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- Nepal's Prime Minister Resigns as Protesters Set Fire to Leaders' Houses — nyt News
- Israel Targeted Hamas Leadership in Qatar Strike — nyt News
- Apple debuts the $999 ultra-thin iPhone Air — TechCrunch
Nepal's Prime Minister Resigns as Protesters Set Fire to Leaders' Houses
Source: nyt News • Published: 9/10/2025, 12:03:43 AM
Kathmandu, Nepal12:14 a.m. Sept. 10
Pinned
Bhadra Sharma and Alex Travelli
Reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal, and New Delhi
Nepal's military said it would send troops to restore order after protesters set fire to government buildings, police stations and the houses of politicians on a second day of unrest on Tuesday. The violence continued even after the country's leader resigned and the government social media bans that had set it off were reversed.
The departure of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli came a day after the Nepalese authorities opened fire into crowds of young demonstrators, leaving at least 19 people dead, in some of the most widespread social unrest in the South Asian country in recent years.
The heads of Nepal's main security agencies, including the army chief, issued a joint statement appealing for restraint and calling on political parties to find a peaceful way out of the crisis. But with Mr. Oli and several other top officials gone, it was unclear who, if anyone, was in charge — and late Tuesday the army said it was stepping in.
In a statement, it urged protesters to stop looting and setting fires and said it intended to restore law and order.
Members of the governing elite were personally targeted in the unrest in the capital, Kathmandu, with the homes of several former prime ministers set on fire.
Ravi Laxmi Chitrakar, the wife of former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, was critically burned in one attack, according to a leader of Mr. Khanal's party. Mr. Oli's home was also set on fire, as were the houses of two other former prime ministers. The residence of Ramesh Lekhak, the home minister who resigned on Monday after accepting moral responsibility for the 19 deaths, was also burned.
Videos posted on social media showed helicopters airlifting ministers from their quarters in the government's main administrative building.
Late Tuesday evening, the streets of the capital were tense. Security forces were scarce, and they weren't the only people with weapons. Protesters were seen throwing grenades into a government building, and civilians were photographed carrying assault rifles. Two airports were damaged, as were the Hilton and Varnabas hotels.
The chaos stemmed from a government ban last week on major social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, which lit a fuse on years of anger and frustration over official corruption and economic inequality. Mr. Oli's government retreated from the restrictions earlier on Tuesday.
Officials declared a curfew in an attempt to head off another day of protests, but a new wave of unrest quickly engulfed the capital anyway.
Demonstrators stormed the main government administrative building, which contains Mr. Oli's office. Smoke was seen pouring from the Parliament building. The Supreme Court building was burned, as were the headquarters of Mr. Oli's Communist Party of Nepal and of the Nepali Congress party.
As the smoke from the fires covered Kathmandu Valley, Nepal's main international airport was shut down and flights scheduled to land there were diverted to other countries.
Here's what else to know:
Ban reversal: Social media is a critical tool in Nepal, where many citizens work abroad and send money back home. Last week, the authorities banned 26 services, including WeChat, YouTube and LinkedIn, which it said had failed to register with the government. By Tuesday morning, they were all back online.
South Asia: The crisis follows a similar pattern to other unrest in the region. It was barely a year ago that similar scenes played out in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The country's prime minister, long the most powerful figure in the country, disappeared after being driven from office by angry street protests. About three years ago, the same happened in Sri Lanka.
Youth and democracy: The demonstrators in Nepal, who appeared to be mostly teenagers and young adults, have embraced the label "Gen Z protest." Free speech is highly prized in Nepal, which has maintained robust space for debate as similar rights have shrunk in other South Asian countries.
Economic crisis: Outrage has also been growing over economic inequality and what many Nepalese see as the government's failure to aggressively pursue high-profile corruption cases. The country's biggest lingering crisis centers on jobs.
