India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cyber security app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed, a move likely to antagonise Apple and privacy advocates.

The Mauritanian coastguard on Sunday rescued 141 migrants from a vessel adrift off the west African coast, official sources told AFP.

Authorities said yesterday they have made a total 13 arrests over Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades after the blaze killed 151 people last week, a toll that could further rise.

Allegations of “large-scale voter deletion” in India’s West Bengal are “false” and “fabricated” and an attempt to further vested political interests, the Election Commission has told the Supreme Court in an affidavit. The allegations are being spread as a “narrative” in the media to gain political mileage, the poll body said.

The toll in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,100 yesterday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors.

Saudi Arabia quietly facilitated a round of direct talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan aimed at easing tensions over cross-border terrorism, but the discussions wrapped up late on Sunday without any breakthrough, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The sons of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan fear authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his condition after more than three weeks with no evidence that he is still alive, one of them said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris yesterday, seeking to shore up European support as US President Donald Trump expressed optimism of a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Tourists and business people from the two countries can avail the facility for up to 90 days

Singapore will impose a stricter ban on smartphones and smartwatches in secondary schools starting January, its education ministry said, part of a global push to combat digital distractions

Use of the term has tripled over the past year, Oxford data shows

Dozens of airlines from Asia to the United States said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have been hit hardest.

At least 10 of the 146 people killed in the fire were migrant workers

'I wouldn't say it went well or badly, it was a phone call,' Trump says

Iran and Turkey have agreed to begin constructing a new joint rail link to serve as a strategic gateway between Asia and Europe, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said yesterday.

Four people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting at a family gathering in California on Saturday night, US police said, calling it a “targeted incident.”

Pakistan yesterday dismissed a warning by the UN rights chief of potential “far-reaching consequences” for the rule of law in granting the head of the all-powerful military legal immunity.

Caracas on Saturday slammed US President Donald Trump’s warning that Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed, calling it a “colonialist threat.”

Israeli fighter jets yesterday carried out strikes east of Rafah in Gaza, while forces demolished structures east of Khan Younis.