CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday took on J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah for asking for hanging of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana, saying that his party stands by the line that his execution would cause unrest in Punjab.

NEW DELHI: The railways were caught off guard on Sunday after the Allahabad administration diverted a deluge of pilgrims towards the station complex which ultimately caused the stampede, sources said.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police has sounded a high alert after the control room received calls claiming that six terrorists have sneaked into the city and may carry out a major attack at Juhu Chowpatty or Bandra Bandstand on Valentine's Day.

UNITED NATIONS: North Korea ignored a "strong warning" from China against staging its suspected nuclear weapon test, a UN Security Council diplomat said late on Monday.

LOS ANGELES: Sitar legend Ravi Shankar was on Sunday posthumously awarded the best world music album trophy at the 55th Grammys for 'The Living Room Sessions Part 1', pipping his daughter Anoushka, a day after being given Lifetime Achievement award.

ALLAHABAD: The death toll in the stampede at Allahabad railway station reached 36 today, with 14 more people succumbing to their injuries.

The incident occurred near the foot overbridge on platform number 6. On Sunday, the railway authorities, had refused to confirm the deaths till the filing of the report. The stampede, which took place at around 8.00pm, also left many persons severely injured. Sources said majority of victims killed were elderly persons.

MUMBAI: Struggling opener Gautam Gambhir has been dropped from the squad for the first two Tests against Australia and been replaced by Delhi teammate Shikhar Dhawan, while veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is back in the fray. Gambhir's opening partner Virender Sehwag, who too is coping with indifferent form, has been retained.

NAGPUR: Shikhar Dhawan is a firm believer in destiny. The Delhi batsman-who was named Man of the Series in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2004-had to wait a long time to get into the Indian team.

He was picked up in the one-day squad twice but couldn't make that count. The southpaw has now been included in the squad for the first two Tests against Australia, his first opportunity in the longer version.

JUBA: More than 100 people have been killed in South Sudan in an attack by rebels and ethnic allies on a convoy of families from a rival tribe and their cattle, an official said on Sunday.


Since breaking from Sudan in 2011, oil-producing South Sudan has struggled to assert control over remote territories awash with weapons after a 1983-2005 war with the north and torn by ethnic rivalries.

WASHINGTON: Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao considers it fortunate that India-US partnership enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress, just as it does across the political spectrum in India.

Rao expressed the sentiment in a letter to the outgoing chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, thanking him for his leadership of the Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans, the largest such caucus for a single country.