Jyoti Amge stood just 62.8 centimeters (24.7 inches) tall – shorter than the average 2-year-old – when Guinness representatives visiting from London measured her at a ceremony attended by about 30 relatives and friends in the town of Nagpur, in Maharashtra state.

A teary-eyed Amge, dressed in one of her finest saris, called the honor an “extra birthday present” and said she felt grateful for being small, as it had brought her recognition. After receiving a plaque, she and her guests cut a birthday cake.

“I have put Nagpur on the world map. Now everyone will know where it is,” said Amge, who says she dreams of one day becoming a Bollywood film star as well as pursuing a university degree after she finishes high school this year.

“I want to be an actor,” she said.

She measured 7 centimeters (2.76 inches) shorter than 22-year-old American Bridgette Jordan, who had held the title since September.

“Jyoti encourages us all to look beyond mere size and to just celebrate our differences,” Guinness adjudicator Rob Molloy said.

This was not Amge’s first Guinness record. Until Friday she was considered the world’s shortest teenager, but in turning 18 qualified for the new title. She has grown less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) in the last two years, Guinness said in a statement, and will grow no more due to a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.

Her teenage title brought the chance for multiple Guinness-sponsored trips to Japan and Italy for tours and meetings with other record holders, she said.

The title of shortest woman in history continues to be held by Pauline Musters, who lived in the Netherlands from 1876 to 1895 and stood 61 centimeters (24 inches) tall.

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From Time.com:

African-Indian bonhomie was all the rage in India’s media last week, amid celebratory coverage of homegrown telecom company Airtel’s $10.7 billion acquisition of Kuwaiti company Zain’s African operations and TV images of Indian visitors blowing vuvuzelas at soccer’s World Cup in South Africa. Amid all the backslapping, however, an African student in India who runs a news and current-affairs website from the city of Bhopal accused companies like Coca-Cola of airing racist commercials on Indian TV that portrayed Africans as primitive savages.

“Indian marketers have a field day in putting ‘blacks’ where they’ve always ‘belonged,’ at least in the average Indian mind-sets,” wrote S.K.Y. Banji, an Ugandan who has lived in India for more than four years and runs thereigntimes.com. His comments were endorsed by fellow Africans who posted on the site, sharing their own experiences of racism in India, and soon Banji’s concerns were being aired in segments of the mainstream media. Yet there was hardly any public outcry, and none of the companies have issued apologies. (See why racist attitudes are so ingrained.)

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MANGALORE, India — Eight people escaped the crash of an Indian jetliner with 166 people on board that overshot a hilltop runway in southern India and plunged over a cliff, officials said. At least some of the survivors managed to jump from the wreckage just before it burst into flames.

Firefighters struggled to reach the twisted, smoking wreckage of the Boeing 737-800, which was scattered along the hillside of thick grass and trees just outside Mangalore’s Bajpe airport.

But after the first few minutes, there were no more survivors to be found around what remained of the Air India Express flight from Dubai to this port city. Instead, scores of burned bodies were pulled from the blackened tangle of aircraft cables, twisted metal, charred trees and mud at the crash site. Many of the dead were strapped into their seats, their bodies burned beyond recognition.

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Air India, the country’s national carrier, runs inexpensive flights under the Air India Express banner to Dubai and other Middle Eastern destinations where millions of Indians are employed.

Relatives of the victims, who had been waiting at the airport for the plane’s arrival, stood near the wreckage weeping.

Ummer Farook Mohammed, a survivor burned on his face and hands, said it felt like a tire burst after the plane landed. “There was a loud bang, and the plane caught fire,” he said.

“The plane shook with vibrations and split into two,” G.K. Pradeep, another survivor, told CNN-IBN television. He jumped out of the aircraft with four others into a pit, he said. Moments later, a large explosion set off a blaze that consumed the wreckage, he said. It was not immediately clear if all the survivors escaped in the same way.

Firefighters sprayed water and foam on the plane as others struggled to find survivors. An Associated Press photo showed two rescuers running up a hill carrying a young girl covered in foam to waiting medics. Though no details were available, the girl was believed to have died, because officials said the only female survivor was an adult.

