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The demand for Nepali tea and coffee in the international market is steadily rising.

According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board, 77 metric tons of coffee were exported in the fiscal year 2022-23, up from 72 metric tons worth Rs 96m in the previous fiscal year. Data collection for the current fiscal year 2023-24 is underway.

On the import side, coffee imports totaled 450 metric tons worth Rs 320m in the fiscal year 2021-22. This dropped significantly to Rs 100m in the following year, a decrease of around Rs 220m.

Board Director Deepak Khanal noted that recent improvements in the coffee farming environment and cultivation expansion have boosted production. Coffee is now cultivated on 3,659 hectares of land, with about 33,000 farmers involved.

International demand for Nepali coffee stands at around 14,000 metric tons. Commercial coffee farming occurs in 43 districts, including Gulmi, Palpa, Arghakhanchi, Lalitpur, Tanahu, Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Lamjung, Kaski, Gorkha, Syangja, Parbat, and Baglung.

For tea, exports reached Rs 3.8bn in fiscal year 2021-22, with an increase of around Rs 140m the following year. The country has 161 tea industries, employing approximately 60,000 workers, according to Board officer Chandra Puri.

The construction of the Chilime-Trishuli 220 kV transmission line has been completed.

This transmission line is crucial for delivering power from ongoing and future hydropower projects along the Trishuli River and its tributaries to the national grid.

The 28-kilometer line extends from the Chilime Hub Sub-Station in Ama Chhodingbo Rural Municipality, Rasuwa district, to the Trishuli III B Hub Station in Kispang Rural Municipality, Nuwakot district.

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Managing Director Kul Man Ghising noted that the transmission line was completed thanks to the efforts of employees and contractors, who continued working even during the Dashain and Tihar holidays.

He added that the infrastructure is ready to transmit electricity from the 111-megawatt Rasuwagadhi and 42.5-megawatt Sanjen projects, along with other projects under construction or in planning stages in Rasuwa. Both the Rasuwagadhi and Sanjen hydropower projects are nearing production.

The estimated cost of the Chilime-Trishuli project is $3.62bn, funded by the NEA, a grant from the German Development Bank (KfW), and a concessional loan from the European Investment Bank.

A contract was signed with a Chinese construction company in Kartik 2017 for the construction of the transmission line and the sub-station.

The deadline for the Diversity Visa (DV) Program 2026 has been extended to 7 Nov 2024, from the original cutoff of Nov, the US Embassy in Kathmandu announced.

In a statement, the Embassy urged applicants to carefully review the official guidelines to confirm their eligibility. They emphasized the importance of using a recent photograph, taken within the last six months, and advised against reusing photos from prior applications, as doing so could lead to disqualification.

The Embassy also reminded applicants to save their DV-2026 confirmation number, which will be necessary to check application status.

The DV Program application process is free and straightforward, and applicants are encouraged to apply directly through the official website: dvprogram.state.gov.

Weather conditions across the country are expected to gradually improve starting today (Tuesday).

Some hilly regions in the Bagmati and Koshi Provinces experienced rain on Monday.

Shanti Kandel, a senior meteorologist at the Weather Forecasting Division, noted that light rain may continue in the hilly areas of Bagmati, Koshi, and Gandaki Provinces throughout the day.

There is also a chance of light rain in hilly areas of other provinces and some parts of the Terai region. Kandel emphasized that this rainfall is not expected to significantly impact conditions.

Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours.

The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on Election Day on Tuesday.

Trump predicted a "landslide", while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that "we have momentum -- it's on our side."

The 2024 race is going down to the wire, with more key states effectively tied at this point than in any comparable election. Over 77.6 million people have cast early votes, around half of the total ballots cast in 2020.

With the clock ticking, Harris, 60, spent the day in Michigan where she risks losing the critical support of a 200,000-strong Arab-American community that has denounced US handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

"As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza," Harris said at the start of her speech at Michigan State University, noting that there were leaders of the community present.

But the rest of the speech was upbeat, with Harris spending more time on urging people to get out and vote than on attacks on Trump.

"We got two days to get this done," she said.

Earlier, Harris quoted scripture in a majority-Black church in Detroit, Michigan and urging Americans to look beyond Trump.

