(September 11, 2007) Since Afghanistan emerged from under Taliban rule in late 2001, women's rights have made great strides on paper. But the reality on the ground is a mixed picture.

(March 26, 2007) In the summer of 2006, as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought off Israelis in Lebanon and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced down President George Bush at the United Nations, a bus full of Iranian pilgrims left Tehran on a journey to the holy city of Karbala, deep inside a shattered Iraq.

(July 1, 2008) The film Heart of Darfur captures the desperation of daily life in remote villages, crowded refugee camps, and in El Fasher, the once sleepy capital of North Darfur that is now home to 100,000 refugees and 10,000 U.N. personnel.

(September 13, 2005) In India, outsourcing has sparked an economic boom, and those working in the industry are making new lives that balance traditional Indian family values with Western-style social and economic mores. But in India, as in the United States, the long-term impact of outsourcing is still unclear.

(August 22, 2006) For years, Turkey has been run by a stridently secular business and political elite struggling to align itself with the Western world, while its pious Muslims have been pushed to the political and economic fringes. But now, even the most devout Muslims are embracing Western-style capitalism and commerce.

(July 8, 2008) The film "Japan's About-Face" is a remarkable window into the shifting role of the military in post-war Japanese society. WIDE ANGLE has acquired exclusive access to the National Defense Academy, Japan's "West Point."

FOCAL POINT offers a venue for shorter, less formal pieces that give a deeper understanding into the forces shaping the world today through compelling human stories.

The Afghan government's recent proposal to take control of women's shelters has human rights groups and women's rights advocates alarmed that the move further threatens the safety of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Up to 100,000 defectors have fled hunger and political repression in North Korea. FOCAL POINT trains its lens on one of the 15,000 North Korean defectors who have made it to South Korea.

In this WIDE ANGLE web exclusive, we follow up with a refugee featured in "Iraqi Exodus" who recently moved from Amman, Jordan to Portland, Oregon.

The U.N. Millennium Development Goals call for universal primary education by 2015. But around the world, minorities are being left behind.

The Ethiopian government's decision to force coffee exporters to sell their coffee through the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, or ECX, has raised fears among coffee aficionados that Ethiopia's world renown coffees could be lost.

FOCAL POINT’s "Raise the Last Glass" follows two Waterford Crystal workers as they fight to save both their jobs and a bit of Irish heritage.

Pen pals from Long Island, NY and Nairobi, Kenya exchange video messages about school, family and their hopes for the future.