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President Obama heads to Mexico Thursday for a three day trip south of the border that includes a stop in Costa Rica. The president says he plans to focus on trade and economic opportunities between the U.S. and Mexico during his visit. But the timing of the trip comes just as Mexico is altering cooperation agreements between the two countries in the fight against drug trafficking.

In Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, children took to downtown streets in a reenactment of historic events there 50 years ago. It's part of a series of events this year marking Birmingham's crucial role in the civil rights movement.

Influential Chicagoan Penny Pritkzer has been tapped by President Obama to lead the Commerce Department.

President Obama spoke for the first time about revelations that his administration has been continuing the monitoring of Internet communications and warehousing of cellphone records that began under President Bush. Obama defended both programs as necessary to keep the country safe and said Congress had been kept fully apprised.

At a time when most pregnant women work, there are new efforts to keep companies from unfairly targeting employees because of a pregnancy. Allegations of pregnancy discrimination persist and have even risen in recent years despite a decades-old law against it.

Having a thick ribbon tied around your neck in the sweltering heat is, by all accounts, a revolting experience. We discovered that only 8 percent of men in our newsroom wear ties on any given summer day. We wondered, are we on the brink of a major fashion trend?

An Egyptian court has convicted 43 foreigners (including Americans) and Egyptians of working illegally in the country. All were employed by NGOs. In Tuesday's court session, most were sentenced to prison time. The ruling could further strain Cairo's relations with the U.S. and other Western countries. A new law on NGOs is working its way through parliament despite sharp criticism from human rights groups. NPR's Leila Fadel reports.

Congress holds another hearing Tuesday on ways to reduce sexual assault in the military. Despite agreement that sexual assault is a problem, the military is struggling to find the most effective way of dealing with the problem. Congress wants to see more offenders go to jail or at least get kicked out of the service. But in fact there's little evidence that strategy will actually reduce the number of assaults.

For the past five years, graduation day has been a time of apprehension as much as celebration. Prospects for those entering the workforce for the first time were bleak. The class of 2013 — whether from high school or college — has cause for more optimism than previous classes.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood seems to be losing control. Planned marches aren't materializing, as the state continues to kill and arrest its members. The government is mulling dissolving the organization and some groups are calling for it to be listed as a terrorist organization. Under the intense pressure, analysts wonder if this means more extreme groups will reign and encourage violence.