Ex-chief justice Karki likely to head caretaker government in Nepal
Kathmandu (PTI): Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki is likely to be appointed as the head of a caretaker government in Nepal, which would conduct fresh elections, addressing the demands of the agitating group, according to sources.
Talks among various stakeholders, including representatives of the Gen Z group -- which spearheaded the anti-government protests -- the Army chief, and President Ramchandra Paudel, ended inconclusively at Thursday midnight.
However, the youth-led Gen Z group proposed Karki's name for the post of new prime minister, multiple sources said.
President Paudel is expected to appoint Karki as the first female prime minister of Nepal on Friday morning.
The president is currently holding consultations with various political leaders as well as constitutional experts to find a way out of the current political impasse, according to sources close to the president.
Two options were considered for forming the new government: dissolving Parliament or retaining it. However, the agitating group has agreed to seek a solution within the constitutional framework.
Meanwhile, the overnight curfew has been relaxed for four hours from 7 am to 11 am to allow people time to ease into daily life.
Restrictive orders will be in place across the country from 11 am to 5 pm, followed by a two-hour window before curfew resumes from 7 pm to 6 am the next day.
Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli quit on Tuesday shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation for the death of at least 19 people in police action during Monday's protests over corruption and a social media ban. The ban on social media was lifted Monday night.
President Paudel has accepted Oli's resignation but stated that the cabinet led by him will continue to run the government until a new Council of Ministers is formed.
According to the Ministry of Health, the number of people killed so far during the protests held on Monday and Tuesday has risen to 34.
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Man sets fire to gas cylinder on truck in Kerala's Kottayam, held
Kottayam(Kerala) (PTI): A 33-year-old man climbed onto a parked truck carrying cooking gas cylinders and set fire to one of them near Thalayolaparambu in the small hours of Saturday, police said.
The incident occurred around 12.30 am, they said.
The fire and rescue personnel soon arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire, averting a major disaster.
According to police, the man is suspected to be under mental distress as he claimed that he was walking from Ernakulam to his home in Marangattupilly here when he saw the truck on the roadside.
An FIR under sections 329(3)(criminal trespass),324(2)(mischief),326(f)(mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was lodged against him.
Police said that the man was formally arrested, but will be released on station bail as the offences he is accused of are bailable.
"His family is here at the station and he will be released to them," the officer said.
In the FIR, police have said that the man opened the seal of one of the gas cylinders and set fire to it with the knowledge that his act was dangerous to those living in the area.
According to the company transporting the cooking gas cylinders, it suffered a loss of Rs 2,300 in the incident.