The plane was carrying 160 passengers — all Indian — and six crew members, Air India official Anup Srivastava said. Four infants and 19 other children were among the passengers. The British pilot, who was of Serbian origin, and an Indian co-pilot were among the dead, officials said.

Employees of JAT Airways, the Serbian national carrier, identified the captain as Zlatko Glusica, 55, a Serb with a British passport who had been flying for Air India for the past three years. He had previously flown for JAT, but like many pilots had left the airline in recent years as it plunged into deep financial troubles. The JAT employees spoke on condition they not be identified, because they were not permitted to speak to the media.

By Saturday night, rescuers had pulled 158 bodies from the wreckage. The eight survivors were being treated in hospitals, the airline said.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said that conversations with the cockpit and other records showed the flight was operating normally before the touchdown.

The crash was the deadliest in India since the November 1996 midair collision between a Saudi airliner and a Kazakh cargo plane near New Delhi that killed 349 people.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed condolences and promised compensation for the families of the victims. Boeing said it was sending a team to aid in the investigation.

The crash happened about 6 a.m. when the plane tried to land at Bajpe, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) outside of Mangalore, and overshot the runway, said Srivastava, the official with the financially struggling Indian national carrier.

Scores of villagers scrambled over the hilly terrain to reach the wreckage, and began aiding in the rescue operation. Pre-monsoon rains over the past two days caused low visibility in the area, but officials differed on whether it was raining at the time of the crash.

At Dubai International Airport, a special room was set up to assist relatives and friends of the passengers at Terminal 2, a hub for many budget and small airlines.

The Mangalore airport’s location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the crash site, officials said. Aviation experts said Bajpe’s “tabletop” runway, which ends in a valley, makes a bad crash inevitable when a plane does not stop in time.

“If the pilot overshoots the runway, the aircraft will be in trouble,” said Asif, an aviation expert who uses one name.

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the plane’s pilot had more than 10,000 hours of flying experience, including 26 landings at Mangalore. The co-pilot had more than 3,750 hours of experience and 66 landings at Mangalore, he said.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the Mangalore runway had a reputation for being difficult.

“Our worst fears have come true,” he told the Press Trust of India.

Accidents of this type, known as “runway excursions,” are fairly common, though the majority end without injury or damage.

The International Civil Aviation Organization and pilots’ groups have urged airports worldwide to construct 300 meter (yard)-long safety extensions at the end of each runway for extra protection.

Older airports in built-up areas or those in tight locations with little room for extensions are advised to install soft ground layers — known as arrestor beds — to slow planes, much as escape ramps on highways can stop trucks when their brakes fail.

The 8,000-foot (2,430-meter) Mangalore runway had a short spillover area of about 300 feet (90 meters) with a bed of sand designed to halt or slow a plane that overshoots, Patel said.

“Obviously, the aircraft was at a higher speed,” he said.

More than 32,000 landings had been made on the runway since it opened in 2006, officials said.

The crash came as the national carrier tries to weather serious financial difficulties.

In February, the government approved a $173 million cash infusion for the airline, which has suffered decades of mismanagement and underinvestment.

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COPENHAGEN — President Barack Obama announced Friday a “meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough” on a global effort to curb climate change.

But Obama said, “It is going to be very hard, and it’s going to take some time” to get to a legally binding treaty.

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A deal reached by the United States, China, India, South Africa and Brazil includes a method for verifying reductions of heat-trapping gases, a senior administration official said. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before Obama spoke, characterized the deal as a first step, not yet enough to combat the threat of a warming planet.

Under the agreement, the official said each country also will list the actions it will take to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts. The deal reiterates a goal that eight leading industrialized nations set earlier this year on long-term emission cuts and provides a mechanism to help poor countries prepare for climate change.

Obama addressed reporters traveling with him after racing from one impromptu meeting to another in snow-covered Copenhagen and delivering an animated plea for compromise on the final day of a 193-nation United Nations summit focused on curbing global warming.

The president had planned to spend only about nine hours in Copenhagen as the summit wrapped up after two weeks. But, as an agreement appeared within reach, he extended his stay by more than six hours to attend a series of meetings aimed at brokering a deal.

