KATHMANDU, April 1 (Reuters) - Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas joined an interim government on Sunday under a peace deal that takes them into the political mainstream after a decade-long conflict.

The once-feared Maoists signed a peace deal in November with the multiparty government, ending their revolt against the monarchy that killed more than 13,000 people.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala named five nominees of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to his new 22-member multiparty cabinet following two days of haggling over posts.

* denotes new or updated item.

* BAGHDAD - Six U.S. soldiers killed in two roadside bombings southwest of Baghdad. Two soldiers were killed by an explosion during a patrol on Saturday and four more were killed when another improvised explosive device detonated on Sunday near a unit responding to the earlier attack.

BAQUBA - Gunmen kidnapped 19 civilians after stopping cars at a fake checkpoint near the city of Baquba, Iraqi police said. Police said those kidnapped, all men, were from a Shi'ite

BAGHDAD, April 1, 2007 (AFP) - The monthly death toll in Iraq rose 15 percent in March, government figures revealed Sunday, as insurgents and sectarian militias continue to defy a military crackdown in Baghdad.

Half the 30,000 troop reinforcements promised by President George W. Bush to support the huge security operation have now deployed to Iraq, the US military confirmed.

At least 2,078 Iraqi civilians, policemen and soldiers died nationwide last month, 272 more than in February, and grim news for the US-backed crackdown billed as a last chance to wrest

KHARTOUM, April 1, 2007 (AFP) - At least 62 people were killed and 21 wounded in an attack on an Arab tribe in the war-torn Dafur region of western Sudan, according to a toll given by the victims' relatives on Sunday.

"Two new bodies were left at the hospital in Nyala," the South Darfur provincial seat, Abdel Rahman Hasaballah of the targeted Torjam tribe told AFP by telephone.

Tribal chief Mohammed Hammad Jalali initially told AFP that 60 people were killed by gunmen riding camels and donkeys who swooped down on villages to steal livestock.

As the former rebels now find themselves warming the seats in Singhdurbar, their immediate challenge is to prove that they, indeed, have changed themselves from a militant and belligerent force to a normal democratic political entity.

While Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has taken a great gamble by inducting the Maoists into the interim cabinet amid doubts about their democratic credentials from some influential quarters, the Maoists will now need to prove the justification of their joining the government.

"It is time the Maoists abandoned

Addressing a news conference in Ramallah after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, she said the three demands of the Quartet -the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations - that the Palestinian government recognise Israel, renounce violence and honour past agreements - were binding.

COLOMBO, April 1 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said on Sunday there was no chance of resuming peace talks to end the island's two-decade-old civil war if the state refused to base talks on a battered 2002 truce pact.

The ceasefire agreement (CFA) is dead on the ground -- with near daily air raids, land and sea battles and ambushes -- but the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam insist it must form the basis of any return to talks.

"If the Sri Lankan Government refuses to discuss ... and implement the CFA, the implication is that it has declared

During his visit to Baghdad, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and other Senior Iraqi leaders. Mr. Ki-moon described his meetings as important and fruitful. He discussed with Mr. Al Maliki the latest developments in Iraq and explored with him the different ways the United Nations can become more effective in conducting its duties and obligations in Iraq.

The United Nations Secretary-General said that his visit to Baghdad as the first stop of his regional tour emphasizes

Brussels, 1 April 2007 - The EU congratulates the newly formed Nepalese interim government on its assumption of office. The EU considers the promulgation of the interim constitution, and the formation of the interim parliament and government, as important milestones in the peace process in Nepal. They lay the ground for re-establishing stable democratic structures and institutions and, in the long term, a sustainable peace. The EU looks to the new government to operate in line with democratic principles, to tackle impunity, to deliver reforms through