Topic: Focus
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Focus
Middle East protests: Signs of hope, challenge for fledgling democraciesThe amplification of extreme voices is one consequence of budding democracies in the Middle East, but citizens insist that those voices remain on the fringe.
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Housing market turning a corner? Signs of hope for homeowners.Rising home values and declining foreclosure rates indicate a slow but steady recovery for the US housing market. Obstacles remain, however, including negative equity due to 'underwater' mortgages.
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Rise of the renter delays the dream of homeownershipMore Americans seek low-cost rentals instead of homeownership in the post-crash housing market. Affordability is the main challenge with 42 million US households paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
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Anti-Muslim video: What Muslim teachings say about retribution for blasphemyProtests and riots broke out across the Middle East and Asia over the past week, rejecting an anti-Muslim video's portrayal of the prophet Muhammad. What does Islamic theory condone?
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Ted Williams: 9 quotes from the baseball legend
For the player who famously wore number 9, here are 9 quotes from the Red Sox player.
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Obama or Romney? Why 5 undecided voters are still on the fence.
The presidential election will be decided by a tiny fraction of American voters – those in swing states who have not made up their minds. What are these 1 million people waiting for? The Monitor talked to five undecided voters to find out.
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Syria's rebel fighters vow no mercy for their own pro-regime family membersFree Syrian Army fighters told the Monitor that bringing down President Assad trumps family ties, and that they are willing to fight, or even kill, brothers and cousins fighting for the regime.
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My daily commute - into war-torn SyriaWith part of the Syrian-Turkish border firmly under rebel control, Monitor reporter Tom Peter was able to travel into Syria daily to report, returning to Turkey each night to file stories.
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The uneasy normal of 'Free Syria'The territory between the northern city of Aleppo and the Turkish border is firmly under rebel control, but aerial attacks from the Syrian Army leave residents far from safe.
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Is top-ranked Massachusetts messing with education success?Massachusetts public schools produce students who are top in the nation in reading and math. Here's what the state did to get there, and here's why its shift to the new Common Core standards worries some experts.
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One tactic to shrink achievement gap: tackle 'summer learning loss'Sailing, marine life, and field trips are part of a program to prevent a summertime loss of reading and math skills among low-income students in Boston. Its aim is to help close the achievement gap.
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Lucha Libre: A spandex-clad campaign against obesity in MexicoMexico's health ministry has partnered with Lucha Libre wrestlers to fight obesity there. The campaign includes informational videos and weighing willing attendees outside of the junk food-centric events.
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No gym membership, no problem in the Dominican RepublicForget CrossFit. The most popular exercise class in Santo Domingo is a free hour-long group exercise session held in the middle of a closed park avenue, part of an effort to fight the nation's obesity woes.
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Obesity weighing on America – Latin America, that isThe fattening of Latin America mirrors a global pattern that has left some 1.5 billion adults overweight. Now, from Mexico to Chile, it's triggering a political response.
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Why Pentagon's progress against sexual assault is so slowThe military legal system is seen as often punishing victims of sexual assault instead of perpetrators. Pentagon efforts to make headway depend largely on improving prosecutions.
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Using Chinese star power to fight ivory poaching in AfricaThe biggest demand for ivory is in China, so conservationists are trying to give Chinese consumers a greater understanding of poaching – with the help of Chinese celebrities like Yao Ming.
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A lot riding on California dream of high-speed railCalifornia is moving ahead with a massive high-speed rail project, with construction of the first link set to begin early next year. The project could put the state in the vanguard of a transportation revolution – but is it more a dream than reality?
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Obama plan for high-speed rail, after hitting a bump, chugs forward againHigh-speed rail plans, announced by the White House in 2009, are back on track after Amtrak commits to upgrades in the Northeast and California approves billions to build new tracks.
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What's it mean that an Islamist rules Egypt?Egypt's President Morsi moved to consolidate his power this weekend. Here's what Morsi and the new Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Libya want to do.
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Weather? Climate change? Why the drought is persisting and growing.Several factors, including La Niña events, have contributed to the expanded drought, meteorologists say. Conditions in the West may be setting up for a 'megadrought' by century's end, researchers warn.
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Drought: Farmers dig deeper, water tables drop, competition heats upA drier 'new normal' is forcing US farmers to dig deeper wells. That affects water tables and municipal supplies, and, if climatologists are right about global warming, it could also mean more competition for less water in the future.
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Sudan's struggling government offers to go '100 percent Islamic'The government faces new pressures from the loss of territory and oil revenue to South Sudan, but the push for an Islamic constitution has much older roots.
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Sudanese factory destroyed by US now a shrinePresident Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile strike on the pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum in 1998; the Sudanese still haven't forgotten.
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In North Korea's industrial center, factories and wood-fueled trucksHamhung, North Korea's largest industrial center, was opened to foreigners just two years ago. There's no hiding the poverty in the region.
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Inside North Korea, more cellphones and traffic lights, but real change lagsA visitor to North Korea finds more signs of modernization in Pyongyang as Kim Jong-un consolidates power. But it's hard to tell if reform is afoot in a country that remains deeply impoverished and isolated.
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