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WASHINGTON – The first state dinner of the Obama White House had it all: Oscar-winning entertainers, Hollywood moguls, a knockout guest chef and even a wardrobe malfunction. Traditional evening gowns vied with saris of vibrant colors Tuesday night at the high-glitz dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There were turbans and bindis as well as diamonds and brocades.

“Everyone looks great; we’re feeling great,” White House social secretary Desiree Rogers told a phalanx of cameras as she arrived, betraying no hint of nerves at the biggest social event of the Obama presidency.

First lady Michelle Obama had been a little more forthcoming earlier in the day when she described the trick to pulling off the event as sort of like being a swan: calm and serene above the water but “paddling like mad, going crazy underneath.”

The 338-person guest list was a mix of wonky Washington, Hollywood A-listers, prominent figures from the Indian community in the U.S., and Obama friends, family and campaign donors.

WASHINGTON — Seeking firmer footing for U.S.-India relations, President Barack Obama tried to calm India’s fears about Asian rival China, salving bruised feelings in the world’s largest democracy with an elaborate state visit and assurances of India’s “rightful place as a global leader.”

“The relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century,” Obama declared — twice — during a news conference Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The two appeared before reporters in the East Room after an elaborate morning welcome ceremony that was moved indoors by rain and about two hours of private talks in the Oval Office. The daylong White House extravaganza in India’s honor was to be capped with the day’s most buzz-worthy event: the first state dinner of Obama’s presidency.

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The black-tie party for more than 300, featuring a mostly vegetarian meal of curry prawns, aged basmati rice, eggplant salad, lentil soup, potato dumplings and other delicacies served under a giant tent on the South Lawn, was Washington’s premier must-have invite. Menu, decor and attendance details — each designed to celebrate Indian culture and delight Indian guests — were kept tightly held until just hours before guests arrived in their finery.

In a dinner toast, Obama said, “We celebrate the great and growing partnership between the United States and India.”

“Tonight under the stars, we celebrate the spirit that will sustain our partnership, the bonds of friendship between our people,” the president told the large assemblage of political and cultural figures from both nations.

The Obamas sought to add their own flair to the evening, as they have with all their entertaining since they took over the White House in January. Marcus Samuelsson of the award-winning New York City restaurant Aquavit was brought in to help prepare the food alongside White House chefs and two Oscar-winners topped the entertainment lineup, American Jennifer Hudson of “Dreamgirls” and Indian A.R. Rahman of “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Lunch at the State Department was in high demand too, hosted for Singh by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and attended by scores of lawmakers and others. “You’re the hottest ticket in town,” Biden said to the Indian leader.

From the playing of national anthems, to repeatedly glowing remarks, to the last dinner toast, there was one theme: India is top on the priority list for America.

With relations taking a bit of a backseat since their heyday under former President George W. Bush, it was a message Indians had wanted to hear even before Obama took a just-completed trip to Asia, where he bypassed an India stop and paid much homage to the rising global power of China.

India and China have a strong trade relationship, despite a disputed shared border. And talking of an enhanced role for China in Asian or global affairs — as Obama did repeatedly while in Shanghai and Beijing — raises hackles in India.

Obama also has lavished attention on Pakistan since taking office 10 months ago, hoping to boost Pakistani cooperation in the fight against al-Qaida and other extremists based along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed rivals that have fought two wars since their 1947 independence from Britain, bitterly divided over the disputed Himalayan Kashmir region that they both claim.

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The president refused to be drawn into the tense India-Pakistan relationship when quizzed about the effect of U.S. military aid to Pakistan by an Indian reporter.

Obama said “it is not the place” of the United States to try to resolve the conflicts from the outside. At the same time, he said America will do what it can to ensure both Pakistan and India feel secure and able to address the needs of their citizens.

One of Obama’s first promises at Singh’s side was to visit India next year.

He also touted India as a key partner on a range of crucial global issues. He used some of the same complimentary language he displayed while in China, only there he was looking to prod Beijing to do more with its new clout, while with Singh he was lauding what is already happening.

Obama said he and Singh agreed to “work even closer” on sharing information between law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Obama called the two nations “natural allies” on the topic.

“We both recognize that our core goal is to achieve peace and security for all peoples in the region, not just one country or the other,” the president said.

Noting that the United States was India’s largest trading partner, Obama said broadening trade ties would help create much needed jobs in the two countries, both wracked by economic recessions.

