United News of Bangladesh

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned Tuesday after violent protests over a short-lived social media ban left 19 people dead and exposed widespread anger over corruption and nepotism. The ban, widely seen as an attempt at censorship, triggered youth-led demonstrations that quickly turned into broader unrest against politicians and their families, accused of flaunting wealth while the country struggles with poverty and unemployment. Analysts say the protests, largely driven by Gen Z, reflect deep frustration with political instability and lack of opportunities. Despite Oli’s resignation and rollback of the ban, demonstrations have spread beyond Kathmandu, with protesters demanding sweeping change and even dissolution of the government. Observers warn Nepal faces its worst crisis in decades, with youth anger unlikely to subside without major reforms.

Nepal has withdrawn its social media ban after violent clashes between demonstrators and police left at least 19 people dead. On Monday, thousands of youths stormed the parliament building in Kathmandu, demanding the government lift restrictions on 26 platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, and urging action against corruption. The ban was revoked following an emergency cabinet meeting late Monday to "address the demands of Gen Z," Communications and Information Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung said, according to a BBC report. Over 100 people were injured in the unrest, which also spread to towns beyond the capital. Platforms like Instagram have millions of Nepali users who depend on them for news, entertainment, and business. Authorities, however, had defended the ban—introduced last week—as a move to combat misinformation, hate speech, and online scams. Protesters said their anger was not only about the restrictions but also about what they saw as the government’s authoritarian approach. Many carried placards reading "enough is enough" and "end to corruption." Some also threw stones at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's residence in his hometown, Damak. One demonstrator, Sabana Budathoki, told the BBC the ban was "just the reason" for gathering. "Rather than [the] social media ban, I think everyone's focus is on corruption," she said, adding: "We want our country back. We came to stop corruption." The protests also coincided with the rise of a "nepo kid" campaign on Nepali social media, targeting the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children and accusing them of being funded by corruption. Police in Kathmandu used water cannons, batons, and rubber bullets to disperse crowds on Monday. Prime Minister Oli said he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths and injuries, blaming the violence on "infiltration by various vested interest groups." He announced plans to form a panel to investigate the events, provide free medical care to the injured, and extend financial "relief" to victims’ families. Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak resigned in the evening after heavy criticism of the government’s handling of the protests. Authorities had originally ordered the blocking of 26 platforms last week for failing to register with Nepal’s communication and information technology ministry. The government has maintained it was not banning social media outright but seeking compliance with national laws.

Indonesia’s president replaced key economic and security ministers in a Cabinet shakeup Monday after deadly protests over lawmakers' perks and the cost of living erupted across the country. The Cabinet shake-up followed rising public dissatisfaction with President Prabowo Subianto’s administration and parliament’s perceived insensitivity over economic hardships. Five ministers lost their jobs, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a technocrat who had served as the executive director of the International Monetary Fund and managing director of the World Bank, and Budi Gunawan, the coordinating minister for politics and security. Subianto chose economist Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, chairman of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, to replace Indrawati, one of Indonesia’s longest-serving finance ministers. Violent protests gripped the country, home to more than 280 million people, after reports that all 580 members of the House of Representatives received a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($3,075), in addition to their salaries. The allowance introduced last year was nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta. The independent National Commission on Human Rights reported 10 people died during the five-day protests and cited an inhumane approach by security forces in handling the demonstrations. Police reported the death toll at seven. The protests grew more violent following the death of 21-year-old ride-hailing driver Affan Kurniawan. He was reportedly completing a food delivery order when an armored police car sped through a crowd of demonstrators and caused him to fall. Indrawati also become a target of recent protests over the cost of living and fresh perks for lawmakers. Her house was looted Aug. 31, alongside the homes of a number of lawmakers. Analysts see the protests as a culmination of public anger over economic problems that the government has not addressed seriously, including widespread layoffs and declining purchasing power. Calm largely returned after Subianto last week revoked lawmakers' perks and privileges, including the housing allowance, and suspended overseas trips. Subianto also removed the ministers of cooperatives, the youth and sport and the minister for migrant workers protection. Stocks in Southeast Asia's largest economy tumbled Monday after Subianto removed Indrawati from his Cabinet, closed down 1.28% at 7,766.85, shedding 100.5 points, while the rupiah slid after the news, with one-month non-deliverable forwards declining 1.1% to 16,583 per dollar, the weakest since May. Indonesia remains attractive to investment, partly because Indrawati's strong credibility has been recognized both domestically and internationally for successfully maintaining a stable, prudent and sustainable fiscal policy, said Fadhil Hasan, a senior economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance. However, in recent years, Indrawati had accommodated many presidents’ ambitious programs, which increased government debt and diminished the credibility of her own fiscal policy, Hasan added. He said that Sadewa, Indrawati’s successor, was a capable economist but lacks a track record in managing fiscal and state finances. “So, I don’t think he’s the best choice,” he said. Sadewa, 61, highlighted his own experience at a news conference late Monday, noting he had provided fiscal expertise to the last two administrations. He has held several senior government roles, including deputy for maritime sovereignty coordination at the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Affairs and Investment. Responding to the market drop after the Cabinet reshuffle, Sadewa said he is “a market person” who will keep Indonesia fiscally healthy and will talk with Indrawati to provide fiscal advice to the government. The new minister said his focus is to speed economic growth by mapping out fiscal measures and ensuring that government spending is efficient without overhauling systems. In his campaign for president, Subianto promised to take economic growth to 8% within five years, while official data showing Indonesia’s economy expanded 4.87% in the first quarter of 2025 and 5.12% in the second quarter. “If I said the economy can grow 8%, I’d be lying. But we are moving in that direction as fast as possible,” Sadewa said.