Resignations: Mr. Oli had been elected in 2024 for a fifth time as Nepal's top official, and it's not clear who will replace him. In all, four cabinet ministers stepped down, including three from the Nepali Congress, which is in a coalition government with Mr. Oli's communist party.
More than 200 injured people were admitted to Nepal's Civil Service Hospital on Tuesday and 3 have died, the hospital said, bringing the death toll over the past two days to 22.
Any use of force by the Nepali Army on Tuesday night will be closely watched by international observers after security forces opened fire on protesters on Monday, killing at least 19 people. The U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, has called for an investigation into those killings and into other "reports of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by the security forces."
And the U.N.'s office in Nepal has warned authorities that the law enforcement response should remain "in line with international human rights standards," adding that the country would "benefit from taking concrete steps to address the root causes of issues raised."
Several nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Japan, signed a statement on Monday affirming "strong support for the universal rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression" in Nepal. The number of signatories rose to 10 on Tuesday after Germany, Norway and Switzerland signed on.
When Nepal's government blocked access to social media platforms last week, it was following a familiar playbook used by leaders of neighboring countries to tighten control.
What was not part of the playbook was the huge backlash that followed.
In Nepal, the ban set off the worst unrest in decades, unleashing pent-up outrage over corruption and economic inequality. By Tuesday morning, the Nepali government had reversed course, reinstating access to all 26 of the platforms blocked last week, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and WeChat.
Nayana Prakash, a research fellow at the Chatham House research institute in London who studies the use of technology in South Asia, said that the suddenness of the ban in Nepal took people by surprise, whereas internet censorship is more common in India and Pakistan.
"This is quite new to Nepal," Dr. Prakash said. While many countries have either banned TikTok or are discussing it, restricting access to platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit "goes quite a lot further," severely curtailing people's ability to find jobs or network outside of Nepal, she said. The government in Nepal also tried to impose a much broader ban than exists in India, she said.
Social media is a critical tool in Nepal, where people rely on the apps to receive money and stay in touch with family and friends abroad. Businesses also use platforms like WhatsApp to operate.
India, the second biggest internet user in the world after China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has a much easier time getting tech companies to comply with government restrictions because they do not want to risk losing access to such a big market, Dr. Prakash said.
In contrast, many social media companies did not comply with Nepal's new registration requirements. "Nepal doesn't have the same level of political or commercial clout to make these tech companies fall into line," Dr. Prakash said. "Companies can't really afford to get on the wrong side of India, and India is well aware of that."
Around the world, internet freedom has declined for the 14th year in a row, with governments restricting access to social media platforms in at least 25 countries, according to a report published last year by Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that supports transparency and democracy. The Indian government censors online content and sometimes restricts access to social media platforms or orders tech companies to remove certain content.
Jon Roozenbeek, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Cambridge who focuses on misinformation and authoritarianism, said that India and other countries have gained public support for restricting some internet access by framing it as a nationalistic policy. That did not happen in Nepal.
He added that Nepal lacks the leverage of large countries like India. "Google and Meta and others were like 'OK, see ya. We don't care enough about Nepal,'" Dr. Roozenbeek said.
At 10 p.m., Nepal's armed forces issued a notice, across multiple platforms, in English and in Nepali, announcing an "official Army Helpline" for people to call. It appeared to be an step in the army's newly announced plan to assert control over the streets and restore order. Local analysts expect a declaration of emergency to follow.
Nepal's Health Ministry is urging people to donate blood at local hospitals and the country's central blood bank in Kathmandu to help treat the injured, according to the state-run newspaper Rising Nepal. Hundreds of people were wounded on Monday after witnesses said security forces fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and water cannons at protesters. The police and other security agencies were largely absent during the day on Tuesday, and the number of new injuries remained unclear.
Nepal's army issued a statement saying it intends to assume responsibility for law and order, starting at 10 p.m. local time tonight. It called upon citizens to cease all acts of arson and looting. In formal language, the army's high command promised that its troops would take to the streets to protect the country's public and private properties. There was little advance warning: the clock strikes 10 p.m. in Kathmandu within 15 minutes.
