INDIA-NEW YEAR-SECURITY

Indians walk and gather in front of the Taj Mahal hotel, one of several sites attacked by Islamist militants last month, in Mumbai during New Year's Eve on December 31, 2008. India flatly denied that Pakistani assertions of aggressive troop deployments along their common border, saying it had carried out no military movements beyond a "normal winter exercise". Tensions between the two countries have flared in the wake of the November Mumbai attacks that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. AFP PHOTO/ Sajjad HUSSAIN