The United States, India and Japan are set to kick off week-long war games in the Pacific, beefing up naval ties as they warily eye an increasingly assertive China and its military buildup.

Warships from the three countries are to begin the joint exercises on Friday, after an official opening ceremony at the Sasebo Naval Base in southern Japan on Thursday.

The foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India are set to meet in Islamabad next month in the neighboring countries' latest attempt at improving ties.

The proposed meeting, announced by Pakistan's foreign office on Wednesday, comes after Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi following the Hindu hardliner's inauguration in May.

An outbreak of encephalitis has killed 60 people in two weeks in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, a top health official has said, calling the situation "alarming'.

Hundreds of mainly children die across India each year from the mosquito-borne virus, but West Bengal is not normally one of the worst-hit states.

A roller-skating instructor was due in court Monday over the alleged rape of a six-year-old student which sparked protests from outraged parents, an official in the Indian city of Bangalore said.

The 30-year-old instructor at a top private school in Bangalore was arrested Sunday over the alleged assault on the premises earlier this month, the city's police commissioner said.

An Air India plane flying less than 25 kilometers from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 when it was downed had tried to make contact with the pilots, a newspaper said Sunday.

The Times of India said Ukrainian air traffic controllers had asked the Air India pilots to try and establish contact with the Malaysia Airlines jet, which had stopped responding to its calls.

Pakistani officials on Sunday accused Indian troops of killing a civilian and wounding four others in "unprovoked firing" across the border in its eastern province of Punjab.

India and Pakistan often accuse each other of violating a 2003 ceasefire agreement. The two countries have fought three wars, two of them over the divided and disputed Kashmir region.

Police shot dead a teenage boy on Saturday in restive Indian Kashmir during a protest against Israel's military offensive against Gaza, officials said.

The youngster's death marked the first fatality in a string of demonstrations across the Himalayan territory that have been staged against the Israeli military campaign.

Thousands of demonstrators marched Saturday to demand arrests in the case of a six-year-old girl allegedly raped in a school in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Two staff members at the private school are accused of the rape on July 2, the latest in a string of sexual attacks that have stirred national outrage in India.

Hundreds of outraged parents stormed a top private school in the Indian city of Bangalore Thursday to protest against the alleged rape of a six-year-old pupil by two staff members, police said.

Two men -- a sports teacher and an assistant -- have been detained after the victim's parents filed a complaint that she had been sexually assaulted on the premises.

The United States said Wednesday that top cabinet members will visit India in coming weeks to break the ice with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was once shunned by Washington.

Secretary of State John Kerry will visit on July 31 and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will travel to India in early August, culminating in Modi's previously announced visit to Washington in September, officials told a Senate committee.