The streets are dangerous in Kathmandu tonight. Some protesters encircled my motorbike and then rushed it when they realized that I was a journalist. They only let me pass after I mouthed an anti-government slogan. Security forces are scarce on the ground, and they are not the only ones with guns and other weapons. Some protesters were throwing live grenades into a government building. Civilians have been photographed carrying assault rifles. Protesters also have attacked politicians' homes, as well as some of the capital's bigger buildings. Two airports have been damaged, as have the Hilton and Varnabas hotels.
Demonstrations in Nepal against corruption and a social media ban — which the government reversed — have put young people front and center, borrowing the name Gen Z.
That generation, including teenagers and people in their early to mid-20s, has been important in other recent political protests in Asia. In many of them, young demonstrators have expressed frustration at corruption, social inequality, unemployment and a lack of economic opportunity.
Here are countries where young people have played a leading role in recent protests.
Protesters in Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, have held demonstrations in recent weeks against rising unemployment, inflation and economic inequality.
The All-Indonesia Students' Union has played an organizing role in the protests, which have involved thousands of people in the capital, Jakarta, and other cities on the island of Java and elsewhere. At least four people, including a motorcycle taxi driver, were killed in the unrest in late August, which prompted the authorities to deploy the navy marine corps to bring order.
Demonstrators have demanded that the government cancel the monthly housing allowances that lawmakers receive, which many in the country see as lavish.
The president, Prabowo Subianto, said in recent days that the country's House of Representatives had agreed to some policy changes and said he acknowledged the "genuine aspirations of the public." Allowances for national lawmakers would be cut and a moratorium imposed on their expensive overseas trips, he said.
Student-led protests last year forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to leave office and flee the country after 15 years in power.
Nearly 1,400 people were killed in a security crackdown, but it failed to stop demonstrators from eventually reaching Ms. Hasina's official residence in the capital, Dhaka.
The demonstrators' aim was to rebuild Bangladesh as a more equitable and less corrupt democracy. Since Ms. Hasina left office, an interim government has led Bangladesh without a prime minister.
The success of the protests, which have been associated with Gen Z, has been closely watched around the region.
Months of protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose family has dominated Sri Lanka's politics for years, forced him to resign in 2022. The protesters accused him of corruption and mismanagement, which they said had ruined the island nation's economy and caused shortages of fuel, medicine and food.
Young people were central to the demonstrations and built a protest camp along the scenic Galle Face neighborhood at the heart of the capital, Colombo, with protesters insisting they would not go home until the Rajapaksas left the government.
The house of a former prime minister, Jhala Nath Khanal, was set on fire Tuesday while his wife, Ravi Laxmi Chitrakar, was inside. She was severely burned. "His wife was taken to the army after she was critically burned. She's still receiving treatment at the hospital," said Jagannath Khatiwada, a leader of Khanal's party.
Protesters set fire to the home of K.P. Sharma Oli, the Nepalese prime minister, who resigned on Tuesday. The demonstrators threw furniture to stoke the flames and also smashed windows using rocks and bricks.
For at least half of Nepal's society, the government's decision last week to block access to more than two dozen social media platforms was worse than an inconvenience. It tore away at family bonds and, often, a lifeline to household budgets.
Nepal's scarcity of jobs has driven millions of young people to seek work in other countries for generations. More than a thousand young men and women leave the country every day to serve long-term contracts, many in the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf and Malaysia.
In Hong Kong, Nepalis power the electronics recycling industry. More and more reach Europe every year. In the United States, they form the fastest growing community of Asian Americans.
This emigration has less to do with wanderlust than with Nepal's economic desperation.
The country of 30 million people relies heavily on the remittances that an estimated 2 million workers abroad send home. In 2024, the $11 billion they sent accounted for more than 26 percent of Nepal's economy. That money buys food and medicine and sends children to school.
