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A man died in an elephant attack at Phaktalung in Birtamod Municipality-7, Jhapa district on Thursday.

Khagendra Bahadur Khadka, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of District Police Office, Jhapa, said that the deceased has been identified as  59-year-old Lok Prasad Limbu.

He was attacked in front of his house this morning, DSP Khadka said.

Police said that Limbu died on the spot.

Four people died in Spain, two in France and two in Italy as an early summer heatwave continued to grip much of Europe on Wednesday, triggering health alerts and forest fires and forcing the closure of a nuclear reactor at a Swiss power plant, Reuters reported.

Spanish officials said a wildfire in Catalonia had killed two people a day earlier, and authorities reported heatwave-linked deaths also in Extremadura and Cordoba. France's energy minister reported two deaths linked to the heat, with 300 others taken to hospital.

Italy issued red alerts for 18 cities, while in Germany temperatures were forecast to peak at 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas, making it the hottest day of the year.

Two men over the age of 60 died in separate incidents on the beach in Sardinia from the heat, ANSA news agency reported.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US will charge 20% tariffs on imports from Vietnam under a new trade deal reached during last-minute negotiations, BBC reported.

Products sent from Vietnam to the US had faced a 46% levy, which was set to go into effect next week as part of Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs announced in April.

Dozens of other economies, including the European Union and Japan, are still scrambling to make their own deals with the US before the planned increases. 

Under the agreement, Vietnam will charge no tariffs on US products, Trump said in a social media post, according to BBC.

Kyiv has warned that an interruption of US weapons shipments will encourage Russia to prolong the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, BBC reported.

On Tuesday the White House said it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

The decision was taken "to put America's interests first" following a defence department review of US "military support and assistance to other countries", White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, according to BBC.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two countries were now "clarifying all the details on supplies", while the foreign ministry warned any delays "would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace". 

US President Donald Trump has called for the chair of the Federal Reserve to quit right away, in an escalation of his attacks on Jerome Powell, BBC reported.

"'Too Late' should resign immediately!!!", Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. 

He also included a link to a news article about a US federal housing regulator calling for Mr Powell to be investigated over his testimony about renovations to the central bank's Washington headquarters.

Trump nominated Mr Powell to be the Fed chair during his his first term. Since then, he has repeatedly criticised him for not cutting interest rates but it's unclear whether the president has the authority to remove him from the post, according to BBC.

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an order to scrap the writ petitions filed against the appointments of 52 officials in the constitutional bodies. 

With the SC verdict in the last midnight, the office-bearers of the constitutional bodies would now serve their full six-year tenure.

Hearing of the writ petitions were conducted in the constitutional bench of Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut, Senior Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla and Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma, Dr Kumar Chudal and Dr Nahakul Subedi. 

The decision on the appointments of the constitutional bodies was taken on majority basis as Senior Justice Malla, and Justices Sharma and Dr Chudal shared their position to quash the writs. 

CJ Raut and Justice Dr Subedi viewed to scrap the writ petitions from certiorari order since the constitutional council's recommendation made on December 15, 2020 and the appointments thereafter were against the constitution. And the writ petitions against the appointments made on May 9, 2021 deemed scrap.

The SC announced its verdict on the appointments of 52 officials in the constitutional bodies after a long discussion. 

In the midnight from the bench, Chief Justice Raut shared about the dissenting opinions of the justices on the verdict. 

After the verdict, SC Spokesperson Achyut Kuinkel shared that the majority of the justices in the constitutional bench decided to scrap the writ petitions.

A total of 15 writ petitions were lodged at the SC challenging the government decision to appoint office-bearers in the constitutional bodies through ordinances.

The hearing of the case at the SC was completed on May 15. The SC was supposed to give its verdict on June 11 but again the date was fixed for July 2 (Wednesday).

The monsoon wind has its influence throughout the country at present with the monsoon low pressure trough closer to its average position, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. 

The weather will be generally cloudy across the country today.

There is a possibility of light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning in some areas of the hilly regions of the country including Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini and Sudurpaschim Provinces, as well as in some areas of the remaining regions.

The Division stated that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in one or two places in the Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces.

There is a possibility of light to moderate rain and snowfall in some areas of the country's high hilly and mountainous region.

Similarly, tonight it will be generally cloudy in the hilly areas of the country.

The Dalai Lama will meet 11 senior Buddhist monks on Wednesday morning before delivering a written statement that will "most probably" talk about his eventual succession as the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists, an official said, Reuters reported.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that enlightened monks are reborn to continue their spiritual legacy. The 14th Dalai Lama will turn 90 on Sunday and has long been expected to use the occasion to share possible clues on where his successor, a boy or a girl, could be found following his death.

Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist and says it will choose his successor. The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born outside China and has urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing.

The northern Indian town of Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama is based with thousands of other Tibetans, has already seen the arrival of the heads of various sects of Buddhism ahead of a Wednesday-Friday religious conference that precedes the birthday celebrations on the weekend, according to Reuters.