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The remains of Urooj Khan, the Chicago man who last July died one day after his $425,000 check from the Illinois lottery was cut, were exhumed today, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Toyota has agreed to settle lawsuits with the relatives of two people killed in one of their vehicles, allegedly after the engine suddenly accelerated. Paul Van Alfen and Charlene Jones Lloyd died near Wendover, Utah in 2010 when their Toyota Camry crashed into a wall.

A masked assailant threw acid into the face of the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director on Thursday in Moscow in what may have been a "reprisal for his selection of dancers in starring roles at the famed Russian company," The Associated Press reports.

• After a five-year search that encompassed some 50 contenders, the Houston Symphony has announced its new music director: Andrés Orozco-Estrada. The 35-year-old Colombian trained in Vienna and will take over from the retiring Hans Graf, who is departing at the end of this season.

President Obama's proposed renewal of a ban on assault-style weapons is expected to be based on the legislation approved by Congress in 1994 that expired 10 years later.

But when the first assault weapons ban was approved — outlawing 19 specific weapons — it was a very different time, and Congress was a very different place.

Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o "perpetuated the heartbreaking story" of a girlfriend's death after he supposedly had learned he was the victim of a hoax and that she never existed, The Associated Press writes.

President Obama lays down his marker on guns and exhorts Congress to act. But the House has no intention of voting to ban assault weapons, and rural Democrats in the Senate remain skittish. Meanwhile, Chuck Hagel gets some important backers in his bid to join the cabinet, and Mark Sanford hopes all is forgiven as he tries to return to Congress. But if he deserves a second chance, then so do NPR's Ken Rudin and Ron Elving.

Good morning, here are our early stories:

Deadly Hostage Crisis Continues In Algeria.

Livestrong 'Disappointed' By Lance Armstrong, But Still Grateful To Him.

And here are more early headlines:

After Part 1 of cyclist Lance Armstrong's confession about doping aired Thursday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network, the Livestrong cancer charity he helped found released a statement that says, in part:

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. An amateur prospector in Australia thought he'd stumbled on a car hood. It turned out to be a giant gold nugget shaped like a goldfish. The owner of the local gold shop told the Herald newspaper that if the anonymous prospector was silly enough to melt it down it would be worth nearly $300,000.

Unlikely, since its size and shape make it so rare. The gold will be worth far more to a museum or collector. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning, I'm David Greene with news of a fast food chain that's coming up short. Earlier this week, a customer in Australia ordered a Subway Foot-Long sub only to find it measured a mere 11 inches. He posted a photo alongside a tape measure on the company's Facebook page, sparking outrage from customers and an investigation by the New York Post. They bought seven Subway Foot-Longs in New York City and four of them measured less than 12 inches. Subway is looking into this sizable matter.

(We updated the top of this post at 8:55 ET.)

An American worker has been confirmed dead at the natural gas complex in eastern Algeria where Islamic extremists seized hostages, the U.S. State Department said Friday evening in a statement.

The State Department identified the man as Frederick Buttaccio, a Texas resident, but did not provide additional details on the circumstances.

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As President Obama prepares to start a second term, MORNING EDITION has asked NPR's foreign correspondents to gauge worldwide expectations for the next four years. We turn, this morning, to Kenya. Pride still runs deep there for the president with roots in Kenya. But expectations of America's role have shifted from donor-aid to partner-in-trade.

NPR's Gregory Warner has the story.

On Thursday, Algerian forces opened fire on Islamists holding dozens of foreigners hostage. The militants, who have been linked to al-Qaida, say they took over the gas facility deep into the Sahara Desert in retaliation for France's attack on Islamic militants in the west African nation of Mali.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Good morning. President Obama is set to take the oath of office for a second time. He has promised an ambitious agenda for the next four years. NPR's Mara Liasson tackles the question of whether it's ambitious enough.

With the global auto industry gathered in Detroit this week for the city's renowned auto show, Renee Montagne talks to Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne about his company's stunning turnaround, manufacturing overseas and a Chrysler IPO.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And our last word in business today: prime Washington real estate.

Prestige address, 16 bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, three kitchens, all nestled on 18 acres of manicured gardens.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with Apple and Amazon.

People who own iPhones, iPads and iPods will now be able to purchase music from Amazon directly onto those devices. NPR's Laura Sydell reports on Amazon's latest attempt to compete with iTunes.

Steve Inskeep interviewed Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on Wednesday and Thursday. Mackey has a new book out called Conscious Capitalism. Mackey used the word "facism" when answering a question about the health care measure.

One of the top collegiate football players in the country, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was lionized by the media amid stories of his perseverance on the field after both his grandmother and his girlfriend died.

Thanks to an expose by Deadspin, the girlfriend's very existence is now believed to be a hoax, throwing the Heisman runner-up and his university on the defensive.

On Friday, Morning Edition wraps up its weeklong look at the growing number of people who say they do not identify with a religion. The final conversation in the Losing Our Religion series picks up on a theme made clear throughout the week: Young adults are drifting away from organized religion in unprecedented numbers. In Friday's story, NPR's David Greene talks to two religious leaders about the trend and wonders what they tell young people who are disillusioned with the church.