The social media ban, which went into effect last Thursday after the authorities said Facebook, YouTube and other platforms had failed to register with the government, had the effect of isolating families from their faraway breadwinners. The government repealed the ban on Tuesday after protests, though the unrest continued.
The International Labor Organization estimates that half of all Nepali families rely on financial support from relatives working abroad. This dependence increased after the Covid-19 pandemic. By 2023, there were twice as many Nepalis working in other countries as there had been in 2019, the biggest increase in Asia.
The sudden collapse in Nepal confirms a recent pattern in South Asia. It was barely a year ago that similar scenes played out in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The country's prime minister, long the most powerful figure in the country, disappeared after being driven from office by angry street protests. Almost three years ago, the same happened in Sri Lanka. Each protest movement came with a catchy name, student leaders and burned buildings, and each succeeded in toppling an entire establishment.
Balendra Shah, the mayor of Kathmandu and a rapper, emerged two days ago as a supporter of the so-called Gen Z protesters. He said he would not march with them — on the grounds that, at 35, he is too old to be a part of Gen Z — but wrote in a Facebook post that he was on the side of their "spontaneous movement."
With nearly all of Nepal's established political class on the run from protesters, Shah has suddenly become more prominent. In another post, after the prime minister's resignation, Shah wrote: "Dear Gen Z, the resignation of your murderer has come. Now be restrained!!" He urged the protesters to stop destroying property, negotiate with the army chief and insist on dissolving the seated parliament.
Armed men are starting to roam the streets of the capital. It wasn't clear if they were part of the protests.
Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal's main international airport, has been closed as smoke from fires covered Kathmandu Valley. "There's zero visibility around the airport, so we have closed all flights," said Gyanendra Bhul, a spokesperson for the civil aviation authority of Nepal. Flights scheduled to land there were diverted to other countries.
The prime minister who resigned on Tuesday, K.P. Sharma Oli, was elected in 2024 for a fifth time as Nepal's top official. He leads the communist party of Nepal, known as UML, the second-largest party in Parliament. He had been known for pro-China policies. It's not clear who will replace him.
The Supreme Court building and a special anti-corruption court were on fire. Smoke was also seen pouring out of the Parliament building.
The heads of Nepal's main security agencies, including the army chief, have issued a joint statement appealing for restraint and calling on political parties to find a peaceful way out of the crisis by holding a political dialogue as soon as possible.
You can see black smoke all around Kathmandu Valley as reports of arson increase. Protesters are setting fire to government buildings, police stations and the houses of politicians. My eyes are itching because of the smoke.
Bhadra Sharma reported from Kathmandu, Nepal, and Alex Travelli from New Delhi.
The protests in Nepal's capital escalated as they went into a second day on Tuesday, as anger and disappointment that had built up for years among the protesters were ignited. The government's ban on major social media platforms a few days earlier had only lit the fuse.
Declaring themselves to be the voice of Nepal's Gen Z, the protesters were expressing not only outrage at the official violence that met them on the streets on Monday, but also at longstanding social problems that have afflicted Nepal during the 10 years since it replaced its monarchy with a democratic republic.
The country relies heavily on the remittances that an estimated two million workers abroad send home. The social media ban had the effect of isolating families from their faraway breadwinners.
The government repealed the ban on Tuesday after protests, and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and other ministers later resigned. But the unrest continued, as protesters set fire to government offices and to politicians' homes.
The country's biggest slow-burning crisis centers on jobs. Getting one is a herculean task in Nepal, a mountainous nation of 30 million sandwiched between India and China. According to the Nepal Living Standard Survey published by the National Statistics Office in 2024, the unemployment rate was 12.6 percent.
Those figures tend to understate the severity of the problem. They represent only participants in the formal economy, leaving out a majority of Nepalis, who work without officially reported jobs, mostly in farming. And the unemployment is heavily concentrated among younger adults.
Finding no opportunities at home, more than a thousand young men and women leave the country every day to serve long-term contracts in the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf and Malaysia. Tens of thousands work in India as seasonal migrant laborers. Government data show that more than 741,000 left the country last year, mainly to find work in construction or agriculture.
