Five men have been arrested over the gang-rape and deaths of two girls found hanging from a mango tree in a northern Indian village, police said Saturday.

The discovery of the two cousins, aged 14 and 12, in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday is the latest sexual violence case to have stirred national outrage.

Outrage grew in India Friday over two shocking rape cases as the new government said it was planning to set up a special crisis cell to ensure justice for victims of sex attacks.

On Thursday it emerged that two teenagers from a low caste had been found hanging from a tree after being gang-raped in their village.

A powerful explosion Thursday killed two people and wounded another six at a crowded market in India's restive northeast that has been plagued for decades by separatist violence, police said.

Police suspected a local militant group behind the blast that shook the the heart of Imphal, capital of the state of Manipur, which borders Myanmar.

Police have arrested two Indians running a children's shelter for allegedly forcing five youngsters in their care to perform sexual acts and eat dog excreta, officials said Thursday.

The male owner and female manager of the home in Karjat in western Maharashtra state were arrested and produced in court on Tuesday after parents of the children filed a complaint, said police and a local branch of Childline.

India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed top ministers Thursday to prepare their agendas for the first 100 days but did not reveal which of the country's many problems would be tackled first.

The pro-business leader was sworn in as prime minister on Monday armed with a powerful mandate to reform the ailing economy after his right-wing Hindu nationalist party won a landslide election victory.

Two teenage girls have been found hanging from a tree in a northern Indian village after they were gang-raped by five men, police said Thursday, in a brutal attack highlighting the country's poor record on sexual violence.

Police have arrested one man over the attack on the cousins, aged 14 and 15 and from the lowest Dalit caste, who were discovered hanging on Wednesday morning in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh state.

Faced with a stalling China market, French winemakers are working to entice a growing middle class in Asia away from spirits and beer -- but face big obstacles in doing so.

Chinese wine shipments and consumption fell for the first time in a decade in 2013. The drop comes as Beijing reins in luxury spending and extravagant banquets, against the backdrop of a slower economy, and an anti-graft campaign backed by President Xi Jinping to root out official corruption.

India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday to crack down on militant groups while stressing his desire for closer economic ties, the foreign ministry said.

Modi "underlined our concerns related to terrorism" to Sharif during landmark talks in New Delhi on the first day of his term in office, said Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh.

The death toll from a train crash in northern India rose to 23 after more bodies were recovered from inside mangled passenger carriages, officials said Tuesday.  

The passenger express was travelling to Gorakhpur city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Monday morning when it ploughed into a stationary freight train at a local station.

India's new finance minister Arun Jaitley said restoring growth and containing inflation are the key challenges facing the country's government, shortly after being handed the critical portfolio on Tuesday.

Jaitley, a top corporate lawyer, said the government was given a strong mandate for reforming the slumping economy, which has been growing at below five percent, its slowest pace in a decade.