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Health, energy and the environment, science and foreign assistance were among the areas that saw larger reductions in the fiscal 2011 budget request. Some of President Obama's pet projects, such as "Race to the Top" aid for public schools, managed to avoid the ax.

Women right's advocates have made some strides in recent decades. But most of the world's poorest are female, fewer girls than boys attend school and women are still vastly underrepresented in leadership positions. Former Ireland President Mary Robinson, the World Bank's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and columnist Nicholas Kristof explain the challenges of improving women's lives worldwide.

A Web site known for helping entrepreneurs in developing countries has turned its sights on the United States. It raises money from Internet users and dispenses microloans of $25 or more. A woman who runs a housekeeping business received $2,000 within one day of her request.

Sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy, but have so far failed to convince Tehran to abandon nuclear ambitions. A report from the Iran Project argues that it's time to re-examine the balance of sanctions and diplomacy. Others argue it's time to consider military options.

Justices consider whether a judge needs to sign off before police can attach such a device to a car.

Former U.S. diplomat David Mack says it could be family considerations that lead Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi to seek asylum while his country strains to keep order. The Libyan leader's whereabouts are still unknown as opposition forces battle loyalist troops for control of the capital.

Rebels fighting the regime of Moammar Gadhafi claim to have taken control of Zawiya, a key coastal city near Tripoli. If true, that could mean Gadhafi's main supply line to Tunisia could be cut off.

At least 30 people have been killed in violence in the disputed region of Abyei along Sudan's north-south divide, officials said Monday. Observers fear the latest unrest could spark more fighting amid an otherwise peaceful and jubilant independence referendum in the south.

The cost of the program is too high, leaders say, and these days, an email or tweet can quickly share information that pages used to physically carry around the chambers. But pages have been a House fixture since its inception, and many are sad to see the chance to witness history go away.

In Brookline, Mass., residents disagree over whether the Pledge of Allegiance should be announced over the intercom in the schools. Even though reciting the pledge is voluntary, one resident says the kids are unfairly subjected to peer pressure to conform, while another says that peer pressure teaches children how to cope.