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Heavy snowfall since this morning has blanketed different parts of Mustang district.

Vehicular movement along the Charang-Lho Manthang road section has been affected due to the heavy snowfall, police said.

Tshiring Kippa Lama, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of District Police Office, Mustang, said that the vehicular movement has been affected due to the snowfall from Thurlungphant to Lho Manthang of the road section.

DSP Lama stated that the area has witnessed massive snowfall, creating obstruction in mobility.

Security personnel deployed at the Border Out Post at Nhechung in Lho Manthang cleared the snow along the Chhoser-Korala road section on Tuesday.

However, the road section from Kagbeni to Muktinath area, which was blocked after the snowfall, has now resumed.

The mountain districts have experienced heavy snowfall, while the lower regions recorded rain.

The risk of dengue fever is rising in Baitadi district, with 18 cases reported in the past three months, according to Jaya Singh Badal, a lab technician at the District Health Office.

Six cases were confirmed in Dasharath Chand Municipality, three in Purchaudi Municipality, eight in Melauli Municipality, and one in Patan Municipality, Badal said.

Other local levels in the district have not reported the dengue patients as of now in this year.

Last year, a total of 106 dengue patients were confirmed in Baitadi.

Likewise, the Office has run a 'search and destroy campaign' against mosquito larvae. Badal stated that the campaign to eliminate mosquito larvae was initiated in different areas in the district as part of prevention and control efforts, since mosquitoes are still active during this season too.

A new international study has projected that the global construction sector’s carbon footprint could be doubled by 2050, threatening to derail efforts to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets.

In 2022, over 55% of the construction industry’s carbon emissions stemmed from cementitious materials, bricks, and metals, while glass, plastics, chemicals, and bio-based materials contributed 6%, and the remaining 37% arose from transport, services, machinery, and on-site activities, according to the study.

Lead author Chaohui Li from Peking University summarizes: “The study shows that the construction sector now drives one-third of global CO₂ emissions, up from around 20% in 1995. If current trends continue, the sector can exceed the 2°C per annum carbon budget by 2040.”

Based on past data, different future emission scenarios were projected. Under the business-as-usual scenario, the construction carbon footprint alone will exceed the per-annum carbon budget for the 1.5°C and 2°C goals in the next two decades, not considering other industries.

“Between 2023 and 2050, cumulative construction-related emissions are expected to reach 440 gigatons of CO₂. This is enough to consume the entire remaining global carbon budget for 1.5°C,” explains coauthor Prajal Pradhan, a professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

The study shows a significant shift in emissions from developed to developing regions. In 1995, high-income countries produced half of construction emissions.

According to the study, by 2022, emissions in these economies had largely stabilized, while growth in developing regions was increasingly driven by reliance on carbon-intensive materials such as steel and cement. At the same time, the use of bio-based materials such as timber has declined, underscoring a missed opportunity for low-carbon alternatives.

Meanwhile, the authors have called for a global “material revolution” – a fundamental shift away from carbon-intensive building materials toward low-carbon, circular, and bio-based alternatives such as engineered timber, bamboo, and recycled composites. Their analysis shows that cementitious materials, bricks and metals alone now account for more than half of the sector’s emissions, emphasizing the urgent need to reinvent how the world builds.

 “The challenges and solutions for decarbonizing construction are not globally uniform. Tipping full supply-chain-scale changes ultimately requires structural shifts material-wise, reducing reliance on traditional materials like cement, steel, and bricks, while exploring new alternatives,” explains coauthor Jurgen Kropp from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

“Humanity has literally built itself into a corner with steel and cement,” says IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber. “To meet the Paris goals, we must reinvent the very materials that shape our cities. A global material revolution rooted in circularity, innovation, and cooperation can turn the construction sector from a climate problem into a cornerstone of a sustainable and resilient future.”

The Supreme Court (SC) is beginning the hearing of 16 writ petitions lodged against the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR).

Spokesperson at the SC Arjun Prasad Koirala said that preliminary hearings on different writ petitions will begin from today.

The petitions were filed at the SC demanding the restoration of the HoR and annulment of the appointment of the Prime Minister.

The petitions were registered at the SC following the new political course developed in the country after the Gen-Z protests of September 8 and 9.

A person died and 21 others were injured in a bus accident at Damak Municipality-2 in Jhapa district last night.

Of the injured people, the health condition of a passenger is critical, while 20 others went home after treatment in health facilities, according to police.  

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Khagendra Bahadur Khadka said the bus (Ba 2 Kha 1983) carrying 35 people was heading to Tandi in Morang district from Damak, Jhapa when the incident occurred.

Police said that they have taken bus driver Bhakta Bahadur Darji (39) of Miklajun in Morang district for interrogation.

There is a possibility of moderate snowfall in some high hilly and mountainous regions of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces today, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. 

