Nepal’s prime minister resigns as social media ban reversed amid violent protests
Safal Prakash Shrestha/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday after a social media ban sparked violent protests in which at least 19 people died on Monday.
Even after the government’s social media restrictions were rolled back, the protests continued on Tuesday in Nepal’s Kathmandu, were protestors were reportedly setting homes of political leaders on fire.
Oli had earlier blamed “external infiltrators” for violence.
The homes of several politicians — including Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader of the largest party Nepali Congress; President Ram Chandra Poudel; Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak and leader of the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal — were set on fire, The Associated Press reported.
The Monday clashes left 19 dead and 421 injured, according to the government. An indefinite curfew was put in place in the capital and Tribhuvan Airport has been shut down, with all flights cancelled.
“I’m protesting. I didn’t like it. I hate it. I’m opposing it!” Rajendra Bajgain, a member of parliament, told ABC News after Monday’s protests.
The protests began after the government decision to ban social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube. That ban was seen by many as an attack on freedom of speech — and an extension of what some described as the government’s corrupt nature.
“Ministers are corrupt. They are doomed with the PM,” Bajgain said prior to the prime minister’s resignation. “Listen to me very clearly, very loudly: if [the prime minister] continues the ban, he’s going to finish in a couple of days.”
In a statement released on Sept. 4, Committee to Protect Journalists Regional Director Beh Lih Yi said that the ban would essentially be “blocking online news platforms vital to journalists [and] will undermine reporting and the public’s right to information.”
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued refusal to accept a ceasefire is “complicating” efforts to reach a peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday, as he prepared to travel to the White House to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Friday’s summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska — to which Ukrainian representatives were not invited — ended with Russia demanding that Ukraine cede the entirety of its contested and fortified eastern Donetsk region in exchange for an end to the fighting, two sources told ABC News.
Putin has repeatedly dodged Ukrainian-U.S. offers of an immediate ceasefire. Before the summit, Trump told reporters, “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly.”
Kyiv has previously rejected ceding any territory to Russia without binding security guarantees that include the U.S. Zelenskyy has also ruled out giving up Donetsk, saying the region could provide a launchpad for future Russian offensives deeper into Ukraine. Kyiv maintains that no peace negotiations can take part until a ceasefire is in effect.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy addressed the ongoing talks in a post to Telegram, saying, “We see that Russia rejects numerous demands for a ceasefire and still has not determined when it will stop the killings. This complicates the situation.”
“If they have no will to implement a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort for Russia to develop the will to implement much more, namely peaceful life with neighbors for decades,” Zelenskyy added. “But we all work together for peace and security. Stopping the killings is a key element of ending the war.”
Zelenskyy will meet Trump at the White House on Monday, with the U.S. president also inviting European leaders to attend.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Sunday that they will be among the leaders accompanying Zelenskyy.
“The talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression,” Merz’s office said in a statement. “This includes maintaining the pressure of sanctions.”
The leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. were also expected to co-chair a virtual meeting of the pro-Ukraine “Coalition of the Willing” on Sunday, according to a press release from French President Emmanuel Macron’s office.
After the Alaska summit, Trump told Fox News he recommends that Kyiv “make the deal.”
“Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not,” Trump said, saying Ukraine had “great soldiers.” The president then praised Putin, calling him a “strong guy” and saying he is “tough as hell.”
On Sunday morning, Trump posted to social media claiming “big progress” being made regarding the peace talks. “STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote.
The president also again criticized media coverage of the talks. “If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal,” he wrote.
Zelenskyy said Saturday he would continue “coordination with partners” ahead of Monday’s meeting. “It is important that everyone agrees that a conversation at the leaders’ level is necessary to clarify all the details and determine which steps are needed and will work,” he said.
The Ukrainian president warned earlier on Saturday that Russian operations may expand as peace negotiations continue. “The Russian army may attempt to intensify pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political conditions for negotiations with global actors,” Zelenskyy posted to Telegram.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 60 drones and one missile into the country overnight into Sunday, of which 40 drones were shot down or suppressed. Twenty drones impacted across 12 locations, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 52 Ukrainian drones overnight.
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will take part in a virtual meeting on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Russia is showing signs it may want to end the war after Zelenskyy spoke by phone with Trump, White House adviser Steve Witkoff and European leaders last week.
“During the call, there was a signal from Mr. Witkoff, who was also on the call, that Russia is ready to end the war, or at least to make a first step toward a ceasefire, and that this was the first such signal from them,” Zelenskyy said of the call, which took place Friday. “Everyone on the call felt positive about this — that there was some kind of shift.”
Zelenskyy emphasized there were no demands or concrete proposals from the U.S., just discussions, and it’s still unclear to him what exactly Russian President Vladimir Putin told Witkoff.
The Ukrainian president also said he was told that since a meeting with him and Trump already took place, one between Putin and Trump logically followed. “And then a trilateral meeting — the U.S., Ukraine and Russia – should take place,” Zelenskyy said.
