India has asked Sri Lanka to grant limited autonomy to its ethnic Tamil minority and ensure "genuine reconciliation" five years after crushing Tamil guerrillas, New Delhi's top envoy said Friday.

Indian High Commissioner (ambassador) Y. K. Sinha said New Delhi had also urged Colombo to probe allegations that its troops killed thousands of Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting in 2009.

An Indian judge on Friday ordered three men to hang after they were convicted of two gang-rapes, the first death sentences to be handed down for multiple sex attacks since the law was toughened last year.

The sentences were announced at a court in Mumbai on the same day that a judge jailed 24 men in the southern state of Kerala over the gang-rape of a schoolgirl who was repeatedly sexually assaulted over a 40-day period in 1996.

The sudden resignation of the U.S. ambassador to India less than two years into her troubled term opens an opportunity for both sides to reboot strained ties ahead of an expected change in government, analysts say.

Nancy Powell, U.S. ambassador since 2012, had a torrid time at the helm of one of Washington's most important diplomatic missions as it became embroiled in one of the most serious downturns in relations in decades.

Tibetans in Nepal face heightened risks of being detained, beaten and even forcibly returned to China, as Kathmandu bows to growing diplomatic pressure from Beijing, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

The allegations, detailed in a new report based on the testimony of Tibetan refugees, monks, activists and senior Nepalese officials, highlight the intensified restrictions slapped on Tibetans in the Himalayan nation since 2008.

Tibetans in Nepal face heightened risks of being detained, beaten and even forcibly returned to China, as Kathmandu bows to growing diplomatic pressure from Beijing, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

The allegations, detailed in a new report based on the testimony of Tibetan refugees, monks, activists and senior Nepalese officials, highlight the intensified restrictions slapped on Tibetans in the Himalayan nation since 2008.

The American ambassador to India said she has resigned and will retire before the end of May, ending a two-year tenure after the strip-search of an Indian diplomat in New York City badly damaged U.S.-India ties.

In a posting on the U.S. Embassy website Monday, Ambassador Nancy Powell gave no reason for her decision but said she had planned it for some time.

Three suspected rebels disguised in army uniforms hijacked a taxi in Indian Kashmir on Friday and killed three people before being shot dead by security forces, police said.

The attack was the deadliest in months by suspected militants fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan territory and came just ahead of India's general elections in which Kashmiris are slated to vote.

India's Supreme Court on Friday suspended legal proceedings against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen while it examines a petition challenging New Delhi's jurisdiction in the case.

The case has soured diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Rome. Last month, Italy recalled its ambassador to India and summoned the Indian envoy to express concern at the delays in the court proceedings.

A new C-130J Hercules cargo plane on a training mission crashed Friday in central India killing all five crew members, an Air Force spokesman said, the latest in a string of military accidents.

The plane came down on the outskirts of Gwalior city in Madhya Pradesh while on a routine flight, Indian Air Force group captain Gerard Galway told Agence France Presse.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi asked Thursday for U.S. help in resolving a long-delayed court case in India against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen.

"I thanked the U.S. and the U.S. government for the support that they've given us in this phase of the international discussion," Renzi told a joint press conference after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.