WEDNESDAY’S MINIUMUM TEMPERATURE EXPECTED TO FALL TO 1.6 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: Capital’s temperature Wednesday morning at seven was 3 degrees Celsius. The mercury is expected to fall to 1.6 degrees Celsius later in the day. Nnnn HIMALAYAN SHERPA PLAYS MYDHAYAPUR IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: Himalayan Sherpa plays Myadhayapur in the martyrs memorial A division football league tournament at Dashrath Rangashala Wednesday. Myadhayapur must draw their match to save relegation. NRT plays Machindra which has to win its last math to gain secong position in the tournament. nnnn NEPAL ARMY, FRIENDS CLUB PLAY IN AAHA GOLD CUP Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: Nepal Army plays Friends Club in the Aaha Gold Cup in Pokhara Wednesday. The tournament got underway Tuesday. Nnnn UDMF DIVIDED OVER CONTUING IN GOVT. Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: At a time when second-tier Madhesi leaders have been questioning the progress on issues raised by their parties, top leaders of the ruling United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) remain divided over whether or not to stay in the UCPN(Maoist)-led coalition, Gani Ansari writes in Republica.. At a meeting of the Madhesi alliance held at Gokarna on Tuesday, Chairman of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, MPRF-Republican Chairman Rajkishor Yadav and Tarai Madhes Democratic Party-Nepal (TMDP-N) Chairman Mahendra Yadav said they should stay in the present government while Chairman of Sadbhawana Party Rajendra Mahato maintained that the alliance should quit the government if the government cannot address issues raised by them. Though TMDP Chairman Mahantha Thakur acknowledged that the alliance had made little progress on issues raised by Madhes-based parties, he remained ambivalent on whether they should continue to stay in the coalition. "Things are moving ahead in a positive manner," a Madhesi leader quoted Gachchhadar, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, as saying at the meeting, adding, “We cannot quit the government to invite further uncertainty." According to leaders present at the meeting, Gachchhadar maintained that the Madhesi alliance also should take initiatives to forge consensus with the three major parties -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML-- to resolve the present crisis. TMDP Chairman Mahantha Thakur said that UDMF had failed to make satisfactory progress on Madhesi issues. “Though we had planned to struggle from the government, streets and parliament for our cause, we could not make our presence felt in the government,” another Madhesi leader quoted Thakur as saying. MPRF-Republican Chairman and Information and Communications Minister Raj Kishor Yadav and TMDP-Nepal Chairman Mahendra Yadav, who is also Irrigation Minister, maintained that the Madhesi alliance should struggle from within the government for Madhesi causes. However, Chairman of Sadbhawana Party (SP) and Health Minister Rajendra Mahato said there was no point in Madhesi parties staying in the government if can not implement issues raised in the four-point agreement. "We failed to make progress on recruitment of Madhesi youths in the national army, though the defense portfolio is held by a Madhesi leader," the leader quoted Mahato as saying, adding, "We could not address the problem related to citizenship while the home ministry is held by a constituent party of the UDMF." Senior Vice-chairman of MPRF-D Rameshwor Raya Yadav stated the UDMF should not lose its existence for the sake of the Maoist party. “The Madhesi alliance should be aware of UCPN (Maoist)´s tendency to cheat others," he added. Spokesperson of SP Santosh Mahato argued that UDMF should take to the streets. According to Vice-chairman of SP Laxman Lal Karna, the meeting will hold discussions on the status of various ordinances forwarded the government to the president, review the progress made by the government on the four-point agreement between the UDMF and UCPN (Maoist) and the role of UDMF in resolving the present political and constitutional deadlock. He said the meeting would continue on Wednesday. The leaders said the Madhesi alliance will come up with a common view on resolving the present political and constitutional crisis. Nnnn BUSINESS STUNNED BY RULING PARTY DRIVE TO COLLECT DONATIONS Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: The business community, which is currently under extreme pressure from the extortion drive launched by Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, is now in a state of despair, as the ruling party, the UCPN (Maoist), has also started a similar campaign backed by issuing of threats, Rupak D Sharma writes in Republica.. In letters issued to members of the business fraternity, the ruling party has said funds were being collected to finance its upcoming general convention scheduled for the first week of February. "We hope you will cooperate in this endeavor," state the letters issued by local-, district- and central-level committees of the UCPN (Maoist). "It is pathetic that the ruling party, which was supposed to provide security to the business sector, is engaged in a donation drive," a senior member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) told