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Pakistani government sources report that four senior al Qaeda figures were among those killed in a U.S. missile strike on a village near the Afghan border last week. Al Qaeda's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri -- the intended target of the attack -- was not hurt.

The U.S.-Pakistan relationship has hit a new low. Pakistan is nervous and indignant about Washington's agreement to supply India with nuclear fuel and equipment. Critics in Pakistan say that five years of support for President Bush's War on Terror have gone unrewarded.

Nepalis vote in municipal elections Wednesday, the first since Nepal's king seized power a year ago. While it's being billed by the government as an exercise in democracy, the country's mainstream political parties are boycotting the vote.

Police fire on protesters in Katmandu, capital of Nepal. The demonstrators violated a curfew and marched on the palace of King Gyanendra. For many protesters, the king's vow to move to a multiparty government is not enough.

One of President Bush's goals in South Asia is a deal to sell India nuclear fuel. The tradeoff -- and a potential sticking point -- would be India's willingness to open civilian nuclear facilities to international inspectors.

Thousands of people trying to leave Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula are trapped by ethnic conflict. The peninsula is held by the Sri Lankan government. The territory just to the south is in the hands of Tamil Tiger rebels.

Many millions of Hindus are gathered along the shores of their holiest river, the Ganges, in one of the world's largest religious gatherings, the Kumbh Mela. Over a few weeks, up to 70 million Hindus swim in the chilly waters — many of them on what India's astrologers deem to be "auspicious" bathing days.

In the last six months alone, extra-judicial executions, suicide bombings and fighting have claimed many hundreds of lives in Sri Lanka. The death of a Hindu Tamil priest underlines the sheer viciousness of the conflict.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, lost 25 Republican votes in his third failed bid to become speaker of the House. Jordan could not quell the opposition to his candidacy.

Though Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently said the situation in Iraq is calming down, insurgents continue to attack government officials, the country's infrastructure and its new security forces in particular. Some 890 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since March 2003. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves and NPR's Steve Inskeep.