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World TB Day is being marked across the world today. 

In Nepal, different programs are being organized by the Ministry of Health and Population, and the health care fraternities to raise public awareness against TB.   

As per the National Strategic Plan to End Tuberculosis, Nepal has set a goal to decrease incidence rate from 238 in 2020/21 to 81 patients per 100,000 population by 2025/26; decrease mortality rate from 58 in 2020/21 to 23 per 100,000 by 2020/21; end TB by 2035; prevent TB by 2050; and reduce the catastrophic cost to zero.

This year's World TB Day 2026 is being celebrated under the theme of ‘Yes! We can end TB!’, which is a bold call to action and a message of hope, affirming that it is possible to get back on track and turn the tide on the TB epidemic, even in a challenging global environment, the World Health Organization stated. 

"With decisive country leadership, increased domestic and international investment, rapid uptake of new WHO recommendations and innovations, accelerated action, and strong multisectoral collaboration, ending TB is not just aspirational - it is achievable," it said.

According to the WHO, 83 million lives have been saved since 2000 by treating TB patients, while 10.7 million people fell ill with TB in 2024 and 1.23 million people died of TB in the same year. In Nepal, 67,000 TB patients were confirmed in 2024. 

The weather in  hilly and Himalayan regions in Koshi, Madhesh and Lumbini Provinces are generally cloudy, while the remaining parts in the country are partly cloudy at present. 

According to the Weather Forecasting Division of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light rain and snowfall coupled with thunder and lightning are taking place in one or two parts of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali Provinces.

This afternoon, generally cloudy conditions are expected in the hilly and Himalayan regions in the country including the Koshi Province, while partly cloudy conditions will prevail in the Tarai. 

There is a possibility of light rain and snowfall with thunder and lightning at a few places in the hilly and Himalayan regions of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Karnali Provinces, and at one or two places in the remaining hilly and Himalayan regions.

Tonight, generally cloudy conditions are expected in the hilly and Himalayan regions and the weather will remain clear in Tarai. 

There is a possibility of light rain and snowfall with thunder and lightning at some places in the hilly and Himalayan regions of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali Provinces, at a few places in the remaining hilly and Himalayan regions.

According to the Department, the country is under the partial influence of westerly winds along with local winds at present.

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has conceded defeat in a referendum on her justice reforms, while confirming she would continue as prime minister, Aljazeera reported. 

With almost all votes counted, the provisional result from Sunday and Monday’s constitutional referendum put the “No” camp at about 53.5 percent, and “Yes” at about 46.5 percent, with a higher-than-expected turnout of more than 58 percent.

“The Italians have decided. And we respect this decision,” Meloni said in a statement on X on Monday, alongside a video, saying the result of the referendum was “a lost opportunity to modernise Italy”.

Less than 48 hours before the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone to President Donald Trump about the reasons for launching the kind of complex, far-off warthe American leader once had campaigned against, Reuters reported. 

Both Trump and Netanyahu knew from intelligence briefings earlier in the week that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his key lieutenants would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, ​making them vulnerable to a “decapitation strike” – an attack against a country's top leaders often used by Israelis but traditionally less so by the United States.

But new intelligence suggested that the meeting had been moved forward to Saturday morning from Saturday night, according to three people briefed on the call, according to Reuters.