TROIKA IN THE BLUE ROOM: Pedro Moitinho de Almeida, head of the EU troika delegation (third from left) meets Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai on Wednesday at their office in Buddhanagar. Charge d\'affairs of the Slovenian Embassy in New Delhi, Miklavz Borstnik, examines a portrait of Stalin on the wall. (PIC: MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA)

CRAFTY GIFT: John Fry, country manager of the British Council in Nepal, presents a book on British arts and crafts to Narayan Khadka for the Kathmandu Valley Public Library on Wednesday. The British Council is transferring its book lending section to Bhrikuti Mandap. (PIC: MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA)

FULL STEAM AHEAD: Children of parents infected with HIV enjoy themselves at Hotel Shangrila during the launch of a new partnership between government and donors. (PIC: KIRAN PANDAY)

TAKING A PUNT: Enterprising adventurers brave the hazards of the Kosi River in Bhojpur on Monday to float a raft of newly cut bamboo to markets downstream. (PIC: GOPAL DAHAL)