WSDL-FM: Steve Inskeep

NPR has confirmed some elements of a reported $200-million-settlement that resolves civil and criminal penalties growing out of last year's Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia. Sources tell NPR the deal will include cash payments for the families of the 29 mine workers killed in the nation's worst mine explosion in 40 years.

Russia is a vast country and a never-ending source of stories. Before he ends his reporting assignment there, NPR's David Greene rides the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia. The railway stretches from Moscow across the country to the Pacific Coast.

There are new information about last weekend's NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan approved the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, wich was confirmed by NPR.