"Let us turn the page and write the next chapter of our history," she said.

Trump on Sunday zigzagged through Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia -- the three biggest swing-state prizes in the Electoral College system that awards US states influence according to their population.

The 78-year-old Trump, the oldest major party candidate in US history, added to his increasingly dark rhetoric by musing to supporters in Lititz, Pennsylvania, that he wouldn't mind if journalists were shot.

Discussing his near-miss assassination attempt against him in July, he said to laughter that to be hit again "somebody would have to shoot through the fake news -- and I don't mind that so much."

Trump called Democrats "demonic" and, despite no evidence of any meaningful election cheating so far, claimed that Democrats in Pennsylvania "are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing."

Adding to fears that he would not accept a defeat in 2024, Trump added that he "shouldn't have left" the White House after he lost his 2020 reelection effort to Joe Biden.

Trump meanwhile said in Macon, Georgia, that he had asked vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who dropped his own presidential bid to support Trump, to work on "women's health" and "pesticides."

His comments came a day after Kennedy caused consternation by saying that a Trump White House would order US water systems to remove fluoride from public water supplies.

Later in another rambling speech in Kinston, North Carolina Trump said "we're going to have on Tuesday a landslide that's too big to rig."

The polls however show that the result is likely to be historically tight.

A final New York Times/Siena poll Sunday flagged incremental changes in swing states, but the results from all seven remained within the margin of error.

Harris got a boost Saturday as the final Des Moines Register poll for Iowa -- seen as a highly credible test of wider public sentiment -- showed a stunning turnaround, with Harris ahead in a state won easily by Trump in 2016 and 2020.

In the last hours, both candidates are desperately trying to shore up their bases, and win over any undecided voters.

Pollsters have noted an erosion in Black support for Harris.

But with abortion rights a top voter concern, her campaign has hailed the large proportion of women turning out among early voters. AFP

The Chandragiri Municipality is to present its Voluntary Local Review (VLR) report in the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF).

The WUF12 kicked off today in Cairo, Egypt. The international conference is being held under the auspices of the UN HABITAT and will run until November 8.

Chandragiri prepared the VLR report localizing some thematic areas of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Mayor of Chandragiri Municipality, Ghanashyam Giri, left for Cairo on Saturday to participate in the conference. In addition to presenting the VLR report on behalf of the municipality, he will also share the works being done by the municipality.

Chief Administrative Officer of Chandragiri Municipality, Hemraj Aryal, said the VLR report helps to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030.

“Our main goal is to create a sustainable city by localizing sustainable development goals, as our overall policies, plans and programs are focused on this,” he said, adding, "This is a great opportunity for our municipality to be presenting the report at the World Urban Forum."

The number of people making national identity cards has increased after the government made it mandatory for availing various services.

A total of 6,556 people made national identity cards at the District Administration Office last year. More than 80 people come to the national identity card branch office every day.

Chief District Officer Ram Bahadur Shahi said that 1,229 people had registered their applications for the National Identity Card till mid-October of the current financial year.

The DAO has mobilized a team to make national identity cards in all the eight local levels of the district. There has been an increase in the number of people making their passports in preparation for going abroad for foreign employment.

Bananas worth Rs 50 million have been imported to Janakpurdham, the capital of Madesh, from India for the near-coming Chhath festival.

Banana is considered a must fruit for the people observing the festival, especially for those fasting on the occasion.

President of Janakpur Fruits and Vegetables Traders Committee, Bishweshwar Yadav said since bananas are offered to God as an argha during the Chhath festival, the demand for the fruit is high. Since, the local produce is not enough there is a compulsion to import from neighboring India.

He shared that last year bananas worth more than Rs 40 million had been imported, which increased to Rs 50 million this year.

Various varieties of bananas are imported to Janakpurdham from Assam, West Bengal, Hajipur, Thakurganj and Champaran, said Bhuvneshwar Purve, Secretary of Fruit and Vegetable Traders Committee. The price of bananas has increased by 20 percent this year compared to the previous year. Bananas are being sold at a price ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1, 000 per spike.

Traders say that even though there is a lot of potential for banana production in Nepal the local production does not meet the demand. In addition, the price of bananas coming from India is cheaper than bananas produced in the country so in the border areas they are imported from India.