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The volume of Chinese goods imported from the Rasuwagadhi transit point on the Nepal-China border here has increased this year compared to the previous one. Only 14 containers carrying various imported goods used to pass through this transit point in a day following the decline in COVID-19 pandemic. These days as many as 21 such containers are transiting through this checkpoint on a daily basis, the Rasuwa Customs Office said. Hundreds of containers crossed the border daily to the Chinese towns Kerung and Pangsing to fetch the imported goods. Nowadays, the Chinese side has started transporting the goods up to Rasuwagadhi. Before this, movement of people and goods through the 'Nepal-China friendship bridge' here was suspended after the outbreak of COVID-19. It is said the imported goods are brought up to the transit point by Chinese trailers from the production company itself and various transport companies including the Musa Transport are involved in this. The import through Rasuwagadhi transit point recently resumed from September 15 after a long hiatus. Among the imported goods are mostly readymade clothes. It is said that one Chinese container is equivalent to two Nepali containers. Among the goods imported so far are 119 tippers of readymade clothes, 35 tippers of hydroelectricity equipment and four tippers of walnut. However, apples have not arrived until Saturday. One hundred fifty-eight big Chinese containers have brought the imported goods up to Rasuwagadhi in the interval of 10 days.

The Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has said it is effortful to ensure adequate supply of food grains in the remote areas including Karnali during the festivals–Dashain and Tihar. The biggest festivals of Nepalis - Dashain, Tihar and Chhath- are only a week away. They, together, last for about a month. Executive Director Mohan Prakash Chand said food grains would be supplied as per the quota determined on the basis of population density and need while remaining within the budget limit set by the government. As he said there might have been incidents of crowding at some FMTCL depots as people are on a buying spree taking advantage of the discount offered on food items on the occasion of the festivals. "The Company requests all the consumers to extend cooperation by buying only the required food grains and daily essentials and not for hoarding purposes," Chand said. FMTCL is selling and supplying quality food grains and commodities as rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt, sugar and beans, among others at discount from 45 outlets in 41 districts across the country. Stating that arrangements have been made for providing discount to the extent which can be felt compared to the private sector during big festivals like Dashain, Tihar and Chhath, the FMTCL executive director said sales depots have been set up at various places with the objective of smooth supply of food grains and commodities in remote areas. The state-owned company is effortful towards making available to consumers the essential foodstuffs at concessional rate and in easy manner in several remote districts. It has informed that works have been started for transporting the food grains and essentials to the remote districts through tender process. Chand said that the supplies would be ferried by helicopter to several other places in remote districts where tenders for the supply of food grains have not been received. FMTCL has been supplying commodities at the people's doorstep in few urban areas like the Kathmandu Valley in response to online orders citing high demand of supplies at the fair price shops the company is operating. The company has also been selling goats in the Kathmandu Valley for maintaining price balance in the sale and supply of goats during the big festivals. It brings the goats from various places of the country for this purpose. Before this it used to bring sheep and mountain goats from Tibet of China for sale and supply in Kathmandu until 2002. Until some years back the company brought mountain goats also from Manang and Mustang districts but stopped doing so with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.

The government is to enforce the 'time card' system in public transport operating on long routes in a bid to prevent accidents and for efficient traffic management during the festival period. The biggest festivals of Nepalis - Dashain, Tihar and Chhath- are only a week away. They last together for about a month. A meeting of the committee formed for this purpose on Saturday took a decision in this connection. It is said the time card system is also being enforced with a view to discouraging the tendency of driving at high speed to reach the destination earlier. The committee has made 14 various decisions including implementing the time card by identifying places on the highway in coordination with Nepal Police, the Department of Transport Management and the transport entrepreneurs. The meeting was chaired by Home Ministry spokesperson and the committee coordinator Phanindra Mani Pokharel. It decided to strictly prohibit travelling on the roofs of buses or vehicles or hanging. The committee will also carry out monitoring as needed for preventing drunk driving. The committee has taken a decision requiring every public transportation vehicle to keep a first aid kit, stickers with necessary information as police hotline contact number, a signal object if there is an accident and to make arrangements for sanitizing the vehicle. Likewise, the committee decided to make public the phone number for passengers to complain in case the driver drives the vehicle in an unusual manner and to arrange for directing all the police units for immediate mobilization after getting such a complaint. As per the information shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Transport Management will make arrangements for conducting mechanical checks at the main places in the Kathmandu Valley on vehicles operating on the medium and long routes beginning September 25. This would be conducted in coordination of the authorized seller, the Traffic Police and the transport entrepreneurs. A decision has been taken requiring the transport entrepreneurs’ federation to assign a contact person in every province and district for the smooth operation of vehicles and provide his/her phone number to Nepal Police.

The death toll from a migrant boat that sank off the Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon earlier this week has risen to 94, after more bodies were recovered from Syria's Baniyas coast on the Mediterranean, Syrian state TV said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

It is the deadliest such voyage yet from Lebanon, where mounting economic desperation has led many to board often rickety and overcrowded boats in the hope of reaching Europe.

Syrian authorities began finding bodies off the coast of the northern port city of Tartus on Thursday afternoon. The Syrian transport ministry quoted survivors as saying the boat had left from Lebanon's northern Minyeh region on Tuesday with between 120 and 150 people on board, bound for Europe, according to Reuters.