Nepali Army soldiers deployed in Haiti under the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission are safe, the Nepal Army said on Wednesday. However, one soldier was injured in the earhquake. Over 1,100 Nepalis are part of the United Nations Stabilisation Misssion in Haiti (MINUSTAH) since 2004. The Army said all Nepali peace keepers are safe and that they have been pressed into service for the relief and rescue efforts in Haiti. MINUSTAH's mandate is to restore a secure and stable environement, to promote the political process and to strengthen Haiti's government instituions and rule-of-law structures.

COPENHAGEN: U.N. climate talks were thrown into disarray Monday as developing countries blocked negotiations, demanding that rich countries raise their pledges for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Representatives from developing countries said they refused to participate in any working groups at the 192-nation summit until the issue was resolved.

The move was a setback for the Copenhagen talks, which were already faltering over long-running disputes between rich and poor nations over emissions cuts and financing for developing countries to deal withclimate change.

Makwanpur is facing shortage of urea fertilizer, the most essential ingredient of modern agriculture. The crisis has hit winter crops and seasonal vegetables, the main sources of livelihood of farmers in the district. The Birgunj branch office of Agricultural Materials Corporations, a state-owned body assigned to import and supply fertilizer, had shipped 95 quintals of urea some weeks ago to various VDCs and Hetauda municipality. However, farmers said the supply was far less than the demand. The district agricultural development office said it is will bring 1,500 metric tonnes of fertilizer.

To the fury of United Nations officials in Kabul, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced that it planned to open 155 more polling stations — up from 6,167 to 6,322 — than during the first vote on August 20, despite repeated claims by the UN that there would be a reduction.
Ever since an official inquiry uncovered almost 1m fraudulent votes cast in favour of the president, Hamid Karzai, the country’s western backers have insisted fewer centres would be opened in the run-off on November 7. But the IEC said assurances by Afghanistan’s security chiefs that conditions had improved in some areas of the country allowed for the opening of more centres. In the first round, polling stations operated in areas that were so insecure that election monitors were unable to deter wholesale ballot stuffing. Karzai’s main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, has said he would only participate if 500 polling centres were closed and the head of the IEC was sacked.
UN staff said the IEC decision meant voting would still take place in areas where fraud was known to have been committed first time round or in areas where almost no one turned out to vote. A western diplomat closely involved in organising the vote said the news was a “punch in the stomach because everything we asked them to do they rejected”. He said it had shattered morale among election workers, already at a low ebb after six UN members of staff involved in election preparations were killed by a Taliban hit squad in an attack on a guesthouse in Kabul on Wednesday.
“This coming on top of yesterday’s incident — there really is only so much you can take for this progress,” he said. Another official said the decision was “absurd” and that “one really has to question the motives of the IEC”. Despite claims that fraud would be reduced in the second round, election observers believe a clean vote is impossible.

Japan will fund a programme costing up to five billion dollars to help build roads and boost agriculture in conflict-torn Afghanistan, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has outlined the proposal, which would include water control and irrigation technology, the Nikkei business daily reported.
The five-year programme, starting next year, would also help provide job training for former Taliban with stipends of 100-200 dollars a month, while giving time with Japanese companies in Japan, the newspaper said.
Hatoyama plans to announce the initiative, which would be on top of existing financial support for Afghanistan, when US President Barack Obama visits Japan in mid-November, it said.
Hatoyama's centre-left government, which won a general election on August 30, has already told the United States it will end a naval refuelling mission that supports the war in Afghanistan.