The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) on Friday ordered all telecom service providers in the country to block access to the Telegram messaging app.

This decision came after months of repeated warnings and requests from the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police, which flagged the app as a tool for financial fraud and money laundering.

Indonesia's Mount Rinjani National Park authority has temporarily closed the hiking trail via Pelawangan Sembalun leading to Segara Anak Lake on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara.

Through its official social media account, the authority said that the temporary closure was due to repairs on the trail at coordinates -8.389789, 116.440320, the site of recent accidents involving foreign hikers.

"Visitor safety is our priority," the park authority said on Friday.

Israel will raise its defence spending by 42 billion shekels (about 12.5 billion US dollars) in 2025 and 2026, the ministries of finance and defence said Thursday in a statement.

Local media reported that the budget agreement will allow the Defence Ministry to "advance urgent and essential procurement deals critical to national security."

According to the 'Times of Israel', Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the new defence budget "fully covers the intense fighting in Gaza, alongside comprehensive security preparations for all threats - from the south, the north, and more distant arenas."

Torrential rains that slammed South Korea for three days have left four people dead, two missing and more than 5,600 people evacuated, officials said Friday, as weather authorities warned of more downpours across the nation.

Record hourly rains had fallen in some parts of the nation, including South Chungcheong Province and the southwestern city of Gwangju, triggering flash floods and landslides.

At least 63 more people have died in the last 24 hours in Pakistan's Punjab province, marking the deadliest day of the current monsoon season in the province to date, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) detailed on Friday.

A rain emergency was declared in Punjab on Thursday, while army troops joined rescue operations following flooding in low-lying areas, as torrential monsoon rains ravaged the province. Rawalpindi city experienced a heavy downpour, triggering a flash flood in Nullah Leh, which claimed two lives.

The Rawalpindi administration announced a public holiday to ensure people remain indoors, as the meteorological department forecast continued heavy rainfall until Friday. According to officials, rescue operations have been initiated across the district.

Britain's job market continued to see recession, with unemployment rate and job vacancies rising to new highs over years due to labour cost hikes, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Thursday.

The country's unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and over stood at 4.7 per cent in the March-May period of 2025, registering increase both year on year and quarter by quarter, according to the ONS. The figure also reached the highest level in around four years.

Minority rights groups on Thursday highlighted ongoing atrocities against Hindu minorities in Pakistan, particularly the abduction and abuse of teenage girls.

A leading minority rights group revealed that a 15-year-old Hindu girl and a student of Class 9, Shaneela Meghwar, was forcibly abducted at gunpoint from her home, located on Matli’s Sessions’ Court Road in Badin district of Pakistan’s Sindh province.

Russia and Ukraine on Thursday exchanged bodies of fallen soldiers under the Istanbul deal, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky said.

"In continuation of the Istanbul agreements, another 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers were handed over to Ukraine today," said Medinsky, also Russia's chief negotiator at the talks with the Ukrainian side.

He added that 19 bodies of Russian soldiers were received.

The death toll from a devastating fire at a hypermarket in Kut, the capital of Iraq's Wasit province, has risen to 61, the Interior Ministry confirmed on Thursday.

A massive fire broke out Wednesday night in a five-story commercial building housing a restaurant and a hypermarket, which had only been open for seven days, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry.

The statement said that most of the 61 victims were suffocated to death as a result of heavy smoke, and among them were 14 unidentified charred bodies.

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol plans to attend a court hearing on the legality of his arrest later this week, his lawyers said.

The hearing, which has been scheduled for 10:15 a.m. On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court will review whether the former president's arrest was lawful and should remain in place.

"He decided to attend the hearing to personally explain his health condition as it is effectively impossible for him to attend his ongoing criminal trial or appear before the special counsel," a lawyer said, adding Yoon's health has "seriously deteriorated."

Yoon filed for the review on Wednesday, less than a week after he was placed under arrest at the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, just south of the capital, over five key charges related to his attempt to impose martial law in December.