Maoist insurgents killed three policemen Thursday in a remote part of western India, police said, marking the latest ambush by the rebels who have long been battling to overthrow the government.

The attack occurred in a hilly and undeveloped rebel stronghold in western Maharashtra state.

Outrage mounted in India Monday after at least 115 devotees were crushed to death or drowned near a Hindu temple, the site of another deadly stampede only seven years ago.

As survivors of Sunday's tragedy on a bridge recounted how desperate mothers threw their children into the water below, authorities came under fire over policing levels amid claims the panic was aggravated by baton-charging.

A stampede on a bridge outside a Hindu temple killed more than 90 people in India on Sunday, with many of the victims leaping to their deaths in the water below.

Police warned that the number could rise further as medics struggled to make their way through hordes of pilgrims to reach the scene of the tragedy -- the latest in a string of disasters at religious festivals.

Cyclone Phailin left a trail of destruction along India's east coast and at least seven people dead Sunday, after the biggest evacuation in the country's history helped minimize casualties.

As emergency teams began assessing damage from the country's biggest cyclone in 14 years, a massive relief effort went into full swing to distribute food to an estimated one million evacuees, clear roads and help the injured.

As a crowd of Indian youths frolicked in the rising surf, fisherman Tonka Rao worked frantically to prevent Cyclone Phailin from destroying his livelihood.

"This boat cost me 400,000 rupees ($6,500)," the 60-year-old said as he lashed his pride and joy to a tilting palm tree on a beach in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. "I don't want to lose it."

India issued a red alert as a massive cyclone bore down on the east coast Saturday, threatening widespread destruction and forcing the evacuation of nearly half a million people.

Cyclone Phailin was packing gusts of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour) and risked being the most powerful storm to hit the area since 1999 when more than 8,000 died.

Organizers of Miss Universe extended their "deepest apologies" to India over a photo shoot at the Taj Mahal that triggered a police case and accusations that she disrespected the famed monument to love.

Reigning Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, a 21-year-old American from Rhode Island, visited the Islamic mausoleum on Sunday during a 10-day tour of India.

Police said Thursday that at least 20 people were killed and another 35 injured when a truck carrying Hindu pilgrims crashed into a gorge in northern India.

Police officer Sukhchain Singh Gill said the accident happened as the driver lost control of the vehicle after its brakes failed.

In its latest economic outlook report the IMF was cautious about the perspectives for emerging markets without sliding into pessimism over the impact of U.S. monetary policy on growth.

"Medium-term prospects for emerging market economies are weaker," the IMF said Tuesday in its semi-annual World Economic Outlook report.

India on Friday launched an indigenous vaccine against Japanese encephalitis as part of a national program to fight the virus.

Nineteen states, including the two most populous ones of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are hit by the disease each year as malnourished children succumb to the virus which is transmitted by mosquitoes from pigs to humans.