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the past few months, Pakistan's Pakistan's army has lost control of the Swat Valley to the Taliban. It has now launched an operation to win the valley back, but victory will difficult: The Taliban is highly organized, and uses hit-and-run guerrilla tactics.

Nearly a year after President Bush declared the Taliban had been ousted from power, Afghanistan has seen its bloodiest year yet since the American occupation. NPR's Philip Reeves, in Kabul, discusses the Taliban's recent resurgence.

House Republicans nominated a new speaker today, but plenty of party division remains. The tally was 113 to 99 for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who beat out Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.

A bite-sized look at what else we’re hearing: Two of Andrew Cuomo’s aides are dismissed from lawsuit. Tolland schools have adopted a policy for addressing transgender students. Also, there seems to be a Dunkin' on every corner.

Britain is set to change its financial laws. Officials say it's an attempt to prevent taxpayers from ever again having to spend tens of billions of dollars to save banks from collapse. Among other things, banks would be required to set aside more money as a cushion against possible losses.

Pakistan has a democratically elected government, but the power of the army is growing and so is that of the man who runs it.

Afghan and Pakistani officials are working to reach remote villages hit by Monday's 7.5-magnitude earthquake. The quake was centered 130 miles underground, which seismologists say significantly lessened its impact.

Pakistanis have never liked watching the Indians parade their mighty rockets on their Republic Day, but the spectacle of them doing so in the company of U.S. president is causing many furrowed brows.

The diplomatic duel over Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange intensified with Britain and Ecuador battling over his future. Ecuador says it will give Assange asylum. For now, he's holed up in Ecuador's London embassy. Britain says it wants Assange extradited to Sweden, where he's wanted over a rape allegation.

Investigators in Europe have revealed evidence that hundreds of soccer games were fixed by gambling syndicates. The scandal even includes national teams competing for places in soccer's biggest tournament: the World Cup.