This is an emergency update.
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Samsung has confirmed a critical update for all eligible Galaxy phones. Just hours after Google warned Android is under attack, with new vulnerabilities exploited in the wild, Samsung…

This is an emergency update.
Future Publishing via Getty Images
Samsung has confirmed a critical update for all eligible Galaxy phones. Just hours after Google warned Android is under attack, with new vulnerabilities exploited in the wild, Samsung…

Meghan Markle will likely be subject to a huge Netflix “test” as the future of her cooking show hangs in the balance. The 43-year-old will release the Christmas epsiode of With Love, Meghan on Wednesday, with the show set to follow the same…

During the warm months, Lake Erie becomes an ideal setting for cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, to grow rapidly. Under these conditions, the algae can form large blooms that release toxins at levels capable of harming both wildlife…

During the warm months, Lake Erie becomes an ideal setting for cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, to grow rapidly. Under these conditions, the algae can form large blooms that release toxins at levels capable of harming both wildlife…

India has ordered all new smartphones to come pre-loaded with a non-removable, state-run cybersecurity app, sparking privacy concerns.
Under the order – passed last week but made public on Monday – smartphone makers have 90 days to ensure all new devices come with the government’s Sanchar Saathi app.
It says this is necessary to help citizens verify the authenticity of a handset and report the suspected misuse of telecom resources.
The move – which comes in one of the world’s largest phone markets, with more than 1.2 billion mobile users – has been criticised by cyber experts, who say it breaches citizens’ right to privacy.
Launched in January, the Sanchar Saathi app allows users to check a device’s IMEI, report lost or stolen phones and flag suspected fraud communications.
An IMEI – the International Mobile Equipment Identity – is a unique 15-digit code that identifies and authenticates a mobile device on cellular networks. The code is essentially the phone’s serial number.
In a statement, India’s Department of Telecommunications said that mobile handsets with duplicate or spoofed IMEI numbers pose “serious endangerment” to telecom cyber security.
“India has big second-hand mobile device market. Cases have also been observed where stolen or blacklisted devices are being re-sold,” it said, adding that this makes the purchaser an “abetter in crime and causes financial loss to them”.
Under the new rules, the pre-installed app must be “readily visible and accessible” to users when they set up a device and its functionalities cannot be disabled or restricted.
Smartphone makers must also “make an endeavour” to provide the app through software updates for devices that are out of factories but haven’t been sold yet, the statement said.
All companies have been asked to give compliance reports on the order in 120 days.
The government says the move will bolster telecom cybersecurity. A Reuters report, citing official figures, says the app has helped recover more than 700,000 lost phones – including 50,000 in October alone.
But experts say the app’s broad permissions raise concerns about how much data it can collect, widening the scope for surveillance.
“In plain terms, this converts every smartphone sold in India into a vessel for state mandated software that the user cannot meaningfully refuse, control, or remove,” advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation said in a statement.
The design – making the app impossible to disable – would also weaken the safeguards that normally stop one app from accessing another’s data, the group said.
This, it adds, effectively turns the app into “a permanent, non-consensual point of access sitting inside the operating system of every Indian smartphone user.”
Technology analyst and writer Prasanto K Roy says the bigger concern is about how much access an app might eventually be allowed on the handset.
“We can’t see exactly what it’s doing, but we can see that it’s asking for a great deal of permissions – potential access to just about everything from flashlight to camera. This is itself worrying,” he told the BBC.
On Google’s Play Store, the app says it doesn’t collect or share any user data. The BBC has reached out to the department of telecommunications with questions about the app and the privacy concerns related to it.
Mr Roy adds that compliance will be difficult, since the order runs counter to the policies of most handset-makers, including Apple.
“Most companies prohibit installation of any government or third-party app before the sale of a smartphone,” he says.
While India’s smartphone market is dominated by Android, Apple’s iOS powered an estimated 4.5% of the 735 million smartphones in the country by mid-2025, according to Counterpoint Research.
“Apple has historically refused such requests from governments,” Tarun Pathak, a research director at Counterpoint, told Reuters.
Apple has not commented publicly, but Reuters reports it does not intend to comply and “will convey its concerns to Delhi.”
India is not the only country to have tightened rules on device verification.
In August, Russia ordered all phones and tablets sold in the country to come pre-installed with the state-backed MAX messenger app, sparking similar privacy and surveillance concerns.
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Key events
The Bank of England also cites the credit markets as a potential risk to the economy.
It points to the failure this autumn of US companies First Brands and Tricolor, which have already raised concerns about weak lending standards and potential threats from the so-called shadow banking sector.
The financial stability report says:
Credit spreads remain compressed by historical standards.
Two recent high-profile corporate defaults in the US have intensified focus on potential weaknesses in risky credit markets previously flagged by the FPC. These include high leverage, weak underwriting standards, opacity, complex structures, and the degree of reliance on credit rating agencies, and illustrate how corporate defaults could impact bank resilience and credit markets simultaneously.
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Risks to the financial stability of the UK have increased during 2025, the Bank of England is warning this morning, as it cites the risk of a stock market crash triggered by highly-valued AI companies.
The Bank is issuing its latest assessment of the UK financial system, and warning that the global risks threatening the country remain “elevated”, citing geopolitical tensions, fragmentation of trade and financial markets, and pressures on sovereign debt markets.
These elevated geopolitical tensions increase the likelihood of cyberattacks and other operational disruptions, the Bank points out, also citing the “material uncertainty in the global macroeconomic outlook”.
And the Bank singles out the surge in valuations of artificial intelligence companies this year, saying that this “heightens the risk of a sharp correction”.
The Bank’s Financial Policy Committee say that many risky asset valuations remain “materially stretched”, particularly for technology companies focused on AI, adding:
Equity valuations in the US are close to the most stretched they have been since the dot-com bubble, and in the UK since the global financial crisis (GFC). This heightens the risk of a sharp correction.
AI companies have been driving the US stock market higher this year. Shares in chipmaker Nvidia, for example, are up 34% this year despite a 10% drop in the last month.
The FPC also sounds the alarm about the use of debt financing in the AI sector, and the web of multi-billion dollar deals between the various companies, explaining:
By some industry estimates, AI infrastructure spending over the next five years could exceed five trillion US dollars. While AI hyperscalers will continue to fund much of this from their operating cash flows, approximately half is expected to be financed externally, mostly through debt.
Deeper links between AI firms and credit markets, and increasing interconnections between those firms, mean that, should an asset price correction occur, losses on lending could increase financial stability risks.
More details to follow…
7am GMT: Nationwide house price index for November
7am GMT: Bank of England publishes its latest Financial Stability Report,
7am GMT: Bank of England publishes its latest stress test results
10am GMT: Bank of England press conference with governor Andrew Bailey, and deputy governors Sarah Breeden and Sam Woods
10am GMT: OECD releases its latest economic outlook
10am GMT: Treasury Committee hearing on the budget with the OBR

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