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Kathmandu Valley has recorded the coldest day today. The minimum temperature in the Valley was 4.5 degrees Celsius, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. The Valley's temperature was recorded at a minimum 5.3 degrees on Saturday. In the past few days, temperature in the Valley has been sharply dropping with the cold increasing, said the Division. Similarly, temperature in Jumla district today dropped to a minimum minus 5.6 degrees Celsius. Also, Jomsom recorded minus 6.1 degrees and Jiri minus 0.7 degree, said meteorologist Hira Bhattarai. The western belt of the country will remain cloudy today with the impact of the westerly low-pressure system, he said.  Sudurpaschim and Karnali Provinces will likely remain completely cloudy today. The Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts) and surrounding districts are expected to remain cloudy partially, said the Division. On Saturday, some parts of Kaski, Khotang and Myagdi district received rainfall. The Machhapuchchhre Base Camp in Kaski district recorded 3.6 millimeters of rainfall, Ghorepani in Myagdi district 1.5 millimeters and Duthkoshi in Khotang district 2 millimeters.

In view of the increasing COVID-19 cases in neighboring India and China, the Ministry of Health and Population has urged all people to receive booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines. The new variant, BF.7, has been detected in India and China, and its transmission to Nepal may take place due to open borders with the countries, said Ministry's spokesperson Dr Sanjaya Kumar Thakur. So, precaution should be adopted, he added. The variant has not been detected in Nepal so far. Those who have taken the first and second dose of the vaccines should compulsorily get booster shots, he said. The government is at work to bring booster doses. According to him, 1.5 million booster doses would be brought soon. Out of the total 9.2 million doses of the vaccines agreed to Nepal under the COVAX facility, 3.7 million doses have reached the country so far, it has been said. Similarly, the Ministry has urged people to follow health protocols, and use facemasks and sanitizers, wash hands with soap and maintain physical distance. Meanwhile, the Ministry has urged people to be safe from the risk of cold waves and snow. Ministry's assistant spokesperson Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said the people have been urged to keep themselves safe as the cold is increasing due to the cold wave and snowfall since some time. The Ministry has urged people to wear warm clothes covering the whole body, to keep the rooms warm and to manage proper ventilation and air flow in the room. Adhikari said that the children, senior citizens, pregnant women and people with chronic disease should be protected from cold. Likewise, the Ministry urged people to regular breast-feeding to the breast-fed infants, feeding them with warm and nutritious liquid feed. It also urged people against smoking and drinking alcohol.  

The Ministry of Health and Population has appealed to all to wear face masks while in public places. The latest request from the Ministry comes after the infection of a new variant of coronavirus BF-7 is reported to be increasing in the neighboring countries. The Ministry has also requested all to follow the health protocol including maintaining physical distance and washing hands properly. Issuing a statement, MoHP Spokesperson Dr Sanjay Kumar Thakur has urged all to follow health protocol including wearing masks in public places, maintaining physical distance, using sanitizers, washing hands regularly with soap and water. The statement also appeals to all concerned to complete their booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, for those celebrating New Year 2023 and the Christmas festival, the Ministry has urged people to avoid crowded places and observe the festivals with caution. Although the BF-7 variant has not yet been confirmed in Nepal, the risk remains high due to open borders and movement as it is increasing in neighbouring India and China, the statement said.

Rastriya Prajantra Party (RPP) Chairman Rajendra Lingden has said that his party is not in a hurry to join the government. He said so during a program organized to welcome and congratulate the newly elected lawmakers from RPP. He, however, said that the RPP has not vowed to stay away from the government either. The Party's agenda and values would be set gradually and it would take decisions on time, Lingden added. Lingden claimed that his party had taken a right track from the election. He was also of the view that the RPP could not collect the votes as per its expectation due to the failure to mobilize the party effectively. However, it won people's trust. The Chairperson also made it clear that new persons having capacity and potential were made the lawmakers. On the occasion, RPP leader Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana suggested the newly elected members of the House of Representatives from the party to be watchful on the old parties and government activities. Parliament should be utilized as a platform to show capacity, he said.

