JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered on a career-long ambition to topple Iran’s leadership, but his lockstep alignment with US President Donald Trump faces a test as their joint military campaign threatens to drag on, with its goals potentially shifting in the coming weeks.
At the outset of the bombing campaign on Saturday (March 4), both Trump and Netanyahu said regime change was the goal.
But in remarks at the White House on Monday, two days after Israeli air strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of his leadership, Trump did not mention overthrowing Iran’s government as his top priority.
The US goal, he said, was to destroy Iran’s missiles and navy, and to stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
His Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said at a press conference that same day that the operation was not a “so-called regime-change war”.
Netanyahu, by contrast, has called on Iran’s citizens to take to the streets and overthrow their rulers as recently as Monday night.
“We’re going to create the conditions, first, for the Iranian people to get control of their destiny,” he told Fox News.
Asked about the US and Israeli goals, a US official familiar with the White House’s objectives told Reuters that the two countries’ military campaigns have different objectives.
A woman who bought food at a Ramadan bazaar in Malaysia in an attempt to support local stallholders was shocked to discover live maggots in her fried chicken.
In a video posted on her TikTok account on Feb 23, the woman expressed disappointment over what she described as poor food quality standards among some stallholders.
“Very sad and disappointed that some stallholders are dishonest. We buy with money, not for free. I didn’t want to cook today because I wanted to support the stallholders, but I never expected this would be what I received,” she said.
“Don’t push cleanliness and food quality aside just because you want to make a quick profit.”
According to the post’s caption, the bazaar is believed to be located in Taman Jana in Taiping, Perak.
While she felt upset over the incident, the woman added that she was thankful her son had spotted the pests before eating the fried chicken.
“This is not only a loss of money, but it has also spoiled a family’s mood while breaking fast,” she said, adding that she had paid via QR code, which could serve as proof of purchase.
In the comments section, several netizens raised concerns about food safety, while others advised her to seek a refund.
“Go back and ask them for a refund. You can also file a report at a clinic. You can say you have eaten contaminated food and the clinic will provide treatment,” one user wrote.
“My brother bought fried chicken in the morning. The chicken was still hot on the outside. It tasted fine at first, but then he saw the bones were full of worms. He vomited,” one commenter shared.
Another user suggested that the food may have been left exposed.
The Land Transport Authority will close the loop on the Circle Line (CCL) by the middle of the year, said Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow during the Committee of Supply debates in Parliament on Wednesday (March 4).
As part of Circle Line Stage 6, three new stations will open between HarbourFront and Marina Bay stations — Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward Road stations.
The opening of the final three stations comes 17 years after the first stretch between Bartley and Marymount stations opened in May 2009. In all, the CCL will have 33 stations, including 12 interchange stations that connect to other rail lines.
Separately, three new stations under the Thomson-East Coast Line Stage 5 (TEL5) and Downtown Line 3 extension (DTL3e) are also on track to open in the second half of the year, according to the Ministry of Transport (MOT).
“An MRT Line takes about 15 years to build, but in just 20 years, we have almost doubled the length of our MRT network. This is a remarkable achievement and we are still building,” Siow said.
Seletar Line engineering studies to start this year
Siow also said that engineering studies for the Seletar Line, Tengah Line and West Coast extension of the Jurong Region Line (JRL) are set to begin later this year.
The Seletar Line in particular will provide more travel options for residents in the north-east.
It could serve areas such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Sengkang West, Serangoon North, Whampoa, Kallang and the Greater Southern Waterfront, former Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat told Parliament during last year’s Committee of Supply debates.
Additionally, MOT will explore the possibility of a corridor serving the Sengkang West and Serangoon North areas, and how to connect this to the Cross Island Line and Circle Line.
New station added to Jurong Region Line
Under the JRL, a new J2SA station will be added between the JS2 and JS3 stations that will serve commuters in the Tengah area in the future.
This will bring the total number of stations along the JRL to 25, with construction for this new station underway.
The station will open in tandem with the completion of other developments in the area, which will likely take place around the mid-2030s, Siow said.
“Many of my residents, especially in Tengah, are looking forward to it (the JRL), because it will be a game changer for them in terms of their transport options,” he added.
However, the opening of the JRL will be shifted to mid-2028, six months after the original expected timeline of end-2027 due to construction delays and testing.
Two interim shuttle bus services will be introduced towards the end of 2027 to improve transport capacity and connectivity within the area that the JRL Stage 1 is meant to serve.
More details on this will be announced when ready, said MOT.
NEL commuters shift away from morning peak period
Around eight per cent of commuters along the North East Line (NEL) have shifted off the morning peak periods, said Acting Minister Siow.
Siow said the shift can be attributed to free morning off-peak travel on the NEL and Sengkang-Punggol LRT which was introduced in Dec 27 last year.
“This has resulted in a less crowded ride for other commuters travelling during morning peak hours,” he said, adding that the decrease in crowd is akin to the effect of adding two extra trains or 20 buses.
MOT shared that the proportion of commuters who shifted out of the morning peak has increased over the months from about six per cent in early January to nearly eight per cent in the week of Feb 2.
The Sri Lankan military has rescued at least 30 people on board a sinking Iranian ship near Sri Lankan waters on Wednesday (March 4), the country’s foreign minister told parliament.
The Sri Lankan navy dispatched a rescue mission after a distress call from the Iranian ship, a defence ministry spokesperson said earlier on Wednesday.
Foreign minister Vijitha Herath did not give further details but said Sri Lanka would take appropriate action.
Local media reported the ship reported distress off the coast of Galle in the southern part of the country, and that the injured had been admitted to a hospital in Galle.
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