According to the Department, one or two places in the high hilly and mountainous region of Koshi and Bagmati Provinces are likely to receive heavy snowfall today.

According to the Department, the weather is likely to be affected in Bagmati, Madhesh and Koshi Provinces from Thursday to Saturday due to a cyclone called 'Montha' developed in the Bay of Bengal. The cyclone is in the stage of entering into Andhra Pradesh of India and would arrive in Nepal gradually. It will then shift to the central part of Nepal, it is stated.   

As the system turns active, there is a chance of moderate snowfall in some areas of the high hill and mountainous regions of Koshi and Bagmati Provinces, and in some areas of the high hill and mountainous regions of Gandaki Province.

Due to potential rainfall and snowfall, risks such as sudden flooding and landslides in rivers and streams may arise, which could also affect daily life, road and air transportation, agriculture, tourism, and other sectors.

The water flow in the Bagmati, Kamala, Koshi, and Kankai rivers, along with their tributaries, is expected to increase significantly, the Department noted.

There is also a high possibility of flash floods in some rivers flowing through the Kathmandu Valley, Kavre, Sindhupalchok, Dolakha, Makwanpur, Chitwan, and Sindhuli in Bagmati province; Bara, Parsa, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Mahottari, Dhanusha, and Saptari in Madhesh province; and Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung, Panchthar, Tehrathum, Bhojpur, Dhankuta, Ilam, Jhapa, Morang, and Sunsari districts in Koshi Province.

Hence, the Department has called for all concerned agencies and the general public to adopt precautionary and safety measures.

More than 40,000 domestic and international tourists visited Mustang in the first 10 days of the month of Kartik.

The District Police Office, Mustang, stated that 37,146 domestic tourists and 3,732 foreigners arrived in Mustang district via the Beni-Jomsom road section from October 18 to 17.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Mustang, Tshiring Kippa Lama, said that a total of 11,808 vehicles entered into the district during the period via the Beni-Jomsom route. 

Some of the tourists arriving in the district to pay homage to the Muktinath temple on October 27 were affected due to snowfall that occurred on the same night. 

Tourists in the areas were affected following the rainfall and snowfall occurring since Monday night, police said.

Heavy snow in the trails along the Kagbeni Muktinath temple road section has troubled tourists and devotees, official of the Muktinath Mandir Development Committee Rabin Subedi said.

Subedi said that the Muktinath Snankunda (pond) and 108 taps have frozen following the massive dip in temperature, Subedi added.

In a long-awaited move to fulfil a constitutional right denied to millions of citizens overseas,the government is finally taking steps to allow Nepalis living abroad to vote in national elections.

To this end, the government is preparing to issue an ordinance. The Ministry of Home Affairs has already drafted amendments to several election laws to create a legal basis for overseas voting. The draft has been sent to the Election Commission (EC) for review. 

For now, the government plans to allow overseas voting only under the proportional representation (PR) system for the House of Representatives.

In 2018, the Supreme Court had directed the government to guarantee voting rights for Nepalis living abroad. In its verdict, a bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Purushottam Bhandari instructed the state to make the necessary legal, logistical, and technological arrangements to enable voting from abroad.

That order, however, remained unimplemented. Despite multiple elections since, millions of Nepalis working, studying or residing overseas have been unable to exercise their democratic right. According to the 2021 census, nearly 2.2m Nepalis live abroad.

Election officials say they are discussing all possible models of election, including early voting, polling at diplomatic missions and online voting. 

Earlier, the Election Commission had proposed piloting voter registration in the UAE, Qatar and Malaysia, where the largest numbers of Nepali migrant workers live and work.

With the House of Representatives dissolved, the government plans to move ahead through an ordinance. Once the Election Commission submits its feedback, the Ministry of Home Affairs will forward the draft to the Council of Ministers for approval.

The proposed amendment stipulates that only Nepalis registered in the official voter list will be eligible to vote. The Election Commission will gather and confirm this data with the help of Nepali embassies and other agencies abroad.

To guide implementation, the government has asked the Policy Research Institute, a state-affiliated think tank, to conduct a study on the logistics of overseas voting, including eligible countries, management systems and vote counting mechanisms.

The home ministry also aims to address concerns that people with dual citizenship might misuse the process. The revised draft clarifies that only verified Nepali citizens listed in the Election Commission’s official voter roll will be allowed to vote from abroad.

The right to vote is guaranteed under Article 84(5) of the Constitution, which ensures every Nepali citizen aged 18 and above the right to vote in accordance with federal law. Yet without the necessary legislation, that right has remained on paper for millions working overseas.The government’s latest move has rekindled cautious optimism among migrant workers.

If all goes as planned, the next elections could mark a historic moment when Nepalis abroad finally cast their votes for home.