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The Halliburton Co. announces a tentative agreement to settle existing and future asbestos claims. The company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney would establish a $4 billion fund to settle about 300,000 cases. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

Phillip Davis reports on voters testifying before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in Tallahassee about irregularities at the polls on Election Day. Florida Governor Jeb Bush denies responsibility but says he is troubled by allegations of intimidation, errors in voter registration rolls and confusion over punchcard ballots.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem that two Israelis were killed and more than a dozen others wounded in terrorist attacks today. The resurgent violence came hard on the heels of another setback in the Middle East peace process. A planned Israeli-Palestinian summit was called off amid Palestinian criticism of the latest American proposals.

President-elect George W. Bush nominated Gale Norton, Colorado's former attorney general, as secretary of the interior today. Norton is protege of former Interior Secretary James Watt, and supports Bush's plan for expanded oil exploration in Alaska. As NPR's John Nielsen reports, her nomination came as an unwelcome surprise to many environmentalists.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on how U.S. foreign policy toward Iraq may change with the incoming Bush Administration. Bush has said that the coalition organized to keep the pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is failing, and he thinks the U.S. can do more to weaken Hussein's hold.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports on President-Elect Bush's latest cabinet nominees. They are former Michigan Republican Senator Spencer Abraham as Secretary of Interior; former US Civil Rights Commission Chair Linda Chavez as Labor Secretary; and democrat Norman Mineta, President Clinton's Commerce Secretary, as the next Secretary of Transportation.

Susan Gage of Florida Public Radio reports from Tallahassee on the campaign by conservative Republicans to unseat members of the Florida Supreme Court because of their rulings during the Presidential election dispute. The primary target is Justice Harry Lee Anstead, whose name goes before Florida voters next year.

It seems that trendy shops and restaurants are part of the latest wave in airport design. Scott Shafer from member station KQED reports that San Francisco International has taken the idea to an extreme, blocking out run-of-the-mill McDonalds and Starbucks in favor of upscale locally-owned eateries.

NPR's Madeline Brand reports that the rate of executions this month in Oklahoma is attracting national protest on the part of groups such as Amnesty International. Oklahoma's number of executions is second only to Texas, and is expected to double within the next year. Jesse Jackson planned to lead a march to protest the pending execution of a mentally-disabled Black woman.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on the shaky cease-fire along the line that divides Kashmir between Pakistan and India. Thousands of angry residents in Indian Kashmir took to the streets for a second day on Thursday to protest the alleged police killing of two former militants.