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NPR's Michael Sullivan reports that a powerful earthquake has killed more than two thousand people in India, and the death toll is expected to rise. The epicenter was in the city of Bhuj in the western state of Gujarat, close to India's border with Pakistan. Hospitals in Gujarat have been flooded with injured people. Rescue workers are using chain saws and their bare hands, as they to reach people believed to be trapped in rubble.

NPR's Richard Knox reports on new evidence that anti-HIV drugs are restoring the immune systems of people who had lost nearly all protection against infection. Two studies in this week's New England Journal of Medicine show that most people on so-called combination therapy for HIV no longer need to take drugs to prevent a type of pneumonia that often strikes people with weakened immune systems.

In California's partially deregulated electricity system, utilities obtain much of their power from a daily spot market, where prices fluctuate greatly from day to day. Spot prices have exploded as the state's power crisis has worsened, leaving two big utilities near bankruptcy. A look at how this spot market works. Rachael Myrow of member station KPCC reports.

Helen Ciurczek of member station KQED reports from Sacramento that the California legislature met late into the night and passed a 400 million dollar stop-gap plan. The money will allow the state to buy electricity on the open market and provide it to utilities at reduced cost. Governor Gray Davis is expected to sign the bill today.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports on the surprise trip to China by North Korea's Stalinist leader Kim Jong-Il. The reclusive Kim has been sighted visiting Shanghai -- the power house of Chinese capitalism. The last time he visited the city, in 1983, Kim denounced China as "revisionist." Now analysts believe Kim is interested in following China's path -- making economic, but not political reforms.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports that authorities in India are preparing for the biggest day of the weeks-long religious festival known as Kumbh Mela. Millions of Hindus have gathered at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamunah rivers to bathe in waters that are supposed to cleanse their souls. The festival is based on the Hindu tale of a long-ago battle between the gods and demons for a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality. Some of the liquid spilled to earth, hence the Kumbh Mela.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on a new discovery that may be good news for the growing wireless industry. Researchers at Bell Laboratories say they've found a way to transmit and receive radio signals three different ways over the same frequency, which could lead to more reliable cell phone coverage and faster connection speeds on the wireless Internet.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Budget Committee yesterday that he expects the national debt to be paid down sooner than expected, and that it might be advisable to begin reducing budget surpluses by cutting taxes over the next few years. Greenspan's testimony is good news for President Bush and others who advocate tax cuts.

NPR's Guy Raz reports on a public demonstration in Prague by journalists dissatisfied with the state of the free press in the Czech Republic. Last month the government appointed a new director of the taxpayer-funded TV station in order to improve the quality of the television news, but journalists claim that the action has imposed Soviet-style control over news content.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that a planned Israeli-Palestinian summit in Sweden has been called off by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Barak made the decision after he was harshly criticized by Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat Sunday night at an economic conference in Switzerland.