Global News Podcast - Nepal's prime minister resigns as protests grow

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

The Nepalese prime minister, K P Sharma Oli, has resigned amid public outrage over the killing of nineteen anti-corruption protesters on Monday. The demonstrations were triggered by his government's decision to ban social media platforms last week. Also, Ethiopia inaugurates a huge dam on the Blue Nile, Africa's biggest hydroelectric project, and how tourism in Prague is affected by the latest book in the Da Vinci Code series. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jean-Ullat Jal and at 13 hours GMT on Tuesday the 9th of September, these are our main stories. The Prime Minister of Nepal resigns in the face of continuing anti-corruption protests in which more than 20 people have been killed. Ethiopia inaugurates a huge dam on the Blue Nile, Africa's biggest hydroelectric project. The real-life succession battle, Rupert Murdoch's son,

Lachlan takes control of his media empire. Also in this podcast, an iguana's rare virgin birth. She's now got some little clones of herself. So they're all females. They're all pretty much clones of mom and potentially they'll all be able to do the same process themselves. Nepal's Prime Minister has resigned a day after 19 people were killed in protests

against a controversial ban on social media sites. Despite the government reversing the ban, the demonstrations have continued today with two more deaths and the Parliament and other buildings being set on fire. The homes of several leaders and a former Prime Minister have also been attacked. The Gen Z protesters, as they're called, because of their young age, so they want an end to nepotism and corruption. Charlotte Scar described the scene on a street in Kathmandu

that houses many government buildings. At the moment, in the air, you can smell the tear gas, which police have been firing of protesters, since earlier this morning. We've also seen protesters set fire to a number of the government buildings on the street, and we've seen motorbikes rush through the crowds in attempt to take any of the injured to the nearby hospitals. And in the last few minutes, we've just heard, arm please, firing bullets, protesters, so we've just taken cover on the side street. With anger mounting over the high number of deaths, several government ministers resigned today

before the Prime Minister, K.P. Shama Oli also felt compelled to go. Penindra Dahal from BBC Nepal has been at the demonstrations in Kathmandu. The Prime Minister has confirmed his resignation through a statement issued by his office. It is signed by Prime Minister Oli and it states that he has resigned to. pave way for the constitutional solution of the current crisis. He wants the parliament to elect the new prime minister. This resignation partially fulfills the demand of younger generation of protesters who want change in Nepal, who say they are agitating against the widespread corruption and nepotism in the country. But it is not clear how the Nepali politics and governance will

move forward. Our new government will be constituted. Genji are demanding a new government led by a younger generation of politicians. Because that's the thing in Nepal. You have mostly older prime ministers, older politicians in charge. And part of the reason there is so much anger on the streets is because young Nepalese are seeing images on social media of the children of politicians flaunting their wealth. Yeah. This trend actually became viral. Nepo kids and Napo babies. It was widely shared by TikTok after the social media ban was enforced.

TikTok was the platform which was registered and people were expressing their anger against the political establishment by those posts. And they used this post to initiate the demonstration that started yesterday. And as you said rightly, It appears like Nepali politics is in a way captured by older generation of leaders, completely controlling their party's top post for decades and years.

And why were there so many deaths? It's partly because of the anger of these deaths that the Prime Minister has stood down, but 19 deaths on Monday alone. Why so high, the figure? The protesters, actually, I was on the rally. They started very peacefully and their sentiment was they want some change. in the country. They told me that they feel that the blockade on social media platforms was an authoritarian kind of tendency attempting to silence the voice of people. But as the

rally marched forward, the hundreds of people who were in the rally soon became tens of thousands. And they started crossing the restricted area, which is close to the parliament buildings. Some even try to enter the parliament building. They burnt a motor vehicle there. They vandalized some portion of the parliament building. And during that time, the police and the protesters clashed. Police used water cannons and fired some tear gas, but they later used rubber bullets and live bullets. It led to massive casualty. Penendra Dahal, in Kathmandu. It's a big day for Ethiopia. 14 years after construction began, it's officially inaugurated Africa's biggest hydroelectric dam. It will transform the lives

of millions of Ethiopians by supplying them with electricity for the first time. The Ethiopian ambassador to the UN, Tesfaya Yuma Sabo, told the BBC the dam was a triumph for Africa's second most populous country. It addresses the energy poverty situation in Ethiopia. have about 60% of our population not having access to energy. On top of that, it's a clean energy. It's renewable. So that's a big plus as well. It takes every aspect of life in my country. But while Ethiopians are celebrating, their neighbours are watching this inauguration with dread. Countries that are downstream, such as Sudan and Egypt, are worried that their essential water

supplies could be affected. Abbas Shiraki is a professor of water resources at Cairo University. This is a big harm for Egypt. The Nile River is the only source of fresh water in Egypt. We don't have rainfall. So we are a poor country in terms of water and we are going to be severe water deficiency. Ethiopia should follow the regulations of the international rivers. They should consult with Egypt.

