officials and reports say.
At least 35 people have been killed in India, Indian officials say, with one death also reported in Bangladesh.
India’s PM Narendra Modi has met his ministers to review the situation. Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif has pledged help for the Nepalese authorities.
Nepal has been hit by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in an area between the capital Kathmandu and the city of Pokhara, the US Geological Survey said.
The earthquake caused extensive damage to buildings and some injuries, eyewitnesses say.
Tremors were felt as far away as the Indian capital Delhi and other cities in northern India, which borders Nepal.
Photo AP
Several buildings, including temples are reported to have been reduced to rubble in Kathmandu.
Injured people have been brought to the main hospital. There has been no estimate yet on the number of deaths, but Reuters news agency reported that two people had died, one in Nepal, one in northern India.
Indian PM Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter: “We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home and in Nepal.”
Aftershocks could still be felt across the region sometime after the initial quake.
Kathmandu was all but destroyed in the devastating earthquake of 1934.
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