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Rights groups have urged FIFA to ensure the 2026 World Cup upholds commitments to inclusivity and safety, warning that U.S. immigration policies and concerns over press freedom could undermine the tournament, Reuters reported. 

The Sport & Rights Alliance said the governing body had promised a "safe, welcoming and inclusive" competition under its Human Rights Framework but that rhetoric and immigration policies under U.S. President Donald Trump risked creating fear among fans, journalists and communities.

"Football brings the world together — but not if U.S. visa bans and mass deportation raids keep immigrants, workers, journalists, communities, and fans away," the coalition of rights groups wrote in a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino released on Thursday, according to Reuters. 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the Iran soccer team was welcome to participate in the 2026 World Cup but that he believed it was not appropriate that they be there "for their own life and safety".

Iran has qualified for the 48-team tournament to be held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June ​11 and are scheduled to play two group matches in Los Angeles and one in Seattle, Reuters reported. 

"The Iran ​national soccer team is welcome to the World Cup, but I really don’t believe it ⁠is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety," Trump said in a post on ​Truth Social

Currently, the country is experiencing partial influence from a western low-pressure system, a high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere, and a low-pressure area in the lower atmosphere near the eastern region. 

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, this afternoon cloudy weather is generally expected in the Koshi Province along with hilly and mountainous areas, while the remaining regions will experience partly cloudy weather.  

There is a possibility of light rain or snowfall with thunder and lightning in some places of the hilly and mountainous areas of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini Provinces, as well as in the hilly and mountainous regions of Karnali and Sudurpashchim Provinces, and in one or two places in the Madhesh, Bagmati, and Gandaki Provinces. 

Similarly, tonight, cloudy weather is expected in the hilly and mountainous areas of Koshi Province along with Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces, while the remaining areas will have partly cloudy conditions. 

The Division has informed that light rain or snowfall with thunder and lightning may occur in one or two places in the hilly and mountainous areas of these provinces. 

Alerts have been issued for the general public in areas where snowfall and rainfall are predicted.

CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli has been bereaved of his father. 

Former Prime Minister Oli's father Mohan Prasad Oli breathed his last at Bhaktapur-based Nepal Korea Friendship Hospital today. He was 97. 

He is survived by two sons and three daughters. 

His last rites will be performed at the Pashupati Aryaghat today, Chair Oli's private secretariat informed. 

The U.S. and Western allies clashed with Russia and China ​on Thursday over Iran's nuclear intentions, as Washington sought at the United Nations to further justify the war it launched on Iran two weeks ago, Reuters reported. 

At a meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council, which is chaired this month by the U.S., Russia and China moved unsuccessfully to block a discussion about a committee established to oversee and enforce U.N. sanctions on Iran. They were overruled 11-2 with two ​abstentions.

Addressing the council, U.S. envoy to the United Nations Mike Waltz accused Moscow and Beijing of seeking to protect ​Tehran by blocking the work of the so-called 1737 Committee, according to Reuters. 

A U.S. military refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on ​Thursday, in an incident U.S. Central Command said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or ​friendly fire, Reuters reported. 

The United States has ​surged a large number of aircraft ⁠into the Middle East to take ​part in operations against Iran.

In a ​statement, U.S. Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after the U.S. KC-135 ​refueling aircraft went down. The second ​aircraft landed safely, according to Reuters. 

Israeli airstrikes hit two buildings in the heart of Beirut near ​the Lebanese government's headquarters on Thursday, ramping up Israel's offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah and dragging Lebanon deeper into the Middle East war, Reuters reported. 

A day after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched its biggest rocket salvo of the conflict, Israel's defence minister said the military had orders to expand the campaign and Israel's military chief said the operation in Lebanon would not be short.

Israel has pounded Lebanon's south and east and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, killing nearly 700 people, according to Lebanese authorities. It has also ordered mass evacuations in those same areas, prompting more than 800,000 people to flee their homes, according to Reuters. 

Iran will fight on and keep the Strait of Hormuz shut as leverage against the United States and Israel, new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday in defiant first comments attributed to him since he ​succeeded his slain father, Reuters reported. 

Hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his first press conference since the start of the war to make his own strong statement, issuing a veiled threat to kill Khamenei and defending the ‌military assault on Iran, which has claimed thousands of lives and shaken energy and stock markets.

"I wouldn’t issue life insurance policies on any of the leaders of the terrorist organization ... I don't intend to give an exact message here about what we are planning or what we are going to do," Netanyahu said, standing between two Israeli flags and taking questions via video link, according to Reuters.