Top Stories — Thursday, September 11, 2025
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- South Korean Leader Warns of U.S. Investments After Hyundai-LG Plant Raid — nyt News
- What to Know About the Protests in Nepal — nyt News
- Nepal's Young Protesters Find an Unlikely Partner: The Army — nyt News
South Korean Leader Warns of U.S. Investments After Hyundai-LG Plant Raid
Source: nyt News • Published: 9/11/2025, 1:38:33 PM
President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea said on Thursday that if Washington does not ease visa requirements for workers from his country, its businesses would hesitate to build new factories there, his strongest warning since a U.S. immigration raid in Georgia rattled South Korea.
Mr. Lee's comments came as South Korea sent a chartered plane to repatriate hundreds of its workers who were detained last week by U.S. immigration officials at an electric vehicle battery plant under construction. A Korean Air flight carrying 316 South Korean workers is scheduled to leave Atlanta around noon on Thursday, Mr. Lee said. It is expected to land at Incheon International Airport outside Seoul on Friday afternoon local time.
South Korean businesses investing in the United States were "flummoxed" by the raid of the Hyundai-LG plant in Ellabell, Ga., Mr. Lee said during a news conference in Seoul on Thursday. The detained South Koreans "were there not as long-term or permanent workers but as technicians who helped install facilities and equipment," he said.
These skilled workers were needed to build the plant and get it operational, he said. "But you can't find them in the United States. Nor does it give visas for them to stay and work."
Many foreign businesses have long circumvented the problem by dispatching workers on more easily available short-term business visas or under a visa waiver program.
But last week's immigration raid underlined the risks of that approach. U.S. immigration officials said that the South Koreans working at the Hyundai-LG plant were doing so illegally, undermining the chances of American citizens to find jobs.
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Read the full story at nyt News.
What to Know About the Protests in Nepal
Source: nyt News • Published: 9/11/2025, 12:54:16 PM
Political turmoil has gripped Nepal, which was under a nationwide curfew on Wednesday with troops patrolling the capital, Kathmandu, after protests forced out the prime minister and arson attacks left government buildings in ruins.
De facto leaders of the protest movement met with military officials and said they backed a former chief justice of Nepal's Supreme Court to lead an interim government. But next steps in forming a government were unclear as the country began to rebuild after two days of unrest, and apparently self-organized citizens' groups began to clear debris.
At least 30 people have been confirmed killed, 19 of them by security forces responding to mass antigovernment demonstrations on Monday. Led by teenagers and young adults, these were the most widespread protests in Nepal since it became a democratic republic in 2008.
Burned or damaged locations
The government banned social media platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat.
People filled the streets to protest the ban and corruption.
A curfew was imposed. Two cabinet members resigned.
Many people were injured and 19 died on Monday.
Social media platforms came back online, but protests continued.
The prime minister resigned.
The army chief urged calm and dialogue.
President's residence
Prime minister's residence
Last Thursday, September 4
The government banned social media platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat.
People filled the streets to protest the ban and corruption.
As protests turned violent, the government imposed a curfew.
Two cabinet members resigned.
Many people were injured and 19 died on Monday.
Social media platforms came back
online, but protests continued.
The prime minister resigned.
The president and the army chief called for calm and dialogue.
The government banned social media platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat.
People filled the streets to protest the ban and corruption.
A curfew was imposed. Two cabinet members resigned.
Many people were injured and 19 died on Monday.
Social media platforms came back online, but protests continued.
The prime minister resigned.
The president and the army chief called for calm and dialogue.
Last Thursday, September 4
The government banned social media platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat.
People filled the streets to protest the ban and corruption.
As protests turned violent, the government imposed a curfew.
Two cabinet members resigned.
Many people were injured and 19 died on Monday.
Social media platforms came back online, but protests continued.
The prime minister resigned.
The president and the army chief called for calm and dialogue.
Photography by Prabin Ranabhat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters, Prabin Ranabhat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press, Anup Ojha/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
By Pablo Robles and Agnes Chang
The demonstrators, who have no single leader, describe themselves as the voice of Nepal's Gen Z who are angry over corruption, unemployment and inequality.
Like most Gen Z activities, the movement in Nepal began online. In the weeks leading up to the violence, the social media hashtag #nepokids began trending in Nepal on posts that appeared to show the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by children of the political elite in a country where most young people struggle to make a living.
It wasn't clear whether all the images shared with that hashtag were authentic. But they tapped into widespread resentment and came to symbolize corruption in Nepal all the same.
A social media ban lit the fuse. Last week, the Nepalese authorities banned 26 social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and WeChat, after a deadline elapsed for the companies to comply with new requirements to register with the government.
The ban raised fears that speech could be restricted for Nepal's 30 million people, and hurt tourism, a key industry that relies on social media to reach travelers. The social media blackout also cut off some two million Nepali workers abroad from their families. Nepal's economy is heavily reliant on the remittances from these workers.
The unrest escalated quickly. Protests began on Monday in Kathmandu and other parts of the country and grew rapidly. In the capital, protesters accused the police of opening fire on crowds of young demonstrators who had made their way toward the Parliament complex and blocked highways.
After a day of deadly clashes, the government repealed the social media ban on Tuesday, but it did little to ease the unrest.
