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The government's $8,000 tax credit was a successful tool to encourage people to buy homes but with the most recent housing declines, was it really a trap? The Weekly Standards Christopher Caldwell wonders if the government has any idea where the housing market will go next.

Increasingly, Pakistan and the United States have been trading barbs and taking steps seen as undermining each other. Analysts say the situation is coming to a head, and few feel confident matters will improve anytime soon.

As temperatures in the eastern and central United States reached triple-digits, public health workers mobilized to help the elderly and others affected by the heat. "More people die from the heat in this country than all the other natural disasters combined," says Chris Gallagher of the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.

Protesters in Yemen have been calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down — and the Obama administration has had to tread a delicate line, as the leader has been aiding U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. Al-Qaida's arm in Yemen has been one of the terrorist group's most active affiliates.

Experts worry that the terrorist network's long-standing ties with extremists in Libya could give it a toehold there. "Anytime there is chaos," says one analyst, "there is opportunity."

One physicist says that a substance familiar to young children — oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch and water — might have helped stop the flow of oil from BP's blown-out well.

Last Sunday, a 32-year-old bullfighter named Lupita Lopez appeared in Mexico City's Plaza Mexico — the largest bullring in the world — and was inducted into the tiny sorority of matadoras, or professional female bullfighters. Lopez has wanted to be a bullfighter since she was 11.

The gains came as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that the international operation in Libya could last months. Meanwhile, NATO said the alliance had decided to take over the entire military operation.

Syria's President Bashar Assad addressed his nation Wednesday for the first time since anti-government protests broke out two weeks ago. Government forces have opened fire on demonstrators, killing dozens. Assad replaced his government Tuesday, but NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson tells Renee Montagne that his speech Wednesday fell short of delivering changes sought by protesters.

The bassoon has a dubious place in pop culture, often used in movies and TV to make odd moments sound even more awkward. But advocates of the instrument say it can convey just as much romance and gravity as its brethren.