A rally on global markets stalled Thursday as euphoria over major central banks' coordinated cut to borrowing costs wore off and investors sought confirmation that European leaders will next week deliver a long-term solution to the debt crisis.

Markets had jumped on Wednesday when the central banks of Europe, the U.S., Britain, Canada, Japan and Switzerland made it cheaper for banks to borrow dollars, helping them to operate smoothly at a time of tight credit. China's central bank also acted to release money for lending and shore up growth by lowering bank reserve levels for the first time in three years.

It's shortly after 9:00 am in Mumbai's red light district and about 100 men are jostling at the box office window of the New Roshan Talkies cinema to buy tickets for 15 rupees (30 U.S. cents) each.

The film hasn't been listed in any of the day's newspapers and it's soon clear why: the movie -- advertised by a poster of two busty women alongside a muscle-bound hero -- is a "morning show".

India's economic growth slumped to a two-year-low 6.9 percent in the second quarter, data showed Wednesday, as it was hit by a string of rate hikes and a stumbling global economy.

The expansion in July-September was the weakest since the three months to June 2009 when the economy grew just 6.0 percent year-on-year as Western economies were emerging from the global financial crisis.

India said on Friday plans to open its vast retail sector to global supermarket chains would create up to 10 million jobs over three years after the cabinet approved the long-awaited reforms.

The pledge by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma came after heated opposition protests stopped the government announcing details in parliament about its move to relax foreign ownership rules for retailers such as Wal-Mart.

Asian markets mostly fell on Friday as a meeting between the eurozone's three biggest economies highlighted their differences on finding a solution to the region's debt crisis.

Traders remained nervous at the end of a week that saw fears over Europe deepen as the yields on Italian and Spanish bonds sat dangerously high and even Germany -- the bloc's pillar -- failed to sell all its bonds at auction.

More than 14,000 people died in custody in India between 2001 and 2010, most of them from being tortured, a human rights body has said, heightening concern over police abuse.

The New Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) said in a report released on Monday that 1,504 people died in police custody and 12,727 in judicial custody across the country over 10 years.

Indian IT entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia on Tuesday launched a free text messaging service, promising that it would be as revolutionary as his previous venture, Hotmail.

Bhatia, who co-founded the free email service 15 years ago, said in a statement that his latest venture, JaxtrSMS, would do "to SMS what Hotmail did for e-mail".

A fire tore through a makeshift tent at a gathering of thousands of eunuchs in the Indian capital, killing 15 people and injuring at least 36 others, police said.

Emergency workers said Sunday's blaze was most likely caused by an electrical short and quickly spread through the tent, which was about 100 feet (30 meters) long.

The European Union and India will work at "full steam" in talks due to start next week on clinching an ambitious free trade pact ahead of a February deadline, the EU said Saturday.

India has been in discussions with the EU, its biggest trading partner, since June 2007 to liberalize trade in goods, services and investment through a free trade agreement.

India on Tuesday successfully test fired one of its longest range missiles capable of carrying a one-ton nuclear warhead deep inside China, officials said.

A Defense Research and Development Organization spokesman said the Agni-IV missile was launched at 9:00am (0330 GMT) from a test site in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.