Online, Gen Z demonstrators had expressly urged each other to remain peaceful. But some people in the streets caused havoc when they rushed barricades, looted businesses and set fire to government offices, the Supreme Court and politicians' homes. They burned Singha Durbar, the seat of the Nepali government, and damaged airports and hotels. By Tuesday, the prime minister and four other ministers had resigned.
Nepal's largest media conglomerate suspended two of its digital publications, including The Kathmandu Post, after protesters burned its offices. Some journalists said they had been targeted by protesters.
Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority opened Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
All eyes are on the military. It was unclear on Wednesday who was running Nepal.
A group saying it represented the Gen Z movement announced on Wednesday that it had met with military leaders and nominated a former Supreme Court chief justice, Sushila Karki, to lead an interim government. There was no immediate comment from the military. Ms. Karki told an Indian news channel that she would accept the position because "those young boys and girls, they asked me, they requested me."
There was no clarity about what, if any, role the Army might play in setting up an interim government. It was also not clear if any of the political leaders who resigned on Tuesday were still in the country.
The Army ordered the public on Wednesday morning to hand over any arms and ammunition that may have been taken during the protests, and warned of action against anyone who did not. Some citizens' groups organized to clean up debris on Wednesday from the arson attacks a day earlier.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Read the full story at nyt News.
Nepal's Young Protesters Find an Unlikely Partner: The Army
Source: nyt News • Published: 9/11/2025, 12:30:30 PM
When protesters in Nepal torched Parliament, the Supreme Court and the homes of five former prime ministers' homes on Tuesday, no one seemed to be in charge of a country in anarchy. Then, that night, the chief of the Nepali Army appeared in a short video, urging calm in the streets.
His soldiers took control at 10 p.m., and violent protests had begun to fizzle. That same night, army officers were sitting down with the young and little-known leaders of the self-declared Gen Z protest movement to hash out a plan for peace.
The Nepali Army was the only institution left standing to negotiate with the people behind the uprising. That has put the army, an internationally famous fighting force, in an unfamiliar position. It has never held power on its own and commands respect within the country, but now it is caught in a difficult transition for Nepal.
Harka Sampang, a social activist who serves as mayor to a small city in the east, said he "had come to Kathmandu to talk to the army chief." He implied that there was not much choice, "after thousands of people requested it." Eventually the protest leaders told the general that they wanted Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, as the leader of an interim government.
Whatever comes next, the power vacuum will likely be filled by an agreement between the angry and inchoate youth movement on one side and the military leadership on the other.
Nepal's existing power structures went up in smoke during two days of violence, with the country's prime minister fleeing and other top officials resigning. The nation's president was nowhere to be seen. A similar compromise was forged in Bangladesh just over a year ago when a student-led protest movement and the army chose an interim government led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
"The army will definitely create a secure environment until the election is held," said Maj. Gen. Binoj Basnyat, who retired from the Nepali Army in 2016. When be began his service, it was called the Royal Nepalese Army, and Mr. Basnyat shares his pride in the army with most Nepalis, 91 percent of whom trust it more than any other institution in Nepal, according to a poll conducted by the Asia Foundation in 2022.
The people can trust the army, General Basnyat believes, because its leadership is committed to remaining under the civil authorities, he said. It was armed police who fired on Gen Z protesters on Monday, he said, not the Nepali Army. At least 19 people were killed that day.
The army's deference to civilians this week is remarkable because, as a royal army, Nepal's used to answer only to the king, even after Nepal became a multiparty democracy in 1990. During the country's brutal civil war, fought between the state and Maoist rebels from 1996 to 2006, the soldiers were loyal to the crown in Kathmandu and not their fellow subjects.
Almost 500 years old, the Nepali Army flies a battle flag featuring the drums and trident of Shiva, the Hindu god. Nepal's soldiers had earned such a reputation for courage by the end of the 18th century that British colonial rulers recruited them as a whole unit, called the Gurkhas, into their own armies.
To this day, the United Kingdom and India maintain esteemed Gurkha units manned by native-born Nepalis. The famous Indian Gen. Sam Manekshaw is often quoted as saying: "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha."
In modern times, Nepal's soldiers have become indispensable members of United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Nepal's army doubled in size during its civil war, said Ashok K. Mehta, a retired Indian general who worked extensively with the Nepali military. Its wartime upgrades, he thinks, won the peace, by forcing the Maoists to the negotiating table in 2005.
But the Nepali Army's transformation is still in progress, General Mehta said. Its feudal history has not equipped it to be a natural defender of democracy.
The tumult of the past few days, when Nepal's civil authorities evaporated, has forced the army into a role it was never meant to fill, according to General Mehta. He said the army chief, Gen. Ashok Raj Sigdel, faces "a very grim" situation: For the first time in the nation's history, the military is "occupying the pinnacle" of political power.
General Mehta does not see the Nepali Army as being power hungry, so much as uncertain. Its great mistake, he said, was failing to act sooner on Tuesday, when it could have spared lives and billions of dollars worth of destruction by taking the reins faster.
General Sigdel himself is something of an unknown. General Mehta, who knows him, said he "doesn't enjoy personality and charisma. He's not a very effective communicator."
Such qualities mattered little during most of the Nepali Army's long history. But faced with a bunch of empowered young protesters, Nepal's generals may find themselves in need of some new tricks.
Bhadra Sharma contributed reporting.
Alex Travelli is a correspondent based in New Delhi, writing about business and economic developments in India and the rest of South Asia.
Read the full story at nyt News.
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