Nepal has lifted a ban on social media platforms following mass protests and the killing of 19 people in clashes with security forces, a government minister said.
Cabinet spokesman and Minister of Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung said early on Tuesday that the government had rolled back the social media ban imposed last week.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
“We have withdrawn the shutdown of the social media. They are working now,” Gurung told the Reuters news agency.
At least 19 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in clashes with Nepalese security forces after thousands of young people took to the streets on Monday to protest against corruption and the government’s ban on social media platforms.
The government had blocked 26 social media sites, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Israel and India have signed a bilateral investment agreement to expand mutual trade during far-right Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich’s trip to the South Asian country, which deepened its ties with Israel under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The agreement, signed in New Delhi by Smotrich and Indian Minister of Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, aims to boost trade and investment flows between the two countries. Sitharaman stressed the need for greater collaboration in “cybersecurity, defence, innovation and high-technology”.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The deal marked “an important strategic step for our joint vision”, said Smotrich, who has been sanctioned by several Western countries for his links to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“The agreement reached today between Israel and India reflects our economic growth, innovation and mutual prosperity,” he wrote on X.
“This agreement will open new opportunities for investors in both countries, strengthen Israeli exports, and provide businesses with the certainty and tools to grow in one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing markets.”
India’s Ministry of Finance described the deal as a “historic milestone”, adding that it will foster cooperation in “fintech innovation, infrastructure development, financial regulation, and digital payment connectivity”.
Bilateral trade stood at $3.9bn in 2024, while current mutual investments are worth about $800m, according to official figures. But the bulk of the trade between the two countries is in the domain of defence and security, with New Delhi being Israel’s largest weapons buyer.
Last year, Indian firms also sold Israel rockets and explosives during Israel’s war on Gaza, an Al Jazeera investigation revealed.
A woman holds a placard denouncing India’s supply of weapons to Israel, during a protest in New Delhi on June 1, 2024 [Altaf Qadri/AP Photo]
The agreement comes as New Delhi moves closer to Israel, even as Israel faces growing political isolation over its genocidal war on Gaza. India was one of the first countries to reach out to Israel after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel led by Hamas, condemning it as “an act of terror”.
Indian authorities have cracked down on pro-Palestine protests, even criminalising them in some cases, while allowing pro-Israel rallies.
India still supports the so-called two-state solution for the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but it has abstained from several United Nations resolutions that have been critical of Israeli rights violations against Palestinians.
In 2024, India also abstained from a UN General Assembly vote calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza.
Indians make up the largest group of foreign students in Israel, while Israeli construction companies have sought permission to hire up to 100,000 Indian workers to replace Palestinians whose permits were revoked after Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza in October 2023.
India has also refused to condemn Israel’s war on Iran, and declined to support the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) condemnation of Israeli attacks. But after United States President Donald Trump’s 50 percent tariffs on India, which took effect late last month, New Delhi this month signed an SCO declaration that condemned the US-Israeli bombing of Iran.
India has also moved to mend its ties with rival China, in a setback for years of US policy using New Delhi as a counterweight to Beijing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened Palestinians in Gaza City to “leave now”, as the United Nations human rights chief condemned Israel for what he described as the “mass killing” of civilians and deliberate obstruction of lifesaving aid.
Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, accused Israel on Monday of committing “war crime upon war crime” and said the scale of devastation in Gaza was “shocking the conscience of the world”.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
He added that Israel “has a case to answer before the International Court of Justice (ICJ)”, pointing to the court’s ruling in January that obliged Tel Aviv to prevent acts of genocide.
Turk’s appeal to end the “carnage in Gaza” came as Israeli forces continued their destruction of Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the enclave, ahead of their plans for a ground invasion of the city.
The Palestinian Civil Defence said that Israeli strikes have levelled more than 50 buildings across Gaza since Sunday morning, while another 100 have been partially damaged. Spokesman Mahmoud Basal accused Israel of deliberately hitting residential blocks next to encampments of displaced families, destroying more than 200 tents in the last 24 hours.