Republica on condition of anonymity. "Nobody expected this from them." The party has launched the drive at a time when it has been boasting that it would bring in more foreign investment, attain double-digit growth and making Nepal an economically prosperous nation. "But looking at their actions, one can easily conclude that whatever they are saying is only rhetoric and nothing else," said the member of the FNCCI, the largest umbrella body of the private sector. As of now, the requests for donations have been made to almost every firm in banking and manufacturing sectors to small and medium businesses. "No one is spared. Even self-employed individuals have been dragged into this campaign," the FNCCI member said. "And the amount they are demanding ranges from tens of thousands of rupees to hundreds of thousands of rupees depending on the size of business." One industrialist told Republica that he has received same request letter from five different committees and sister wings of the ruling party. "Concurrently, they also phone us and ask us to support their cause," the industrialist said. "I sometimes don´t feel like entertaining calls coming from unknown numbers." Industrialists that Republica talked to said the entire party is well aware of the extortion drive but is doing nothing to stop it. "A letter issued by the central committee of the UCPN (Maoist) was signed by former information and communications minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is the party´s politburo member," another industrialist said on condition of anonymity. "It is frustrating to see involvement of such a high-profile person in such a disgusting act." The business community has long demanded that donation campaigns launched by political parties be governed by law, with a cap on donation amount. "It is time we discuss these matters with the ruling party to end the problem once and for all," Industrialist Ravi Bhakta Shrestha said, partially blaming the business sector for not taking proper initiatives in finding a long-term solution to address the problem. "So far we have only raised voice after confronting the problem. And we never tried to create a system that is capable of automatically tackling such issues," Shrestha, also a former FNCCI president, said. "We should now hold talks with parties and put such a system in place so that these donation campaigns do not affect us in the future." Nnnn NETANYAHU JUST SCRAPES THROUGH ELECTIONS Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-line allies fared far worse than expected in a parliamentary election Tuesday, preliminary results showed, likely forcing him to reach across the aisle to court a popular political newcomer to cobble together a new Coalition, AP reports from Jerusalem.. While Netanyahu appeared positioned to serve a third term as prime minister, the results marked a major setback for his policies and could force him to make new concessions to restart long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians. His most likely partner was Yesh Atid, or There is a Future, a party headed by political newcomer Yair Lapid that showed surprising strength. Lapid has said he would only join a government committed to sweeping economic changes and a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. Addressing his supporters early Wednesday, Netanyahu vowed to form as broad a coalition as possible. He said the next government would be built on principles that include reforming the contentious system of granting draft exemptions to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and the pursuit of a "genuine peace" with the Palestinians. He did not elaborate, but the message seemed aimed at Lapid. Shortly after the results were announced, Netanyahu called Lapid and offered to work together. "We have the opportunity to do great things together," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by Likud officials. According to preliminary results, Netanyahu´s Likud-Yisrael Beitenu alliance was set to capture about 31 of the 120 seats, significantly fewer than the 42 it held in the ou9going parliament and below the forecasts of recent polls. With his traditional allies of nationalist and religious parties, Netanyahu could put together a shaky majority of 61 seats, initial results showed. But it would be virtually impossible to keep such a narrow coalition intact, though it was possible he could take an additional seat or two as numbers trickled in throughout the night. The results capped a lackluster campaign in which peacemaking with the Palestinians, traditionally the dominant issue in Israeli politics, was pushed aside. Netanyahu portrayed himself as the only candidate capable of leading Israel at a turbulent time, while the fragmented opposition targeted him on domestic economic issues. Netanyahu´s goal of a broader coalition will force him to make some difficult decisions. Concessions to Lapid, for instance, will alienate his religious allies. In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Lapid said he would not be a "fig leaf" for a hard-line, extremist agenda. Lapid´s performance was the biggest surprise of the election. The one-time TV talk show host and son of a former Cabinet minister was poised to win 19 seats, giving him the second-largest faction in parliament. Presenting himself