Veteran Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani resigned on Monday, a day after his party chose hardliner Narendra Modi to lead next year's election campaign, a source in his office told Agence France Presse.

Advani, the 85-year-old stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former deputy prime minister, resigned from all his positions within the party, the source said.

At least 18 tribal villagers in India's northeast were arrested for hacking to death a man they suspected of practicing witchcraft, police said Saturday.

They claimed they were told to kill the victim by a Hindu goddess who appeared in their dreams.

Indian police said they arrested three men Thursday over the gang-rape of a U.S. tourist who was attacked after she hitched a ride in a truck.

The 30-year-old American accepted a lift on Monday night in Manali, a tourist destination in the foothills of the Himalayas, after struggling to find a taxi to return to her hotel.

Indian police investigating the gang-rape of a U.S. tourist by a group of truckers said Wednesday they had identified the type of vehicle used in the attack and collected forensic evidence.

The 30-year-old American hitched a lift in the truck Monday night in Manali, a tourist destination in the foothills of the Himalayas, after struggling to find a taxi to return to her hotel.

An American tourist was allegedly gang-raped by a truck driver and two of his accomplices in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, police said Tuesday.

"The 30-year-old was raped by men in a truck on Monday night. They offered her a lift and she accepted it," police inspector Abhimanyu Kumar told Agence France Presse.

India's military, one of the world's largest weapons buyers, unveiled a new arms acquisition policy Saturday aimed at weeding out corruption in the defense sector.

The policy announcement comes just over a week after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to crack down on defense corruption following a string of graft scandals that has put his government on the back foot.

At least 19 people were killed early on Monday when a bus plunged into a canal in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an official said.

Twenty-three others were rescued and taken to hospital with injuries after the accident in Etah district, 265 kilometers (164 miles) from state capital Lucknow, local administrator Lokesh M told Agence France Presse.

New Bollywood film "Bombay Talkies" is billed as a milestone not only for marking 100 years of Indian cinema -- it is also one of the country's few mainstream movies ever to have shown a gay kiss.

The centenary film, which had a special screening at Cannes, comprises four self-contained short stories by leading directors looking at the impact of Indian cinema on people's lives.

Japan is close to signing an agreement to supply amphibious planes to India, a report said Monday, in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the military since a weapons export ban was imposed.

During a four-day visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, starting later Monday, the two sides are set firm up plans for Delhi to purchase the U.S.-2, a domestically-developed aircraft used by Japan's armed forces.

The death toll from an ambush by Maoist rebels in central India has risen to at least 23 with many more seriously wounded, a top police officer said on Sunday.

"The total number of dead now stands at 23. We can also confirm that 32 people are injured, most of them seriously," state police director general Ramniwas, who goes by one name, told AFP.