NEPAL'S KING COULD BE FORCED FROM POWER WITHIN DAYS UNLESS HE BRINGS A SPEEDY END TO THE POLITICAL CRISIS THAT IS ENGULFING THE HIMALAYAN NATION, THE U.S. AMBASSADOR SAID FRIDAY, AP REPORTED. «HIS TIME IS RUNNING OUT,» AMBASSADOR JAMES MORIARTY SAID IN AN INTERVIEW WITH SEVERAL REPORTERS. «ULTIMATELY THE KING WILL HAVE TO LEAVE IF HE DOESN'T COMPROMISE. AND BY 'ULTIMATELY' I MEAN SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.» MORIARTY SAID HE EXPECTED KING GYANENDRA TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT LATER FRIDAY THAT HE HOPED WOULD HELP RESOLVE THE CRISIS, WHICH HAS BROUGHT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS INTO THE STREETS, LEFT MORE THAN A DOZEN DEMONSTRATORS DEAD AND REVEALED THE KING'S INCREASINGLY WEAK CONTROL OVER MUCH OF THE COUNTRY. «I DO BELIEVE HE'S AWARE THE SITUATION IS SLIPPING OUT OF CONTROL, NOT JUST HERE IN KATMANDU» BUT ACROSS MUCH OF THE COUNTRY, MORIARTY SAID. HE SAID GYANENDRA, WHO SEIZED ABSOLUTE POWER LAST YEAR, NEEDED TO AGREE TO POLITICAL CHANGES RESULTING IN A «CEREMONIAL MONARCHY» THAT WOULD LEAVE HIM STRIPPED OF ALL REAL POWER. IF NOT, HE SAID, HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS WOULD KEEP UP THE PRESSURE ON HIM AND THE POPULAR UPRISING COULD FORCE HIM FROM POWER. «IT'S BASICALLY GOING TO DEPEND ON EVENTS IN THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS,» HE SAID.