The political parties represented in the Gandaki provincial assembly have started internal preparations for the formation of a new government in Gandaki Province. The discussion about the next power equation in the government started after the Election Commission submitted the report with the results of the election held on November 20 to the Chief of Gandaki Province, Prithviman Gurung on Sunday. According to the election results, five parties— Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Prajatanta Party and CPN (Unified Socialist)—will be represented in the Gandaki provincial assembly. In the 60-member provincial assembly, 36 members have been elected through the FPTP system while 24 people have been elected through the proportional representation (PR) system of the election. Gandaki has 27 representatives from Nepali Congress, 22 from UML, eight from Maoist Center, two from Rastriya Prajatantra Party and one from Unified Socialist Party. Even though CPN (Unified Socialist) did not win any seat in the election, Rajiv Gurung (Deepak Manange), an independent candidate elected from Manang, joined the party after the election. A total of 31 members are required to form a majority government but since no single party has a majority number, the equation between the parties will be important. Article 168 of the Constitution provides for the formation of the Provincial Council of Ministers. Section 1 of the said article stipulates that the leader of the parliamentary party with the majority in the provincial assembly will be appointed as the chief minister. Furthermore, Article 168 of the Constitution states that in the absence of a clear majority of any party, a member of the Provincial Assembly who can obtain a majority with the support of two or more parties represented in the Provincial Assembly will be elected the Chief Minister. Hence, the political parties are now engaged in the exercise of government formation following this article. Meanwhile, the parties are also preparing to select their respective leader of the parliamentary party. It is believed that the Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Center, which formed an alliance in the election, will jointly form the next government. The Nepali Congress has 27 members, Maoist Centre has eight and Unified Socialist has one, to make it 36 members, which will be a clear majority. Coalition of left parties is another option for the formation of the new government including CPN-UML and Maoist-Centre. The UML with 22 members, Maoist with eight and Unified Socialist with one member can garner 31 members. The support of RPP will also be necessary for a convenient majority. Meanwhile, for a stable government, the option of an equation between the Congress and the UML is also in discussion at the moment.  

The CPN (Maoist Centre) has decided to elect the Parliamentary Party leader only after the House of Representatives (HoR) members elected under the proportional representation (PR) system on behalf of the party receive certificates of the election. The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to present certificates to the candidates elected under the PR system on December 18. Chief secretary at the Office of the CPN (Maoist Centre), Shreeram Dhakal said that there is no dispute on choosing the Parliamentary Party leader like other parties. He said that existing parliamentary leader and party Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is highly likely to get elected to the post unanimously.   The party has no differing views in regard with electing the leader unanimously. The party has won 18 seats under the first-past-the-post system and 14 towards the PR in the HoR during November 20 elections.  

At least 554 wild animals have died in the Chitwan National Park in a span of five months. Of them, 27 died natural death and 21 succumbed to domestic dog biting, said Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, information officer for the CNP. Fighting each other, electrifying and road accidents are blamed for the death of others. The dead animals include 32 spotted deer, five rhinos, three gharials, three blue bulls, two wild elephants, two antelopes, two boars, two tortoises and one leopard. However, no wild animal has died from poaching during the period, thanks to awareness programmes launched by the CNP, he said.  

Baglung district has witnessed a growth of 20 percent in orange production compared to last year. This year, the farmers in the district produced around 4,380 metric tonnes of orange, Chief of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Baglung, Bhanu Bhakta Bhattarai said. According to him, the farmers produced oranges worth Rs 240 million this year against Rs 200 million last year. Suitable weather patterns this year contributed to increased output, he shared. Likewise, the catchment area of oranges has also increased in the recent years after the declaration of orange zone under the Prime Minister Modern Agriculture Programme. “Baglung lies in the mid-hill area and this is a very suitable geography for orange production. The weather and soil here is appropriate for orange farming,” Bhattarai said. The Agriculture Knowledge Centre is also offering medicine, fertilizers, training and technical assistance to the orange farmers to ensure good output from orange farming. Baglung municipality, Bihun, Tityang, Bhakunde, Lekhani, Jaimini, Damek and Sarkuwa are the pocket areas for orange production in the district.