Egypt, when they build any project on the river. So Ethiopia, now, they use unilateral decisions to build the dam and will refuse this kind of decisions. But as Carl Kedanya Beltar reports from Ethiopia, for people there, the dam is a beacon of hope. This is Gett Ensh's village, Alamura, in southern Ethiopia. A small farming community that cross bananas and maize. They also raise livestock.

The village is less than 10 kilometers away from Hawasa, one of the country's major cities. Yet, it doesn't have access to electricity. Gatenish and her family use kerosene-powered lamps for light and firewood for cooking. Their small mud-walled and straw-roofed hut is filled with dark smoke when 35-year-old Gat-Nish cooks meals for her three children. When we run out of fuel, we might spend nights in darkness. Sometimes we use firewood as a source of light.

Sometimes we can't even have enough wood. Now, she's hopeful her household will have electric power. And that's because a massive hydroelectric dam built over the Blue Nile has been completed in the western part of Ethiopia. The plant, officially known us the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, will massively increase the country's electric supply. And for the tens of millions like Gitt Ennish, it could herald the dawn of a brighter day.

For more than a decade, her husband, Germisagalcha, has been contributing for the fundraising campaign for the construction of the dam. I feel incredibly happy because this is our shared ambition. I don't even have words to explain my excitement. Ethiopia hopes the $4 billion hydro power project will boost its electric exports to regional neighbors. But it has created issues with downstream countries Sudan and Egypt that fear the water levels could be affected, particularly during times of drought,

something Ethiopia denies. Yaakov Arsano is a professor of hydropolitics in Addisaba. He was also part of Ethiopia's negotiation team during several rounds of talks among the three countries. He says dialogue should continue. I think negotiations will continue. Not like they have been, but they must find a common ground. The water belongs to everybody, and everybody has to, you know, agree on a common ground, on a common use, on a collaborative kind of future,

so that, you know, opportunities for each country can expand and each country should be cooperative and empathetic to other countries. However, in a recent joint statement, Khartoum and Cairo said the dam will continue to pause threats to their water supplies. Officials in Addis Ababa say the costs of the construction of the dam were entirely covered by the government and contributions from the public. Hundreds of millions of dollars were collected from the people through donations and the sale of government-issued bonds.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a source of pride and a rare sense of unity. for a country blithed by conflicts in recent years. The power it generates will feed into the national grid. To reach villages and households without access to power, Ethiopia must next work on expanding its electric networks. And millions hope electricity will finally reach their homes. That report by Kalkiadan-ebel-Tal in Ethiopia. The aging media mogul, the warring siblings,

The battle for control of a powerful business empire. No, not the TV show's succession, but the real-life drama that inspired it. Rupert Murdoch's years-long struggle to ensure his son Lachlan controls his news group, which includes a conservative-leaning Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and many other media outlets across the world. Now, the family of the 94-year-old media tycoon have finally reached a settlement in the long-running dispute, which cements Lockland's control, but also makes three of his six. siblings, billionaires.

Andrew Neal worked for Rupert Murdoch as the editor of the Sunday Times. It's a success for Rupert Murdoch. It's been a long time coming. It's an expensive success, but his great fear was that Lackland Murdoch, the son that he's put in to run the organisation. Now he's in charge.

He's a chip off the old block has a worldview not dissimilar to Rupert Murdox. His fear is that when Rupert went to the great newsroom in the sky, Lackland Murdoch would be out of the old block. voted by James Murdoch, his brother, Elizabeth Murdoch, his sister, and Prudence Murdoch, his step-sister, who are of a more small-L liberal bent. Well, that won't happen now because they've been bought out. My understanding is they've been bought out at a cost of over $3 billion.

