COLD WAVE TAKEWS TWO LIVES IN MOHOTTARI Kathmandu, 16 Dec.: Two persons died in Mahottari district due to excessive cold. Normal life in the district has been badly affected due to chilling cold here since the past two days, RSS reports from Gulariya. A septuagenarian male died at Matihani VDC-9. Identity of the deceased has not been ascertained as yet. Similarly, seven-year-old Jiban Saha of Sitamadhi of India, currently living at Jaleshwor-1, also died of cold, district police office said. Farmers said that crops and legumes have started decaying in the farm itself due to excessive cold. Likewise, the number of patients in the district's health institutes has gone up suddenly with the dip in the temperature. nnnn NEPAL TO HOST INTERNATIONAL MEET Kathmandu, 16 Dec.: Nepal is to host the 16th Asia-pacific parliamentarians' conference on environment and development (APPCED), RSS reports.. The conference is taking place in Kathmandu from coming January 14 to 17, 2013 and will see participation of around 100 delegates including the speaker, members of parliament, ministers and political leaders from 46 countries in the region. The conference is being held under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology. General Secretary of APPCED and former parliamentarian Dina Upadhyaya said the conference will deal on issues concerning economic development and environmental challenges in the region. The recommendations from the conference on policy interventions in resolving the problems facing the environment, development and economic sector will be submitted to the United Nations, added Upadhyaya. Nnnn FORMER MPs SEEK FAIR VOTE Kathmandu, 16 Dec.: Former people's representatives have drawn serious attention of the government and the political parties towards holding the Constituent Assembly (CA) election on time, RSS reports. The ex-MPs forum has suggested the government to take the help of ordinances for constituting the government of national consensus, formulating the election act, carrying out necessary amendments to laws, making appointments of office bearers at the constitutional bodies and fixing the date for new election. Praising the efforts made by the President to bring the political parties to a consensus in respective of his capacity as the 'patron' of the new constitution and the 'guardian' of the people, the Forum has urged the political parties to end the game of accusation and counter-accusation and be serious towards ending the political crisis in the country. The Forum unveiled its written views on the possible ways of breaking the present political deadlock here on Sunday and stressed that people's right to CA should not be clipped from anywhere. The document issued by Forum general secretary Shankarnath Adhikari has sought determination, dedication and active role of the political parties to free, fair and independent elections. "The Nepali people are looking forward to honest and transparent performance of the political parties and the government for the institutional development of federal democratic republic and socio-economic advancement of the people", the document states. The Forum has further urged the political parties to rise above partisan interests, give up greed for sate power and ignore unnecessary pressure and to serve the nation and the people. Nnnn MAOISTS GET A LIBRARY Kathmandu, 16 Dec.: The UCPN-Maoist has brought a library into operation at the party's central office at Parisdanda from Sunday. According to the party source, the objective of setting up the library is to develop reading habit among the party leaders and cadres. Now, the library has a collection of books related to world communist movement, Nepali communist movement, the decade-long conflict, peace process, Constituent Assembly election, history and geography and political sciences. The party also plans to apply an advance technology to systematize the library. Party leaders and cadres donated books to the library, said library coordinator Raj Kumar Sharma. The formal opening of the library will take place on December 21, it is learnt. nnnn