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Ireland has a strong tradition of folk music and poetry that's familiar to many Americans. But in the hands of Dublin-born composer Donnacha Dennehy, it's transformed into something completely different.

If you're a parent of a young child, you've probably never met 11-year-old Charlie Ibsen, but you might recognize his voice as that of the popular talking toy My Pal Scout, by LeapFrog.

In 2006 and 2007, several banks and hedge funds realized what was happening to the U.S. economy while it was happening — and then made vast fortunes by betting against the markets.

"Lots of bankers knew that things were in trouble, and they went on — they did it anyway," says ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisenger. "Some of them did it because they could bet against it. Some of them did it because they could make fees by helping clients who were betting against it. And some of them did it just to keep the machine do it and make huge bonuses."

Emmylou Harris jokes that she's a "really good ex-wife" to her three former husbands. She just turned 64 and wrote most of the songs on her latest album, Hard Bargain. As she tells All Things Considered host Melissa Block, many of those new tracks are about taking stock of this phase of her life.

Iran's government celebrated the popular uprisings first in Tunisia, then in Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen. But when protests began in Syria, Iran turned uneasy and uncertain.

Syria is one of Iran's few real allies in the Arab Middle East, and Tehran has carefully cultivated a relationship with the ruling Assad family for more than 30 years.

If Syria's President Bashar Assad falls, Iran can no longer count on Syria. And among other benefits, the Syrian connection is crucial for Iran's relationship with Hezbollah in Lebanon.