Maoist rebels have killed a local Congress leader and kidnapped at least four others after ambushing their convoy in central India, say police.

An Indian doctor was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of sedition for helping Maoist rebels.

Maoist rebels sabotaged a train in India on Friday that killed at least 65 people after it derailed and smashed into the path of a goods train.

Maoist rebels killed at least 73 police by setting off explosives and firing from hilltops around dense forest in central India on Tuesday.

A former Maoist rebel commander said on Tuesday the group plans to recruit thousands of fighters, a move seen as a blow to peace.

Shops were shut and cars stayed off the streets in Kathmandu on Thursday in a protest against the murder of two men blamed on Nepal’s ruling Maoists.

Nepal’s former King Gyanendra woke up Thursday as a commoner after leaving his sprawling palace home and army of servants, in line with the abolition of the country’s dynasty.