Marcus Mabry, international business editor for The New York Times, takes a look at the week ahead in the health care reform debate, handicaps the chances that the public option will make it through the Senate, and looks at the future of banks "too big to fail." We also talk with Charles Haviland, BBC correspondent in Kabul, to hear about a NATO helicopter collision in Afghanistan and how the latest suicide bombings in Iraq might affect U.S. troop withdrawal plans.

Two days of shelling in Sri Lanka's northern war zone killed at least 430 civilians, with some estimates putting the number as high as 1,000. The Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tiger rebels traded accusations over the shelling. The United Nations called the artillery barrages a "bloodbath" that killed more than 100 children, and a coalition of international human rights groups called for the U.N. Security Council to hold formal talks on the war. The Sri Lankan military has twice said it would stop using heavy weaponry against the Tamils, who are surrounded by tens of thousands of civilians in a narrow strip of land along Sri Lanka's coastline. U.N. figures compiled last month showed that nearly 6,500 civilians had been killed in three months of fighting as the government drove the rebels out of their strongholds in the north in a bid to end the 25-year long civil war. The unrest has also displaced thousands of civilians, a situation that is leading the beleaguered nation into a widespread humanitarian crisis. The Takeaway looks at the increasingly violent civil war in Sri Lanka, with BBC Correspondent Charles Haviland and Manivanna Thirumalai of the BBC's Tamil Service.

Pakistan says two key al-Qaida leaders were killed in a U.S. missile attack near the Afghan border last week. This is a confirmation of earlier reports by the U.S. One of the men killed is believed to be behind last year's Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad and an assassination attempt against Benazir Bhutto. Meanwhile, Vice-President-elect Joe Biden is in Islamabad for talks on regional issues. Joining our discussion of these events is the BBC's Charles Haviland in Islamabad, Pakistan.

At least three people have been killed in the most recent suspected American missile strike along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. According to security officials, the attack targeted Taliban headquarters in the Waziristan region, a mountainous area in the northwest corner of Pakistan. It's the second missile strike in the region in as many days. Charles Haviland, a correspondent for the BBC in Pakistan, joins The Takeaway to discuss.

Have you been to Waziristan? Tell us what it is like.

Following her trip to India, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Pakistani officials. Reports say the U.S. is putting pressure on the new government of Pakistan and urging them to share any and all information they may have about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.