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LA-Z Boy and Microsoft have come together to produce a product perfect for the Web-surfing couch potato in your home. It's a recliner they call The Explorer. It was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday. The chair's arm contains a wireless modem and a 110 volt outlet, and comes with a build-in keyboard. Robert talks with Don Willmott, technology editor for Yahoo Internet Life about it.

NPR's Sarah Chayes in Jerusalem reports Israeli and Palestinian officials have agreed to resume high-level peace talks. The surprise announcement came after Israel eased some of the restrictions it has imposed on the Palestinians during the past three months of violence.

It's Thursday, and that means we'll hear from listener letters. (3:45) Write to Letters, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC, 2001. E-mail atc@npr.org.

NPR's John Burnett reports on the celebration in Southeast Texas of the world's most important oil strike. It's been 100 years since Spindletop first spewed out black gold.

Commentator Austin Bay talks about Midland, Texas, the town that shaped a president.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from the Netherlands on the trial for two Libyans charged in the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

NPR's Amy Costello reports on the use of stun guns -- devices that deliver a strong electric shock -- in law enforcement. In 1994, a research branch of the U.S. Justice Department offered 900 stun guns to the Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff's department, to study whether the weapons would reduce violence between prisoners and officials. The sheriff swiftly put them into use by prison guards. Only a year later, the Justice Department proper was investigating charges of abuse of inmates by guards using the weapons.

When President-elect George Bush takes office later this month, he'll have to consider new aggressive posturing by Russia. Russian jets recently buzzed a US aircraft carrier, and moved nuclear weapons to the western most point of the country. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Derby Pie is a Louisville specialty that's being threatened by others making a claim on it.

NPR's Madeleine Brand talks with Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman about diet.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on Senate confirmation hearings for Donald Rumsfeld to be Secretary of Defense, a position he held in the latter stages of the Gerald Ford administration. Rumsfeld is expected to win support from the Senate Armed Services Committee and go on to become confirmed with little difficulty. But some Democrats want to question him about his advocacy of a missile defense system.

NPR's Howard Berkes reports on a lawsuit filed by the state of Utah alleging that the Census Bureau failed to count 14-thousand of its citizens last year, robbing the state of a congressional seat.

NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports on the public debut of the National Zoo's new pandas. The pandas arrived from China on December sixth, but their keepers gave the animals a few weeks to get used to their new surroundings before opening the exhibit to the public. The National Zoo paid China ten million dollars for a ten year loan of the pandas.

Military leaders in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, have been holding direct talks with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee). In 1990, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections overwhelmingly, but the military government wouldn't allow the party to govern, and has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest. Noah talks with Bertil Lintner, Correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review, and author of Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since 1948. Lintner says these talks are not unprecedented, and that they are usually for show for the outside world. Suu Kyi remains under house arrest and her travel restrictions have not been loosened at all. (4:30)Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since 1948, by Bertil Lintner is published by Silkworm books, 2000.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Adrian Ma of the The Indicator from Planet Money podcast about the "billionaire tax" being proposed by Democrats to help fund the Build Back Better legislation.

California and federal officials met until late last night in Washington in hopes of solving the state's bedeviling electricity crisis. California Governor Gray Davis has proposed a variety of tactics to deal with the double threat of potential blackouts and high prices. But one town isn't waiting for the bigwigs to act. West Hollywood is looking for a cheaper and better way of keeping the lights on. NPR's Ina Jaffe has the story.

NPR's David Welna reports on how well President-elect Bush's nominee for Education Secretary did on his first big test today. At his Senate confirmation hearing, Rod Paige got high marks from Senators in both parties. He called for more testing for students and teachers, and stuck by his support for Bush's voucher plan.

A note on some of the milestones in the history of Trans World Airlines.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that American Airlines made it official today. It will acquire financially-troubled TWA. In a separate deal, American also announced that it is buying some of US Airways assets and will take a major stake in a startup airline, DC Air. American's parent corporation, AMR, gets TWA's 190 planes and 175 gates at airports around the country. American has also agreed to provide employment to almost all of TWA's 20,000 employees.

Robert talks with David Stempler of AirTrav Advisors about the corporate differences between airlines. With the exception of airlines such as Southwest, the flying experience for the customer has pretty much been the same across the board, and that airline customers probably won't notice much difference when they fly, he says.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports Palestinians in the West Bank town of Nablus are in no mood to compromise in the search for a peace settlement with Israel. They have rejected President Clinton's proposals and are vowing to continue their uprising to end Israeli occupation. They're also warning Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority not to defy the will of the people.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Pristina on the reaction of NATO-led peacekeepers and the United Nations administration in Kosovo to reports that peacekeepers in the Balkans have become ill, because of contact with depleted uranium weapons. Spokespeople for the peacekeepers and U.N. say that until now, troops have not roped off sites where the weapons were used. They note a lack of resources and say there is still no proof that residue from the depleted uranium weapons poses a health risk. Kosovar Albanians are skeptical of the reports about high cancer rates among peacekeepers, suggesting the claims are intended to undermine international support for the Kosovo peacekeeping operation.

Noah talks with John Eldridge, who covers nuclear, biological and chemical weapons for Jane's Defense Weekly, about the kinds of weapons that use depleted uranium, and why it's preferred over other materials.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that China today announced the launch of an unmanned rocket it hopes eventually will carry astronauts into space. Currently, only Russia and the U.S. are capable of manned space flight. China says three or four more test flights will be needed before it attempts a manned flight. The Long March rocket blasted off from a launch center in the Gobi Desert and Chinese officials say it will be used to conduct experiments on the effects of space on life forms.

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the Chavez implosion is another example of a cover-up gone awry.