To someone not used to its grandiose ways, Dubai's downsizing might not look so bad. Construction cranes still tower over the city, though a bit fewer. Hummers still crowd the highways, though some now have "for sale" signs taped to their tinted windows. But one brief phrase shows how heavy a blow Dubai has suffered from the world economic crisis. The words "leaving Dubai, must sell" now dot classified ads as departing foreign workers try to dump furniture, cars and kitchen appliances. Look further, and once red-hot office space and apartments stand empty.

Amid camera flashes and the occasional shoving match between photographers, specifications and on-sale dates for the highly anticipated Tata Nano were finally announced at two elaborate media events here on Monday.

“We have made a promise and we have kept that promise,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, said during the first press gathering, held in the Taj Hotel.

Five Indian soldiers and two Muslim rebels were killed in a gunbattle in Kashmir on Sunday, police said, a day after Pakistani and Indian troops traded fire across the de facto border.

The deaths came during some of the fiercest fighting for months and follow Saturday's cross-border firing that left one Indian soldier dead.

The fighting on Sunday erupted in northern Kupwara district as Indian troops launched a search operation in thick forest.