And Lackland Murdoch is now king of the hill in a new trust which will have control of the organization, and he runs that without fear of interference from his siblings. I think the significance other than ensuring the general continuity of the whole murder of organization in print and online and in broadcasting is that it's now less likely to be unbundled on his death. I think there was a fear that the constituent parts would be sold if there was this huge dynastic battle between the siblings in the end, it would be broken up and sold off. And I think now with Lackland Murdoch in charge, that is a lot less likely to.

to happen. So Fox News will continue in its current direction. Of course, it paid a huge price for its coverage of the election in the aftermath of 2020. And a huge price of almost a billion dollars. And there's still some things that are unsaid, just as Mr. Murdoch had to pay a huge price for the hacking scandal in this country. So maybe the lesson going forward is that it's better to stick to good journalism. Not only is that the right thing to do, it costs you to less money in the long run. British journalist Andrew Neal. Now, hiking alone across glaciers in Norway

is not for the faint-hearted and even the most experienced of hikers can get into difficulty. That's what happened to the award-winning American climate reporter Alex Loon. When he didn't turn up for his flight home to the UK, his wife raised the alarm. He was eventually found six days

after he'd fallen and seriously injured himself. He told the BBC what happened? I had been in Norway for a family vacation and I stayed a couple extra days because there's a big glacier, the third largest in Norway, near Bergen, where I was. And I'm really fascinated by 10,000-year-old ice that's slowly flowing over a mountain.

I just wanted to hike around the northern half of that glacier. So I was hiking on some really steep terrain and I had a problem with my shoe where the sole of my left boot had started to come off the boot. And when I was on this very steep slope, I remember taking a step and slipping. And then I started sliding down the mountain, and then I started rolling down the mountain,

and then I was really pinballing down the mountain. I ended up crashing into a rock so hard that it broke my femur, fractured my pelvis, and fractured a couple vertebrae in my back as well. My only communication that I had was my phone, and my phone fell out of my pocket on that fall. I remember just making sure I had my backpack when I knew that some things had come out and that maybe my phone was up there. So I tried to climb up the slope. That's when I started to feel the pain, and it was just too hard to get up the slope.

The pain was just, you know, really intense. I had my tent, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, which was really critical. And then I had maybe a dozen granola bars and a couple of peanuts. The first couple days were dry, so by the second day I was really, really thirsty. So I decided to pee in my water pouch and drink my own urine just to get some fluids. I just thought to myself, I'm going to do anything to get back to my wife and family because if I die now, that will be such a waste and such a supreme tragedy that I didn't get to spend more time with them. I've been kind of making notes as I went along in my

notes app on my phone. So my wife, once she got into my computer, she could see the notes that I had made all the way up to the point where I fell. So that helped the police understand where to start looking. You know, I was starting to really doubt my chances, but I woke up on that morning and I kept hearing what sounded like voices. And then I heard the sound of a helicopter. and it was getting closer and closer and finally I saw this helicopter flying up the valley and it started just scanning the slope of the mountain. My heart leapt and I just started waving to that helicopter and yelling at it, but the helicopter didn't see me and it just flew away.

I thought, okay, either the helicopter is going to go refuel or I just missed my one chance. And luckily, half an hour, 40 minutes later, the helicopter came back and finally the door of the helicopter opened and somebody waved back at me and that's when I knew that it was finally all going to be over. Alex Loon, who's now safely back home. Still to come in this podcast, how you could help scientists in the battle against pollution

caused by microplastics. We'd be able to take your metal water bottle or something from the home and be able to sample small amounts of water. It's like one litre at a time from, your local waterway, maybe even your drinking water from your tap. The French Prime Minister, Francois Bayru, has officially resigned. It comes a day after he lost a confidence vote in Parliament after failing to persuade MPs to support his budget plans.

His departure leaves President Emmanuel Macron searching for a fifth Prime Minister in less than two years. Many are sceptical he can find anyone who, who can command a parliamentary majority. I asked Hughes-Cofield in Paris, what options are open to President Macron as he prepares to choose yet another Prime Minister. He could do what he's most likely to do,

which is to look inside his own camp, choose names from lists which have circulated before, because we've been here before. We were here last December, and before that we were here in July, August last year, when the parliament had just been elected, this terribly damaging split parliament was elected. Names like Sebastian Le Cornu, he's a defence minister,

who's close to Emmanuel Macron, Catherine Vautrin, who's the Labour Minister, someone again, both of these are conservative figures, or he could do what the left is calling him to do, certainly the Socialist Party who are calling him to do, which is to turn to them. They're saying, what you've tried, two Prime Ministers from the centre and the right. We're here too. We did well in the election. In fact, by one reckoning, the left won the election.

