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The weather will be partly to generally cloudy across the country along with rain and thunder and lightning at some places today.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, there is a possibility of light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorm and lightning at some places of hilly region and many places of other parts of the country.

The same weather would continue on Saturday. The sky of hilly region of the country would remain generally to fully cloudy while it would be partly to generally cloudy in the remaining regions in the night.

Light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorm and lightning has been forecast at some places of hilly areas and few places of other parts of the country as well as heavy rainfall is likely to take place at one or two places of Gandaki province.

As per the Meteorological Forecasting Division, today's minimum temperature in Kathmandu Valley is recorded at 20.5 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature at 28.2 degrees Celsius.

At least 50 goats died after being struck by lightning at Ripgaun of Sarkegad Rural Municipality-2 in Humla district.

A person has also sustained minor injuries while some other livestock died in the incident.

Ward Chairman of Sarkegad Rural Municipality-2 Siddha Karki said the livestock were in the pastureland for the grazing.

Ward Chairman Karki shared that details of the incident are still awaited as the pastureland is far away from the residential area.

Transport service has come to a halt on the Melamchi-Helambu road section when the rain-triggered flood since last night took away its parts in several places. 

Balsit Khadka, a local, said the flood has devastated the road that was reconstructed following the massive flood at Chanaute, Helambu last year. 

Shyammani Chalise, a local of Melamchi, said the road traffic was also disrupted at Dhungebazar of Helambu and Simkhel in Melamchi. 

Locals of the areas including Gyalthum of Helambu were forced to stay outside the home during last night due to incessant rain. 

Downpour was reported in and around Nakote near the Melamchi Rivulet in Sindhupalchowk district last night. 

Local Administration has urged local dwellers to stay alert in view of possible landslides on the banks of Melamchi and steep land with the rise in water level. 

Thirty-nine various human rights organizations have called for rectifying the 'lapses' in the Bill for the Amendment of the Commission of the Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, 2071 (2014) that the Government of Nepal registered in the parliament on 15 July 2022. 

These human rights organizations have also expressed full solidarity with the 'valid and serious concerns' expressed by the victims’ community on the Bill.

"We believe that despite positive provisions including reparations, the amendment Bill contains many provisions that violate the victim’s right to an effective remedy. Amnesty to those involved in serious violations of human rights and international crimes including murder, torture, rape, and other forms of serious sexual violence, war crimes, and crimes against humanity is not acceptable under national and international law. 

Thus, the categorization of violations in the Bill is not acceptable. Earnest effort is required from the Government and the political parties to prevent explicit or implicit immunity from criminal accountability for those involved in serious violations of human rights and intentional crimes," the 39 human rights organizations said in a joint press release.

They called on the Ministry to re-work on the Bill to ensure that the Bill complies with national, international law and the decisions of the Supreme Court of Nepal, and the aspirations expressed by victims during the consultations the sovereign institution of the people's representatives. Similarly, the Federal Parliament is urged not to pass the Bill as the law without ensuring that the Bill does not violate national and international law and aspiration of victims while the political parties of Nepal have been urged to play constructive roles helping parliament to pass the law following inclusive process while the UN and Nepal’s international development partners are urged not to legitimatize and support any process that undermines international law and further impunity in Nepal.

Among the 39 organizations issuing the joint press release include the Accountability Watch Committee (AWC), Advocacy Forum Nepal, Alliance for Social Dialogue, Amnesty International Nepal,  Blue Diamond Society- Nepal,  Centre for Legal Studies, Civil Rights Association Nepal, Collective Campaign for Peace, Conflict Victim Women National Network (CVWNN), Conflict Victims’ Common Platform (CVCP), Conflict Victims’ National Alliance (CVNA), Conflict Victims’ Society for Justice (CVSJ), Democratic Freedom and Human Rights Institute (DFHRI), Discharged People’s Liberation Army Nepal (D-PLAN), Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Forum for Restorative Justice, National Network of Disabled Conflict Victims, National Network of Families of Disappeared (NEFAD) and the National Network of Families of Disappeared (NEFAD).

Rain is predicted in most of the places of the country with general to complete changes in weather condition.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to moderate rain is likely to take place with thunderstorms and lightning in most of the mountainous area and other places with weather changes across the country.

There is possibility of heavy rainfall in Sudurpaschim and Province-1. According to the Department, some parts of Sudurpaschim Province and Province-1 are likely to receive heavy rainfall in next 24 hours.

Likewise, light to moderate rain with thunders and lightning are predicted in most of the parts of mountainous area and other places in coming 24 hours.

The Department has cautioned one and all to place safety measures as the rain-induced disasters may hit hard daily lives in mountainous regions.

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has said that a prosperous Nepal can be built only through the proportional distribution of the production and the access to relations of production.

He said so while addressing a training programme organised by the UML Bagmati Province Committee here today.

On the occasion, he urged the people to make the UML victorious in the upcoming federal and provincial elections for achieving prosperity and happiness.

He stressed that the ‘anarchy’ seen in the party would no longer be acceptable. 

In a case of utter negligence by a drinking water bottling plant, insect larvae and algae has been found in a water jar produced by the plant at a time when cholera outbreak is feared in Kathmandu Valley.

This level of negligence was observed during the monitoring of various drinking water bottling plants operated at Jhaukhel, Changunarayan Municipality-3 in Bhaktapur district. The monitoring was conducted under the leadership of Assistant Chief District Officer Madhav Prasad Sharma.

The monitoring team of the District Administration Office, Bhaktapur has destroyed the old bottles and jars with layers of algae inside that were found in the course of monitoring the various drinking water manufacturing companies.

A team comprising representatives of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, the Consumers Federation, the District Cottage Industries Office, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and stakeholder organizations, and journalists carried out the monitoring and found negligence on the part of drinking water bottling plants.

The District Administration Office conducted the monitoring after increasing public complaints that worms and algae was found inside the various brands of jars containing drinking water.

The assistant chief district officer Sharma said that old jars numbering in hundreds found in course of onsite monitoring have been destroyed. He said the water bottling plants committing such negligence have been reprimanded and legal action would be initiated if they repeated their negligence.

Sample of water has been collected from two water plants in course of the monitoring and the samples forwarded to the Department for lab examination.

A total of 37 rhinos have died in the Chitwan National Park (CNP) and its buffer zone in the last fiscal year 2021/22.

According to the CNP, two were killed due to poaching and the remaining due to natural causes. CNP Information Officer Ganesh Prasad Timalsina said that among the two rhinos killed in poaching, the horn and hooves of one was intact while those of the next one had been taken away by poachers.

Timalsina said among the dead rhinos, 18 were male, 14 female and the gender of five could not be ascertained. Most of the rhinos died due to old age, getting stuck in swamp, tiger attack and falling in ditches among others.

Altogether 33 rhinos had died in 2020/21 while 44 in 2019/20, the CNP said. CNP, sprawling across 932 square meters of area, has grassland across 10,497 hectare land. Depletion of those grasslands had also contributed to the declining number of rhinos in the CNP.

A total of 752 rhinos were recorded in Nepal in 2021. CNP is home to 694 of them.