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.

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.

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.

The congressional supercommittee has one week to meet a deadline to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal budget. If next Wednesday's deadline isn't met, automatic across-the-board cuts will be made.

After an emotional week of revelations, the Penn State football team took the field on Saturday for the first time without its longtime coach Joe Paterno. A child sex abuse scandal involving a former coach has rocked the campus in State College, Pa.