Nepal's parliament has reopened, meeting in the capital Kathmandu for the first time in four years.
However, 84-year-old Prime Minister-designate Girija Prasad Koirala was too ill to attend the opening or his swearing-in ceremony.
Without his presence, the parliament session is a purely formal occasion, with no substantive decisions being made.
It began with two minutes of silence for the victims of anti-monarchy and pro-democracy street protests.
Outside, thousands of Nepalis surrounded the gates of parliament, waving party flags and chanting slogans to keep up pressure for a new constitution.
Others attended the first public rally in Kathmandu in three years to be addressed by a senior leader of the Maoist rebel movement.
A spokesman for Mr Koirala said he had been put on oxygen and a saline drip for an unspecified lung and rib problem and was due to be seen by doctors again today.
King Gyanendra reinstated the assembly on 24 April in a bid to end almost three weeks of nationwide protests in which at least 14 people died.
