A UK tour operator says Maoists in Nepal are forcing visitors to hand over money – despite having said they want foreigners to visit the country. Steve Berry, a director of tour operator Himalayan Kingdoms, told the BBC that his tour groups had been forced to donate cash to rebels on four occasions. On one of them he personally had to pay $1,500, he said. But Nepal’s Director of Tourism, Subash Nirula, said he had received no recorded reports of such incidents. The rebels have been conducting a violent campaign since 1996 to replace the country’s monarchy with a communist republic. Mr Berry said he had little option but to pay when on his way to Mount Kailash in Tibet last June. Full Story