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The Annan plan for Syria gives the country until April 10th to stop the violence, but the U.S. is skeptical that the Syrian government will suddenly adhere to its commitments. The UN Human Rights Council established an international Commission of Inquiry in September.

According to Syrian opposition groups, the Assad regime has sent tanks into rebellious areas to hunt down activists and torch or bulldoze their homes. The actions come ahead of an April 10 United Nations deadline calling for full compliance with a peace plan to end the violence.

Leslie Mass first wrote about being a Peace Corps volunteer in a small village in Pakistan in 1962.  She discusses her recent book about returning to the village 50 years later called, Back to Pakistan: A Fifty-Year Journey. And WBEZ’s Odette Yousef brings us an audio postcard from the

The U.S. is negotiating some rough and strategic waters. The end game in Afghanistan is at the top of the headlines today. Not far behind is the hemorrhaging crisis in Syria and the nuclear puzzle with Iran. Then there's the rebuilding of Libya.

As U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges the international community to speak with one voice on Syria, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend its political mission in Libya.

The Syrian government’s assault in Homs has produced a predictable reaction. Syria's main political opposition group has formed a military bureau to unify armed resistance to the government.