India

Even as American audiences gush over "Slumdog Millionaire," some Indians are groaning over what they see as yet another stereotypical foreign depiction of their nation, accentuating squalor, corruption and impoverished-if-resilient natives. "Slumdog," which earned 10 Oscar nominations this week, including one for best picture, is set in Mumbai, is based on an Indian novel and features many Indian actors. Yet the sensibility is anything but Indian, some critics argue.

The Delhi High Court issued a landmark ruling Thursday decriminalizing homosexuality, a move that could bring more freedom to millions of people in this deeply conservative nation. The ruling said that treating relations between consenting adult homosexuals as a crime is a violation of basic human rights safeguarded under the Indian Constitution. The court decision amending an 1860s-era British Empire statute ostensibly applies only to Delhi.

Determined to make the rags-to-riches drama "Slumdog Millionaire" as authentic as possible, director Danny Boyle reworked his film's first act, casting Hindi-speaking children from Mumbai's slums in two lead roles. Now his choice to put the impoverished 7-year-olds into the film has sparked a growing controversy that is threatening to overtake the movie's global goodwill.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to India today just days after the U.S. Congress approved a landmark nuclear cooperation accord with the South Asian nation. Rice is expected to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders over the weekend, the U.S. State Department said. She was also to travel to Kazakhstan. Congress passed a pact this week that allows American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India, overturning a three-decade ban on atomic trade with the country, which is not a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

A little more than a year ago, Rajesh Razdan quit his cushy, well-paying job with a global cellphone company here to launch a small start-up that would offer a slew of new services to cellphone users. India's recent economic boom, he said, was the perfect setting in which to become an entrepreneur.

Some counter-terrorism experts in India are convinced that the country's growing ties to Israel were a prime factor behind the targeting of a small Jewish center in the deadly Mumbai attacks. These experts, despite an ongoing investigation of the assailants' motives, have concluded that the assault on the obscure Nariman House was more sophisticated than those on the city's two luxury hotels, an indication that it was a prime target in the November operation.

The call center job came with a good salary and good perks, especially compared to many other opportunities for young people in India. But as 26-year-old Vaibhav Vats says, it was doing him no good. His weight grew to 265 pounds and long overnight hours gave him little time for a social life. Eventually, he quit. "You are making nice money. But the trade-off is also big," said Vats, who spent nearly two years at an IBM Corp. call center handling customer calls from the United States.

If France ever decides to call off its revolution and go back to having a king, the line to the throne could begin at the doorstep of a genial, plump Indian man with a name as outsized and incongruous as the massive fleur-de-lis over his porch. Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon would answer the doorbell, and the call of duty, if the French nation needed him. A restoration of the monarchy in France is, of course, improbable.

Walt Disney Co. has reached a deal to more than double its stake in Indian TV and movie content maker UTV, the two firms said, underscoring the U.S. entertainment firm's efforts to expand globally. Disney will raise its holding in UTV Software Communications Ltd. to 32.1%, the same level as UTV's founders, from 14.9%, by acquiring 9.35 million shares for 8.05 billion rupees ($203 million).

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates wrapped up a six-day visit to three regional democracies Wednesday, working to strengthen ties and upgrade the militaries of all three, which have increasingly complex relationships with a burgeoning China. In two days of talks with Indian leaders, Gates spent more time discussing New Delhi's security challenges with Beijing than with its traditional regional rival Pakistan, according to a senior Defense Department official who attended the meetings.