Protests erupted Friday in southeast India and several federal ministers tendered their resignations, a day after the government bowed to a longstanding and often violent campaign for a new state called Telangana.

Demonstrators blocked roads and took to the streets in coastal regions of the state of Andhra Pradesh after the highly contentious decision by the cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to split the state into two.

A small plane crashed into a hill in a tourist city in western Nepal on Thursday, killing the pilot and the only passenger, a Chinese tourist, a police official said.

The ultra-light aircraft was flying over a lake in Pokhara when it slammed into the hill near a Buddhist monastery, Surendra Bahadur Shah, a local police chief told Agence France Presse.

Indian police on Tuesday arrested three officials working for the Mumbai city government over the collapse of an apartment block last week that killed 60 people, a spokesman said.

The accident happened early on Friday while more than 90 people were inside the building owned by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). It was the latest in a string of collapses to hit the financial capital.

A Paris court Monday sentenced eight members of an Islamist militant group to prison, giving the Indian-born mastermind Mohamed Niaz Abdul Raseed eight years.

The group was accused of recruiting French citizens for training at militant camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The head of India's ruling party strongly defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, just days after her son heaped embarrassment on him and his government over a move to protect convicted MPs.

Sonia Gandhi, the country's most powerful politician, said the Congress party firmly "stands behind" the prime minister after her son Rahul Gandhi, number two in the party hierarchy, branded a government decree "complete nonsense".

Mumbai's municipal government said it has suspended seven engineers and is investigating another 11 members of staff after the collapse of a five-story residential building last week, which left 60 people dead.

The collapse happened at daybreak on Friday while more than 90 people were inside the building owned by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), which has said it asked residents earlier this year to move out.

The leaders of India and Pakistan pledged Sunday to find ways to restore calm on their disputed border in Kashmir as an initial step toward reconciliation, an Indian official said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has advocated an end to historic tensions with India since he swept to power in May elections, held his first meeting with his counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the annual U.N. summit.

The death toll from the collapse of a residential block in Mumbai rose to 60 on Sunday as rescuers ended their search operation with all the missing accounted for, officials said.

The five-story block in the city's east, home to 22 families and owned by the municipal authority, came crashing down in a mass of rubble at daybreak on Friday.

The death toll from the collapse of a Mumbai apartment block jumped to 45 late Saturday, and was expected to climb higher as rescuers worked through the night searching for more victims, officials said.

"We've got 45 bodies now," Alok Avasthy, a senior official of the National Disaster Management Authority told Agence France Presse.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned Saturday that Pakistan must stop being "the epicenter of terrorism" if it wants better ties ahead of his first meeting with Nawaz Sharif.

Singh will sit down for breakfast Sunday on the sidelines of the United Nations summit with Sharif, Pakistan's newly elected premier, who appealed Friday for a "new beginning" with the historic rival.