What if the daily routines of your workplace were subject to being monitored by your employer? That might soon be the case. More and more companies are looking to tracking devices to learn about employee behavioral patterns in the hopes of boosting productivity.

After the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood publicly affirmed its longstanding fundamental views on women, women's rights activists are left to question the state of their progress in an economically-troubled country rooted in traditionalist culture.

Ultimately, victory was declared, but for many, the ramifications of the Iraq War are still struggling to be understood, even after our troops have returned home.

There is a growing sense of emergency about the Syrian refugees who continue to pour into neighboring countries. According to UN estimates, the number of Syrian refugees living in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq, could soon reach 1 million. Nancy Lindborg has seen the needs of Syrian refugees firsthand. Earlier this year, the USAID Assistant Administrator, traveled to refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan to learn more about the crisis and the problems facing the refugees.

The conflict in Syria continues to escalate on all fronts, as the number of refugees reaches a record high and food, medical, and military aid flow into the country in an effort to control the violence. Lara Setrakian, a journalist and the founder of the Syria Deeply news website, joins us now.

On Wednesday, Arkansas passed into law the country’s most restrictive ban on abortion to date. The ruling denies women the right to an abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, setting a term limit that is 12 weeks earlier than the limit established by Supreme Court decisions. Jason Rapert, Republican Arkansas State Senator sponsored the bill.  State Representative Greg Leding, an Arkansas Democrat and House Minority Leader, opposed it.

This year is the Year of the Snake, and many in China will find that their home country has changed. Over the past year, China has experienced significant cultural unrest, from disputes over problematic labor practices to reform of the income distribution system. Donald Gross, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discusses new perspectives in the Lunar New Year.

As a Human Rights Watch Advocate and attorney for the Department of Justice, Jennifer Daskal pushed for the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to be closed. However, she now thinks that closing the facility immediately may not be the best option. Daskal, now a fellow and adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center, explains how her perspective has evolved.

For many Americans, the grief of a lost family member will never be reconciled, and the wait for justice has been unbearably long. As the hearings for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed resume today, WNYC's Brigid Bergin is reporting from Guantanamo.

Despite progress in curbing deportation and prioritizing education for immigrants during Obama’s first term, the Latino constituency among others will look to see that immigration reform is delivered more fully over the next four years. Peter O’Dowd is the news director at KJZZ in Arizona and contributor to the Fronteras Desk and Congressman Luis Gutierrez is the Democratic representative to Illinois's fourth district.

President Obama announced yesterday that Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, is his pick to serve as the next chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, White will be the first prosecutor to head the S.E.C., suggesting that the Obama administration may be making a point of elevating financial crimes to the criminal level. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman discusses President Obama's pick.

While North Korea has repeatedly threatened to strike the United States, a threat made yesterday to target the United States was significantly more explicit. A statement from the North Korean National Defense Commission referred to the United States as the "sworn enemy of the Korean people."

In a landmark decision that overturns a 1994 ruling, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has lifted the military’s ban on women in combat. The move will make hundreds of thousands of front-line jobs available to women. Kristen Rouse is a first lieutenant in the Army National Guard who just returned from her third tour in Afghanistan, and Rosa Brooks is a law professor at Georgetown University and former Pentagon official.

The trial of the 23-year-old woman who was fatally gang raped in India last month is set to begin today. Though her case has been brought to a speedy trial, the process is atypical of the Indian justice system which is plagued  by corrupt law enforcement and an under-equipped judicial system. Arvind Verma is a professor of criminal justice at Indiana University and an expert on the Indian police.

Pinball, once banned for nearly 40 years in cities across the country, is experiencing a small renaissance despite the demise of its video game brethren. Jon Ehrlich is a pinball machine collector and owner of Reciprocal Skateboards in Manhattan’s East Village.

As more and more individuals pursue professional degrees as a means to a more rewarding career, there are fewer and fewer jobs waiting on the other side of graduation. Jay Bhatti, a graduate of the Wharton MBA program and currently an adviser to start-ups in New York, explains how a master's degree in business administration is growing increasingly irrelevant in today's economy.

Shortly following the November elections, a Gallup poll revealed that 68 percent of Americans believe that President Obama will improve education in his second term. Education reporters Beth Fertig and Rob Manning explain whether the optimism is warranted.

According to the most recent report from U.N. data specialists, nearly 60,000 people have died in the fighting in Syria, and that number may be a gross undercount. Lara Setrakian is a journalist and the founder of Syria Deeply, a news website that covers the Syrian Civil War.

In the face of a new year, many of us take comfort in predictions of what's to come. Bill O'Toole is in the business of divining the future. He is the prognosticator of the 217-year-old J. Gruber's Hagerstown and Country Almanack.

During periods following brutal acts of violence or unthinkable devastation, it is easy for our brains to run wild with worry. But as violence declines worldwide, is there any argument to be made that chaos to some extent is the catalyst for reflection and change? When societies face a crisis, do they increasingly look inward to evolve? Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," explains.