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Confirmation hearings will begin next week for John Ashcroft, the former senator from Missouri whom George W. Bush has nominated as his attorney general. Liberal groups who oppose Ashcroft have been vocal since his nomination was announced. But Ashcroft's supporters have been getting organized as well. NPR's David Welna reports on how the battle is taking shape.

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.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from The Netherlands that the defense began its summation today in the trial of two Libyans accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The defense attorneys had called only eight witnesses in the course of the eight-month trial in a special Scottish court, convened at Camp Zeist. In his closing argument, lawyer William Taylor tried to poke holes in the prosecution's case, saying the Crown had failed to prove his client Abdel Ali al-Megrahi was a Libyan agent who was working in concert with the co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah. The attorney again tried to shift the blame to a Palestinian group. Two hundred seventy people died in the 1988 bombing.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

President Clinton's former campaign strategist and political advisor Paul Begala talks about life in the Clinton Whitehouse.