Two suspected militants and two members of a government-sponsored militia have been killed in two separate incidents in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Indian security forces killed two militants in a firefight in Sopore, North Kashmir, after militants killed two village defence guards in Kishtwar. The gun battle erupted Thursday night as soldiers and police searched for militants.

India's three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie's controversial 'The Satanic Verses' book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.

The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” in his native India is now in doubt. That's not because of a change of heart more than two years after the author’s near-fatal stabbing, but because of what amounts to some missing paperwork.