Kathmandu, July 28  At least 60 percent girls in Nepal get married before they are 18, and as a result the number of maternal deaths caused by child birth complications is on the higher side.

The maternal mortality rate in Nepal at present is 281 per every 100,000 live births and the child mortality rate is 48 per 1,000 live births.

According to a report in the local newspaper The Rising Nepal, the Gender Department of Family Planning Association of Nepal recently discussed a paper titled "Present Status of Child Marriage" by Professor Ram Sharan Pathak of Tribhuvan University.

Kathmandu, July 28 : Nepal political parties represented in the Constituent Assembly (CA) today advised the CPN (Maoist) to take initiative for the formation of a unity Government in Nepal.

At the all-party meeting here, the parties suggested that Maoist being the largest party in the Constituent Assembly should try to garner consensus to lead the next Government.

During the meeting organised by Maoists mainly to discuss the formation of new government, the issue of Nepal''s participation in the SAARC summit and the episode of Vice President taking oath in Hindi also cropped up.

Kathmandu, July 28 : The 15th South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit which is due to be held this week at Colombo will be attended by Nepal’s caretaker Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

The meeting of the Council of Ministers decided to send 35-member delegates in the leadership of Koirala in this years SAARC summit due to the delay in the formation of the government.

The decision has been taken amidst Maoist objection over Koirala attending the summit.

Kathmandu - Growing protests against a controversial oath-taking in the Hindi language by Vice President Parmananda Jha crippled business and transport in several places across Nepal on Monday.

The protests, which began as low-scale demonstrations by students last week, snowballed Monday, shutting down shops, schools and main markets in the capital and halted transport elsewhere.

Kathmandu, July 28 : Nepal’s President Dr Ram Baran Yadav in his first address to the nation on Sunday evening, called for national unity and solidarity to maintain communal harmony.

According to Nepalnews, Dr. Yadav said he would remain committed to the principles of ethnic or communal harmony and national integrity.

He added that he would coordinate different group for strengthening national unity in order to bring the peace process to fruition, and draft the new constitution within the stipulated time.

Kathmandu, July 28 : Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has apologized to CPN-UML outgoing General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal for not supporting the latter for the post of President.

In a meeting on Sunday at Nepal''s residence in Koteswor, Dahal also proposed that the Maoist-UML alliance be revived for the formation of the next Government. Nepal, however, reportedly rebuffed Dahal and said the Maoists have lost all basis for trust.

Kantipur quoted Nepal, as saying that He (Prachanda) said he was sorry for his party''s mistake in not supporting the UML candidate for President. But I made it clear that alliance with the Maoists is not possible.