NPR People: Philip Reeves

The chief minister of India's most populous state came from humble origins, but Mayawati, as she is known, has not been shy about displaying her wealth. Recently, the show of opulence at a political rally — where she accepted a garland made entirely of money — seems to have gone too far, even by her standards.

Senior Indian and Pakistani officials held wide-ranging talks in New Delhi Thursday. The discussions were put on hold after the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai. A band of militants sailed from Pakistan and rampaged through India's commercial capital. U.S. officials are pressing the two sides to end their 63-year dispute.

Rising sea levels are destroying the fields and livelihoods of people on Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. Refugees arrived from a nearby island after it was swallowed up by waves. Scientists say climate change is a factor. Residents of the island, which is a sacred place for Hindus, say God is responsible.

Connoisseurs of the rarified sport of cricket still speak in whispers of the scandal, 34 years ago, when an Englishman was accused of rubbing Vaseline into the ball to make it swerve more. That affair pales by comparison with the uproar in Australia this week when Pakistan's captain was caught on camera biting a cricket ball like an apple. Ball-tampering is considered the worst form of skullduggery in the so-called Gentleman's Sport. The loudest protests have come from Pakistan's arch-rival, India.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in a hard-fought race with his former army chief. Both men had worked together to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels in a conflict that lasted about 25 years. The challenger rejected the official results and troops have surrounded his hotel.

Sri Lanka's Tamil minority may hold the key in Tuesday's election, held in the aftermath of the decades-long civil war with Tamil rebels. When President Mahinda Rajapaksa called the election, it seemed like a shoo-in for him, but as former army chief Sarath Fonseka joined the fight, the campaign turned bitter.

Sri Lankans went to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballot in a hard-fought president campaign between the incumbent and his former army chief. For decades the country dealt with a civil war. The war ended when Sri Lanka's government defeated the Tamil Tiger Rebels last May. In a surprising plot twist, it may be the Tamils who decide the winner of the presidential election.

The Jaipur Literature Festival in the Indian city of Jaipur, in the desert state of Rajasthan, attracts Nobel laureates, Pulitzer and Booker prize winners, celebrities and thousands of lovers of literature from around the world.

For as long as anyone can remember, the crowded and squalid old city of Calcutta has danced to the rhythm of labor strikes, political agitations and Marxist theorizing. One of the icons of the city was Jyoti Basu, India's longest-serving and best-known Communist. He died Sunday at age 95.

Thousands of people lined the streets of the city of Kolkata on Sunday as a large white hearse, festooned with red flags bearing the hammer and sickle, slowly carried away the man known as India's "Marxist patriarch."

Accounts of the escapades of Narayan Dutt Tiwari, a former governor of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, have stunned that nation. He resigned in December, citing health concerns.

India is the planet's fifth biggest carbon polluter. Even with its vast population, its per capita emissions are many times lower than the West. As India's economy grows, so will its pollution. India's government has announced measures to combat climate change. But some question whether it can carry them out. The city of Gurgaon has become the front-line in a battle between government and growth.

David Coleman Headley of Chicago is charged with conducting extensive surveillance on potential targets in Mumbai before last year's terrorist attacks. Headley, a U.S. citizen, changed his name in 2006. Prosecutors say that is so he could pass in India for an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. Stories about Headley's involvement in the attacks have been circulating in India for weeks.

India's financial capital, Mumbai, on Friday commemorates the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks that left 166 people dead.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged Thursday to prosecute corrupt officials, and said the country would control it own security within five years. Karzai's comments came in an inauguration speech that kicked off his second term of office amid a growing Taliban insurgency and a cloud of corruption allegations.