Submit your Article

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.

The ministers will first meet with the European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at Germany's permanent mission in Geneva before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, the source said.

The European initiative comes amid fears of a spiralling conflict in the Middle East after Israel launched wide-ranging military strikes on its arch-enemy Iran last week and Iran sent waves of missiles at Israeli targets in response, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump has declined to say whether the United States will join its ally Israel's military campaign, fuelling concerns that the crisis could intensify.

The prospect of a U.S. strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought President Donald Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war, Reuters reported.

Some of Trump's most prominent Republican allies, including top lieutenant Steve Bannon, have found themselves in the unusual position of being at odds with a president who largely shares their isolationist tendencies.

Bannon, one of many influential voices from Trump's "America First" coalition, on Wednesday urged caution about the U.S. military joining Israel in trying to destroy Iran's nuclear program in the absence of a diplomatic deal, according to Reuters.

"We can't do this again," Bannon told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington. "We'll tear the country apart. We can't have another Iraq."

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel has said that the government will ensure a budget for disaster management in the country.

In a discussion held with a joint team of elected people’s representatives from Lalitpur district on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Poudel said that the disaster-induced floods and landslides will be managed as soon as possible.

Expressing his commitment to allocate budget through the concerned ministry in necessary coordination with the NDRRMA, he also responded positively to all the issues raised by the all-party team of people's representatives.

The team led by Nepali Congress leader and House of Representatives member Udaya Shumsher Rana sought funds for immediate reconstruction of settlements and structures damaged due to the floods that occurred last monsoon.

The team also urged that the budget of Rs 250 million allocated for the Lele-Bhardeu-Chandanpur-Thuladurlung road be mobilized as a multi-year project. 

The team has demanded immediate compensation for those impacted by the Satdobato-Chapagaun and Satdobato-Godavari road expansion works.

South Korean Ambassador to Nepal Park Tae-young has said that promotion of mountains is necessary for the development of ecotourism.

After observing a photo exhibition held on the theme of 'Mountain Tourism: Our Pride, Our Identity' organized on the occasion of the 18th Republic Day today, he said that the photos related to the mountains displayed in the exhibition are beautiful as well as informative.

He mentioned that the photo exhibition also provides information about the status of the mountainous areas. A total of 96 pictures were put on display in the expo that began from May 25.

The government has decided to accept Rs 50.51 billion in soft loans provided by the World Bank for various projects ranging from roads to bridges. The subsidized loan would be utilized for the projects of strategic road network and upgrading of trade routes and bridges.

Spokesperson of the government and Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung, told media persons that the WB Group was providing Nepal around Rs 29.72 billion for strategic road network and trade route upgrading projects and around Rs 20.79 billion grant for the third phase of bridge upgrading project. 

The minister  shared it while making public the decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on Monday. As per the Cabinet decision, the government will also accept the grants of some Rs 1.8 billion to be provided by South Korea for the enforcement of projects on inclusive rural development in Bardiya district. 

Accordingly, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli would visit Spain, leading a Nepali delegation from June 30 to July 5. 

It was decided to table an agreement to be made with the WTO on fishery in the federal Parliament.

The Cabinet also decided to transfer some high ranking officials including secretaries. DIG of the Armed Police Force, Ganesh Bahadur Thadamagar, would be promoted to the post of AIG and made appointment accordingly. 

A Nepali delegation will be formed to attend the 16th meeting of Nepal-India bilateral consultation group to be held in Pune, India on June 23-24.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically said that India does not and will never accept US mediation to resolve issues between India and Pakistan.

In a telephone conversation, Indian PM said that discussion to cease military action took place directly between India and Pakistan through the existing channels of communications between the two armed forces, and it was initiated at Pakistan’s request. 

According to a statement issued by Ministry of External Affairs, PM Modi clearly conveyed to President Trump that no point during this entire sequence of events was there any discussions, at any level, on an India-U. S trade deal, or any proposal for a mediation by the U.S between India and Pakistan.

The readout from Indian side says: “Prime Minister Modi firmly stated that India does not and will never accept mediation. There is complete political consensus in India on this matter.”

Earlier, Trump had claimed that India and Pakistan agreed for the ceasefire after he threatened to stop the trade with both countries, and India is outright denial from India. 

“With regard to the Indo-Pacific region, both leaders shared their perspectives and expressed their support towards the significant role of QUAD in the region.

Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to President Trump to visit India for the next QUAD Summit. President Trump accepted the invitation and said that he is looking forward to visiting India,” the statement says. 

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump shelved in recent weeks an interagency working group it had set up to formulate strategies for pressuring Russia into speeding up peace talks with Ukraine, according to three U.S. officials, Reuters reported.

The effort, which was established earlier in the spring, lost steam in May as it became increasingly clear to participants that Trump was not interested in adopting a more confrontational stance toward Moscow, said the officials.

Despite pledging during his campaign to end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his presidency, Trump in recent months has grown increasingly frustrated that his push has yielded no breakthroughs. He has begun saying that the United States may abandon its efforts to broker peace altogether.

In light of that threat, the working group's task seemed increasingly irrelevant, added those officials, who requested anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both posted to social media hinting that the United States is considering involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, with Trump even raising the possibility of violence against Iran’s leadership, Aljazeera reported.

The first of Tuesday’s posts came from Vance, who wrote a lengthy missive defending Trump’s handling of the conflict and blaming Iran for continuing its nuclear enrichment programme.

“The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways- the easy way or the ‘other’ way,” Vance wrote.

The vice president proceeded to explain what the “other way” might look like, according to Aljazeera.

“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens,” Vance said. “He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president.”