as the defender of the middle class, Lapid vowed to take on Israel´s high cost of living and to end the contentious system of subsidies and draft exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews while they pursue religious studies. The expensive system has bred widespread resentment among the Israeli mainstream. Thanks to his strong performance, Lapid is now in a position to serve as the kingmaker of the next government. He will likely seek a senior Cabinet post and other concessions. Yaakov Peri, a member of Lapid´s party, said it would not join unless the government pledges to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox into the military, lowers the country´s high cost of living and returns to peace talks. "We have red lines. We won´t cross those red lines, even if it will cost us sitting in the opposition," Peri told Channel 2 TV. Addressing his supporters, a beaming Lapid was noncommittal, calling only for a broad government with moderates from left and right. "Israelis said no to the politics of fear and hatred," he said. "And they said no to extremism and anti-democracy." There was even a distant possibility of Lapid and more dovish parties teaming up to block Netanyahu from forming a majority. "It could be that this evening is the beginning for a big chance to create an alternative government to the Netanyahu government," said Shelly Yachimovich, leader of the Labor Party, which won 15 seats on a platform pledging to narrow the gaps between rich and poor. Although that seemed unlikely, Netanyahu clearly emerged from the election in a weakened state. "We expected more seats in the parliament," Danny Danon, a senior Likud member, told the AP. "But the bottom line is that Benjamin Netanyahu is the next prime minister of Israel." Under Israel´s system of proportional representation, seats in the 120-member parliament are allocated according to the percentage of votes a party gets. As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu is in the best position to form a coalition and be prime minister. The results were shocking, given the steady stream of recent opinion polls forecasting a solid victory by Netanyahu and his allies. Netanyahu appeared to suffer because of his close ties to the ultra-Orthodox and perhaps from complacency. Many voters chose smaller parties, believing a Netanyahu victory was inevitable. Tensions with the United States, Israel´s most important ally, also may have factored into the thinking. President Barack Obama was quoted last week as saying that Netanyahu was undermining Israel´s own interests by continuing to build Jewish settlements on occupied lands. Netanyahu has won praise at home for drawing the world´s attention to Iran´s suspect nuclear program and for keeping the economy on solid ground at a time of global turmoil. In his speech, Netanyahu said that preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons would remain his top priority. But internationally, he has repeatedly clashed with allies over his handling of the peace process. Peace talks with the Palestinians have remained stalled throughout his term, in large part because of his continued construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want a halt to settlement construction before talks begin. Netanyahu says talks must start without any preconditions. Obama has had a turbulent relationship with Netanyahu, and the two leaders could find themselves on a collision course in their new terms. The Obama administration said that regardless of the results of the election, the U.S. approach to the conflict would not change. "We will continue to make clear that only through direct negotiations can the Palestinians and the Israelis ... achieve the peace they both deserve," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Obama to make the Middle East peace process his top priority. "We are approaching the last chance to bring about such a solution," Hague warned. Netanyahu himself has only grudgingly voiced conditional support for a Palestinian state, and his own party is now dominated by hard-liners who oppose even that. A potential coalition partner, Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home Party, which won 11 seats, has called for annexing large parts of the West Bank, the core of any future Palestinian state. While Lapid advocates a softer line toward the Palestinians, his campaign focused on economic issues and it remains unclear how hard he will push Netanyahu on the issue. Lapid´s positions also fall short of Palestinian demands. Most critically, he opposes any division of Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future state. The Palestinians viewed the election results grimly. "If he brings Lapid into his government, this would improve the image of the Netanyahu government in the eyes of the world. But it won´t make him stop building settlements, particularly in east Jerusalem," said Mohammed Ishtayeh, a senior adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas. In all, 32 parties contested the election, and 12 won enough votes to enter parliament, according to the exit polls. Netanyahu now has up to six weeks to form a government. By early Wednesday, the official Election Commission had published results of about half the ballots. Full results were expected later in the day. Nnnn