The rest of Nepal relies heavily on the remittances those workers abroad send home. In 2024, the $11 billion they sent accounted for more than 26 percent of the country's economy. That money buys food and medicine and sends children to school in Nepal.
If there were one thing to blame for this cluster of economic problems, many Nepalis, especially those active in this Gen Z protest, would point to corruption. They recoil at the spectacle of a small number of elite Nepalis accumulating vast estates for their children. Transparency International, an independent nonprofit focused on holding governments accountable, has ranked Nepal as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia.
A steady drumbeat of scandals, typically involving collusion among elected politicians and supposedly independent officials, feeds this resentment. Very few accusations result in successful prosecutions.
For example, a parliamentary probe revealed that at least $71 million was embezzled in the construction of an international airport in the city of Pokhara. Loans from the Export-Import Bank of China evaporated in a nexus among officials, elected politicians and Chinese construction companies. The probe recommended further investigation and specific actions against the accused, including the director general of civil aviation. Still, no one was booked.
In another case, Nepali leaders were caught collecting money from young people aspiring to find employment in the United States under the cover of refugee status that was intended for ethnic Nepalis who had been forcibly deported from neighboring Bhutan. Fake documents gave the unemployed Nepali nationals the identities of displaced Bhutanese. Politicians from all parties were named in the ensuing investigations, but only members of the opposition were charged.
Ordinary Nepalis are aware of the ways they could benefit from a better-funded government. Health and education expenses are high. Farmers lack critical fertilizer during rice-planting seasons. Inflation makes it tough for anyone to survive in Kathmandu, the capital, where young people move to pursue higher education and jobs.
Democracy was hard won in Nepal, but it has not met the aspirations that sent protesters to the streets this week. Many of the Gen Z protesters are fixated on the son and the daughter-in-law of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. They bitterly post images of them and other politicians' children flaunting lavish lifestyles.
Ever since the new constitution came into effect in 2015, three leaders have rotated as head of the government: Mr. Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Mr. Deuba. For younger people, this electoral game of thrones, in which each prime minister's tenure has lasted just a year or two, is infuriating.
Mr. Oli, the current prime minister, is an avid social media user. People close to him say he personally reads the comments that pile up under the videos he posts. Other Nepali leaders are fixated on social media as well, though they may not use the platforms much. In November 2023, Mr. Dahal, who was then prime minister, banned TikTok, in order, he said, "to restore social harmony." It was Mr. Oli, when he returned as prime minister, who lifted that ban, nine months later.
The protesters said the social media ban, which put platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram offline, was effectively an attempt at political censorship by the government. Hundreds were injured in the protests, which also expressed anger at the lack of action over high-profile corruption cases.
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli of Nepal has resigned following the deaths of at least 19 people in protests on Monday. Security forces used water cannons, tear gas and live ammunition in an attempt to quell protests that have been led by young people angry about corruption and restrictions on social media imposed last week by the government.
Read the full story at nyt News.
Israel Targeted Hamas Leadership in Qatar Strike
Source: nyt News • Published: 9/9/2025, 11:59:00 PM
Israel targeted senior members of Hamas's leadership in a strike on Tuesday in Qatar, a sharp escalation that brought the Mideast war to a country that is a close U.S. ally and a primary mediator in trying to end the conflict in Gaza.
Hamas said that Israel had failed to kill senior officials in the group, without saying whether they had sustained injuries. In a statement, the group confirmed that the son of Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas's chief negotiator, his office manager and three other people affiliated with Hamas were killed in the attack.
The strike also killed a member of Qatar's internal security forces, the emirate's Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. knew in advance about the Israeli action, according to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.
She said President Trump told Steve Witkoff, his special envoy for peace missions, to inform the Qataris about the impending attack. She added that the president views Qatar as a strong U.S. ally and friend and that he regretted the location of the attack, but destroying Hamas was a "worthy" goal.
