UN TOP OFFICIAL BEGINS DISCUSSIONS UPDATE Kathmandu, 20 March: UN Under Secretary General of Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who is on a visit to Nepal, held talks with chairman of the Interim Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi, at the latter´s officer at Singh Durbar, today [Wednesday], RSS reports. Giving a brief comment after the meeting, Feltman said he found Chairman Regmi committed to holding Constituent Assembly(CA) elections in a fearless environment. "I understand that Chairman Regmi was eager to handover power to political parties by holding elections as soon as possible," said Feltman. He said he was here to take stock of the situation of Nepal as a representative of General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, and made commitment of UN cooperation to Nepal on holding credible, transparent and inclusive elections. Also today, he met Minister for Foreign Affairs Madhav Prasad Ghimire and consulted on CA election preparations, and co work between Nepal and UN. Feltman´s visit is regarded significant in the wake of the CA elections. It is expected that Feltman´s visit to Nepal will give a positive message in the international arena Nnnn BANGLADESH PRESIDENT DIES IN SINGAPORE Kathmandu, 20 March: Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman, a veteran ruling party politician named to the largely ceremonial post in 2009, died Wednesday in a Singapore hospital, an embassy official said. AFP reports from Dhaka.. He was 84. "The president died at a hospital here in Singapore at 6.47 pm local time," Bangladesh High Commissioner in Singapore M. Mahbubuzzaman told AFP by phone. Rahman, who was suffering from kidney and respiratory problems, was flown to Singapore´s Mount Elizabeth Hospital by air ambulance on February 10 after his condition worsened. His secretary Shafiul Alam told AFP that Rahman, a close aide of the nation´s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had been suffering from "old age complications". The former deputy chief of the ruling Awami League party, the country´s 19th president, leaves a son who is a lawmaker and two daughters. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the parliament speaker, who has been discharging the day-to-day job of the president in Rahman´s absence, sent their condolences. Rahman´s wife Ivy Rahman, also a politician, died in August 2004 after she was critically injured in a grenade attack on an Awami League party rally that also killed 20 other people. nnnn