The two leaders glossed over a dispute about commitments to reduce the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming in advance of next month’s 192-nation climate change summit in Copenhagen. Developing countries argue that rich countries produced most of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases on their march to development and therefore should bear the main burden of fixing the problem. Wealthy nations like the U.S. and Europe say all countries — including large polluters India and China — must agree to broad cuts in emissions.

Obama said they had moved “one step closer” by joining together in hopes for a successful outcome in Copenhagen, where leaders are no longer expected to reach a legally binding agreement but instead a political deal including emissions commitments and financing for developing countries. But neither Obama nor Singh gave evidence that either country had moved from their previous positions.

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hosts Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House on Tuesday, the first state visit of his presidency.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama welcome the prime minister and his wife with an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn. Obama and Singh then head to the Oval Office for a bilateral meeting. Afterward, the two leaders will hold a joint news conference.

The president meets with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the afternoon in between a meeting with senior advisers and a session with Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Singh and his wife return to the White House in the evening for a state dinner in their honor.

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Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

“The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago,” Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine

“Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well.”

Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.

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I definitely didn’t need any more reasons to love President Obama, but I am definitely a little tickled after watching the following video. Of all the reporters he could have chosen, he chose an Indian reporter from the Times of India and teased her, causing the entire room to erupt in laughter.

Gotta love him!

WATCH the funny:

“Slumdog Millionaire” took the best-picture Academy Award and seven other Oscars on Sunday, including director for Danny Boyle, whose ghetto-to-glory story paralleled the film’s unlikely rise to Hollywood’s summit.

The other top winners: Kate Winslet, best actress for the Holocaust-themed drama “The Reader“; Sean Penn, best actor for the title role of “Milk”; Heath Ledger, supporting actor for “The Dark Knight“; and Penelope Cruz, supporting actress for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

A story of hope amid squalor in Mumbai, India, “Slumdog Millionaire” came in with 10 nominations, its eight wins including adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing and both music Oscars (score and song).

“Just to say to Mumbai, all of you who helped us make the film and all of those of you who didn’t, thank you very much. You dwarf even this guy,” Boyle said, holding up his directing Oscar.

The filmmakers accepted the best-picture trophy surrounded by both the adult professional actors who appeared among the cast of relative unknowns and some of the children Boyle cast from the slums of Mumbai.

The film follows the travails and triumphs of Jamal, an orphan who artfully dodges a criminal gang that mutilates children to make them more pitiable beggars. Jamal witnesses his mother’s violent death, endures police torture and struggles with betrayal by his brother, while single-mindedly hoping to reunite with the lost love of his childhood.

Fate rewards Jamal, whose story unfolds through flashbacks as he recalls how he came to know the answers that made him a champion on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

As he took the stage to accept his prize for playing slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk, Penn gleefully told the crowd: “You commie, homo-loving sons of guns.”

He followed with condemnation of anti-gay protesters who demonstrated near the Oscar site and comments about California’s recent vote to ban gay marriage.

“For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it’s a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that support,” Penn said. “We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.”

For his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker, Ledger became only the second actor ever to win posthumously, his triumph coming exactly 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

His Oscar for the Warner Bros. blockbuster was accepted by Ledger’s parents and sister on behalf of the actor’s 3-year-old daughter, Matilda.

“I have to say this is ever so humbling, just being amongst such wonderful people in such a wonderful industry,” said his father, Kim Ledger. “We’d like to thank the academy for recognizing our son’s amazing work, Warner Bros., and Christopher Nolan in particular for allowing Heath the creative license to develop and explore this crazy Joker character.”

Since his death, the 28-year-old Ledger has gained a mythic aura akin to James Dean, another rising star who died well before his time.

The Joker was his final completed role, a casting choice that initially drew scorn from fans who thought Ledger would not be up to the task given Jack Nicholson‘s gleefully campy rendition of the character in 1989′s “Batman.”

In the months before Ledger’s death, buzz on his wickedly chaotic performance swelled as marketing for the movie centered on the Joker and the perverted clown makeup he hid behind.

Ledger’s death fanned a frenzy of anticipation for “The Dark Knight,” which had a record $158.4 million opening weekend last summer.