 Police in Kathmandu opened fire Monday on protesters demonstrating against a government ban on social media, killing at least 17 and wounding dozens more. Seven people died at the National Trauma Center, said Dr. Badri Risal, adding there were 58 wounded in the hospital. “Many of them are in serious condition and appear to have been shot in the head and chest,” the doctor said at the country's main hospital located in the heart of Kathmandu. Families waited anxiously outside for news of their relatives while people lined up to donate blood. Two people died at the Civil Hospital and two more at the KMC hospital, according to doctors there who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment. The wounded were being treated at half a dozen hospitals in Kathmandu. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Nepal's capital Monday to vent their anger against a decision by authorities to block most social media platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube, saying that the companies had failed to register and submit to government oversight. Protesters pushed through barbed wire and forced riot police to retreat as they surrounded the Parliament building. Police fired tear gas and water cannon but were outnumbered and sought safety inside the Parliament complex. Police eventually opened fire at the protesters. The situation remained tense and the government announced a curfew for Monday around Parliament, the government secretariat, presidential house and key parts of the city. “Stop the ban on social media, stop corruption not social media,” the crowds chanted, waving the red and blue national flags. Monday's rally was called the protest of Gen Z, generally referring to people born between 1995 and 2010. About two dozen social network platforms that are widely used in Nepal were repeatedly given notices to register their companies officially in the country, the government said. Those which failed to register have been blocked since last week. TikTok, Viber and three other platforms have registered and operate without interruption. The move by the authorities came as the government sent a bill for a debate in Parliament that wants to ensure that social platforms are “properly managed, responsible and accountable.” It includes asking the companies to appoint a liaison office or point in the country. The bill has been widely criticized as a tool for censorship and punishing government opponents who voice their protests online. Rights groups have called it an attempt by the government to curb freedom of expression and violate fundamental rights. Nepal in 2023 banned video-sharing app TikTok for disrupting “social harmony, goodwill and diffusing indecent materials." The ban was lifted last year after TikTok's executives pledged to comply with local laws. They include a ban of pornographic sites that was passed in 2018.

Skywatchers in Asia including Bangladesh are in for a treat Sunday night as a rare celestial event, a blood moon total lunar eclipse, lights up the sky. The phenomenon occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon align perfectly in a straight line. This year’s second total lunar eclipse will be fully visible across Asia—from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines, extending north to the Arctic Ocean and south to Antarctica—as well as in parts of East Africa and western Australia. Other regions, including Europe, the rest of Africa, and Australia, will see only partial views, while some glimpses will be possible from Brazil’s coast and parts of Alaska. During the eclipse, Earth’s shadow will cover the full moon, with totality lasting one hour and 22 minutes. The entire event, from the first shadow to the moon’s return to full brightness, will span over five hours. Earlier this year, a shorter total lunar eclipse in March offered prime viewing for the Americas. This Sunday night’s spectacle, known as a blood moon for its reddish hue, will be visible on the opposite side of the globe. Two weeks later, the sky will feature a partial solar eclipse observable from New Zealand, parts of Australia, and Antarctica.