The White House officially announced the summit between Trump and Putin will take place in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
Zelenskyy said Putin was preparing for “new offensive operations” despite Friday’s looming peace summit in Alaska — and as Russian forces appear to have scored significant front-line success in eastern Ukraine.
Fierce front-line combat and long-range drone and missile strikes are ongoing as the U.S. and Russia prepare for Friday’s meeting. Ukrainian representatives are not expected to attend, though a source in Zelenskyy’s office told ABC News on Monday that “everything is very fluid.”
Zelenskyy and his officials have gone on a diplomatic offensive ahead of the meeting, seeking to shore up foreign support behind Ukraine’s key demands in any peace deal.
On Monday, Zelenskyy suggested that Putin is not ready to end the fighting, despite Friday’s meeting in Alaska.
The president’s warning came as Russian troops broke through an area of the front north of the important defensive city of Pokrovsk — in the east of the country — advancing at least six miles toward the town of Dobropillia.
The breach could give Russian forces an opportunity to drive a wedge between two Ukraine’s key eastern defensive hubs — Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka — and imperil other cities in the region.
Citing a report from his intelligence and military commands, Zelenskyy said in a statement that Putin “is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war. Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before, applying the same pressure on Ukraine as before.”
Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Monday, “So far, there is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation. On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations.”
“If someone is preparing for peace, this is not what he does,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy has said Kyiv will not cede any territory to Russia, will not abandon its NATO ambitions and will not allow any limitations on its armed forces.
Among Moscow’s demands are that Ukraine cede several regions — not all of which are controlled by Russian troops — in the south and east of the country, accept curbs on the size and sophistication of its military and be permanently excluded from NATO. Putin also wants all international sanctions on Russia to be lifted in the event of a peace deal.
Russia’s demands, Zelenskyy has said, constitute an attempt to “partition Ukraine.”
Trump on Monday described the coming summit as a “feel-out meeting,” telling reporters, “I’m going in to speak to Vladimir, and I’m going to be telling him, ‘You got to end this war. You got to end it.'”
“And at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” Trump said.
When asked how he would know if a deal is possible, the president replied, “Because that’s what I do. I make deals.”
ABC News’ Yulia Drozd, Ellie Kaufman, Oleksiy Pshemyskyi, Kelsey Walsh and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Zelenskyy spoke about the call with Trump on Tuesday, but the call took place last week.
(LONDON) — An investigation is underway as to what caused an Air India airliner carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members to crash shortly after takeoff on Thursday. Both black boxes of the aircraft have been found on Friday, an Indian official confirmed to ABC News.
The boxes — with one being damaged but recoverable — will be investigated in India and U.S. investigators are expected to arrive on Sunday, Shri G.V.G. Yugandhar, director general of India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, said.
The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, was en route to the United Kingdom and crashed into a building in India’s Meghaninager area near Ahmedabad airport, leaving 246 dead and at least one surviving passenger, local officials and the airline said. Boeing’s Dreamliner planes had not previously been involved in an incident where passenger fatalities were reported.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 13:38 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft,” the airline said in a statement on social media. “Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.”
The victims include 241 passengers and crew members, as well as five medical students who were inside the medical college and hospital the aircraft crashed into, according to hospital officials. Many others inside the building were injured — some seriously — and are receiving treatment, hospital officials said.
On Friday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson confirmed the loss of 241 of the 242 people on board the aircraft, saying those at the airline are “devastated by this loss, and grieve for those affected, their families and loved ones.” He said a technical team is now helping at the crash site and nearly 100 caregivers are providing support to families.
“This morning, I visited the site and was deeply moved by the scenes. I also met key stakeholders in the government and assured them that Air India is committed to full cooperation with those working on the ground, and to the investigations,” Wilson said in a video posted on social media.
The Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad confirmed to ABC News on Thursday that Vishwaskumar Ramesh, one of the passengers on the downed Air India flight, is alive and hospitalized there.
“Everything happened in front of my eyes. I thought I would die,” Ramesh told NDTV in an exclusive interview on Friday. “The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building. There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out.”
Officials earlier said no survivors had been expected in the crash. The process of retrieving the bodies of victims is almost complete and DNA profiling of the family members of victims will be done very soon, according to Indian Home Minister Amit Shah.
There were around 125,000 liters of fuel inside the aircraft, with temperatures so high that there was no opportunity to rescue the passengers, Shah said.
The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane “fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter” immediately after it departed from the airport. Video from the site appeared to show the jet disappear below the tree line, which was followed seconds later by a ball of fire and a thick plume of gray smoke.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement on social media on Thursday. “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”
Air India announced it will organize two relief flights, one each from Delhi and Mumbia, to Ahmedabad for the next of kin passengers and Air India staff.
Tata Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate of companies that owns Air India, said they will provide families of each person who has lost their life in the crash with ₹1 crore (about $116,000) and will also cover the medical expenses of those injured.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Dada Jovanovic, Clara McMichael, Ellie Kaufman, Sam Sweeney and Camilla Alcini contributed to this report.
