The latest incident in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians brings the difficulty of creating peace in the area into sharp relief. We ask Vanity Fair's Rich Cohen about more cargo ships approaching Israel's blockade of Gaza; that and this morning's headlines.  

An Irish ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, is sailing toward the Gaza Strip this morning, just days after nine people were killed when Israeli commandos raided a flotilla of ships heading for Gaza. The raid drew widespread condemnation from Israel's friends and foes. The MV Rachel Corrie is reportedly carrying aid for Palestinians in the form of school supplies, clothes and medicine – among other things. Israel has said the ship will not be allowed to dock.

Everyone from scientists to political pundits to movie stars to just plain folks seems to have an idea about how to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico these days. Nuclear weapons, hydraulic pipes, bails of hay, and high tech water cleaning systems have all been put on the table. Takeaway listeners join the fray with some of their proposals, including cameo appearances by Bill Gates and Samantha Bee.  

It's a big weekend for sports lovers. In basketball, the Lakers and the Celtics head to game two of the NBA finals in Los Angeles. Tennis fans can look forward to watching the showdown between Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur in the women's final at the French Open. And tonight in Chicago, the Blackhawks will face the Flyers in game four of the Stanley Cup Finals. As always, Takeaway sports correspondent Ibrahim Abdul-Matin has everything you need to know.

Ten workers at Foxconn, a Taiwanese-owned iPad factory referred to by some as a "sweatshop" have recently committed suicide, prompting tech journalists and industry watchers to ask: is it time for a Fair Trade Tech company? (Apple CEO Steve Jobs says Foxconn is "not a sweatshop," and that the suicides are troubling, but Apple is "trying to understand right now, before we go in and say we know the solution.")

Today, or possibly tomorrow, the Falcon 9 rocket is slated for test launch at Cape Canaveral. When the 18-story rocket fires into orbit - or crashes into the ocean - it will be carrying no cargo, no astronauts, just one heavy load: Obama's hopes for space.

It's Friday, it's summer, and that can only mean one thing: it's movie time. Today we take a look at the latest in a long line of bromances, “Get Him To The Greek,” which hit theaters today.

So how does a major disaster complicate what is already a busy agenda?  If you're President Obama, and the catastrophe is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it means cancelling your trip to Asia and visiting the Gulf Coast for the second time in a week. David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for our partner, The New York Times, tells us how the oil spill is recalibrating the White House's plans.

No one can deny that President Obama’s current “to do” list has grown dramatically of late, with each new item seemingly demanding higher precedence than the item before it. With two wars, unemployment, the Middle East Crisis and the oil spill, how does one person manage this kind of agenda?

On Wednesday, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was moments away from a near perfect game, only to be foiled by a questionable call. Without that call, Galarraga would have been the third pitcher to throw a perfect game in as many weeks. What gives?

Discount retailing giant Wal-Mart is facing the largest class action lawsuit in American history. Over one million women say that the corporation pays both salaried and hourly female workers less than their male counterparts.

The BP oil leak on the Deepwater Horizon has passed the six-week mark and continues to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  Many are now asking how the company continually received permission to drill with 760 safety violations.

Long before the we were exposed to the sexcapades of Samantha Jones, the world had Blanche Devereaux. For seven much loved seasons on the iconic sitcom "The Golden Girls," Blanche lead Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia on their own sexual revolution, proving that like a fine wine, a woman gets better with age. The sultry Southern belle was given life by actress Rue McClanahan, who died yesterday of a stroke at age 76. 

How do you raise a child who's going to grow up to be wildly successful? (And maybe even a centibillionaire?) That's a version of the question every parent asks themselves. Every parent wants their kids to be successful, to be wise, to be decent people. Very few, when their children are born, think, “I want my kid to be the world’s first centibillionaire.”

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren says that the flotilla headed to Gaza was populated by "hired thugs." That and this morning's top headlines. 

Israel is under fire from friends and foes alike after a raid on a flotilla of Turkish ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza led to the deaths of nine people -- including a 19-year-old American man. The diplomatic fallout continues this morning as Turkey, which up until this week has been Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world, has warned that it may reduce economic and defense ties with Israel as a result of the raid. Meanwhile, the MV Rachel Corrie, another Irish ship full of pro-Palestinian activists, has set sail for Gaza, carrying Nobel Prize laureate Mairead McGuire, among others.

Israel is on the defense, and these developments beg the question, how will Israel respond after near universal criticism from the international community after this week's incident?

The U.S. economy gained 431,000 jobs last month, according to numbers released this morning from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.  Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), joins us to parse the numbers.