The previous posthumous Oscar recipient was Peter Finch, who won best actor for 1976′s “Network” two months after his death.

Cruz triumphed as a woman in a steamy three-way affair with her ex-husband and an American woman in Woody Allen’s romance.

“Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one,” Cruz said, who went on with warm thanks to Allen. “Thank you, Woody, for trusting me with this beautiful character. Thank you for having written all these years some of the greatest characters for women.”

“OK, that fainting thing, Penelope,” Winslet joked later as she accepted her best-actress prize for “The Reader,” in which she plays a former concentration camp guard in an affair with a teen. “I’d be lying if I haven’t made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror, and this would be a shampoo bottle. But it’s not a shampoo bottle now.”

It was Winslet’s first win after five previous losses.

“Slumdog” writer Simon Beaufoy, who adapted the script from Vikas Swarup‘s novel “Q&A,” said there are places he never could imagine being.

“For me, it’s the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and here,” Beaufoy said.

The epic love story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which led with 13 nominations, had three wins, for visual effects, art direction and makeup.

“The Dark Knight” had a second win, for sound editing.

“Milk” writer Dustin Lance Black offered an impassioned tribute to Milk.

“If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours,” Black said.

“Man on Wire,” James Marsh’s examination of tight-rope walker Philippe Petit‘s dazzling stroll between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974, was chosen as best documentary.

The acting categories were presented by five past winners of the same awards, among them last year’s actress winners, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, plus Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Kline, Sophia Loren, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine and Robert De Niro.

It was a much different style for the Oscars as each past recipient offered personal tributes to one of the nominees, without clips of the nominated performances. Awards usually are done in chit-chat style between a couple of celebrity presenters.

After last year’s Oscars delivered their worst TV ratings ever, producers this time aimed to liven up the show with some surprises and new ways of presenting awards. Rather than hiring a comedian such as past hosts Jon Stewart or Chris Rock, the producers went with actor and song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman, who has been host of Broadway’s Tony Awards.

Instead of the usual standup routine, Jackman did an engaging musical number to open the show, saluting nominated films with a clever tribute.

Jackman later did a medley staged by his “Australia” director Baz Luhrmann with such performers as Beyonce Knowles and “High School Musical” stars Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron.

“Slumdog Millionaire” went into the evening after a run of prizes from earlier film honors.

The film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros. folded its art-house banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute “Slumdog Millionaire.” It was rescued from the direct-to-video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight stepped in to release the film.

“Slumdog” composer A.R. Rahman, a dual Oscar winner for the score and song, said the movie was about “optimism and the power of hope.”

“All my life, I’ve had a choice of hate and love,” Rahman said. “I chose love, and I’m here.

From Naked Capitalism:

Our guest blogger Lune (who in one of his past lives worked on the Hill) was just in India and gives us his take on the Satyam Computers case, which has gotten scant coverage in the US. The Indian government’s reaction to its biggest corporate scandal ever makes for a useful object lesson.

Click here to read more.

From Foreign Policy Watch:

When President-elect Barack Obama takes office in two weeks, he will immediately be faced with two elusive foreign policy problems whose resolution has evaded every post-war US president: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Indo-Pakistani rivalry. Each has visibly reasserted itself in its own way in recent weeks, as Israel has trounced Hamas-related installations in Gaza in retaliation for the latter’s rocket attacks, and as Pakistan has diverted troops to its border with India in the wake of New Delhi pressure over November’s attacks in Mumbai.

While both are messy and seemingly intractable, they have only assumed greater urgency over the last few months. And both old problems pose new challenges for the incoming administration.

Click here for the full report.

The revelation could add to pressure on Islamabad to either bring Zarar Shah and other suspects to trial or extradite them to India.

“(Shah) has made some statement that he was involved,” said the government official, without providing specific details. “I can tell you that he is singing.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the disclosure, which was first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday

A senior intelligence officer said Shah and another suspect, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, were cooperating with investigators, but cautioned that authorities had not reached a definite conclusion as to their involvement yet.

He too asked for anonymity. Indian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Gunmen targeted 10 sites including two five-star hotels and a Jewish center during the November siege on Mumbai‘s financial capital, killing 164 people in a three-day reign of terror.

