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What are the biggest challenges facing cities and towns today?

With more workers heading back to the office it seems many have forgotten some rules for riding mass transit. The MTA reminds riders, among other things, to keep your feet off of the seats.

Announced by a simple sign -- "Village for Sale" -- the offer is an admitted attempt to bring attention to the town's plight. But the residents of Dodli say their problems are serious: rising costs, falling prices, bad harvests, inadequate water and high-interest debt from loan sharks.

India plans to hang Kashmiri Muslim Mohammed Afzal, who was convicted of indirect involvement in the attack on India's parliament in 2001 in a trial that was riddled with shortcomings. Much hinges on India's president, a Muslim, who is handling a plea for clemency.

In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers have a reputation of killing rivals, and kidnapping children to serve in their ranks. Now, there are growing allegations that government security forces, or their proxies, are operating deaths squads with impunity.

Sotheby's is auctioning off the bottle of Macallan 1926, which was aged over six decades. Another bottle of Macallan sold in 2019 for $1.9 million.

NPR's Philip Reeves reports from Baghdad on the situation in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, which has calmed down considerably in the wake of several weeks of fighting between U.S. forces and militias loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric is keeping a low profile, and most Najaf residents are much more concerned about the economy and the notoriously insecure highway that links their city to the Iraqi capital.

The United Nations today sent its top humanitarian official, John Holmes, to Sri Lanka to push for more protection for civilians trapped in the island's war zone. The UN estimates nearly 6,500 civilians have been killed there in the last three months. The conventional war now appears to be in its final stages. But does that mean the island's civil conflict is finally at an end? NPR's South Asia Correspondent Philip Reeves reports.

In Pakistan on Saturday, pro- and anti-government demonstrators clashed in the city of Karachi, leaving 30 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Gunfire erupted in several parts of the city. The violence was prompted by a visit to Karachi by Pakistan's chief justice, a man President Musharraf suspended two months ago in what critics of the government say is a battle over judicial independence. Jacki Lyden talks with Phillip Reeves.

The Olympic torch has reached the top of Mount Everest, the climax of a massive publicity campaign leading up the Olympic Games. China hopes the spectacle of the flame atop the world's highest mountain will erase the memory of ugly protests. But some activists say that by taking the flame up Everst, China is trying to show its dominance over Tibetans.