For three decades, India’s self-branding as the world’s fastest-growing free-market democracy worked. But in a matter of months,it has all begun to fall apart, writes Shashi Tharoor

HUNDREDS who fled intense fighting in Sri Lanka’s war zone were awaiting evacuation from this tiny coastal village yesterday as the UN reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the past three months.

Hundreds who fled heavy fighting in Sri Lanka’s war zone waited to be evacuated from a tiny coastal village today as the UN reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last three months.

Top Foreign Ministry officials from Pakistan and India will resume the South Asian rivals’ peace process next month that was put on hold after the July bombings on Mumbai’s commuter rail network that killed more than 200 people.

Pakistan and India have agreed to restart peace talks suspended since train bombings killed more than 200 people in Mumbai in July as part of a wave of attacks India blames on Pakistan-based militants.