Mary Louise Kelly has business news.

Things are slowly returning to a normal life in Damascus. But the foreign tourists are missing as the uprising against President Bashar Assad drags.

After days of intense negotiations, lawmakers appear no closer to a deal on raising the federal debt limit. After yet another meeting Thursday, President Obama encouraged congressional leaders to go back to their parties and gauge the rank-and-files' willingness to make a deal.

The state government in Minnesota may be back in business soon. The state's Democratic governor and GOP leadership have agreed on a proposal that would raise $1.4 billion in new revenue. The government has been shut down for two weeks.

Republicans have been reluctant to buy into a debt-ceiling deal that includes tax hikes. Some Democrats fear the White House is going so far to please Republicans that President Obama is throwing his own party overboard.

Steve Inskeep has the Last Word in business.

After days of market turmoil, the Italian parliament is rushing approval of an emergency budget to try to reassure international investors that Italy -– the world's 7th largest economy — will not be overwhelmed by the sovereign debt crisis.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is just back from a trip Afghanistan and Iraq. They're his first visit to the war zones since taking over the top job at the Pentagon. Mary Louise Kelly talks with NPR's Rachel Martin about how Panetta is making the transition from the very secretive role he played as director of the CIA to the very public job he has now.

Judge Reggie Walton has declared a mistrial in the Roger Clemens case. Walton ruled that prosecutors had indelibly tainted Clemens' ability to get a fair trial by exposing the jury to inadmissible evidence. Clemens was on trial on charges of lying to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs.

After 1,178 minutes of total screen time, the Harry Potter film series has finally ended.

The release of the last Harry Potter film is a bittersweet finale not just for fans, but also for the Hollywood film industry and other players in the multibillion-dollar business empire built upon J.K. Rowling's popular book series.

The Loss Of A Franchise