Former Nepalese chief justice Sushila Karki is likely to be appointed as interim prime minister, a source aware of the talks said yesterday after intense anti-graft protests led to the resignation of Nepalese prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli.
The Himalayan nation’s worst upheaval in years, which killed 51 people this week and injured more than 1,300 as police fought to control crowds, was sparked by a social media ban, now rolled back. The violence subsided only after Oli resigned.
“Sushila Karki will be appointed interim prime minister,” said a constitutional expert consulted by Nepalese President Ramchandra Paudel and army chief Ashok Raj Sigdel, who sought anonymity as the negotiations are sensitive.
Photo: Reuters
“They [Gen Z] want her. This will happen today,” the source added, referring to the “Gen Z” protesters whose popular name derives from the age of most participants.
Nepal’s first and only female chief justice, Karki, 73, is known for her honesty, integrity and stand against corruption.
Her appointment was likely to be formally made after a meeting at Paudel’s residence after press time last night, a Gen Z source involved in the talks said.
Nepal has grappled with political and economic instability since the abolition of its monarchy in 2008, while a lack of jobs has driven millions to seek work in other countries and send money home.
Shops began reopening yesterday, among signs that normalcy was returning in the capital, Kathmandu, with cars in the streets and police personnel taking up batons instead of the guns they carried earlier in the week.
Authorities began handing over to families the bodies of their loved ones killed in the protests.
“While his friends backed off [from the protests], he decided to go ahead,” Karuna Budhathoki said of her 23-year-old nephew, as she waited to collect his body at Kathmandu’s Teaching Hospital. “We were told he was brought dead to the hospital.”
The 51 dead were 21 protesters, nine prisoners, three police officers and 18 others, police spokesperson Binod Ghimire said, without elaborating.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS