The dispute has never seemed fully settled, however, and shifting geology in the region could also add confusion.

Nepal is now seeking international help to support a new, official measurement.

With outside funding, expertise and equipment, it hopes to complete the job and finally, quantitatively settle the matter within the next couple of years.

"Since we lack the capacity to do the job on our own, we are preparing a project plan with the request for donors and we will soon be sending them out," Krishna Raj BC, director general of Nepal's Survey Department, told BBC News.

He said the three-year project was finally getting underway, with much remaining to be done.

"Funding and technology have been the main constraints. We don't have, for instance, the equipment that works in a place with -45C temperature," he said.

"We basically need data from gravity instruments, levelling points and the global positioning system (GPS) to get a complete picture.

"For all these technologies to work, first there has to be infrastructure in places like the Everest base camp, and then we need to mobilise Sherpas up and down the mountain with someone who can handle all those technologies.

"And then finally, the data will have to be processed in such a way that it will be acceptable to the international scientific community."

The need for a fresh measurement has arisen mainly as a result of the dispute with China, which rules Tibet, on whose borders the mountain range also sits.

China had argued the world's highest mountain was nearly 4m shorter than Nepal's official figure, contending it should be measured to its rock height.

Nepal has said that the snow height should also be included, as with other peaks in the world.

The disagreement surfaced in past meetings on the two countries' Himalayan borders, and recently scheduled talks on the matter were postponed.

Nepali officials say even if the issue of Everest comes up during border talks, they will stick to what Nepal maintains is the official height of the mountain.

But they also say a fresh measurement has become necessary to "set the record straight once and for all."

Geologists say the Himalayan peaks are young and still growing as the Indian subcontinent slides under the Eurasian plate, causing the mountains to rise further.

Officials said a Danish university and an Italian NGO were already trying to help the Survey Department to make formal measurements.

But they added that these foreign organisations have limited funds and capacity to offer, and therefore more support from international community is required.

They said it was yet to be decided how much funding would be sought, and some critics have said the project may become too donor-dependent.

"The project to measure the height of the Everest is being developed in such a way that Nepalese officials and experts will have quite less say," said Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, a border expert and former director general of the Survey Department.

"This project will be basically about foreigners doing the job for us even when we have technology, software, and expertise to do so much on our own."

The height of Everest has been disputed ever since the first measurement was made in 1856, with the broadly accepted height of 8,848m first recorded by an Indian survey in 1955.

In 1999, an American team used GPS technology and recorded a height of 8,850 metres - a figure now used by the US National Geographic Society - but again, Nepal did not accept that and continued to use its own official figure.

"Above 1m euros [£847,000; $1.3m], the tax rate should be 75% because it's not possible to have that level of income," he said.

Speaking on prime time TV, he promised that if elected, he would undo tax breaks enacted by Nicolas Sarkozy.

The tax proposal was condemned by his political opponents.

Opinion polls suggest the gap between the Socialist candidate and Mr Sarkozy has narrowed.

The two are tipped to reach the run-off on 6 May, after eliminating other rivals on 22 April.

Taxation for the rich has become a hot campaign issue, with tax advisers in neighbouring Switzerland saying that higher taxes for the wealthy in France could spark an exodus, Reuters news agency reports.

Many of France's richest celebrities already live abroad.

The French right-of-centre newspaper Le Figaro reports that Mr Hollande's announcement on the TF1 channel appeared to take party colleagues by surprise.

Jerome Cahuzac, responsible for budgetary affairs on Mr Hollande's campaign team, was questioned about the 75% rate on another channel, France 2, just minutes afterwards.

"You are asking me about a declaration which, for my part, I haven't heard," he said.

Mr Hollande himself renewed his call on Tuesday, saying the 75% rate on people earning more than one million euros a year was "a patriotic act".

"It's a signal that has been sent, a message of social cohesion, there is an effort to be made," he explained.

"It is patriotic to agree to pay a supplementary tax to get the country back on its feet."

Centrist presidential candidate Francois Bayrou dismissed the idea.

He told another TV channel, BFMTV: "I think it was [French film director Michel] Audiard who used the rather rough phrase: the rubbish-ometer [French: deconnometre] is working overtime."

Ministers from Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP party also attacked the proposal.

Francois Hollande "invents a new tax every week without ever proposing the smallest saving", said Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse and Foreign Minister Alain Juppe denounced the plan as "fiscal confiscation".

When Mr Sarkozy came to power in 2007, he introduced a "tax shield" that capped tax at 50% of all income.

While acknowledging the last three years have been “tough,” President Obama touted the progress made on his watch during a fundraising reception yesterday at the swanky Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

Addressing a crowd of about 400 at the reception where tickets ranged from $1,000 to $5,000, Obama urged his supporters to “think about everything that we’ve accomplished together.”

Touting healthcare reform, the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the auto bailout, the death of Osama bin Laden, and the recent spike in jobs, Obama told the gathering “that change that you believed in has begun to happen.”

For Obama, the speech was an opportunity to ask his supporters in the Democrat-rich South Florida area for their continued support. His message was to stay just as “involved and engaged and motivated in 2012 as you were in 2008.”

“If you’re willing to keep pushing with me, if you’re willing to keep struggling with me, if you’re continuing to reach out for that vision of America that we all share, I promise you change will come.”

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who introduced Obama at the fundraiser, also implored the crowd to remember the historic 2008 election. She said if the last election was “historic,” this one is “personal.”

After the Biltmore reception, Obama spoke to a more intimate gathering inside the Pinecrest home of veteran Miami power-broker Chris Korge. He also attended a private fundraising dinner at the home of former Orlando Magic star Vince Carter in Windermere, where tickets started at $30,000 a plate. The president was expected to raise more than $3.5 million during the three events.

His foray into Florida–his second this year– wasn’t entirely devoted to fundraising. Earlier in the day, Obama visited the University of Miami, where he talked about energy production. During that speech, Obama hit back at Republicans for politically “licking their chops” over rising gas prices.

“Some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. You’re shocked, I know,” Obama told the crowd of University of Miami students and faculty.

“Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically. You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?” Obama said. “And you can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas.”