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India not to evacuate officials from Nepal

      New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday clarified that the Indian Government has no plans to evacuate its diplomatic staff from Nepal. The decision came after a high level meeting that was held to review the ongoing crisis in Nepal. The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. An official release of MEA said, "We do not believe the situation in Nepal warrants any such planning." Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Minister of State in External Affairs Ministry, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi, Home Secretary V K Duggal, Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt, Army Chief Gen J J Singh and chiefs of the various intelligence agencies took part in the meeting in Mukherjee's South Block office. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) is likely to meet on Tuesday to review the situation in Nepal.

US withdraws staff from Nepal

     Meanwhile, a worried US Government has ordered all of its non- essential diplomatic staff and their families to leave Nepal in the wake of Tuesday's demonstration against the King. US officials in Kathmandu say the State Department order for non- essential staff to leave Nepal reduces the number of staff at the US mission in Nepal by about a half. Earlier this month the US said that non-emergency staff and their families could leave at their own discretion. Embassy spokesman Robert Hugins said those ordered to go on Monday would leave the country as soon as possible. The State Department is also advising all other US nationals in Nepal to leave the country. .