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Major Indian cities are changing their names. Bombay is now Mumbai, while Madras is Chennai. Bangalore -- world famous for its IT boom and call centers -- may be in for a change as well. It's considering the new name Benda Kalaru, or City of the Boiled Bean.

Sri Lanka's hard-line prime minister has been elected in a tight presidential race. The vote was seen as a referendum to push for the island's faltering peace process and rescue the tsunami-hit economy.

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.

The International Atomic Energy Agency continues deliberations on Iran's nuclear program. Efforts by the United States to get an international consensus on tackling Iran are undermining one of its increasingly important alliance with India. Iran is an ally of energy-hungry India.

Federal officials told 16 states that they've been underfunding their Historically Black Colleges and Universities by some $12 billion. Tennessee State University had the biggest loss.

In Raj Haldar's new picture book, a lot of random stuff gets banned: giraffes, avocados, old roller skates. Haldar hopes kids have fun with This Book Is Banned but also learn about censorship.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says that locals in an area about 35 miles north of Baghdad tipped off the government to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's location several weeks ago. That information was then passed along to U.S. officials, who used it to kill Zarqawi and seven associates with an airstrike Wednesday.

India has embarked on a painful bout of introspection as its capital New Delhi prepares to host the Commonwealth Games in just under a year. A debate has begun over whether residents are too rude and boorish to be good hosts to the foreign athletes, officials and other visitors. In his latest "Letter from India," NPR's Philip Reeves takes a look at Indians taking a look at themselves.

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.

India launched its first moon mission in October amid a great gust of patriotic excitement about securing membership in the world's tiny lunar explorers' club — which includes its regional rival, China. Despite the mission's technical problems — and the space program's huge costs — Indian scientists' ambitions are high.