He said that rescue teams are continuing to pull people from the rubble in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood after Israeli bombs flattened buildings in the az-Zarqa district. Mosques and sport grounds were also targeted, he added.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said it was “heartbreaking to watch these high-rise towers in Gaza City falling one after another due to the systematic tactics of the Israeli military”.
“It’s not just a building that’s been destroyed – it’s the services that come with it, services that are crucial for people trying to live their lives after nearly two years of war.”
Dozens killed, famine deepens
Local hospitals told Al Jazeera that at least 52 Palestinians were killed on Monday alone, with 32 of them in Gaza City. The Ministry of Health reported six more deaths, including two children, from starvation and severe malnutrition in the besieged enclave, where Israel routinely blocks or bombs aid.
Among those killed in Israel’s bombardment on Monday was Osama Balousha, a Palestinian journalist, medics said.
Palestinian officials say that nearly 250 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began – all of them Palestinian, as Israel bars foreign reporters from entering. It is the deadliest conflict for media workers in modern history.
The Israeli military said that four of its soldiers were also killed when a roadside bomb detonated under a tank in northern Gaza.
Palestinians inspect the site of a collapsed residential building, shortly after it was hit in an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City, September 8, 2025 [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]
‘Humanitarian areas’ under fire
Israel issued new evacuation threats on Monday, releasing maps warning Palestinians to leave a highlighted building and nearby tents on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street in Gaza City or face death. It told residents to move to the so-called “humanitarian area” in al-Mawasi, a barren stretch of coast in southern Gaza.
But al-Mawasi itself has been repeatedly bombed, despite Israel insisting it is a safe zone. At the start of the year, about 115,000 people lived there. Today, aid agencies estimate that more than 800,000 – nearly a third of Gaza’s population – are crammed into overcrowded makeshift camps.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanches echoed the UN’s condemnation of Israel and announced new measures against the country.
He said Spain would block ships and aircraft carrying weapons to Israel from using its ports or airspace, expand humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and ban imports of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements.
“We hope that they will serve to add pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to alleviate some of the suffering that the Palestinian population is enduring,” Sánchez said in a televised address.
He added that anyone directly involved in what he said was a “genocide” would be banned from entering Spain.
Hamas open to ceasefire as violence spreads to West Bank
Meanwhile, Hamas said it was ready to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” after receiving proposals from the United States for a ceasefire and release of captives.
US President Donald Trump declared he had issued his “last warning” to Hamas to accept a deal. Axios, citing an unnamed source, reported that the US plan includes a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, “subject to the new government in Gaza’s ability to impose security’.
Hamas dismissed this as a trap, saying that the condition effectively grants Israel veto power over how and when the withdrawal happens.
The war also spilled into the occupied West Bank on Monday, after Palestinian gunmen killed six people and wounded dozens more near an illegal settlement. The attackers were shot dead by an Israeli soldier and a civilian.
In response, Israeli forces sealed off checkpoints between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, while troops raided nearby Palestinian villages, including Qatana, Biddu, Beit Inan and Beit Duqu.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said such raids were part of Israel’s “collective punishment” policy.
“It is the collective punishment that takes place every time. The villages are raided, the roads are blocked, the checkpoints are completely shut down, family members are arrested and, ultimately, the family home is demolished,” she said.
In Jenin, two 14-year-old boys – Mohammad Sari Omar Masqala and Islam Abdel Aziz Noah Majarmah – were confirmed killed during the Israeli raids. Wissam Bakr, the director of Jenin Government Hospital, said that Masqala died from his wounds hours after the Jerusalem attack.
Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti said that Israel uses such attacks as pretexts for escalation.
“Attacks on Palestinian cities and towns in the occupied West Bank are a pattern that exists without any attacks,” he said. “It’s just that they [Israel] use such a moment to justify and escalate collective punishment acts against Palestinians.”
Norway’s Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has claimed victory in Monday’s legislative elections, which also saw a record surge in support for the anti-immigration populist Progress Party.
