US-The-New-American-Job (with art)

Last month's surprising drop in U.S. unemployment rates from 8.2% to 7.8% gave many hopes that the economy is improving, and the lower rates even beat the expectations of some economists. But a breakdown of the latest jobs report shows that more than half of the jobs added this month are part-time. This leaves people like 23-year-old Michelle Asci wondering: Is the new American job part-time?

SPORT-Sports-Going-Gladiator

Are American sports fans turning into the citizens of ancient Rome, turning up to sports events to see mayhem akin to gladiators fighting for their very lives?

US-Armstrong-Doping-Legacy (with art)

The 84 million bright yellow wristbands distributed by Lance Armstrong's cancer charity have become a well-known symbol of strength and perseverance against adversity. "LIVESTRONG," they urge. In the wake of Wednesday's release of hundreds of pages of evidence supporting persistent allegations of doping against the legendary cyclist, there's another take on the wristband. Critics have struck out the "V" to make it read what they accuse Armstrong of doing for more than a decade: "LIE STRONG."

INTERNATIONAL

Syria-Underground-School

A cave's interior has been carved into cube-shaped rooms. Improvised lighting, barely strong enough to illuminate the cavern, shows children sitting, legs crossed, on the bare floor. They are calling out boisterously, raising their hands eagerly, clamoring to answer questions. These are some of the students in Syria who, because of civil war, have deserted their schools and taken classes literally underground.

Ishmael-Beah-Child-Soldier (with art)

As a teenager in war-ravaged Sierra Leone, Ishmael Beah was brainwashed, drugged and forced to kill.

Argan-Oil-Berbers-Morocco

In Agadir, the arid heartland of Morocco's indigenous Berber population, a quiet oil boom is gaining momentum, one drop at a time.

Denmark-Al-Qaeda-Trail (with art)

A 36-year-old Dane called Morten Storm says he was the man who led the CIA to Anwar al Awlaki, the al Qaeda cleric killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen last year. And he says he did it with a computer thumb-drive that secretly contained a tracking device.

Egypt-Missing (with art)

Ahmed Taha was 17 a year ago, when he says security forces abducted him outside Egypt's High Court, beat and raped him. "They beat me," he says. "One stepped on my face. I was wearing my glasses. They broke the glasses and my face was disfigured." He says the beatings were just the beginning.

POLITICAL

POL-Polling-Hype

Treating presidential polls as gospel is a little like placing political faith in the lifespan of a fruit fly. "People tend to subscribe a more durable nature to polling data," said Russ Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "It's more ephemeral." That's because polls, as those who conduct them stress, are simply snapshots.

POL-King-Battlegrounds-Colorado (with art)

Maria Zepeda-Sanchez remembers the excitement of the "change" argument in 2008. "There was really a change then," she said with a nostalgic smile. "People were really anxious to have a new person." Working the phones for President Barack Obama again four years later, though, change has a new -- and to her troubling -- meaning. "Different. It's a little different," she said of the then and now reaction when calling Latino voters in Colorado. "It was more hype I think back in 2008, yes." And now? "Some people are still really excited," Zepeda-Sanchez said during a brief break from her phone bank work. "Others say, 'Oh, I don't know, well, I haven't made up my mind.'" Then comes the sales pitch, and the new reality of incumbency -- of 2012.

POL-Ohio-Walmart-Moms

The clock on the mantle has ticked past midnight, but Jessica Lundgren is studying -- so she can't afford to think about sleep just yet. "I'm a single mom to a 5-year-old girl who is fantastic," Lundgren told CNN this week. "I work full-time and go to school full-time. So my day usually starts around 4:45 a.m. and ends close to 1 a.m." She works at a call center and is studying to be a medical assistant. Long, hard days, but no complaints. "You do what you have to do in this economy," Lundgren said. "You do what you have to to further yourself." A few months back, Lundgren was invited to a focus group of so-called "Walmart Moms" and said she was leaning toward voting for Republican Mitt Romney. But she is undecided now, and Romney has only himself to blame.

POL-Cowley-Dbate (with art)