Guest: Stephen Eke, BBC correspondent

Guest: George Vecsey, New York Times sports columnist, in Beijing, China

Guest: Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor at ESSENCE magazine

Guest: Lee Israel, biographer, copy editor, author of “Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger”

Isaac Hayes took the sound of Memphis around the world before dying Sunday at age 65. It was a sad day for soul fans and the end of a pioneering career.

James Traub, contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine says the hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway region South Ossetia should not come as a surprise.

Guest: M.J. Gohel, director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London-based international affairs think tank

Guest: Americo Martins, a BBC Editor for the Americas Region

For the fifth week in a row, gas prices fell. And it looks like the nation owes a tip of the hat to the dollar.

The BBC's Ollie Williams takes The Takeaway behind the scenes of The Games in Beijing, including the story of the gold-winning Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon, who believes she had luck on her side because she changed her name. A fortune-teller told the former Chanpim Kantatian, "If you change your name, you will win the gold."

Guest: Bill Woodcock, research director for Packet Clearing House, a non-profit group that advises Internet companies and governments about cyber attacks.

When former Senator John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama back in May, it was seen as a boon for Obama’s support among white working-class voters. Now that Edwards is in the throes of a sex scandal, what will those voters do?

Guest: Matthew Collin, BBC World Service correspondent, in Tbilisi, Georgia

Guest: Jeremy Schapp, ESPN

Guest: Anne Barnard, The New York Times, in Moscow, Russia