The direct attack on Qatar's territory risked antagonizing its government and destabilizing its considerable diplomatic efforts for a cease-fire in Gaza, particularly because the country's political and economic stability hinges on its reputation as a haven for business and tourism in a volatile region. The afternoon attack hit an area of the capital, Doha, that is near schools and foreign embassies, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
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Read the full story at nyt News.
Apple debuts the $999 ultra-thin iPhone Air
Source: TechCrunch • Published: 9/9/2025, 11:56:42 PM
Apple debuts the $999 ultra-thin iPhone Air
Move over, iPhone Plus, here comes your super-slim replacement: the iPhone Air.
During Apple's iPhone event on Tuesday, the company unveiled the iPhone Air, its thinnest and lightest model to date. This replaces the Plus model in the company's 2025 lineup, following the underperformance of the iPhone 16 Plus last year, based on data from research firm DSCC.
The star of today's event draws inspiration from Apple's MacBook Air strategy, which debuted in 2008 as the thinnest laptop available, positioned between the more affordable MacBook and the higher-quality MacBook Pro.
Now, Apple is applying the "Air" concept to the iPhone, emphasizing thinness and lightness as the main selling points.
The "airiness" feel is thanks to its titanium frame, and it measures at just 5.6 millimeters thick. This makes it about 0.08 inches (or slightly over 2 mm) thinner than current iPhones and thinner than Samsung's 5.8mm Galaxy S25 Edge. For a better idea of how thin it is, think about four stacked dimes, which total about 5.4 mm.
The phone features a large 6.6-inch display, sporting the same 120Hz ProMotion setup found on the Pro models. It runs on the A19 Pro chip, also just like the new Pro and Pro Max models, providing a performance boost over the base iPhone 17 model.
Another interesting detail is that it's an e-SIM-only device. This helps keep the phone looking sleek since there's no need for a physical SIM card slot. It also offers more security than regular SIM cards, as they can't be easily removed from a lost or stolen phone.
Despite being thinner, the iPhone Air offers all-day battery life. Additionally, with the iOS 26 update, users will gain the "Adaptive Power Mode" feature, which utilizes Apple Intelligence to make intelligent adjustments throughout the day, thereby helping to extend battery life.
Still, Apple appeared to acknowledge the battery concerns by unveiling a new line of accessories exclusive to the Air, including a slim MagSafe battery that is compact enough to fit in your pocket. When using this additional battery, users can enjoy up to 40 hours of video playback.
Additionally, two custom cases are available for the iPhone Air: one is a translucent case that is just 1 mm thick and comes in frost and shadow colors, while the other is a lightweight bumper available in four matching colors. Notably, the iPhone Air can also be paired with a new cross-body strap.
As for the color options, the iPhone Air is available in "Space Black," "Cloud White," light gold, and sky blue.
Rumors of a new, ultra-thin iPhone, potentially named "Air," first surfaced in 2024 from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who recently argued that the thinner design will set the standard for all future iPhone models, similar to how the MacBook Air influenced Apple's laptop lineup.
When the MacBook Air first came out, it was praised for being ultraportable at a time when most laptops were heavy and bulky. However, it also received a lot of criticism for being too expensive and having some shortcomings, such as poor connectivity and a slow, small hard drive.
Still, the original model set the stage for the 2010 version, which was revamped with improved processors and a more affordable starting price of $999. Since then, the MacBook Air has been Apple's top seller for more than a decade.
With that being said, anyone thinking about buying the iPhone Air should consider whether holding off for later versions with upgrades and better features is a smarter move. Or, for those diehard Apple fans, maybe it's worth owning the original model for bragging rights.
Additionally, the slimmer phone could pave the way for a future iPhone that folds, a concept that has been rumoured and is predicted to launch around the same time next year. A foldable device would help Apple compete with Samsung and Google, while also helping it regain market share in China, where it has been struggling recently.
For complete details, visit the original sources linked above.
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