Indian troops suffered new losses Monday in a battle with Kashmir militants that left nine dead, officials said, just days after a major suicide bomb attack escalated tensions with neighboring Pakistan.

India will on Monday renew its bid to persuade international judges to take an alleged spy off death row in Pakistan, in a controversial court case as fresh bloodshed in Kashmir sends tensions between the neighbours soaring.

A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi early Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, Indian authorities said.

Most of the deaths at the Arpit Palace Hotel were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government cabinet minister of health and urban development.

Millions of Hindu pilgrims took the plunge into sacred rivers at the world's largest religious gathering Monday, led by ash-smeared holy men and accompanied by religious chanting.

On the most auspicious day of the months-long Kumbh Mela festival, devotees rose at dawn in the northern city of Allahabad to immerse themselves at the confluence of three rivers -- the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati.

At least 40 people have died and more than 1,000 have tested positive for swine flu since the beginning of this year in a western Indian state popular with foreigners, authorities said Friday. 

Suspected rebels attacked a police post in Indian-administered Kashmir Tuesday killing four officers, police said, two days after soldiers killed two teenage rebels in the restive territory.

Japan and India agreed Monday to upgrade diplomatic and military ties, with Tokyo also offering low-interest loans as the two countries seek closer ties to balance China's weight in the region.

Pressure intensified Saturday to save thousands still trapped by devastating floods that have killed more than 300 in the Indian state of Kerala, triggering landslides and sending torrents sweeping through villages in the region's worst inundation crisis in a century.

India announced Wednesday it would host China for another round of talks on long-running border disputes, the first since they defused one of their worst deadlocks in decades.

India's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, a landmark decision that could jeopardize a government with biometric data on over a billion people.