• Nepal rocked with deadly protests against social media ban.
• Country reports 19 fatalities in violence-marred demonstrations.
• Govt lifts social media ban; fresh turmoil after PM’s resignation.
  

KHATMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday, his aide said, as anti-corruption demonstrators defied an indefinite curfew and clashed with police, a day after 19 people died in violent protests triggered by a social media ban.

Oli’s government lifted the social media ban after protests turned violent, killing 19 and injuring more than a 100 after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament on Monday.

The unrest is the worst in decades in the poor Himalayan country that is wedged between India and China and has struggled with political instability and economic uncertainty since protests led to the abolition of its monarchy in 2008.

“The PM has quit,” Oli’s aide Prakash Silwal told Reuters, a move that plunges the country into fresh political uncertainty.

Earlier on Tuesday, Oli had called a meeting of all political parties, saying violence is not in the interest of the nation and “we have to resort to peaceful dialogue to find solutions to any problem”.

But anger against the government showed no signs of abating, as protesters gathered in front of parliament and other places in the capital Kathmandu, in defiance of an indefinite curfew imposed by authorities.

The protesters set fire to tyres on some roads, threw stones at police personnel in riot gear and chased them through narrow streets, while some looked on and shot videos of the clashes on their mobile phones as thick black smoke rose to the sky.

Hundreds of people from some towns located near the India-Nepal border had started marching towards Kathmandu to support the protesters, one of the protesters told Reuters by phone.

Witnesses also said that protesters were setting fire to the homes of some politicians in Kathmandu, and local media reported that some ministers were plucked to safety by military helicopters.

Reuters could not immediately verify the information.

“We are still standing here for our future [….] We want this country corruption-free so that everyone can easily access education, hospitals, medical (facilities) […] and for a bright future,” protester Robin Sreshtha told Reuters TV.

Arrival of planes from the southern side at Kathmandu airport, Nepal’s main international gateway, was closed because of poor visibility due to the smoke from fires set by protesters in areas nearby, aviation authority official Gyanendra Bhul said.

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

PARIS: Devastating wildfires and blistering heatwaves during the world’s third-hottest August on record underscored the urgency of tackling climate change and preparing for its deadly consequences, the European global warming monitor said Tuesday.

Southwest Europe wilted through a third summer heatwave, fires tore through Spain and Portugal, while many parts of Asia experienced above-average temperatures during a scorching month that neared record highs.

The world’s oceans, which help regulate Earth’s climate by absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere, were also close to record high temperatures for the month. Hotter seas are linked to worsening weather extremes.

“With the world’s (oceans) also remaining unusually warm, these events underline not only the urgency of reducing emissions but also the critical need to adapt to more frequent and intense climate extremes,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Global temperatures have been stoked ever higher by humanity’s emissions of planet-heating gases, largely from fossil fuels burned on a massive scale since the industrial revolution.

Copernicus takes these measurements using billions of satellite and weather readings, both on land and at sea, and their data extends back to 1940.

The average temperature globally for August was 1.29 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, marginally cooler than the monthly record set in 2023 and tied with 2024.

Such incremental rises may appear small, but scientists warn that is already destabilising the climate and making storms, floods and other disasters fiercer and more frequent.

In its monthly bulletin, Copernicus said that western Europe experienced the continent’s most pronounced above-average temperatures, with southwest France and the Iberian Peninsula particularly affected.

Spain suffered a 16-day heatwave that caused more than 1,100 deaths, according to the Carlos III Health Institute. Wildfires in Spain and Portugal forced thousands to evacuate.

Last week, scientists said human-caused climate change made the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the blazes 40 times more likely.

Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average across Siberia, parts of Antarctica, China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and the Middle East.

Record-breaking ocean temperatures were measured in the North Atlantic to the west of France and the United Kingdom in August. Across the Mediterranean, the picture was mixed and less extreme than 2024.

The UK, Japan and South Korea sweltered this year through the hottest summers since each country began keeping records, their respective weather agencies announced earlier this month.

• US denies visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
• Recognition of Palestine expected on UNGA agenda.
• MEP Per Clausen urges UN session shift to Geneva.

Calls are mounting to relocate the United Nations General Assembly session from New York to Geneva after the United States refused visas to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation, media reports said.

Important decisions regarding the recognition of Palestine are expected at the session. High-level debates at the General Assembly are scheduled from September 23 to 27, and the session will conclude on September 29, according to media reports.

The Trump administration has refused visas to about 80 Palestinian officials. In 1988, the US also barred PLO leader Yasser Arafat from travelling to New York. 

This is the first time in UN history that such a blanket ban has been attempted. The aim is to prevent participation in one of the most significant events in Palestinian history since the Oslo Accords.

Under a 1947 UN “headquarters agreement”, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.

A one-day General Assembly conference on the two-state solution will be held on September 22 in New York. Abbas was to attend the conference led by Saudi Arabia and France. The session may see Britain, France, Australia, Canada and other countries recognise Palestine as a state.

Danish Member of the European Parliament Per Clausen has proposed moving the UN session to Geneva, saying Europe should propose holding it there. He said Palestinians’ rights should be recognised, and President Trump sent a clear message.

Israel and the US are upset with several Western allies who have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN.

At least 147 of the 193 UN member states already recognise a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have observer status at the UN, the same as the Holy See (Vatican).

Moreover, international critics say Israel’s new plan, which includes demilitarising the whole strip as Israel takes security control of it, could deepen the humanitarian plight of the 2.2 million population, which is facing a critical risk of famine, opens a new tab.

Israeli PM Netanyahu had said Israel had no choice but to complete the job and defeat Hamas, given that the Palestinian group had refused to lay down its arms. Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established.

Israel had already taken control of 75% of Gaza since the war began with Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, Israeli tallies show. Israeli authorities claim 20 of the remaining 48 hostages in Gaza are alive.

Israel’s military assault has killed over 62,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says, and internally displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the territory in ruins.

— With additional input from Reuters