Guest: Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor at ESSENCE magazine

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

Guest: Stephen Eke, BBC correspondent

The Blogging While Brown conference is on until Sunday, where, for the first time, bloggers of color from around the world have united in Atlanta to discuss their influence on the media and elections.

The Embassy of the United States in Baghdad announced Thursday it will expand its visa-granting program. The program aims to help Iraqi employees of the American government obtain visas, and ultimately citizenship, in the United States.

President Bush summed up America's recent economic woes this week with four cool words: "Wall Street got drunk." The Takeaway asked you for more catchy crisis slogans.

John Fox is the most wanted person at the FBI this week. Not because he's a criminal, but because July 26, 2008, is the 100th anniversary of the FBI and he's the Bureau's only historian. If it happened in the FBI, Fox knows about it.

This year marks the Los Angeles Dodgers' 50th anniversary in the City of Angels. The architect of the team's move from Brooklyn, Walter O’Malley, will be inducted, posthumously, into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend. New York writer Pete Hamill said O’Malley was the only man Brooklynites hated more than Hitler.

An energy bill that Democrats hoped would lower gas prices was killed by House Republicans yesterday. The bill would have tapped into 70 million barrels of oil the government has stockpiled in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve for emergencies. It's the fourth failed energy bill since June.

American presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton all addressed Berliners during dramatic moments of struggle and change. Now, a presumptive presidential nominee is using Berlin as a backdrop for his campaign. After meeting with leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, Obama hits the European continent amidst a frenzy of Obama-mania. How will Obama play later today in the new Berlin? And is it a political gamble to campaign on this grand political stage?

Ironman and Batman. Both are summer box-office heroes but neither is a woman. With the arrival of The X-Files’ Special Agent Dana Scully to the big screen Friday, that's set to change. Scully reminds us there are female protagonists who aren’t interested in Manolo Blahniks.

Starbucks seem to be everywhere, but for some communities, getting one means your town has "made it." That’s why, when the company announced the closing 5 percent of its stores across the nation earlier this month, some cried out, “Save our Starbucks!” The Takeaway talks with Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel about the campaign to keep them open.

Today in Berlin, Barack Obama meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier. He's also holding the only major public event of his trip at the Victory Tower (with room for an audience of tens of thousands). So what's gotten into Germans? And why are German citizens and top officials making time for a presidential candidate?

Guest: Eric Schmitt, The New York Times

American presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton all addressed Berliners during dramatic moments of struggle and change. Now, a presumptive presidential nominee is using Berlin as a backdrop for his campaign. After meeting with leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, Obama hits the European continent amidst a frenzy of Obama-mania. How will Obama play later today in the new Berlin? And is it a political gamble to campaign on this grand political stage?

Guest: Cindy Rodriguez, WNYC