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The Ministry of Health and Population is going to integrate the social health security programs.

Accordingly, Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Poudel today approved the 'Destitute Citizen Medical Treatment Program Operation Guidelines, 2080 (First Amendment 2082)'. 

The Guidelines has made a provision for a single-door system to provide payment for the treatment of eight types of serious diseases provided through the Destitute Citizen Treatment Program through the Health Insurance Board. With the approval of these guidelines, the Destitute Citizen Treatment Program has come under the umbrella of health insurance.

The revised guidelines has made a provision for the payment process of the destitute citizens treatment program run by the Department of Health Services, Nursing and Social Security Division to be enforced through the Health Insurance Board and other activities related to the program, such as hospital listing, integrated monitoring, etc., to be done by the Nursing and Social Security Division.

Approving the guidelines, Minister Poudel said that the government is committed to the medical treatment of destitute citizens and is active in making the insurance program more integrated, systematic and transparent.

Ministry spokesperson Dr Prakash Budhathoki said that after the implementation of these guidelines will make the state's investment economical. 

After the implementation of these guidelines, everyone's accounts will be clear and benefits will reach the real patients.

The Israeli military says it is calling up about 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City, BBC reported.

A military official said the reservists would report for duty in September and that most of the troops mobilised for the offensive would be active-duty personnel.

They added that troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas as part of the preparations for the plan, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza, according to BBC.

The UK has signed a new deal with Iraq aimed at speeding up the return of migrants with no right to be in the country, BBC reported.

It builds on previous efforts to cooperate on tackling smuggling gangs and deterring people from crossing the Channel in small boats.

More than 27,000 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year, up from around 18,000 in the same period last year.

The Conservatives described the deal as "measly" , saying "barely any" small boat arrivals are now Iraqi, according to BBC.

M23 rebels killed at least 140 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last month in one of the worst atrocities by the armed group since its resurgence in late 2021, Human Rights Watch has said in a report, BBC reported.

This is despite a peace process, brokered by the US and Qatar, to end the conflict in the region.

Witnesses told the advocacy group that the Rwanda-backed rebels "summarily executed" local residents, including women and children, largely from the ethnic Hutu group in the Rutshuru area, near the Virunga National Park, according to BBC.

The rebels have previously strongly denied any role in these killings, calling the charges a "blatant misrepresentation of the facts".

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 9. 70 points to close at 2, 767. 20 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 2. 10 points to close at 474. 96 points.

A total of 15,266,617-unit shares of 323 companies were traded for Rs 5. 20 billion.

Meanwhile,  Bikash Hydropower Company Limited (BHCL) was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Panchakanya Mai Hydropower Ltd (PMHPL) was the top loser as its price fell by 9. 03 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 1. 56 trillion.

British inflation hit its highest in 18 months in July when it increased to 3.8% from 3.6%, official data showed on Wednesday, once again leaving the country with the fastest rate of price increases among the world's largest rich economies, Reuters reported.

Inflation in Britain's services sector - which is watched closely by the Bank of England - accelerated to 5.0% from 4.7% a month earlier.

The BoE expected headline inflation to rise to 3.8% in July but had forecast a smaller 4.9% rise in services prices. Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected increases of 3.7% and 4.8% respectively, according to Reuters.

At least 14 people, including a family with three children, were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, Ukraine's prime minister said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The strike took place at a time of intense efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to bring an end to the Russian war in Ukraine.

Russia launched 15 drones in an assault on the Okhtyrka area in the early hours of Wednesday, local prosecutors said on the Telegram messaging app.

The children injured in the attack, which struck a residential neighbourhood in the town, were aged 5 months, 4 years and 6 years, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X, according to Reuters.

Former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has been jailed in his native Mexico after his arrest in the United States in July, BBC reported.

The Mexican boxer was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Studio City, Los Angeles, five days after fighting Jake Paul in nearby Anaheim.

The 39-year-old has now been detained in a prison in the northern Mexico state of Sonora, the country's national arrest registry showed on Tuesday, as he awaits charges.

It said that the boxer was arrested at a checkpoint in the border city of Nogales on Tuesday morning and transferred to a federal institution in Sonora's capital of Hermosillo, according to BBC.