With increasing violence between Israel and Hamas, there is currently no end in sight. For the latest on the situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip, The Takeaway talks to New York Times Correspondent Ethan Bronner.

One year has passed since the murder of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Meanwhile, tensions with neighboring India are high and there are reports that Pakistan is redeploying troops to their shared border. Ambassador Munir Akram, former Permanent Representative to the United Nations from Pakistan, joins The Takeaway for an analysis.

$438 billion. That was the projected cost of the deficit in September of this year, before the word "bailout" entered the American lexicon and exploded the national deficit. Linda Bilmes is a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and she's been keeping her eye on the government’s mounting debt. She talks with John and Adaora, about how much we owe, and who we owe it to.

Read Linda Bilmes' story, "The $10 trillion hangover: Paying the price for eight years of Bush," in the January 2009 issue of Harper's Magazine.

Somali pirates have been grabbing headlines for months for hijacking tanker after tanker. The Somali government is in shambles and its president is resigning and they are in no position to stop the insanity. But the international community has had enough and the snatch-and-get-paid schemes of Somali pirates may be coming to an end. Last week German fighter ships thwarted an attempted hijacking and now China has sent two destroyers to escort and protect its merchant ships. Chris Hogg, a reporter for the BBC, is in Beijing covering this aspect of the story.

The Somali president, Abdullahi Yusuf, has announced he's resigning. Mr. Yusuf has come under increasing pressure since he tried to sack the Somali prime minister in a power struggle nearly two weeks ago. BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, joins us now to explain more.

For analysis of the latest violent flare-up between Israel and Hamas, The Takeaway talks to Aaron David Miller, public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Aaron David Miller is author of “The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Mid-East Peace.”

Visit his website to hear audio of interviews with key figures in the Arab-Israeli diplomacy process.

Happy days are here again for a group of former senior government officials who were involved in the savings and loan bailout of the 1990s. Now they are lawyers, investors, and lobbyists perfectly positioned to profit from the $700 billion being handed out by the U.S. Treasury Department. Eric Lipton of the New York Times gives The Takeaway his analysis.

Want more information? Check out Eric Lipton's article in the New York Times.

Today is the third day of Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to regular rocket attacks by Hamas. According to the Associate Press, more than 300 Palestinians are dead and more than 700 injured. The U.N. Security Council called on Israel and the Palestinians to immediately halt all violence and military activities. For the latest on the situation in Gaza we turn to Taghreed El-Khodary, who is reporting from Gaza for our partner the New York Times.

For additional reporting, read Taghreed El-Khoudary's article in today's New York Times.

Ever since Hurricane Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast, the news coming out of New Orleans has been grim. The crumbling infrastructure, rising crime, and a housing crisis exacerbated by contaminated FEMA trailers are among the familiar gloom and doom dispatches. But in the last few weeks the story coming out of the Big Easy has been remarkably sunnier. Thanks to Prospect.1, the largest biennial of international art ever, New Orleans is being seen as a vital city with an unparalleled artists’ community. The biennial lasts through January 18th. For a look at how Prospect.1 has transformed New Orleans we are joined by Lolis Eric Elie, the metro columnist for the Times Picayune.

For more information check out Prospect.1's website.

Today people across the country are overwhelmed with the fear of loss: fear of losing one’s job, fear of losing one’s life savings, fear of losing all our money in a Bernie Madoff-style ponzi scheme. Can all of this anxiety be bad for our brains? Of course! Dr. Gregory Berns is the Director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University and author of the book "Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently." He joins John and Adaora for a talk on how fear can impair our brain functions.

And oh what a weekend it was. From the Dallas Cowboys' spectacular crash to the grand finale of Detroit's season-long slow burn to the odd alignment of the playoff fates that put the New York Jets in the position to keep their hated rivals the Patriots out of the playoffs...by losing. It's complicated. To help us make sense of it all The Takeaway talks to writer and frequent contributor Jeff Beresford-Howe.

Read Jeff's notes on the most interesting day in modern NFL history.

Will independent film studios breathe their final breath, only to be saved by culture vultures downloading lesser known films online? Will this be the year SAG members strike, only to watch their prime time acting roles make way for less scripted television programming? It's a pivotal year in the world of Hollywood and Sharon Waxman joins John and Adaora to discuss the future of "the business".