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NUWAKOT: Property worth around Rs 22 million was reduced to ashes when a fire broke out in Shivapuri Rural Municipality-8 of Nuwakot district on Sunday. Rupak Khadka, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Nuwakot, said that three houses and shops were destroyed in the fire that started from the fancy shop of Bijaya Thapa. The grocery shop of Hari Thapa and the hardware shop of Bijaya were also engulfed in the fire. The fire that started at around 8:30 pm was brought under control after five hours. The reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained.

A new sub-variant of Corona Virus XBB has been detected for the first time in Nepal. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the variant was detected in a Nepali recently. The sub-variant was detected during genome sequencing conducted at the National Public Health Laboratory. The Ministry said that the new sub-variant of Omicron was detected during genome sequencing of some samples collected from the people of various age groups from August 6 to September 30. According to the World Health Organization, this variant has already been detected in 26 countries of the world. It has been said that this variant is more contagious than other variants detected in the past. Assistant spokesperson at the Ministry Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said, “This variant has been spreading in other countries and the new Covid-19 cases have also been increasing in recent times.” He urged all the people to take precautions while celebrating the upcoming festivals.

Laxmi Puja and Kukur Tihar are being observed today by worshipping, garlanding and feeding cows and dogs. Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth, is being worshipped in every household today to mark the second day of the five-day Tihar festival –also known as the festival of lights – by lighting butter lamps and candles inside and outside of the households to light up the path of Goddess Laxmi in order to welcome her. Nepali Hindus worship Goddess Laxmi in the evening today wishing for prosperity. All the nooks and corners of the house are illuminated with colourful and decorative lights this evening in the belief that Goddess Laxmi does not visit places that are not properly illuminated, and so to please Goddess Laxmi, people light lamps and spend the whole night in vigil. The night of Laxmi Puja is also a start to the cultural prog rams like ‘Deusi’ and ‘Bhailo’, where people, said to be sent by the king Bali, visit different homes singing and dancing for the prosperity. In Kukur Tihar, dogs are worshipped as protectors of the house. A dog is the most loyal friend to human beings, and according to Hindu myth, dogs are regarded as the guards of Yama, the god of death.

Nepal reported 41 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 445 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 39 returned positive. Likewise, 805 people underwent antigen tests, of which two were tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 59 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 696 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 14. 35 points to close at 1,858.49 points on Sunday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 2. 88 points to close at 365. 93 points. A total of 1,538,042 unit shares of 221 companies were traded for Rs 51 billion. In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green except for Hotel and Tourism and Mutual Fund. Meanwhile, RuRu Jalbidhyut Pariyojana Limited and Sayapatri Hydropower Limitedwere the top gainers today, with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Citizens Mutual Fund was the top loser as its price fell by 9. 55 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 67 trillion.

The Kathmandu District Court on Sunday extended the remand of former Nepal national cricket team captain Sandeep Lamichhane, who was arrested on the rape charge, by two more days for investigation. Earlier on October, the Court had ordered the police to keep Lamichhane in custody for five more days. This is the fourth time that the court extended the remand of Lamichhane. A 17-year-old girl had filed a rape complaint against Lamichhane at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala when he was abroad to play Caribbean Premier League (CPL) from Jamaica Tallawahs. According to the complaint, Lamichhane had allegedly taken the girl to various places in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur on August 21 and raped her in a hotel room the same night.

Vulnerable settlements will be shifted to safer locations and efforts will be made to mitigate the climate change which has been taking a toll on the agriculture sector. Plastic bags against the standard and the materials which have been negatively affecting the environment will be banned. The points of joint manifesto prepared by the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Center) in 2017: --Collective efforts will be made to minimize the impacts of climate change. --Institutionalized and other processes essential against climate change will be started all the earliest. --The program will be started as a campaign by mobilizing the youths, students and women. The points of the election manifesto prepared by the Nepali Congress in 2017 --Major political parties raised the issues of climate change in their party’s election manifesto five years ago. People also gave nearly two-thirds of their votes to the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Center) in 2017. The Nepali Congress faced a humiliating defeat. But, the Congress came to power after three years. The major parties led the government for five years. Neither they raised the issues of climate change as per the manifesto nor they organized any programs when they were in the government. Experts have said that the political parties have not taken the issues of climate change seriously. Dr Bimal Regmi said that it is unfortunate that the issues of climate change have not become the agenda of the political parties. The main agenda of the political parties during the election time is just the development of infrastructure. “The political parties give priority only to the development of infrastructure which can be seen by the people,” he said, adding, “The problems of marginalized communities and people have never become the agenda of the political parties. The parties have not been able to make practical commitments.” Now, the country is gearing up for the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly again. But, the political parties have not made their commitments public yet. Experts have underlined that the political parties should include the issues of climate change in their election manifesto and should come up with various programs to minimize the effects of climate change. Climate change expert Madhukar Upadhyay said that the issues of climate change get priority only during the time of COP. “Political parties talk about the issues of climate change only during the time of COP,” he said. He expressed his grievances that the issues of the environment are discussed only on Environment day. “We only talk about the ways to mitigate the climate but never take initiatives to implement them,” Upadhyay said. Interestingly, the issue has not even been raised in the Parliament, he said. “No one is interested and no one cares about the issue,” he said. Recently, the floods in Far-Western region have caused a huge loss. Last year, the floods destroyed the ready-to-harvest paddy crops in the Far-Western region but the government has not been able to give compensation to the people yet. This clearly shows how serious the political leaders are in Nepal, experts said. Upadhyay said there is no one who has been taking the issue of climate change seriously in the country. Some NGOs and INGOs have been doing little from their sides. But, the questions still persist, who will look after the small problems at the local level. Another climate change expert Manjit Dhakal said that it can be taken in a positive way that the political parties have included the issues of climate change in their election manifesto. “But, it has been limited only in the manifesto,” he said, adding, “The issue of climate change has a direct and indirect impact.” The impact of climate change can be seen on the three main sources of the economy, energy, agriculture and tourism. Though the COP has brought the issues of climate change to the international platform, the COP is not everything, Dhakal said. “There are many problems in the country. The problem of farmers always becomes the headlines,” he said, adding, “Unseasonal rain inundated human settlements. But, the government has not been able to raise awareness among the farmers on time.” The agenda and manifesto of the political parties are considered as the important basis to run the country. People trust the agenda and manifesto made public by the political parties. It is obvious for the people to believe that the parties will implement all the commitments made while canvassing the votes after being elected. But, there are many instances that the commitments expressed by the political parties in the manifesto have been limited only to paper.

Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the committee's first plenary session held on Sunday, according to a communique, Xinhua reported. The session, presided over by Xi, was attended by 203 members of the 20th CPC Central Committee and 168 alternate members. Xi was also named chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the session. The members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee elected at the session are Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi. Also elected were members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the session, which endorsed the members of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat nominated by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, according to Xinhua. The session named the members of the Central Military Commission. The session approved the secretary, deputy secretaries and members of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) elected at the first plenary session of the 20th CCDI.