BP goes ahead with a "top kill," to stem the flow of oil into the gulf, as hearings into the disaster take place on both Capitol Hill and in Louisiana. We speak with Stephen Power of the Wall Street Journal.

BBC reporter Lyse Doucet meets some of the children trying to make a living on the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan.

When our guest Paula Marantz Cohen first began teaching Shakespeare nearly 30 years ago, her students routinely thought of the Jewish merchant Shylock as the play's villain. Today's students, brought up on ideas of diversity and sensitivity to bullying, are more likely to see him as the hero. While she is happy they can see the full humanity of the Jewish character, she worries they may be missing Shakespeare's point, that mercy trumps justice. Paula Marantz Cohen is professor of Philosophy and English at Drexel University.

Steve Reich and Pat Metheny, "Electric Counterpoint"
Freddie Hubbard, "Little Sunflower"
The Lickets, "Serial East"
The Wee Trio, "Flint"
Dntel, "Last Songs"
Talking Heads, "This Must Be the Place"
Alonso Mudarra, "Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Ludovico" performed by Lutz Kurchhof