2 min readApr 13, 2026 06:40 AM IST First published on: Apr 13, 2026 at 06:40 AM ISTBattle groups of US airships headed by two aircraft carriers were poised off Libya amid continuing speculation of an early attack. The Reagan administration was still reviewing its options, reports in Washington said, while consulting European allies. Egypt’s state-controlled press urged against any military action. White House Chief of Staff Donald Reagan said senior officials believed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was linked to last weekend’s Berlin discotheque bombing in which a US soldier was a victim.Cong-I leader killed in PunjabTerrorist violence continued in Punjab as two persons were gunned down including a prominent Congress-I leader, even as the security ring was tightened around the Golden Temple following tension inside the complex over the tussle in the AISSF (All-India Sikh Students’ Federation) on the eve of the “Sarbat Khalsa”. A Congress-I leader, Sewa Singh, and a Nirankari school teacher, Paramjit Singh were gunned down and two others received bullet injuries.USSR N-tests imminentAdvertisementThe Soviet ambassador to the United Nations has said that resumed Soviet nuclear weapons tests may come “at any moment”. Ambassador Yuri Dubinin made the comment at a news conference at which he explained the Soviet decision to give up its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear tests because of continuing US test explosions. He reiterated a separate Soviet proposal that Reagan and Gorbachev meet “in the immediate future” specifically to reach an agreement on a nuclear test ban.Political tinge to KumbhThere is a strong political flavour this time to the Kumbh Mela. Discourses and discussions in the numerous ashrams and akhadas in tHaridwar centre around various facets of Hinduism. Events over the last 12 years are finding their echoes in what the pandits and gurus, who have gathered here from different parts of the country, are saying.