India and the United States say the militants who planned and carried out the attacks were Pakistani and are demanding Islamabad root out and punish those responsible.

The official also told The Associated Press that India has shared some evidence of its suspicions but he said it was “very very little.” Pakistan’s president and other top officials have said India has yet to provide any evidence.

The intelligence officer also said the country had received “information” on the attacks from other, unspecified, nations.

“They (India) gave us a list of numbers and phone calls, most of them useless,” the official said.

Shah and Lakhvi have been identified as members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned militant group accused by India of carrying out the Mumbai attacks and others on its soil.

They were taken into custody soon after the attacks.

India says both were involved in planning the siege but hasn’t made any evidence public or provided many details about their role in the plot.

Accusations of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s involvement have put Islamabad in a difficult position because the group is widely believed to have been created by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies to battle Indian-rule in Kashmir, a Himalayan region claimed by Pakistan and India.

The United States and its Western allies are concerned Pakistan will lose focus on the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban if tensions with India persist.

Washington has called for calm on both sides, but has made it clear it wants to see Pakistan crack down on the attackers. On Wednesday, President George W. Bush called his counterparts in India and Pakistan to discuss the situation.

“All three leaders … agreed that no one wanted to take any steps that unnecessarily raise tensions,” White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

President Asif Ali Zardari told Bush that Pakistan would not tolerate any one using its territory to launch attacks on other countries, said Zardari spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Security forces overran a militant camp on the outskirts of Pakistani Kashmir’s main city and seized an alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, two officials said Monday.

Backed by a helicopter, the troops grabbed Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi among at least 12 people taken Sunday in the raid on the riverbank camp run by the banned group Laskhar-e-Taiba in Pakistani Kashmir, the officials said. There was a brief gunfight in the camp near Muzaffarabad before the militants were subdued, the officials said.

The officials – one from the intelligence agencies and one from a government agency – spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Indian officials say the sole Mumbai attacker captured alive has told them that Lakhvi recruited him for the mission and that Lakhvi and another militant, Yusuf Muzammil, planned the operation, which left 171 people dead in India’s commercial capital.

The capture of Lakhvi was likely to please India as well as U.S. officials, who allege he also directed Laskhar-e-Taiba operations in Chechnya, Bosnia and Southeast Asia, training members to carry out suicide bombings and attack populated areas. In 2004, he allegedly sent operatives and funds to attack U.S. forces in Iraq.

It was not immediately clear what Pakistan intended to do with Lakhvi.

Pakistan and India do not have an extradition treaty. Last week, President Asif Ali Zardari indicated anyone arrested in Pakistan in connection with the attacks would be tried in Pakistan.

A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India’s financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.

As investigators sought to unravel the attack on Mumbai, stepping up questioning of the lone captured gunman, airports across India were put on high alert amid fresh warnings that terrorists planned to hijack an aircraft.

Also Thursday, police said there were signs that some of the six victims of the attack on a Jewish center may have been tortured. “The victims were strangled,” said Rakesh Maria, a senior Mumbai police official. “There were injuries noticed on the bodies that were not from firing.”

Members of an Israeli rescue group which had a team in Mumbai said it was impossible to tell if the bodies had been abused, however, because no autopsies were conducted in accordance with Jewish tradition.

The surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab, 21, told interrogators he had been sent by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and identified two of the plot’s masterminds, according to two Indian government officials familiar with the inquiry.

Kasab told police that one of them, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar’s operations chief, recruited him for the attack, and the assailants called another senior leader, Yusuf Muzammil, on a satellite phone after hijacking an Indian vessel en route to Mumbai.

The information sent investigators back to another reputed Lashkar operative, Faheem Ansari, who they hope could be key in pulling together different strands of the investigation.

Ansari, an Indian national, was arrested in February in north India carrying hand-drawn sketches of hotels, the train terminal and other sites that were later attacked in Mumbai, said Amitabh Yash, director of the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police.

During his interrogation, Ansari also named Muzammil as his handler in Pakistan, adding that he trained in a Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad — the same area where Kasab said he was trained, a senior police officer involved in the investigation said.

In Pakistan, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters he had no information on Lakhvi or Muzammil but that authorities would check.