So you should turn to us. That's considered a possibility, but maybe unlikely, because the socialists are wedded to undoing a lot of what Macron has done in the last few years. So it's a kind of, it's an unsquareable circle or an uncirclable square. Because whoever Mr Macron chooses is just going to face the same problems that Francois Bayou faced and the Prime Minister before him, Michel Barnier. Indeed, which is why, you know, some people are saying that the only logical conclusion to this will have to be another dissolution of Parliament. because the same prefiguration of Parliament now, this sort of three-way split does not work with the system. It means that we have a parliament split, three ways, all of whom hate each other, and two groups will always act together to stop the third having effective government.

That being the case, as you say, it's more than likely that there will be another Prime Minister. He or she will get another budget together, cobble it together, but will that budget survive? Or will it and he or she fall in turn? quite possible. Hughes-Cofield in Paris. Microplastics, tiny microscopic pieces of plastic are polluting our water. There to be found in glaciers, the stomachs of fish and birds, and even in our drinking water. A new project called CSI for the ocean has set out to map the highest concentrations of microplastics around the world. And the researchers are asking members of the public to do the sampling and testing for them. The hope is it will help the scientist to focus on the worst

places. Working on the project is Claire Gwinnett, a professor of forensic and environmental science at the University of Staffordshire here in the UK. She spoke to Anna Foster. Normally, when we think of these microplastic studies, it involves very large equipment, it's expensive, huge research, ships. But what we've done as part of this project is to take that process and simplify it and create, say, a cost-effective way that anybody can do. So the idea is that we'd be able to take a simple, anything from a galvanised bucket or your metal water bottle or something from the home and be able to sample small amounts of water. It's like one litre at a time from your local waterway, maybe even your drinking water from your tap. And there's a very simple

filtration process that you can do that then places all of the smallest microplastic. So things you can't even see with a naked eye, like six micrometers, which is like a tenth of the thickness of an average human hair. And what happens then is they're able to recover these, these tiny particles using a little environmental tape that puts it on a microscope slide, but doesn't expect a microscope at the end because the last part of the process involves a small lens that fits on any mobile phone where the citizen scientists can actually image that slide and then upload it against this mobile application that's in development now that allows behind the scenes a machine learning algorithm to auto detect the particles and characterize them. And then that data

gets uploaded onto this global map. It does feel like one of those things that people are becoming more and more interested in and learning more and more about. Because the fact that microplastics come from so many different things, ordinary everyday things that you wouldn't even consider, I think people are starting to be concerned actually about that now. Absolutely. We're learning more and more about the abundance of these particles. in all of our environments and our food stuff and our drinking water and we're now starting to learn how

we're actually inhaling it, we're taking it into the body. When we start looking at the really small size fractions, the vast majority that are being found are fibre formed. So they're not the little fragments or microbeats. They're actually fibres. And these are predominantly coming from our clothes.

So our washing, our wearing, our drying of our clothes and they very easily enter the environment. Professor Claire Gwinnett, speaking to Anna Foster. The Brazilian Supreme Court has begun to deliberate on its verdict in the coup trial of the former far-right President Jaya Bolsonaro. The five judges must decide by Friday whether he is guilty of trying to mastermind a coup to cling onto power after losing the last elections to his left-wing rival Luis Inasio Lula de Silva. If found guilty, Mr Boltonaro could be sentenced to decades behind bars.

He's been backed by Donald Trump, who's imposed punishing tariffs on Brazilian goods, as well as sanctions on the judge leading the trial. With more, here's our South America correspondent, Ione Wales. Brazil is bracing itself for a decisive verdict in a trial that has polarised the country. Sunday was Independence Day and thousands of people protested on the streets, some to defend democracy, others to defend the former president, Shia Bolsonaro. who's accused of trying to overthrow it. Here in Sao Paulo, crowds of them march through the city centre, wearing the Brazilian football shirt,

which has been co-opted as a symbol of his movement. His fans call for amnesty. Brazil is totally divided, but I believe with sanctions coming from the United States, those who were in favour of what's happening are taking their foot off the accelerator. His cause has been adopted by Donald Trump, who's used the trial as an excuse to impose 50% tariffs on Brazil. This is really a political execution that they're trying to do with Bolsonaro.

