British Prime Minister David Cameron says a giant diamond his country forced India to hand over in the colonial era that was set in a royal crown will not be returned.

India will launch its first mission to Mars this year, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday, as the emerging Asian nation looks to play catch up in the global space race alongside the United States, Russia and its giant neighbor China.

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of a colonial-era massacre in India on Wednesday, describing the episode as “deeply shameful” while stopping short of a public apology.

British Prime Minister David Cameron promised full cooperation with India and its police as a probe into alleged kickbacks in a helicopter deal clouded his meetings Tuesday with leaders in New Delhi.

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in India's financial hub Mumbai on Monday on a three-day trade-focused visit clouded by a corruption scandal over British-made helicopters sold to New Delhi.

India's Supreme Court Monday stayed the scheduled execution of four men condemned to death for a landmine blast that killed 22 policemen in 1993, after they filed a petition for the sentence to be commuted to life in prison, news reports said.

The Maldives has summoned India's ambassador and made a strong protest over a standoff involving opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed who has taken refuge in the Indian embassy, an official said Monday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he wanted his country's companies to help India develop new cities and districts along a 1,000 km (600 mile) corridor between Mumbai and Bangalore, generating investment projects worth up to US$25 billion.

Authorities have re-introduced a strict curfew across most of Indian-controlled Kashmir ahead of Friday prayers, as residents in the region simmer with anger over the secret execution of a Kashmiri man in the capital.

Anxious relatives were searching for missing family members Monday in a northern India city that is home to one of the world's largest religious gatherings, unsure if their loved ones were caught in a stampede that killed 37 people or had simply gotten lost among the tens of millions of pilgrims.