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Focus Sexual assault in the military: Can special counsels for victims help?

After a wave of sexual assault cases in the military, the Air Force is using special lawyers in a venture that top Pentagon officials hope will transform the way the armed forces treat victims.
Focus Has Egypt's experiment with Islamism failed? (+video)

The Muslim Brotherhood's dominance may be over, but a 'harder' strain of political Islam could fill the void in Egypt.
Focus Egypt: from Mubarak's ouster to Morsi's

A timeline of post-revolution Egypt
Focus Whatever happened to the great 'sequester' smackdown?

Signs of any economic duress from the 'sequester' are few and far between four months in. But the $85 billion in federal spending cuts slated for this fiscal year are likely to be felt as summer deepens.
Focus The 'sequester': how three Americans see it working so far

So far at least, wide swaths of America haven't been reeling from the 'sequester.' But more budget cuts are taking effect this summer. Here are three examples of how Americans are starting to feel the impact.
Focus Can Europe shoulder its military burden on its own?

As the US turns to Asia, pressure is rising on the EU to police itself, North Africa, and the Mideast.
Focus As Britain's military shrinks, US concerns grow

The US has long relied on UK military support in foreign campaigns. But can that last much longer?
Focus Is Afghanistan ready to defend itself?

Evidence is mixed as to the readiness of Afghanistan's Army and National Police to assume the lead in planning and fighting – with the summer combat season likely to be the first big test.
Focus Iran's 'diplomat sheikh' brings new tone to nuclear talks

New Iranian President Hassan Rohani showed flexibility and a willingness to compromise when he was the country's top nuclear negotiator years ago.
Focus Iranian expectations soar after Rohani's election

The surprise election of Hassan Rohani has Iranians hoping for more freedom less confrontation, but the centrist cleric faces obstacles that could derail change.
Focus Hassan Rohani: What it means to be a centrist in Iran

Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani has the insider credentials needed for regime credibility and the reformist tendencies that could allow him to heal the rift with the US.
Focus China puts up a green wall to US trash

US recyclers are nervous about losing their largest market after China began enforcing new environmental laws this year.
Focus Squeezed by regulations, Chinese recyclers scrounge for scrap in dead of night

Shortages of raw material for recyclers is driving prices up and sending suppliers to the black market.
Focus In the end, NSA might not need to snoop so secretly

NSA data-collection programs have spawned support and criticism. But in an era when many Americans already know their personal information is being gathered, perhaps being more open about it would help, some say.
Focus Not sci-fi: Researchers work toward post-trauma limb regeneration

Researchers at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., are working on what they call the next logical frontier: easing the human body into fully repairing and regenerating itself.
Focus 'Exponential' progress in prosthetics helps ease tough path for amputees

People who lost arms or legs in the Boston Marathon bombings – and in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – are among some 2 million Americans coping with limb loss. Emerging technologies and expanded peer support programs are helping.
Focus Turkey's protests reveal conflicting visions of society

The ongoing clashes in Istanbul's Taksim Square have exposed the fault lines running between those want to protect secular values and those who want to introduce more Islam into public life.
Focus Turkey's tumultuous week does little to rattle 'bulldozer' Erdogan

Prime Minister Erdogan decried antigovernment protesters as 'vagabonds' and 'extremists.' Critics acknowledge his success in driving Turkey's spectacular growth, but say he has become autocratic.
Focus Masai herders appear victims of land deal with Dubai hunting firm

Tanzania plans to move Maasai families off ancestral land, claiming environmental necessity to protect wildebeest.
Focus East Africans told to resettle: Are these 'land grabs' or progress?

In Ethiopia, a plan known as 'villagization' has freed up vast tracts for foreign corporations and brought a storm over methods of development at the World Bank.
Focus Bulger trial and the FBI: How have rules about informants changed?

James 'Whitey' Bulger is not the only one facing scrutiny as his trial begins Tuesday. So is the FBI, which infamously used Bulger as an informant for years. Today the FBI relies more heavily than ever on confidential informants, but under new rules.
Focus Bulger trial marks close of an era. But what new organized crime lurks?

Reputed mobster James 'Whitey' Bulger is among the last of his kind, as old-style crime bosses give way to criminal groups that are more fluid, more likely to span international borders, and more reliant on modern technologies.
Focus In Bangladesh factory aftermath, US and European firms take different paths

The deadly collapse of a Bangladesh garment factory has galvanized European firms to try and improve working conditions, but US companies have been slower to respond. Why?
Focus Could Indonesia's garment industry guide Bangladesh?

Indonesia has reformed its clothing industry since the sweatshop-plagued 1990s, and may offer a model for Bangladesh to improving labor standards while also remaining competitive.
Focus When disaster strikes America, a more skilled response

The Oklahoma tornado is the latest bout of extreme weather to require an all-out emergency response. Quick and efficient, the reaction in Moore, Okla., points to a nation getting better at coping with natural disasters.