No amnesty. That's the message of his critics, who also gathered for protests on Sunday. They carried huge inflatable figures of Bolsonaro in a prison uniform and Donald Trump and signs saying prison for Bolsonaro and Trump pours off Brazil. The climate is very polarized. The right wing was very strong, but I think since Trump's actions, there has been a shift to the left. It's about preventing foreign interference. It is regrettable that another coup has been attempted in Brazil's Republican history. The allegations against Bolsonaro include that he proposed a coup to military leaders

and knew of a plot to assassinate the president-elect Lula de Silva and the Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Morais, who is now leading this case. attacking institutions and democracy itself with the aim of establishing a state of emergency, a true dictatorship. He's also accused of inciting his supporters to attack government buildings and the Supreme Court on the 8th of January, 23,

after claiming the election was stolen, something he's always denied. I was outside of Brazil, thank God, with no involvement whatsoever. One of those who protested was Deborah Rodriguez. She scrawled You Lost Sucker on the Statue of Justice outside the Supreme Court in lipstick. It was handed a 14-year jail sentence for coup charges by the Supreme Court. Her sister, Claudia, says this is unfair, as a coup didn't happen in the end.

I've never heard of someone being sentenced to 14 years in prison for using lipstick. It was a demonstration, not a terrorist act. If Bolsonaro is tried and convicted of a coup, that will also condemn the 1,200 people who are protesting there. The protesters were clearly co-mongering. Ricardo Capelli was a minister tasked with restoring order to the capital after the January 8th riots. The trial turns a page in our democracy

and tells the world, Brazil will no longer accept coups. History shows, can't turn the blind eye to coup plots, because today's pardoned coup plotter is tomorrow's new coup plotter. The history of Brazil is punctuated by coups and coup attempts, and no one has ever set in the dock. Some hope this week's verdict will draw a line under the deep divisions of the last few years, but while his critics say the trial is to defend against authoritarianism, his supporters say the authoritarian thing is the sweeping powers the judges have used

to investigate him and his supporters. With such different definitions, there could be more polarisation to come. That report by Ione Wells. It's one of the most popular thrillers of modern times. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has sold tens of millions of copies and been made into a successful film. Now, to much fanfare, the American has released. the latest instalment of his Da Vinci Code series.

The book called The Secret of Secrets is partly set in the Czech capital Prague and fans have been queuing there to buy a copy. But not everyone is happy in a city where over-tourism has become a big problem. Rob Cameron told me more about the buzz the book is creating in Prague. This is actually the first time that the English and the Czech versions of Dan Brown's latest book have been released on the same day. And indeed, there was a long snaking queue outside the Old Town Hall on the Old Town Square ready for 7 a.m. this morning when a thousand copies of The Secret of Secrets, which is set in Prague, went on sale. Some people even camped overnight. They sat in camping chairs and were brought cups of tea by people working inside the old town hall to be among the first to get the hands on the book. And of course, the first 100 of those 1,000 copies were signed by. the author and that's important because there is no signing planned for the books. He won't be

in Prague to sign the book so that's why they were so keen to get their hands on these signed copies and indeed the 10 luckiest members of the public who bought the book will enter a raffle and they will win tickets to an audience with the American author in Prague in about 10 days time. It all sounds very exciting but not everyone's happy are they Rob over tourism. It's been a big problem for Prague and there are those who worry that the success of this book which is almost certain will make that problem even worse. Yes indeed because you know Charles Bridge is featured on the cover of the book and the book which is the latest to feature the symbolist Robert Langdon is seen going to the most famous parts of Prague and some people are worried that that will simply

send you know thousands probably millions of tourists to areas which are always already suffering from over tourism. So this book has not been welcomed by everybody here in the Czech capital. Rob Cameron in Prague. Staff at a zoo in central England were stunned when one of their lizards produced eight hatchlings despite not having had access to a mate in what's being described as a virgin birth.

The eight mini iguanas are identical genetic clones of their mother. It's been called one of the rarest events in the animal kingdom. Scott Adams, who works at the zoo, says it's certainly been a surprise. We're obviously really used to animals laying eggs, giving birth to babies. But when we've just got one female at the zoo, we definitely don't expect babies or eggs. So to find some eggs laid obviously was unusual, but exciting at the same time, thinking that what was going on here, I guess. Scott Adams at Telford Zoo.

And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. This edition was mixed by Sarah Kimberly. The producers were Oliver Burlough and Paul Day. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jeanette Jalil. Until next time. Goodbye.