Indian police arrested six people on Thursday and were hunting for the boss of a fireworks factory where 38 people were killed in a blaze that highlighted the industry's lax safety standards.

Firefighters battled for hours to control the fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon at Om Sivasakthi plant in Sivakasi, the center of the Indian fireworks industry, 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the southern port of Chennai.

A blaze at a fireworks factory in southern India on Wednesday killed at least 30 people after triggering a mass explosion of firecrackers in several packed warehouses.

Firefighter Shanmugaraju, who spoke from the scene, described a "huge explosion" as the factory went up in flames in Sivakasi, which is the center of the Indian fireworks industry some 700 kilometers (430 miles) from state capital Chennai.

The owner of an Indian store called "Hitler" said Tuesday he had agreed to drop the Nazi dictator's name and re-brand his shop following protests from the Jewish community and the government.

The shop, which sells Western menswear, opened in Ahmedabad city in the western state of Gujarat last month with "Hitler" spelled out in large white letters above the storefront, complete with a Swastika as the dot on the "i".

An explosion at a fireworks factory in southern India left up to 30 people dead and dozens of others with serious burns on Wednesday, fire and medical officials said.

Television footage showed smoke billowing into the sky above a factory in Sivakasi, which is the center of the Indian fireworks industry some 700 kilometers south of the Tamil Nadu state capital Chennai.

Joint military exercises between India and China will be resumed after a four-year gap, Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony announced Tuesday after talks in New Delhi with his Beijing counterpart.

The two emerging Asian nations have had an often fractious relationship over their shared border, and they halted joint military exercises after 2008 due to a series of diplomatic spats including over visa issues.

Starbucks is betting on big returns as it seeks to lure an expanding legion of coffee lovers in India -- primarily a tea-drinking nation where lifestyle changes have spawned a booming market for cafes.

After eyeing the Indian market for years, the world's largest coffee chain is planning its foray into the country later this year, with an initial $78 million investment to tap the country's fast-growing appetite for the drink.

India on Monday took possession of a bag of "historic" diplomatic mail 46 years after a plane crash in the French Alps that killed all 117 on board, including the architect of its nuclear program.

The jute bag, stamped "Diplomatic mail" and "Ministry of External Affairs", was recovered by mountain rescue worker Arnaud Christmann and his neighbor Jules Berger on August 21 close to where the Air India plane crashed in January 1966.

Nine Indian air force personnel were killed on Thursday when two Russian-designed military helicopters apparently collided in mid-air, the military and police said.

Air force spokesman Wing Commander Gerard Galway said the two Mi-17 helicopters were "flying in close formation" over a firing range in the western state of Gujarat when they crashed.

India's Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed the death sentence handed down to Mohammed Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.

Pakistan-born Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to India's financial capital in attacks that lasted nearly three days, had appealed against the sentence claiming that he had not received a fair trial.

India's attempt to block online material that it blames for fuelling ethnic tensions was on Friday described by Internet experts as "monumentally incompetent" and "completely illegal".

The government over the past week has ordered Internet service providers to block 309 webpages, images and links on sites including Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, news channel ABC of Australia and Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.