Ansari “told us about a planned Lashkar attack on Bombay, on southern Bombay,” said Yash, referring to Mumbai by its previous name. “He gave us eight or nine specific locations where the attack would be carried out,” he said, adding that Ansari had detailed sketches of the places and escape routes from the sites.

Ansari said he carried out the reconnaissance in the fall of 2007, which also included the U.S. consulate, the Bombay stock exchange and other Mumbai sites that were not attacked.

Ansari is now in Indian custody, according to Yash. It was unclear if he was being questioned again, but Maria said they were working to determine if Ansari played a role in how the attackers “got such intricate knowledge of the sites.”

Indian authorities have faced a torrent of criticism about missed warnings and botched intelligence, and revelations that Ansari disclosed details of the Mumbai plot 10 months ago will be added to the list. Linking an Indian national to the plot also undermines India’s assertion that Pakistan is solely responsible.

Yash said during extensive interrogations Ansari confessed to scouting Mumbai, arranging a safe-house there for Lashkar militants and provided details on his involvement in the group. “We got everything out of him, whatever he knew,” he said.

Ansari linked up with Lashkar while working at a printing press in Dubai. He was taken by sea to Pakistan to the Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad and received a false Pakistani passport and citizenship papers, which police recovered when he was arrested.

In 2007, Ansari said, he traveled to Katmandu, Nepal, and then crossed back into India and settled in Mumbai, where he conducted reconnaissance for a future attack, Yash said.

He was arrested Feb. 10 in the northern city of Rampur after suspected Muslim militants attacked a police camp, killing eight constables. He said he was there to collect weapons to bring to Mumbai for a future attack.

Yash said Ansari’s arrest did not derail Lashkar’s plans for an attack. “When they found that their mole in Bombay had been caught…they carried out the operations in a different way,” he said.

Meanwhile, police officers said they were trying to get as much detail as possible from Kasab.

“A terrorist of this sort is never cooperative. We have to extract information,” said Deven Bharti, the head of the Mumbai crime branch.

Indian police are known to use interrogation methods that would be regarded as torture in the West, including questioning suspects drugged with “truth serum.”

Bharti provided no details on interrogation techniques, but said “truth serum” would probably be used next week. He did not specify what drug would be used.

During questioning, details of Kasab’s recruitment by Lashkar began to emerge, said police, describing him as fourth grade dropout from an impoverished village who was gravitating to a life of crime.

“Lashkar recruited him, preying on a combination of his religious sentiments and his poverty,” said Maria.

The revelations came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with leaders in Islamabad after visiting India’s capital — part of a U.S. effort to pressure Pakistan to share more intelligence and pursue terrorist cells believed to be rooted in the country.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari promised Rice his country would take “strong action” against any elements in Pakistan involved in the siege.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department designated as terrorists four individuals who hold leadership positions in Lashkar, including Lakhvi, and ordered any of their U.S. assets to be frozen. Also named were Muhammad Saeed, the group’s leader; Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance; and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group.

Meanwhile, India put its airports on alert following threats of possible airborne attacks. Security forces swarmed New Delhi’s international airport early Friday after the sound of gunfire was heard, police said, but no one was injured or killed. Police said it was not a terrorist incident.

The warning received by the airports “spoke of possibility of aircraft being hijacked by terrorists,” India’s air force chief, Fali Homi Major, told reporters Thursday.

The alert focused on three major airports — New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai — but security was stepped up across India.

Several extra layers of security were set up and some passengers’ bags were scanned for explosives.

“Passengers have been asked to pass through six-stage security checks,” said Brij Lal, a senior police official organizing security at the airport in the northern city of Lucknow.

Nirmala Sharma, a passenger who flew from New Delhi to Lucknow, said her bags were checked a half dozen times and she went through a metal detector three times. “Sometimes it seemed tedious, but it seems to be the need of the hour,” she said.

A list of about 20 people — including India’s most-wanted man — was submitted to Pakistan’s high commissioner to India on Monday night, said India’s foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee.

India has already demanded Pakistan take “strong action” against those responsible for the attacks, and the U.S. has pressured Islamabad to cooperate in the investigation. America’s chief diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will visit India on Wednesday.

