India's president on Sunday approved harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty, after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi sparked national outrage and triggered demands for tougher laws.

President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the new rape law two days after cabinet ministers recommended changes to improve safety for women.

Five men pleaded not guilty after being formally indicted Saturday in a special court on 13 charges, including rape and murder, in the fatal gang rape of a woman in a New Delhi bus, a lawyer said.

The men signed statements in the fast-track court saying they were innocent, said one of the men's lawyers. The lawyer cannot be identified under a gag order imposed by the court.

India's art world has converged on New Delhi for the industry's biggest annual event where upbeat talk and parties are likely to disguise a market that is still in the doldrums since crashing in 2008.

Indian art auction prices are down 70 to 75 percent from their peak, when speculation driven by new prosperity in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai pushed them to "unsustainable levels", says art analyst Anders Petterson.

Acclaimed British author Salman Rushdie canceled a film promotional event and veteran Indian actor Kamal Haasan threatened to go into exile Wednesday after Muslim groups protested their work.

In the eastern city of Kolkata, Rushdie, whose 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" remains banned in India for allegedly insulting Islam, was forced to cancel a trip to promote a film of his novel "Midnight's Children".

A rare collection of letters between Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi and a South African bodybuilder with whom he shared a close relationship went on display in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The bond between Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach has been a subject of speculation and gossip for years owing to their closeness, with previously published correspondence suggesting they may have had a physical relationship.

Pakistan has accused India of decapitating 12 soldiers in cross-border attacks since 1998 and registered a protest with a U.N. watchdog, a newspaper reported Wednesday, after deadly army clashes earlier this month.

The accusations are contained in a series of classified documents presented to the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) which monitors the disputed Kashmir border, according to The Hindu newspaper.

India marked its Republic Day on Saturday with a veiled warning to Pakistan that its hand of friendship should "not be taken for granted" after deadly border clashes between the two sides.

Celebrations were being held under heavy security, especially in New Delhi where large areas were sealed off for an annual parade of military hardware at which Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was chief guest.

David Coleman Headley, who helped plot the devastating 2008 Mumbai attacks before agreeing to become an informer, was sentenced by a U.S. judge on Thursday to 35 years in prison.

Headley, 52, struck a deal to avoid the death penalty by pleading guilty to scoping out Mumbai on behalf of Pakistani militants and to a second plot to attack a Danish newspaper over cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed.

A 101-year-old Sikh regarded as the world's oldest marathon runner will quit after one final run at next month's Hong Kong race, media reports said.

Indian-born British national Fauja Singh admitted age was finally catching up with him and he had decided not to compete after the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, five weeks before his 102nd birthday on April 1.

The Dalai Lama is set to headline India's Jaipur Literature Festival to speak about faith with one of his biographers, Pico Iyer.

The Tibetan spiritual leader will hold a session on the festival's first day, Thursday, titled: "Kinships of Faiths: Finding the Middle Way."