UN chief praises agreement to save Nepal parliament

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday welcomed the agreement by Nepal's political leaders to give parliament a three-month reprieve to complete its work on a new constitution. The secretary general also praised "the reaffirmation of their commitment to complete the basic tasks of the peace process, particularly the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist Army personnel," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. The agreement came after days of negotiations over the future of Nepal's 601-member parliament, or Constituent Assembly. The assembly was elected in 2008 after a decade of civil war with a two-year mandate to write a new national constitution and oversee the peace process that began when the conflict ended in 2006.