“We did it,” the 65-year-old leader exclaimed at an election night rally after Labour came out on top, with about 28 percent of votes, which enabled him to remain in power with the support of four other left-wing parties.
Projections by broadcasters NRK and TV2 after polls had closed showed Labour’s left-wing bloc and four smaller parties winning 89 seats, above the 85 needed for a majority.
The Asia Cup cricket tournament starts on Tuesday, but for tournament organisers, sponsors and cricket fans from India and Pakistan, it won’t be before Sunday, when the two regional superpowers face each other, that the event will spring into action.
Any India vs Pakistan match is considered a marquee event, but the recent conflict between the two countries has brought extra heat to the encounter in Dubai.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
After all, it will be their first meeting since the South Asian archrivals returned from the brink of an all-out war in May, when both countries clashed at their shared border before an internationally-brokered ceasefire.
It has been almost 18 years since India and Pakistan last met in a Test match – the five-day version of cricket widely regarded as the pinnacle of the sport – and almost 13 years since either side crossed the border to play a bilateral series.
But between September 14 and 21, if results go the way the organisers hope for, Pakistan and India could end up playing three times.
A decades-old political rift between the two nuclear-armed countries is blamed for the frosty sporting ties, but the same differences are set aside when a regional or global cricket event comes around.
Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947, resulting in a bloody division of the subcontinent by the colonial British. Over the past 78 years, the nations have fought four wars, exchanged countless skirmishes and remained at odds primarily over the disputed Kashmir region that both claim in entirety but administer parts of.
The Asia Cup is no stranger to political influence and has faced the repercussions of strained ties between the two.
When India hosted the tournament in 1990-91 amid an uprising in India-administered Kashmir, Pakistan pulled out. The following edition, in 1993, was called off amid heightened tensions between the two sides.
But despite the strained relations on a political level and the current cricket impasse, which began in 2013, India and Pakistan have regularly faced each other at tournaments for the International Cricket Council (ICC) and for the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Asia Cup.
Pakistani, front, and Indian soldiers stand on their respective sides of their shared border during the flag-lowering ceremony in Wagah, Pakistan on May 4, 2025 [File: Rahat Dar/EPA]
‘Maximising eyeballs and revenue’
Why, then, is it impossible for both sides to separate politics from sport for bilateral exchanges if they can agree to share a cricket field potentially three times in two weeks?
“It’s all about maximising eyeballs and tournament revenue,” Sami Ul Hasan, former head of the ICC’s media and communication departments, told Al Jazeera.
“When the ICC plans a global event, organisers do not consider rankings or any other factors. It’s all about making sure India and Pakistan play against each other at least once.
“Over the last two decades, the ICC has changed the format of its tournaments multiple times in order to ensure that happens.”
The ICC has, in the past, admitted to fixing tournament draws to ensure Pakistan and India end up in the same group.
Post-tournament viewership figures confirm the high ratings for India-Pakistan matches.
According to the ICC, the India vs Pakistan fixture at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was one of the most-watched one-day international matches in India.
It generated over 26 billion minutes of watch time on TV, surpassing the India-Pakistan match from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which had recorded 19.5 billion viewing minutes.
Tournament organisers, such as the ICC and the ACC, typically sell broadcasting rights and sponsorships to the highest bidders.
The ICC and ACC distribute the revenue generated at these tournaments amongst their member nations, who stand to benefit from a higher number of India-Pakistan matches as well.
According to Hasan, the first question posed by broadcasters and sponsors is on India-Pakistan matches.
“It’s tricky to pull off multiple India-Pakistan games at global events, but easier to achieve this outcome in smaller tournaments such as the Asia Cup,” he said.
“Even at the Asia Cup, the most they’ve got so far is two matches per tournament. They have been trying for a third [in the final] but it hasn’t materialised yet.”
In the tournament’s 16 iterations since its inception in 1984, India and Pakistan have never met in a final.
Fans gather at a viewing party for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in New York City, the US, on June 9, 2024 [File: Yuki Iwamura/AP]
‘Don’t care about India vs Pakistan’
Although India versus Pakistan is always the biggest draw at any cricket tournament, fans from other participating nations are not bothered by the lack of attention and respect shown to their teams.
