INDIA: Three people were killed and more than a dozen hospitalised today following a sudden crowd surge and stampede at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India, local authorities said.

“There was a sudden crowd surge of devotees for having a glimpse of the Hindu deities during which a few people either fainted, felt suffocated or complained of breathlessness,” said Siddharth Shankar Swain, a government official in Puri.

SERBIA: Left-wing Colombian sociologist Professor Miguel Angel Beltran Villegas was seized at Serbia’s Belgrade international airport today en route to speak at the International Congress of Americanists. 

Prof Villegas, who has been accused of belonging to the Farc guerillas, spent nearly three years in La Picota prison, until his release in 2016.

He has since faced detention at airports in Panama, Mexico and Peru. Activists are calling for his immediate release.

UGANDA: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday sought nomination for a seventh term, a move that would bring him closer to five decades in power in the east African nation.

President Museveni has defied calls for his retirement, as critics warn that he has veered into authoritarianism with virtually no opposition.

Opposition politician Bobi Wine has also declared his candidacy for the polls set for January.

AFGHANISTAN: At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday, warning that repatriations on a massive scale have the potential to destabilise the fragile situation in Afghanistan.

Iran and Pakistan deny targeting Afghans, who have fled their homeland to escape war, poverty or Taliban rule.