Two persons feared killed and some others trapped when a six-storey under-construction building collapsed in Telangana's Bhadrachalam town on Wednesday.

Police rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation along with other departments.

The incident occurred in the Super Bazar centre area of the temple town in Bhadradri Kothagudem district in the afternoon.

It was immediately not clear as to how many people might be trapped under the rubble. Area residents believe that about six people may be trapped inside.

Police, fire services, revenue and panchayat raj departments were participating in the rescue operation. Officials were mobilising cranes and other heavy machinery to remove the debris.

Gurugram Police Cyber Crime teams have arrested 24 cyber criminals who defrauded people across India in 9,017 complaints worth Rs 33.94 crore, police said.

The arrested were identified as Bherulal Sharma, Hitesh Saini, Devender, Abhishek Tiwari, Deepak Rajput, Rajender Kumar, Manish Srivastava, Mayank Narula, Dinesh Verma, Prakash Chandra, Rajat, Vikas alias Vicky, Sunil Kumar, Deepak alias Monu, Tahir Hussain, Deepak Kumar, Randeep, Naveen Kumar, Deepanshu, Dheeraj Tanwar, Rahul, Tahir Naseem Malik, Bijender Meghwal and Rakesh Kumar Jakhad.

The accused were arrested by a different team of the Cyber Crime Police Station of the Gurugram Police.

Police said that after reviewing the data of the nine mobile phones recovered from the accused by the police from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), it was found that the accused were involved in fraud of about Rs 33.94 crore and around 9,017 complaints were registered against them across India.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) on Wednesday said it has achieved notable improvements in multiple categories in the latest edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37), along with securing top rank in the ‘Reputational Advantage’ category.

GIFT City also climbed from 45th to 40th in the FinTech ranking, and improved its overall ranking from 52nd to 46th place, making significant strides in establishing itself as a premier international financial centre.

Additionally, India’s first operational smart city also retained its position among the top 15 financial centres in the Asia-Pacific region.

“GIFT City's continued rise in the GFCI rankings is a reflection of India's growing influence in global finance. Our top ranking in Reputational Advantage, significant improvement in FinTech, and strong overall performance reinforce the confidence of global investors and businesses in GIFT City,” said Tapan Ray, Managing Director and Group CEO of GIFT City.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann presented its 4th Budget today named  'Badlda Punjab Budget 2025-26'. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema termed it as a visionary blueprint aimed at transforming Punjab into a vibrant, prosperous, and equitable state.

Addressing the media after his Budget speech, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema launched a scathing attack on the previous governments for their failures and mismanagement, which plunged Punjab into financial and social turmoil. "The Akali Dal and Congress regimes systematically destroyed Punjab's economy and society with corruption, drugs, poor policies, and lack of vision. They left us a state riddled with drugs, unemployment, and crumbling infrastructure. In just three years, we have reversed this decline and set Punjab on a path of progress," said Cheema.

New Zealand wrapped up a 4-1 series win against Pakistan after securing an eight-wicket win in the fifth and final T20I here at Sky Stadium on Wednesday.

Riding on Jimmy Neesham's five-wicket haul, New Zealand restricted Pakistan to 128-9. In reply, Tim Seifert smashed an unbeaten 97 off 38 as New Zealand needed just ten overs to chase down the target.

Winning the toss and opting to field first, New Zealand’s bowlers immediately put Pakistan under pressure. Will O’Rourke and Jacob Duffy struck early, reducing the visitors to 24/3 within the powerplay. Pakistan’s innings never gained momentum, with Neesham wreaking havoc in the middle overs as his spell saw Pakistan slump to 52 for 5 at the halfway mark.

Then, skipper Salman Agha and Shadab Khan stitched together a 54-run partnership in 35 balls before Pakistan lost their last five wickets for just 22 runs, finishing on a modest 128.

India's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki Ltd, on Wednesday announced an investment of Rs 7,410 crore to build a third factory at Kharkhoda in Haryana, to expand production capacity to meet the rising domestic demand as well as exports.

The company's Board of Directors at a meeting held on Wednesday approved the establishment of a third plant at Kharkhoda, which will have a production capacity of 2.5 lakh vehicles per year, Maruti Suzuki said in a stock exchange filing.

The factory is expected to start production by 2029 taking the total capacity at Kharkhoda to 7.5 lakh vehicles a year.

The investment will be funded through internal accruals. The Kharkhoda plant is a greenfield project where the first factory started commercial operations in February this year to produce the compact SUV Brezza.

After seven consecutive sessions of gains, the Indian stock markets ended lower on Wednesday as investors booked profits across sectors.

Sensex fell by 728.69 points, or 0.93 per cent, to close at 77,288.50. During the session, the index fluctuated between an intra-day high of 78,167.87 and a low of 77,194.22.

Nifty also declined, settling 181 points lower at 23,486.85, down 0.77 per cent. The index had touched an intra-day high of 23,736.50 before slipping to a low of 23,451.70.

"On the smaller time frame, the Nifty index has dropped below the near-term moving average,” said Rupak De of LKP Securities. On the lower end, support is placed at 23,300, up to which the current decline might extend.

Pakistan's ruling coalition party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has joined ongoing demonstrations and rallies across Sindh province in protest against the government's plan to construct six new canals on the Indus River.

Addressing a rally, PPP's Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro stated that sit-in demonstrations will be held in all talukas of the province in the next phase of their protest. Khuhro threatened to block the National Highway if the Centre does not scrap the project.

“The protest movement will continue until the federal government withdraws the plan to build Cholistan and other canals,” Khuhro was quoted as saying by Pakistan's leading newspaper, The Express Tribune.

Amid rising internal conflicts in the coalition and contradicting stances, PPP-Sindh President also criticised the Pakistani government, labelling it as a “dictatorial federal government”.

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it (along with its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Ltd) has prepaid an additional Rs 5,985 crore to the Department of Telecom, thereby fully prepaying the high-cost interest liabilities of 8.65 per cent pertaining to the 2024 auctions.

Airtel's subsidiary Network i2i Ltd. has also voluntarily called and redeemed $1 billion in Perpetual Notes, the company said in a statement.

The telecom service provider said it has now prepaid Rs 25,981 crore of high-cost spectrum liabilities for the current 2025 fiscal year and has cumulatively prepaid spectrum liabilities of Rs 66,665 crore to date.

The average interest rate on the cumulative liabilities prepaid was approximately 9.74 per cent. Airtel had earlier fully prepaid liabilities that had interest rates of 10 per cent, 9.75 per cent, and 9.3 per cent.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed J&K MP Engineer Rashid to attend the ongoing Budget Session proceedings.

The second half of the Budget Session began on March 10 and will conclude on April 4.

Engineer Rashid, who won the Lok Sabha election from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency by defeating National Conference Vice President, and now Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes while he remained lodged in Tihar Jail, is accused in a terror funding case being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

A bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani on Tuesday reserved its decision after hearing the oral arguments advanced by the counsel representing the anti-terror agency and Engineer Rashid’s lawyer.