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KATHMANDU: Armed soldiers guarded the streets of Nepal’s capital Wednesday, ordering people to stay home in an attempt to restore order after tens of thousands of protesters stormed and set fire to government buildings and attacked politicians.
Soldiers with weapons guarding the main areas of Katmandu appeared to give some sense of control returning to the city that was overtaken by violence and chaos in previous days.
The army warned in an announcement late Tuesday that the security forces were committed to preserving law and order. The army is rarely mobilized and so far had stayed in its barracks, but police have failed to control the situation.
Soldiers told people in Katmandu that the curfew was valid and checked vehicles and people. The army in a statement said 21 suspected looters had been arrested.
The protests had grown increasingly violent Tuesday as demonstrators set fire to government buildings and politicians’ homes and attacked some leaders. The prime minister resigned amid widening criticism of the country’s political elite, though it appeared to have little effect on the unrest.
Tens of thousands of protesters remained on the streets late in the day, blocking roads and storming government facilities. Army helicopters ferried some ministers to safe places.
Anger over social media ban was just the beginning
On Monday, demonstrations led by young people angry about the blocking of several social media sites gripped the capital, and police opened fire on the crowds, killing 19 people.
The social media ban was lifted Tuesday, but the protests continued, fueled by rage over the deaths and accusations of political corruption.
President Ram Chandra Poudel, the ceremonial head of state, appealed to the protesters to pursue a peaceful resolution and stop further escalation. He accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli and appointed Oli to lead a caretaker government until a new one is in place — though it was unclear what power he would wield or even where he was.
The demonstrations — called the protest of Gen Z — began after the government blocked social media platforms, including Facebook, X and YouTube, saying the companies had failed to register and submit to government oversight.
But the protests spiraled to reflect broader discontent. In particular, many young people are angry that the children of political leaders — so-called nepo kids — seem to enjoy luxury lifestyles and numerous advantages while most youth struggle to find work. With youth unemployment running at about 20 percent last year, according to the World Bank, the government estimates that more than 2,000 young people leave the country every day to seek work in the Middle East or Southeast Asia.
Political leaders, buildings and homes were targeted
Videos shared on social media showed protesters beating up Nepali Congress party leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, Arzu Rana Deuba, the current foreign minister. Both appeared to be bleeding, while one video showed the party leader being helped to safety. The party is the country’s largest and is part of the governing coalition.
Smoke was still coming out of the parliament building, presidential house, the central secretariat that has the offices of the prime minister and key ministries, and the prime minister’s official residence Wednesday.
The building of Kantipur publication, the biggest media outlet in Nepal, was torched and damaged. Car showrooms were also torched. Burned-out vehicles dotted the streets.
Protesters had attacked government buildings and the residences of the top political leaders throughout Tuesday, blaming the government for the police opening fire on the protesters.
In addition to the 19 fatalities, scores of people were wounded. Oli has ordered an investigation report on the shootings and promised compensation to the families.
The government is seeking to regulate social media
The violence unfolded as Nepal’s government pursues a broader attempt to regulate social media with a bill aimed at ensuring the platforms are “properly managed, responsible and accountable.” The proposal has been widely criticized as a tool for censorship and for punishing government opponents who voice their protests online.
The bill would require companies to appoint a liaison office or a point of contact in the country. Rights groups have called it an attempt by the government to curb freedom of expression and fundamental rights.
The registration requirement applied to about two dozen social networks widely used in Nepal. Those that didn’t comply were blocked last week, though TikTok, Viber and three other platforms that registered were operating without interruption.

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration directed the nation’s public health and environmental agencies to prioritize investigations into vaccine injuries, prescription drug use and autism’s causes in its latest “Make America Healthy Again” report released Tuesday.
The 20-page report, overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., echoes many of the talking points Kennedy and those in his wide-ranging and politically diverse “MAHA” movement have united around. The document promises to put an end to childhood diseases and to make children healthier, but does not lay out regulatory changes to ensure an overhaul of Americans’ health.
Among the report’s recommendations is a call for more rigorous government investigations into vaccine injuries, a move that could stir more uproar as lawmakers raise alarm over how the health secretary’s anti-vaccine policies have thrown the nation’s public health agency into weeks of tumult.
Kennedy promised to “recast the entire program” for investigating vaccine injuries as he joined administration officials to unveil the MAHA report. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates injuries that are reported by individuals or providers.
“They will be welcomed and we will learn everything we can about them so we can improve the safety of these products,” Kennedy said of people who report vaccine injuries. He added that doctors are not currently compensated for filing complaints for vaccine injuries.
A bipartisan group of senators has raised alarm over Kennedy’s actions at the CDC, which was thrown into chaos last month when Kennedy abruptly fired his hand-picked director and other top leaders walked out on the job, citing disagreements over immunization recommendations. Last week, senators grilled Kennedy over his anti-vaccine agenda and leadership of the public health agencies.
The Trump administration’s cuts to federal health programs, including Medicaid, as well as Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric, could ultimately lead to worse health outcomes for children, Dr. Susan J. Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement.
“It lacks details on how the Administration plans to address those issues and omits key drivers that harm children’s health, including gun violence and environmental hazards,” Kressly said of the report. “We also cannot ignore the fact that this report is being published in the context of other recent harmful actions by the Administration and Congress that undermine many of the report’s recommendations.”
An earlier version of the report was first leaked and publicized in August. Slight changes have been made to the final draft, which was developed by a “MAHA” commission that included Kennedy and other members of the president’s cabinet. Despite pledging “radical transparency,” the commission never held a public meeting ahead of the report’s release.
Among the differences in the final version of the report released on Tuesday is a call for the National Institutes of Health to use personal medical records and health insurance claims data to investigate the cause of diseases and disorders, including autism.
“The NIH will link multiple datasets, such as claims information, electronic health records, and wearables data, into a single integrated dataset for researchers studying the causes of, and developing treatments for, the chronic disease crisis,” the report says.
Kennedy has vowed for months that he would unveil the cause of autism, a complex developmental disorder that impacts the brain, by September. He has promised to execute a massive research effort to identify the disorder’s causes, but has stayed mum on details regarding who is conducting that research and when it will be released.
Last month, President Donald Trump pressed Kennedy for his findings during a cabinet meeting.
Those who have spent decades researching autism have found no single cause. Besides genetics, scientists have identified various possible factors, including the age of a child’s father, the mother’s weight, and whether she had diabetes or was exposed to certain chemicals.
Trump ordered his first action as a result of the MAHA report’s recommendations on Tuesday evening, signing a memorandum to beef up enforcement of pharmaceutical ads that run across TVs, websites and social media accounts. Administration officials said during a call on Tuesday that they would be sending “hundreds” of letters to pharmaceutical companies that have run misleading ads.
The “MAHA” report addressed a number of other issues, including ultraprocessed food consumption, water quality, fluoride and the use of prescription drugs in children. Agencies, including the health department and the Department of Justice, should increase enforcement and oversight of prescription drug ads, especially those published by social media influencers and telehealth companies, the report says.
The National Institutes of Health, which is facing a 40 percent cut to its budget, is tasked with undertaking much of the MAHA-related research in the report.