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Escaped pet leopard runs amok in Pakistan capital

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A pet leopard escaped from a house in the Pakistan capital and roamed the streets for hours before being shot with a sedation dart, wildlife officials said.

In videos posted to social media of the six-hour jaunt on Thursday, the young male cat slips between cars before knocking down a man and leaping over a garden fence.

“According to our initial investigation, it is a pet animal and not wild at all, but he is scared and is constantly roaring,” Tariq Bangash, director of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, told AFP.

Pakistan last year banned the import of exotic mammals after large numbers were brought in or bred in recent years, causing problems for wildlife officials.

Big cats are seen as symbols of wealth and power in the country.

The leopard on the loose in Islamabad lightly injured four people before it was captured by officials, who took it to the city’s former zoo that was shut down in 2020 over its treatment of animals.

The creature, aged between two and three years old, is now in the company of a brown bear, a tiger and several monkeys rescued by wildlife authorities in recent months.

“We have information that several people in Islamabad and upscale areas of Rawalpindi are keeping wild animals including leopards as pets,” Bangash said.

Police are now trying to track down the owner of the leopard.

Islamabad is bordered by the Margalla Hills where a preservation zone has been set up to protect wild leopards in the area.

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Iran alerts UN to Trump threat of force, says it will defend itself

Iravani urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn Trump’s brazen rhetoric.

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Iran alerted the United Nations on Tuesday to what it described as “reckless and inflammatory statements” by U.S. President Donald Trump threatening the use of force, and warned that “any act of aggression will have severe consequences.”

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, seen by Reuters, Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani referenced remarks made by Trump in interviews with the New York Post and Fox News, in which he spoke of a preference to do a deal to stop Tehran getting a nuclear weapon over bombing the country, Reuters reported.

“These reckless and inflammatory statements flagrantly violate international law and the U.N. Charter,” Iravani wrote to the 15-member council.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran warns that any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the U.S. will bear full responsibility,” he said. “Iran will resolutely defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national interests against any hostile action.”

Trump last week restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He also said he was open to a deal and expressed a willingness to talk to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, read the report.

Pezeshkian on Monday questioned the United States’ sincerity, while Iravani wrote in his letter that the U.S. policy “reinforces unlawful, unilateral coercive measures and escalates hostility against Iran.”

Iravani urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn Trump’s “brazen rhetoric.”

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters in December.

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Egypt to host emergency Arab summit to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments

Trump’s suggestion, made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.

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Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.

The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.

Trump’s suggestion, made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, infuriated the Arab world, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — key allies of Washington.

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Iran leader Khamenei meets top Hamas leaders in Tehran, state TV says

The delegation, which also included Mohammad Darwish, head of Hamas’ leadership council, and top Hamas official Nizar Awadallah, presented Khamenei a report on the current situation in Gaza.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with acting Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and two other leaders of the Palestinian group in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian state TV reported.

“You defeated the Zionist regime [Israel], which was in fact America’s defeat,” Khamenei, whose country supports Hamas in its war with Israel, told the Palestinian delegation. “You did not allow them to achieve any of their goals.”

Iranian TV said the Palestinian leaders were in Tehran to congratulate Khamenei on the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. They expressed gratitude for Iran’s continued support.

The delegation, which also included Mohammad Darwish, head of Hamas’ leadership council, and top Hamas official Nizar Awadallah, presented Khamenei a report on the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and “the victories and successes that were achieved”.

“We come to meet with you today with pride,” the TV quoted al-Hayya as telling Khamenei.

Khamenei said U.S. threats against Iran “have no effect on the mindset of our nation,” the Iranian media said.

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