The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has allocated $5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support Pakistan’s ongoing response to devastating floods, a UN spokesperson said Monday.

This new allocation adds to the $600,000 provided by OCHA’s Asia and the Pacific Regional Fund and the $250,000 approved by the Pakistan Country-Based Pooled Fund for local NGOs.

“The funds will be used for cash transfers, health, water and sanitation, shelter, and food, among other urgent needs,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters during the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York, while emphasizing the need for additional funding to address the crisis.

“Our humanitarian teams are working closely with the government to deliver relief to survivors in flood-affected areas,” he added.

Dujarric also noted, citing UN reports, that many villages remain submerged, with water levels reaching up to 10 meters in some places, delaying humanitarian access and complicating efforts to assess the full impact of the floods.

Priority needs include sanitation and hygiene, health, shelter, food and water, he said.

“Our partners working in health have expressed concerns over a rise in waterborne diseases in many parts,” the spokesperson said.

“We are working to supporting the Government-led response and OCHA has deployed staff to the affected area in Punjab to support the coordination efforts.

“While these new funds will enable lifesaving aid, existing resources are nearly exhausted and urgent additional funding is critically needed”, Dujarric added.

• PM pins unrest on “selfish centres,” vows relief for victims’ families.
• Free treatment to be given to the injured, Nepalese officials confirm.
• Inquiry panel to report within 15 days on causes, future safeguards.

Nepal has lifted a social media ban following protests that resulted in the deaths of 19 people, a government minister said on Tuesday.

The government had rolled back the social media ban imposed last week, Cabinet spokesperson and Communications and Information Technology Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung said.

The decision came after 19 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in the “Gen Z” protests on Monday against widespread corruption. The protests were triggered by the ban.

“We have withdrawn the shutdown of social media. They are working now,” Gurung told Reuters.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said he was saddened by the incidents of violence due to the “infiltration from different selfish centres”.

The government would pay relief for the families of the dead and provide free treatment for the injured persons, he added.

“An investigation panel will be set up to find out the causes, assess losses and suggest measures within 15 days to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in future,” Oli said in a late-night statement on Monday.

Organisers of the protests, which spread to other cities in the Himalayan country, have called them “demonstrations by Gen Z.” They say the protests reflect young people’s widespread frustration with the government’s perceived lack of action to tackle corruption and boost economic opportunities.

The government last week decided to block access to several social media platforms, including Facebook, a decision that fuelled anger among the young.

Officials say the shutdown was for those social media platforms which had failed to register with the government, amid a crackdown on fake IDs, misinformation and hate speech.

• Bayrou loses confidence vote in parliament.
• His defeat deepens political crisis in France.
• France is under pressure to fix its finances.

France’s parliament voted on Monday to bring down the government over its plans to tame the ballooning national debt, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in less than two years.

Francois Bayrou, 74, took office as prime minister only nine months ago. He must now tender his resignation, leaving Macron to face a narrowing set of options, with financial markets signalling worry at France’s political and fiscal crisis.

Bayrou had called the vote unexpectedly to try to win parliamentary support for his strategy to lower a deficit that stands at nearly double the European Union’s 3% ceiling and to start tackling a debt pile equivalent to 114% of GDP.

But opposition parties were in little mood to rally behind his planned savings of 44 billion euros ($51.51 billion) in next year’s budget, with an election for Macron’s successor looming in 2027.

Macron could now nominate a politician from his own centrist minority ruling group or from the ranks of conservatives as the next premier, but that would mean doubling down on a strategy that has failed to yield a stable alliance.

He could tack to the left and nominate a moderate socialist, or choose a technocrat.

No scenario would be likely to hand the next government a parliamentary majority. It was inevitable that the need to form a new government would result in a dilution of the deficit reduction plan, Finance Minister Eric Lombard said before the vote.

Macron may eventually decide the only path out of the crisis lies in calling a snap election, but he has so far resisted calls from the far-right National Rally and hard-left France Unbowed to dissolve parliament a second time.

Fiscal mess

The next government’s most pressing task will be to pass a budget, the same challenge Bayrou faced when he took office.

“You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality,” Bayrou told lawmakers before the confidence vote.

“Reality will remain relentless: expenses will continue to rise, and the burden of debt, already unbearable, will grow heavier and more costly,” he said.

France’s “very survival is at stake,” he said.

France’s EU peers will be watching closely.

France holds the highest deficit as a percentage of GDP in the euro zone – the bloc using the EU’s single currency. It pays more to service its debt than Spain and spreads against benchmark German 10-year bonds are at their highest level in four months.

Fitch, often seen as a first mover among rating agencies, reviews its AA- rating with a negative outlook on September 12. Moody’s and S&P Global, which have equivalent ratings, follow in October and November.

A downgrade would hamper France’s ability to raise money at low interest rates from investors, potentially deepening its debt problems.

A lengthy period of political and fiscal uncertainty risks undermining Macron’s influence in Europe at a time when the United States is talking tough on trade and security, and war is raging in Ukraine on Europe’s eastern flank.

Macron and political figures from centrist and conservative parties deem that a snap election would not solve the crisis and that talks with the Socialists should be pursued, two sources familiar with Macron’s thinking said.

The Socialists have offered a counter-budget that would impose a tax of at least 2% on personal wealth greater than 100 million euros and generate savings of 22 billion euros, a proposal that would be tough to marry with the pro-business reform agenda of Macron’s presidency.

Discontent may also start brewing on the streets. A grassroots protest movement called “Bloquons Tout” (“Let’s Block Everything”) is calling for nationwide disruption on Wednesday. Trade unions are plotting walkouts the week after.

“France is done,” said Mohamed, 80, a retired hospital worker who sells produce on the Aligre market in Paris.