Italy on Monday slammed as "unacceptable" a serious maritime security charge India has leveled against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen they mistook for pirates while guarding a cargo ship.

"The charge proposed by the Indian authorities is unacceptable," Prime Minister Enrico Letta said in a message on Twitter, adding: "Italy and the European Union will react."

Indian police have detained a group of 49 foreign nationals who were shooting a reality television show for illegally possessing satellite phones, a police official said Sunday.

Police seized the phones from the foreigners in West Bengal state, where they were apparently shooting the European show "Peking Express" that documents contestants hitchhiking across countries, the official said.

India on Saturday said it will go ahead with prosecuting two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen under a maritime security law that calls for a maximum 10-year punishment.

Plans earlier by India to invoke a section of the maritime security act that provides for mandatory execution for causing death had aroused fury from Rome.

Tourists travelling to India from 180 countries will no longer have to queue at their local consulates to obtain visas after New Delhi announced a "very significant" overhaul of its border controls.

Most foreigners currently have to wait several weeks before learning whether they will be allowed to enter India after submitting their applications at visa processing centers, a major deterrent for potential visitors.

Pakistanis staged rallies and demonstrations across the country on Wednesday to express solidarity with Kashmiris struggling for independence from India.

Kashmir, a picturesque Himalayan region, is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.

The impact of unrest in South Sudan on India's $2 billion investment in the region's oil sector will be under discussion when New Delhi's foreign minister makes a rare visit to Khartoum this week.

"It will be featuring in the talks," India's ambassador to Sudan, S.K. Verma, told Agence France Presse ahead of the two-day visit by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of New Delhi Saturday after a 19-year-old student from India's remote northeast was beaten to death in an apparent hate crime.

Nido Taniam was allegedly thrashed by a group of five men with rods and sticks at a busy shopping area in the capital on Wednesday when he objected to their remarks ridiculing his hair, which he had colored blonde, local media reports said.

Large parts of Indian Kashmir shut down on Friday and protests were held against a military court verdict last week that exonerated five army officers involved in the killing of civilians 14 years ago.

Most shops and businesses were closed and public transport halted in the main city of Srinagar and other areas of the restive region after separatist groups called a strike over the court's decision.

Large parts of Indian Kashmir shut down on Friday to protest a military court verdict last week that exonerated five army officers involved in the killing of five civilians 14 years ago.

Most shops and businesses were closed and public transport halted in the main city of Srinagar and other areas of the restive region after separatist groups called a one-day strike over the court's decision.

An Indian worker convicted of murdering a Saudi was beheaded by the sword in the Riyadh region Thursday, the interior ministry said.

Mohammed Latif was found guilty of having beaten to death his "sponsor," Dhafer bin Mohammed al-Dussari, with a sharp object and then dumping his body in a well, it was quoted by state news agency SPA as saying.