Veteran Thai politician Anutin Charnvirakul won a vote in Parliament on Friday to become the country’s next prime minister, according to an unofficial running tally broadcast live on television. Anutin, leader of the Bhumjaithai party, won a total of 311 votes, far exceeding the 247 required majority from the House of Representative’s 492 active members. He and his government are expected to take office in a few days after obtaining a formal appointment from King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Anutin succeeds Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was dismissed by court order as prime minister last week after being found guilty of ethics violations over a politically compromising phone call with neighboring Cambodia’s Senate President Hun Sen. The dispute erupted into a deadly five-day armed conflict in July. Anutin, who's an elected member of the House, got up from his seat and walked around the chamber to take pictures with other lawmakers when he was a few votes short from the winning total. He and wellwishers exchanged the traditional Thai greeting of wai, with both hands clasped together. After the House Speaker announced the total tally, a round of applause erupted as he thanked lawmakers around him. Anutin had served in Paetongtarn’s Cabinet, but he resigned his position and withdrew his party from her coalition government after news of the leaked phone call caused a public uproar. Pheu Thai, currently leading a caretaker government, attempted to dissolve Parliament on Tuesday, but the acting prime minister said their request was rejected by the king’s Privy Council. The party also nominated its candidate Chaikasem Nitisiri. He received 152 votes. The 58-year-old Anutin had served in the Pheu Thai-led coalition government that took power in 2023 and before that in the military-backed but elected government under former Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Anutin is best known for successfully lobbying for the decriminalization of cannabis, a policy that is now being more strictly regulated for medical purposes. He also played a high-profile role as health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was accused of tardiness in obtaining adequate vaccine supplies to fight the virus. His party has promised to dissolve Parliament within four months in exchange for support from the People’s Party. That party’s leader, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, said it would remain in the opposition, leaving the new government potentially a minority one. The People’s Party also said that an Anutin-led government would have to commit to organizing a referendum on the drafting of a new constitution by an elected constituent assembly. The party has long sought changes to the constitution — which was imposed during a military government — to make it more democratic. The People’s Party, then named the Move Forward Party, won the most seats in the 2023 election but was kept from power when a joint vote of the House and the Senate failed to approve its candidate for prime minister. Senators, who were appointed by a military government and were strong supporters of Thailand’s royalist conservative establishment, voted against the progressive party because they opposed its policy of seeking reforms to the monarchy. The Senate no longer holds the right to take part in the vote for prime minister. After Move Forward was blocked from taking power, Pheu Thai had one of its candidates, real estate executive Srettha Thavisin, approved as prime minister to lead a coalition government. But he served just a year before the Constitutional Court dismissed him from office for ethical violations. Srettha’s replacement Paetongtarn, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter, also lasted just a year in office. But even before she was forced out, her government was greatly weakened when Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party abandoned her coalition right after her controversial call in June with Cambodia’s Hun Sen. Its withdrawal left Pheu Thai’s coalition with just a tiny and unstable majority in Parliament. A day ahead of the vote, Thaksin made a surprise departure from Thailand to Dubai, where he lived during his self-imposed exile starting in 2008. His travel took place days before a court ruling over a handling of his return in 2023 that could open him up to a new prison sentence. The move prompted speculation that he was fleeing again, although Thaksin said he was travelling for a medical checkup and would return to Thailand in a few days.

Hundreds of bodies have been recovered from homes destroyed by last week’s powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, raising the death toll to over 2,200, Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Thursday. The 6.0-magnitude quake struck several provinces Sunday night, flattening villages and leaving many trapped under rubble. Kunar province has seen the highest casualties due to its steep river valleys and mountainous terrain. Fitrat said search and rescue operations are ongoing, with tents set up for survivors and emergency supplies being delivered.

