Tension prevailed in Karnataka's Belagavi city on Wednesday following the stabbing of three youths who had taken part in a Ganesh Visarjan procession, said officials here, adding that three accused have been arrested and a hunt was on for two more.

Sources said that after the procession, when victims were returning they were chased and stabbed near Rani Channamma Circle in the early hours of Wednesday.

As the accused were fleeing on two-wheelers, people informed police about the attackers. It was the locals who guided the police with information regarding the direction in which the attackers fled. The accused were chased and finally arrested by the police near Visvesvaraya Nagar.

Three persons were arrested in connection with the case and a hunt for two more was launched, said police here.

According to police, Darshan Patil, Satish Pujari and Praveen Gundiagola were seriously injured in the incident. The accused stabbed the three youths in the abdomen and fled. The injured youths were rushed to the Belagavi District Hospital.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting will join the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Punjab Kings (PBKS) as their head coach ahead of the mega auction for the 2025 season of the tournament.

"He is coming on board. We are waiting for further details. Official statement will be released soon," a source in the franchise told IANS. Once the deal will be finalised, Ponting will become the sixth head coach in seven seasons for the Punjab Kings, who finished ninth in the 2024 season and chose to part ways with head coach Trevor Bayliss.

Earlier this year in July, Ponting’s seven-year association with the Delhi Capitals had come to an end after the side failed to enter IPL 2024 playoffs, where they won and lost seven games each. Under the Australian’s leadership, DC had reached the playoffs in three seasons - 2019, 2020 and 2021, while becoming known for his insightful coaching skills, nurturing youngsters and forming a good relationship with captain Rishabh Pant.

Hiring for niche qualifications such as chartered accountant (CA) and chartered financial analyst (CFA) continues to see growth in India as companies take a cautious approach to campus hiring, a report showed on Wednesday.

Hiring volume for CAs and CFAs increased by 47 per cent in the fiscal year 2024, followed by interns at 46 per cent and lateral hiring at 40 per cent, while 38 per cent of MBA graduates and 30 per cent of diploma holders, including those who have completed vocational courses saw the least increase compared to the fiscal year 2023, according to the report by Aon, a leading global professional services firm.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said that strengthening cooperation between Tehran and Moscow would help mitigate the impacts of Western sanctions and "unjust" measures imposed on both nations.

Pezeshkian made the remarks on Tuesday in a meeting with visiting Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council Sergei Shoigu, according to a statement on the website of his office.

Emphasising the background of "constructive" relations between Iran and Russia, Pezeshkian said bilateral ties would be developed on a "permanent, continuous, and lasting path."

India’s mobile phone manufacturing in value has risen to Rs 4.1 lakh crore in India in the last 10 years due to strategic government policy measures like product-linked initiative (PLI) and phased-manufacturing programme (PMP) schemes, a report showed on Wednesday.

The electronics sector experienced rapid growth and local production nearly doubled from $48 billion in FY17 to $101 billion in FY23 and is around $115 billion in the current fiscal to date -- driven primarily by mobile phones which now constitute more than 43 per cent of total electronics production.

As the country becomes the second largest mobile manufacturer in the world, global manufacturing companies like Samsung, Apple and Google are making their latest generation smartphones in India.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday called on countries to strengthen policies to promote healthy diets and physical activity to combat the rising levels of overweight, obesity, and noncommunicable diseases like diabetes and cancers -- a leading cause of death.

“The burden of overweight, obesity, and associated metabolic disorders has been steadily rising, affecting both children and adults,” said Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.

She noted that these have spiked cases of “non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer” and these are now “responsible for nearly two-thirds of all deaths in the Region”.

A Taiwanese company on Wednesday denied manufacturing the pagers involved in detonations across Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of at least nine people and left nearly 3,000 others, including Hezbollah fighters and medics injured, local media reported.

Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co. said that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon were not made by it, but by a Hungarian company which has a license to use its brand.

"The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," Gold Apollo founder and President Hsu Ching-Kuang was quoted as saying by the Taipei Times as he addressed the media at the company's offices in New Taipei City on Wednesday.

The Afghan security forces have seized a large amount of weapons and military equipment during a series of operations in the past three months in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the provincial police office said in a statement.

The contraband, which included nine Kalashnikovs, 41 pistols, two AK-47 rifles, six US-made M16 machine guns, five grenades, 15 various types of mines, and a quantity of war equipment, such as cartridges and bullets, news agency reported, quoting the statement.

Fifteen people were arrested in connection with the case and their dossiers were referred to the judiciary for further investigation, it said.

At least 30 civilians have been killed since a wave of violence hit northwest Mexico's Sinaloa state, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said.

During President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's usual daily press conference on Tuesday, Sandoval said the federal government was reinforcing security in the area to clamp down on the violence, which has also claimed the lives of two soldiers.

Authorities have arrested at least 30 suspects belonging to criminal organisations and seized 115 firearms since the violence started in the state on September 9, reports news agency, quoting Sandoval.

The recent spate of violence erupted following clashes between rival drug-trafficking groups, including one headed by Ismael 'Mayo' Zambada and another led by 'Los Chapitos', sons of jailed Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

At least four bandits were killed and 20 hostages rescued by Nigerian troops during separate anti-terror raids in the northwestern state of Kaduna.

The troops combed thick bushes suspected to be the hideouts of some bandits in Birnin Gwari and Giwa local government area to carry out the "successful operations" on Tuesday, reports, quoting Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs in Kaduna.

He said the forces recovered two AK-47 rifles, three motorcycles, three magazines, and a radio from the bandits.

He also mentioned that the troops saw bandits around Kwaga, and after pursuit, the forces neutralised two of them.