It has been a pretty quiet month for news in Nepal actually – no major headlines but lots of great small ones that are interesting to me, so I will share.

• The Maoist government is having their annual convention this week, full of many many closed-door meetings.  The political party system here is incredibly complex, with mutiple parties having the words “united”, “maoist”, “Nepal” in their title.  There is in fact the following political parties listed in today’s paper:  1) Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) – UCPN(M) who are newly elected into power and have a minority in the Constituent Assembly, 2) Nepali Congress (NC) – the ousted party who form the second largest party in Nepal and are the opposition, and 3) Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – the largest coalition group of many smaller communist parties.  This doesn’t include the smaller, more extreme parties which often represent specific regional ethnic groups or are youth wings of the above mentioned parties who provide the agitation and public distrurbances for the party.  A great summary of the political situation right now is published today on ReliefWeb.
• One of the driest winters on record.  According to the Nepal Meteorological Forecasting Division we had almost no rain in Nepal this dry season and temperatures that were above normal (despite the fact that I spent most of December shivering).
• Oldest man to climb Everest.  It is a feate that many from around the world attempt and one which many also fail.  But for Nepalis, a point of pride is their tenacious ability to climb Everest.  So, when a 77 year old attempts to get into the Guiness Book of World Records as the oldest man to scale the peak and is trumped by a 75 year old…well national pride is hurt.