Investment banks are reporting generally positive earnings, lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis are hitting the courts, and the stock market passed the 10,000 mark for the first time in a year. It's been quite a week in the economy; Lakshman Achuthan, from the Economic Cycle Research Institute, stops by the Takeaway to explain it.

Almost 6 million people are currently unemployed in the United States. Trying to get a job in a volatile job market is proving so difficult that some job searchers are turning to professional help. The Takeaway's Femi Oke joined a networking club to meet job hunters who’ve decided they need to spend some money to land their next job.

• Washington Takeout: Once again, Democrats on Capitol Hill are re-calibrating their campaign for health care reform. The Washington Examiner's Julie Mason drops by The Takeaway to tell us who the Dems are now hoping to court...and how.
  
• Sports Takeout: What does "homecoming" mean to you? To the Takeaway's sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, homecoming means great college football. He gives us a preview of the USC vs. Notre Dame matchup as well as the latest from the baseball playoffs.
• Listeners Respond: All week we've been talking about how the oldest and youngest workers have been the hardest hit in this economy. We check in with our listeners for their thoughts on the economy, the workplace and job security.

Violence is on the rise in Pakistan. Twelve days of attacks across the country have left well over 150 people dead, and there are no signs yet that security forces are going to be able to beat back the militants. A suicide car bombing targeted a police station in the city of Peshawar this morning. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool joins us from Islamabad, Pakistan. 

And directly next door, in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has denied allegations of fraud in the recent presidential election and claimed he won a simple majority of votes. Now, according to Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times, the election results may turn out to show no single victor, meaning a run-off election could be announced shortly. She joins us with a look at the potential run-off and the political problem this would pose for the Obama Administration.

For more, read Elisabeth Bumiller's article, "Karzai Aide Says Afghan Runoff Vote Is Likely," in today's New York Times.

The nation's attention was captured by a strange and compelling episode yesterday. A homemade flying contraption drifted off into the air, and the constructor's young son was missing and suspected to be onboard. For four hours the internet was atwitter and the story dominated the airwaves as surely as the foil balloon dominated the skies over Denver...but then the story deflated. The boy, Falcon, son of Richard and Mayumi Heene of Fort Collins, Colo., was found hiding in an attic above the family's garage. Now the nation is wondering: Was it real? Or was it all for publicity? Dana Coffield, city editor for the Denver Post, has the story.

It's Friday morning and we're talking about what everyone is talking about: "Where the Wild Things Are." The highly anticipated adaptation of a long-beloved children's books hits theaters today. Director Spike Jonze and renowned author Dave Eggers worked closely with Maurice Sendak, the Caldecott-winning author of the children's classic, to create a feature-length film. Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Bruce Handy, deputy editor of Vanity Fair and frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review, give us their take on the movie and the significance of Where the Wild Things Are.

Yesterday Pakistan suffered a series of coordinated attacks against police and military compounds which killed 40 people in the country's second-largest city, Lahore. More violence hit the nation this morning when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a mosque next to a police station in the northwest city of Peshawar, killing at least seven people. Over the past two weeks, coordinated attacks have killed more than 150 people across the country.  The violence seems intended to force the government to abandon a planned offensive into militants' stronghold along the Afghan border.

How are the residents of Pakistan reacting to the dramatic uptick in violence? We are joined by Issam Ahmed, reporter for the Christian Science Monitor in Islamabad, Pakistan; and Daniyal Mueenuddin, author of the book of stories “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.” Mueenuddin lives in southern Punjab in Pakistan, where he owns and runs a farm.

• Business Takeout: Louise Story, finance reporter for The New York Times, has a look at ad-based businesses. Since Google's revenues are up, does that mean other advertising-based businesses (like newspapers) could rebound too?
• Sports Takeout: We preview the weekend's NFL matches and discuss baseball's post-season with Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, The Takeaway's sports correspondent.
• MovieTakeout: Newsday film critic Rafer Guzman gives us quick previews of films opening this weekend, including Paranormal Activity, "the little horror movie that could."

President Obama visited New Orleans yesterday for the first time since he was elected, fulfilling a campaign promise he'd made as a candidate to see the city's recovery firsthand. Some locals were frustrated, however, that the president stayed for only four hours. We spoke yesterday with Bill Barrow, staff reporter for the Times Picayune, and invited him back this morning to discuss what the president managed to do in those four hours. We also speak with with Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, a nonpartisan advocacy group focused on Katrina recovery, and Nolan Rollins, president & CEO of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans.

Earlier this month, the sheriff for Arizona's Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, was stripped of his powers to enforce immigration rules by a change in federal law. But the feisty sheriff has said that won't stop him, and apparently it hasn't. He announced that he will be conducting an anti-immigration sweep disguised as "crime suppression" in Maricopa County today. He will face protests, though, as he does it. Valeria Fernandez, an independent journalist from Phoenix, Ariz., joins us with the story. (Read Fernandez' piece on the Feet In 2 Worlds blog.)

Here's Sheriff Arpaio on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" explaining that despite losing his federal enforcement authority, he still plans on "locking 'em all up."

The Takeaway's Farai Chideya speaks to Anna Deavere Smith about "The Value."

Today we present the first installment in a new multimedia series called “The Value,” hosted by our correspondent Farai Chideya. The series explores what we — as individuals and as a society — place value on.

Farai sat down with Anna Deavere Smith, who is an award-winning playwright, actress and professor famous for her “documentary theatre.” Her newest, play, “Let Me Down Easy,” focuses on the issue of our nation’s health care and is now playing at New York's Second Stage Theater.

While the nation was riveted by the story of the boy who may have drifted away in his father's homemade flying machine, Alessandra Stanley, TV critic for our partner The New York Times, was a little suspicious. After all, this was the family that had appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and was already known for pretty eccentric behavior. Her suspicions may have been strengthened when the family appeared on CNN and the boy, Falcon Heene, of Fort Collins, Colo., said they "did this for a show." Was the Heene family pulling a publicity stunt? Or was their genuine concern for their son's safety overshadowed because the Heenes have a long history of camera-seeking?  

Here's the Heene family's response to CNN reporters' questioning the validity of their claims: