Asking for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Pegasus controversy, India’s senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said that the government should either go for the investigation or appoint a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to take the issue further.

Nine people were killed by a landslide in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradeshin yesterday as boulders fell and hit the vehicle they were travelling in, news agency ANI reported.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has suggested that the Afghan security forces’ first job was to make sure they could slow the Taliban’s momentum before attempting to retake territory, as Afghan forces plan to consolidate forces around strategically important parts of the country. 

Indonesia is preparing more intensive care units after logging several days of record-high Covid-19 deaths last week, while President Joko Widodo yesterday announced an extension of restrictions by a week to August 2 to try to curb infections.

Chinese tech giant Tencent must relinquish its exclusive music label rights, the market regulator said Saturday, after finding that the firm had violated antitrust laws.

Typhoon In-Fa uprooted trees and drenched communities in knee-deep water in parts of eastern China, but there were no reports of major damage as it made landfall yesterday. 

China’s growing presence in Myanmar, the Rohingya refugees, illegal immigration, and drug trafficking have serious security concerns for north east India, according to India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday that the Afghan security forces' first job was to make sure they could slow the Taliban's momentum before attempting to retake territory, as Afghan forces plan to consolidate forces around strategically important parts of the country.

Parts of India’s west coast have received up to 594 mm (23 inches) of rain, forcing authorities to move people out of vulnerable areas as they released water from dams about to overflow. The hill station of Mahabaleshwar recorded its highest ever rainfall - 60 cm in 24 hours.

A warehouse fire in northeastern China yesterday left at least fourteen people dead and twelve seriously injured, state media reported. 

China has supplied over 10,000 Covid vaccines to a Myanmar rebel group operating near its southern border, its spokesman said yesterday, as Beijing seeks to halt the influx of cases from the coup-wracked country. 

Philippine authorities moved thousands of residents in the capital, Manila, out of low-lying communities yesterday as heavy monsoon rains, compounded by a tropical storm, flooded the city and nearby provinces.

Beijing has announced sanctions on seven American citizens and entities in response to a US advisory on deteriorating freedoms in Hong Kong, just days ahead of a visit from a senior Biden administration official.  

The Indonesian island of Bali is running out of oxygen for its Covid-19 patients as infections surge, the chief of its health agency said, as Southeast Asia’s biggest country struggles with the region’s worst Covid epidemic. 

China shut down ports and railways yesterday as it braced for Typhoon In-Fa as parts of the country struggled to recover from devastating floods earlier this week. 

Indian income tax authorities tonight said it has found tax “evasion” of Rs 700 crore over six years by the Dainik Bhaskar business group whose leading Hindi newspaper and TV channel were critical of the government’s Covid handling.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been named the new chairperson of the parliamentary party of Trinamool Congress in a move aimed at giving her a higher national profile ahead of next parliamentary elections in 2024. 

Myanmar has appointed a new temporary head of its embassy in London, Britain's foreign ministry said on Friday, replacing the previous ambassador who was ousted after breaking ranks with the military government over its February 1 coup.

Pakistan called on the United Nations on Friday to investigate whether India used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to spy on public figures including Prime Minister Imran Khan.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck south of the Philippine capital early on Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.