The Indian government faces widespread accusations of security and intelligence failures after suspected Muslim militants carried out a three-day attack across India’s financial capital, killing 172 people and wounding 239.

Also Tuesday, Israelis began burying the six Jews killed in one of those attacks, the assault on a Jewish center run by the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement.

Several thousand ultra-Orthodox mourners gathered in Jerusalem for the first funeral, that of Leibish Teitelbaum, an American who lived in Jerusalem.

Four Israelis and a Mexican Jewish woman were also killed. A memorial ceremony was scheduled for later Wednesday for the 29-year-old rabbi who ran the Jewish center, Gavriel Holtzberg, and his 28-year-old wife, Rivkah.

Indian officials continued to interrogate the only surviving attacker, who reportedly told police that he and the other nine gunmen had trained for months in camps in Pakistan operated by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India’s foreign intelligence agency received information as recently as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, according to a government intelligence official familiar with the matter.

The information was then relayed to domestic security authorities, said the official, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the details and spoke on condition of anonymity. But it’s unclear whether the government acted on the intelligence.

The famous Taj Mahal hotel, scene of much of the bloodshed, had tightened security with metal detectors and other measures in the weeks before the attacks, after being warned of a possible threat.

But the precautions “could not have stopped what took place,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the company that owns the hotel, told CNN. “They (the gunmen) didn’t come through that entrance. They came from somewhere in the back.”

A day after soldiers finishing removed the last bodies from the hotel, where the standoff finally ended Saturday morning, wood boards covered its marble latticework and seafront entrance as plain-clothes police searched for evidence.

The building was the last to be cleared, following the five-star Oberoi hotel, the Jewish center, and other sites struck in this city of 18 million.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency, met Tuesday with top security aides to review any government lapses.

Among those sought by India is fugitive Dawood Ibrahim — a powerful gangster, the alleged mastermind of 1993 Mumbai bombings, and India’s most-wanted man.

Also included is Masood Azhar, a terror suspect freed from an Indian prison in exchange for the release of hostages aboard an Indian Airlines aircraft hijacked on Christmas Day 1999.

In the past, Pakistan has denied harboring the men. However, Pakistan said it would consider India’s request and respond after receiving the list.

“We must try to dampen down the discourse of conflict and work toward regional peace,” said Pakistani Information Minister Sherry Rehman.

While the cross-border rhetoric between Pakistan and India has increased since the attacks, both countries — by their often-bellicose standards — carefully refrained from making statements that could quickly lead to a buildup of troops along their already militarized frontier.

Mukherjee appeared to tone things down further Tuesday, telling reporters that “nobody is talking about military action,” according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Mukherjee, responding to questions on what actions India would take, said only “time will show.”

India had summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner late Monday, telling him India “expects that strong action would be taken against those elements,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash.

In Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi pledged full cooperation.

Qureshi said Pakistan has offered a “joint investigative mechanism and joint commission.” He didn’t say when the offer was made or if India had responded.

With the investigation still under way, and FBI and Scotland Yard teams assisting, more details emerged about the suspects and the attacks.

The sole surviving attacker, Ajmal Qasab, told police his group trained over about six months in camps operated by Lashkar in Pakistan, learning close-combat techniques, hostage-taking, handling of explosives, satellite navigation, and high-seas survival skills, according to two Indian security officials familiar with the investigation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the details.

Lashkar was outlawed in Pakistan under pressure from the U.S. in 2002, a year after Washington and Britain listed it a terrorist group.

Qasab told investigators the militants hijacked an Indian vessel and killed three crew members, keeping the captain alive long enough to guide them into Mumbai, the two security officials said.

The men, ages 18-28, then came ashore in a dinghy at two different Mumbai areas before slipping into the city in two teams, officials said.

The gunmen hired two separate taxis after reaching Mumbai, planting bombs that later exploded in each vehicle, officials said. Two more unexploded bombs were found outside the Taj Mahal hotel.

The gunmen struck at several sites, including a train station, where they mowed down police and passers-by; the Jewish center; and the two luxury hotels, representing the city’s wealth and tourism, reportedly seeking out Westerners.

The 19 foreigners killed were Americans, Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Mexico, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, Singapore and Mexico.