A 26-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh in India allegedly murdered his 52-year-old Instagram acquaintance after she pressured him to marry her and asked him to return a loan he had taken from her. The man told police that the woman, a mother of four, also used an Instagram filter to appear younger, which contributed to his reluctance to marry her despite their relationship. Mainpuri Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh said on Tuesday that authorities discovered the body of an unidentified woman near Karpari village in the district on August 11. Strangulation marks on her neck indicated she had been murdered, which was confirmed by a post-mortem. After checking with multiple police stations, the woman was identified as a resident of Farrukhabad based on a missing person complaint, reports NDTV. Singh said that when police identified the accused, Arun Rajput, and questioned him, he admitted to knowing the woman via Instagram and having been friends for a year and a half. "Two months ago, they exchanged numbers and began speaking to each other regularly on the phone. They also met several times. On August 11, the woman travelled from Farrukhabad to Mainpuri to meet Rajput. He told us the woman had been pressuring him to marry her for some time and she brought up the topic again that day. She had also loaned about Rs 1.5 lakh to him and asked him to return the money," the police officer said. "He said he had been angry for some time about the pressure being exerted on him and strangled the woman with the 'dupatta' she was wearing. He then took her phone after getting rid of the SIM card. We have recovered the phones and accessed the messages exchanged between them. Rajput has been arrested for the woman's murder," he added. Asked whether the woman's age played any role in the murder, Mr. Singh said, "The accused has said that the woman used a filter on Instagram that made her appear younger. When he met her for the first time, he found out her actual age. The woman was also married and had children. These factors made him not want to marry her."

India warned Pakistan about possible cross-border flooding for the second time in as many weeks as monsoon deluges cause death and widespread destruction in both countries. The disaster management authority in eastern Pakistan announced the warning Tuesday. New Delhi shared the warning with Pakistan on "humanitarian grounds” through New Delhi’s high commission in Islamabad rather than the water-sharing Indus Waters Treaty, which remains suspended, an Indian government official said. Pakistan conducted mass evacuations late last month after India released water from overflowing dams and swollen rivers into low-lying border regions. The countries came close to war in May and tensions frequently escalate between the two nuclear-armed rivals, making diplomatic contact uncommon. The latest warning concerns a surge in the Sutlej River, with floodwaters expected to enter Pakistan on Wednesday. Raging torrents already have devastated border communities in Kasur, Okara, Vehari and Bahawalnagar. Punjab’s Disaster Management Authority said the Indian High Commission conveyed the warning to Pakistan through the Ministry of Water Resources. Downpours lashed several parts of northern India and killed at least 10 people over the past 24 hours. Authorities were forced to close some schools and offices on Tuesday. Landslides, flooding and gushing rivers in India’s Punjab state, home to more than 30 million people, killed at least 29 people last month. Rescue teams, backed by the army and disaster response services, have evacuated thousands from homes impacted by floods. In New Delhi, water levels of the Yamuna River, which originates in the Himalayas, crossed the danger mark Tuesday, posing a threat of flooding in low-lying areas of the city. Heavy rains also flooded parts of Gurugram city on the outskirts of the capital, causing severe traffic disruptions while waterlogging roads and apartments. Officials in Pakistan’s Punjab province said Tuesday that more than 1 million people have been evacuated and 2.45 million people have been affected by monsoon flooding in recent months.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, speaking before a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, said Wednesday that humanity today must choose between peace and war and between dialogue and confrontation. Xi started a brief address by remembering the victims of the war and called for eradication of the roots of war to prevent history from repeating itself. The parade began after he spoke with troops marching in rhythmic lockstep, their boots echoing off the pavement, for a review by Xi, who is also head of China's military as chairman of the Central Military Commission. The parade will showcase missiles, modern fighter jets and other military might as China seeks to wield greater influence on the global stage. Some of the military hardware is on public view for the first time. Before they started marching, Xi rode by the entire length of the formations along Beijing’s central Chang’an Avenue in a classic-style black limousine. He stood up through an opening in a roof with four microphones lined in front of him and greeted flanks of troops as he passed them and rows of missiles and military vehicles. They shouted back mottos in unison such as “We serve the people.” Before Xi spoke, the ceremony began with an 80-gun artillery salute to mark the 80 years since the end of the war, followed by the national anthem, the “March of the Volunteers,” a song composed in 1935 during the early years of resistance against invading Japanese forces.