Netanyahu says fall of Iran's leadership not a goal but could be a result
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the change or fall of Iran's leadership was not a goal of Israel's attacks but could be a result, Reuters reported.
"The matter of changing the regime or the fall of this regime is first and foremost a matter for the Iranian people. There is no substitute for this.
"And that's why I didn't present it as a goal. It could be a result, but it's not a stated or formal goal that we have," Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel's Kan public television.
He said Israel had the power to remove all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, whether U.S. President Donald Trump decides to join in or not.
Netanyahu spoke before the White House said Trump would decide in the next two weeks whether to get involved, according to Reuters.
Israel-Iran air war enters second week as Europe pushes diplomacy
Israel and Iran's air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential U.S. involvement would be made within two weeks, Reuters reported.
Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. It says its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side.
Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities, but also has sought to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Western and regional officials, according to Reuters.
US joining Israeli strikes would cause hell: Iranian minister
The US joining Israeli strikes would cause "hell for the whole region", Iran's deputy foreign minister said, BBC reported.
Saeed Khatibzadeh said this is "not America's war" and if US President Donald Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as "a president who entered a war he doesn't belong in".
He said US involvement would turn the conflict into a "quagmire", continue aggression and delay an end to the "brutal atrocities".
His comments came after the Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack. Iranian state media reported that the strike targeted a military site next to the hospital, and not the facility itself, according to BBC.
Three years left to limit warming to 1.5C, leading scientists warn
The Earth could be doomed to breach the symbolic 1.5C warming limit in as little as three years at current levels of carbon dioxide emissions, BBC reported.
That's the stark warning from more than 60 of the world's leading climate scientists in the most up-to-date assessment of the state of global warming.
Nearly 200 countries agreed to try to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above levels of the late 1800s in a landmark agreement in 2015, with the aim of avoiding some of the worst impacts of climate change.
But countries have continued to burn record amounts of coal, oil and gas and chop down carbon-rich forests - leaving that international goal in peril, according to BBC.
Oli-Deuba-Dahal meet postponed again
The meeting among Nepal’s top political leaders—Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal—has been postponed yet again.
Scheduled for 2 pm on Thursday, the tripartite talks were called off at the last minute.
This is the second postponement in as many days. A meeting originally called for Wednesday was canceled because Dahal was out of Kathmandu.
Though he returned on Thursday, the meeting was still not held.
According to sources, the decision to delay was taken after the scheduled time had already lapsed, reportedly at the Prime Minister’s initiative.
JC summons judges over Alam acquittal
The two judges—Khusi Prasad Tharu and Arjun Maharjan—who acquitted former Nepali Congress lawmaker Mohammad Aftab Alam in a murder case have been summoned by the Judicial Council.
In a meeting held on Thursday, the council decided to relieve them of their current responsibilities and bring them under review.
The Council had formed a one-member investigation committee comprising Supreme Court justice Binod Sharma.
Alam had been accused of orchestrating a deadly bomb-making operation at his residence in Rajpur Farhadawa, Rautahat, on the eve of the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008.
At the time, he was a candidate and allegedly aimed to use the explosives to capture booths. However, the bomb exploded prematurely, injuring many.
The injured were reportedly burned alive by being thrown into a brick kiln furnace to destroy evidence. The Rautahat district court later convicted Alam and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
However, on May 28, a division bench of the Janakpur high court’s Birgunj bench, led by Judges Tharu and Maharjan, overturned that verdict and acquitted him of all charges.
Court upholds press freedom
The Patan high court has issued an interim order instructing the government not to arrest journalist Dil Bhushan Pathak. The court had previously issued a short-term interim order, which has now been extended following a hearing from both parties. This means that the police cannot arrest Pathak until the final verdict is delivered in the case he has filed.
In another development, the Kathmandu district court has overturned an earlier order that had directed the removal of a news article from Bizmandu.com and Nepal Khabar. The decision came from a bench led by Judge Shyambihari Maurya, which rejected a petition for a restraining order filed by Santosh Narayan Shrestha, chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal. With the petition dismissed, a previous order issued by Judge Pitambar Sharma requiring the removal of the news article has also been automatically annulled.
Interaction on Nepal-Pakistan parliamentary diplomacy
Nepal- Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group on Thursday held an interaction with Ambassador of Pakistan to Nepal Abrar H. Hashmi. The interaction was attended by members of group, diplomats from Pakistan Embassy and Nepal-Pakistan Friendship and Cultural Association.
Speaking on the occasion, Hashmi appreciated the longstanding and cordial relations between Pakistan and Nepal, rooted in shared cultural heritage, mutual respect, and regional affinity. He highlighted the deep people-to-people linkages and reiterated Pakistan’s desire to further expand relations between the two Parliaments and bilateral cooperation in trade, tourism, education, health, culture, climate resilience, according the press release.
The Ambassador also briefed the Parliamentary Friendship Group on the latest developments in Pakistan’s economy and regional situation, emphasizing Pakistan’s vision for a peaceful and prosperous South Asia. He welcomed the interest of the Nepali Parliament in fostering parliamentary diplomacy and institutional linkages.
Members of the Pakistan-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s consistent support to Nepal and expressed satisfaction over relations free of irritants and underscored the importance of parliamentary exchanges in deepening mutual understanding. They also emphasized exploring new avenues of collaboration, particularly economic, cultural, youth, women, marginalized groups, technical support and capacity-building.