“I only care about Sri Lanka and not about what happens in an India-Pakistan match as long as Sri Lanka walks away with the cup,” Mohammad Akram, a Sri Lankan, said.
“For us, it’s about our team and the same goes for fans of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other countries.
“Sri Lanka has always been sidelined. It has always been about India and Pakistan, but we don’t mind because our team has played the most finals.”
Sri Lanka are the second most successful team in the Asia Cup and have qualified for a record 13 finals, lifting the trophy six times. Another win in the final would tie them with the reigning champions India.
Sri Lanka are the second most successful team at the Asia Cup [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP]
Bending the rules
The focus on this rivalry can sometimes lead to unprecedented decision-making and bending of the rules.
At the last Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka two years ago, the India-Pakistan group-stage game was abandoned due to rain. As both teams reached the next round, and with more rain expected, organisers set aside a reserve day to their Super Four fixture, the only match in that round to benefit from the allocation.
That decision was taken in the middle of the tournament, raising eyebrows and attracting criticism from cricket experts and fans of other participating countries.
“Rules must not be bent for anyone. What happened then did not set a good example for the game,” Hasan said. “Playing conditions and rules are signed off prior to the tournament and are not tinkered with.
“Changing them to accommodate certain fixtures gives out a message that everything is about money and commercialisation of that single fixture.”
India and Pakistan faced each other twice in the Asia Cup 2023, but their first match was abandoned due to bad weather [File: Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images]
India’s sporting ambitions
Despite the ongoing political rift between India and Pakistan, both sets of cricket boards and governments have given these fixtures a green light.
In August, India announced a new sports policy whereby its teams and athletes will not be allowed to engage in bilateral sports events with Pakistan, but can face them in international tournaments.
It also prohibited Indian athletes from travelling to Pakistan and refused to host teams and individuals from Pakistan.
The move, according to former ICC official Hasan, is to ensure that India’s ambitions of bidding for the 2036 Olympics and the 2030 Commonwealth Games are not affected.
“For India to say it doesn’t want to play against Pakistan due to political reasons would weaken its case as a potential global sporting hub,” he said.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India, the world’s most populous nation [Amit Dave/Reuters]
The United States has sanctioned nearly 20 companies and individuals in Myanmar and Cambodia for their involvement in part of a multibillion-dollar global scam industry built on the back of enslaved human trafficking victims.
The Treasury Department on Monday announced it had issued financial and diplomatic sanctions on nine targets operating in Myanmar’s notorious Shwe Kokko city, and 10 in Cambodia.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, but also subjects thousands of people to modern slavery,” undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K Hurley said in a statement, adding that Americans last year lost more than $10bn from scam operations originating in the region.
The department said it had issued sanctions against Tin Win, Saw Min Min Oo and Chit Linn Myaing Co for acting on behalf of the Karen National Army – which protects the massive scam operation – as well as She Zhijiang, the creator of the city’s Yatai New City compound. Several companies linked to them were sanctioned as well, which, under the Magnitsky Act, bars them from entry to the US and bank dealings.
In Cambodia, the department sanctioned Dong Lecheng, Xu Aimin, Chen Al Len and Su Liangsheng, along with six companies they are tied to, for their role in turning a number of hotels, office blocks and casinos into scam compounds.
Myanmar and Cambodia have become a cyberscam epicentre in recent years. Run by criminal networks that often have links to Chinese organised crime, the scam operations bilk victims across the globe out of billions of dollars annually.
The schemes, known as “pig-butchering”, involve scammers developing virtual relationships with victims before convincing them to sink money in nonexistent investments.
Many of those operating the scams are victims themselves, lured from abroad with the promise of fake jobs, and held against their will, often through extreme violence. While exact figures are hard to come by, the now-defunct US aid agency has estimated that approximately 150,000 victims are trapped in scam compounds in Cambodia, while the Thai government has estimated that 100,000 are enslaved in Myanmar.
