. >> brown: paul solman wraps up his series on europe's economic woes with a look at spain's unemployment problem. >> lehrer: and ray suarez interviews robert mccrum about how english has become the first worldwide language. >> if you said in say 800 or 900 b.c. in 2010 people would be discussing a global language, they would have looked at you in disbelief. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newsur has been provided by:

. >> brown: paul solman wraps up his series on europe's economic woes with a look at spain's unemployment problem. >> lehrer: and ray suarez interviews robert mccrum about how english has become the first worldwide language. >> if you said in say 800 or 900 b.c. in 2010 people would be discussing a global language, they would have looked at you in disbelief. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: the storm system named bonnie took direct aim today at the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. it lost some strength on the way, but its approach triggered movements at sea and on land. newshour correspondent spencer michels reports from louisiana. >> reporter: bonnie was already churning the waters in the gulf of mexico, with 40-mile-an-hour winds pushing waves to five feet and more. even before the

. >> brown: and paul solman examines the housing slump in spain, as he continues his reporting on europe's economic troubles. >> see these four big towers? they are beautiful and they were built just before the crisis so they are empty. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: good corporate earnings reports helped fuel today's rally on wall street. caterpillar, 3m, u.p.s. and a.t&t all did better than expected. that helped push

. >> brown: paul solman reports from greece on tough, new austerity measures and the anger they've brought on. >> lehrer: and margaret warner talks to dr. anthony fauci about promising new ways to prevent aids. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lehrer: the president of afghanistan appealed for greater global support at today's kabul conference on security and development. as he spoke, the country's problems were underscored by events outside the afghan capital. zelikow president karzai addressed representatives from dozens of nations and organizations. and he called again for afghans to take charge of their own security nationwide by 2014. >> the national institutions dedicated to fulfilling the constitutional duty has ensured the security of our country. >> lehrer: karzai's date of 2014 is more than three years after american troops are supposed to start a drawdown. under president obama's timetable but at the conference secretary of state clinton insisted the u.s. has no intention of abandoning afghanistan. >> the july 201

. >> lehrer: paul solman offers his second report on the financial problems in greece. tonight, the greek underground economy. >> woodruff: we look at the fallout from accusations of reverse racism at the u.s. department of agriculture, as with newshour political editor david chalian, the administration apologizes to a fired employee. >> lehrer: plus, a tom bearden oil spill report on the dispute over how to block the flow of oil into threatened tidal estuaries in louisiana. >> woodruff: and, on this 60th anniversary of north korea's attack on the south, jeffrey brown revisits that first hot conflict of the cold war, and explores its continuing legacy with warren wiedhahn, a u.s. marine veteran of the war, plus historians michael beschloss and alex roland. that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and

its the newest platform in >> brown: paul solman talks to greek prime minister george papandreou about the violence in the streets and the turmoil on the financial markets, as greece falls further into debt. >> woodruff: and, we close with a profile of the next poet laureate of the u.s., w.s. merwin. >> as soon as i could move a stub of pencil and put words on paper, i wanted to be a moat. i mean, i was fascinated by the poems my mother had read to me and by the hymns that we sang in church. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: hurricane alex was mostly history today, but its after-effects kept oil spill cleanup crews in port once again. as

. >> ifill: paul solman interviews french finance minister christine lagarde about the european debt crisis and france's moves toward economic reform. >> we want as our first priority economies to develop value and to create jobs. and this is my constant obsession. how are we going to create jobs in europe. the first priority is a bit of >> lehrer: jeffrey brown gets a rare view from inside the failed state of somalia, from jeffrey gettleman of the "new york times." >> ifill: and spencer michels unveils the soon-to-be-published life story of a literary giant. >> mark twain decreed that his autobiography couldn't be published until 100 years after his death. that's this year. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by

newshour economics correspondent paul solman explains. it's part of his ongoing reporting on "making sense of financial news." >> reporter: new york city's times square where tourists still flock despite a terrorism scare this spring. but business reporter josh kosmin is spooked by incendiary device of a different kind, debt bombs. especially from companies like these, that were taken over by private equity firms. kosmin who has written a book on private equity, the buyout of america sees a lit fuse almost everywhere he turns. especially in times square. >> two of the four biggest record companies are owned by private equity firms. emi and warner music. they both have a lot of debt. emi's close to bankruptcy. >> reporter: because it was purchased, says kosmin with too much borrowed money. as was clear channel. >> they own over a thousand radio stations and they own a million billboards throughout the world. they are very much struggling . >> reporter: as is another private equity acquisition just around the corner. >> on 42nd street we se

. >> woodruff: paul solman has the first in a series of reports on greece's economic woes. tonight how the problem began. >> when we got the euro it was like, you know, a teenager getting a credit card with no limit and their debt just exploded. >> brown: and margaret warner interviews reporter dana priest about "the washington post" investigation into the ballooning intelligence community. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs fust hour has been provided by: . >> chevron, this is the power of human energy.jú sf railway. and by the bill and melinda gates foundation, dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life . and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations . and:. >> this program was made possible by the corporation of public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the broken oil well deep under the gulf of mexico stayed capped today for a fourth day. as b.p. and the obama administration wrestled with h