Stories of the Week | PBS NewsHour Podcast | PBS

In Syria, the Assad regime has made major gains in the central part of the country while rebel forces remain strong in the north and south. Margaret Warner talks to NPR's Deborah Amos about how both sides are appealing to their bases with imagery, the resiliency of Syrian civilians and if there an end in sight for this conflict.

Judy Woodruff sits down with two former NSA officials who blew the whistle on what they said were abuses at the NSA, along with that agency’s former inspector general, to talk about whether that secretive agency is recording all domestic calls in the U.S.

In other news Thursday, Ariel Castro was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years for holding three women captive for more than a decade at his home in Cleveland, Ohio. Also, Egypt's interior ministry offered "safe passage" to thousands of Morsi supporters if they ended their protests.

Russia's offer of asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden has U.S. officials weighing whether to cancel President Barack Obama's upcoming summit with President Vladimir Putin. Will it affect long-term diplomacy between the two nations? Jeffrey Brown gets an update on the Snowden story from Paul Sonne of The Wall Street Journal.

There are laws against child labor in India, yet millions of underage children are still trafficked or forced by poverty to toil away in factories. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro profiles an entrepreneur who developed a labeling system for rugs made without child labor and helps get underage workers back in school.

The Egyptian interim government may take violent measures to combat protest. Is this move reminiscent of the Egyptian government's repressive history? How should the Obama administration respond? Margaret Warner gets analysis from Michelle Dunne of the Atlantic Council and Samer Shehata from the University of Oklahoma.

The American public is learning more about the government's phone surveillance program, revealed by leaker Edward Snowden. The Obama administration released documents showing how the National Security Agency uses the data. Gwen Ifill is joined by Charlie Savage, who is covering the story for The New York Times.

Hundreds of thousands of elderly Americans live in assisted living centers across the nation. A.C. Thompson of ProPublica shares an excerpt from his FRONTLINE documentary "Life and Death In Assisted Living," and some troubling cases of elder care from his investigation.

Drug gangs rule the streets in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where more than 20 people are murdered each week. Located at the crossroads of drug shipments from South America to the U.S., that city is now called the most dangerous place on Earth. Filmmaker Guillermo Galdos traveled there on assignment for Britain's Channel Four News.

The killing of Trayvon Martin provoked candid reflection from President Barack Obama on the subject of discrimination and American race relations. Nathan McCall, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. and Michael Melton join Jeffrey Brown to continue the conversation on life and perception for black men in the U.S.

Pelican Bay State Prison in Northern California is designed to hold some of the state's most violent offenders in isolated security units. In early July, inmates launched a state-wide hunger strike to demand limits on time spent in solitary. Special correspondent Michael Montgomery offers background on the policy.

Attorney General Eric Holder is pushing for ongoing scrutiny of Texas' voting laws despite a Supreme Court ruling striking down the pre-clearance provision of the Voting Rights Act. Judy Woodruff talks to Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation and Nina Perales of the Latino legal civil rights organization MALDEF.

The last official declaration of war from the U.S. Congress was in 1941, but the United States has been engaged in frequent military conflict since then. Ray Suarez sits down with Marvin Kalb to discuss the evolving power of the president in his book "The Road to War: Presidential Commitments Honored and Betrayed."

Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin American, was greeted by jubilant crowds as he made his inaugural international trip as leader of the Catholic Church. Margaret Warner talks to The Washington Post's Marie Arana for more on what his visit means for Brazilians and the greater Latin American Catholic population.

Inside the walls that hold many of California's offenders, some inmates are learning to find peace. Prisoners at San Quentin can take part in a year-long initiative where they practice tactics to address the root causes of their violent behavior. Special correspondent Katie Olsen shows us who is benefiting from the program.