Social Issues

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The Fitch ratings agency has estimated that President-elect Vladimir Putin's pledges will cost about $160 billion over six years, while state-owned Sberbank has put the figure even higher at $173 billion.

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Social activists and local residents shout slogans against the Maoists during a protest rally demanding the release of two abducted Italians and a local lawmaker in Bhubaneswar, India, Saturday, March 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)

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Protesters in support of undocumented youth march March 14, 2012, in Philadelphia from Love Park to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. (Associated Press) **FILE**

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** FILE ** President Obama answers a reporter's question about the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin on March 23, 2012, in the Rose Garden of the White House. With the George Zimmerman trial over and the neighborhood watchman found innocent of second degree murder, the president has said he wants to revisit a national dialogue on race and guns in America. (Associated Press)

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President Barack Obama answers a reporter's question about the death of Trayvon Martin, Friday, March 23, 2012, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

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Sen. Scott P. Brown cites his mother's history of abusive relationships with men as he pushes for renewal of a domestic-violence law. (Associated Press)

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A man in the State House watches the action during the budget demonstration in Annapolis. Inside, the House debates the new budget proposal, which includes higher state taxes. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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A driver holds a tax-protest sign out the window Thursday as a small number of vehicles circle the State House in Annapolis. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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A small group of women protest Feb. 7 outside the Susan G. Komen for the Cure headquarters in Dallas in the immediate aftermath of the breast cancer charity's short-lived cutoff of funding to Planned Parenthood. Several high-ranking executives have since left or intend to leave the organization. (Associated Press)

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Illegal immigrants easily step over a fallen barbed-wire fence between Mexico and the United States near the town of Sasabe, Mexico, in 2004. The number of apprehensions of illegal border-crossers is down while the number of deaths in the desert is high. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A gurney is pushed through the cooler room in the Pima County morgue in Tucson, Ariz., in 2005. Overcrowding in the county's storage facility has become so bad that it has made national headlines. During summer months, when migrant deaths spike, refrigerated trucks have had to be brought in to add storage space. (Associated Press)

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Chinese paramilitary police and riot police stand guard near barricades set up along the main street of Aba, China. The barricades limit access to the town, which has been the scene of protests against Chinese rule. (Associated Press)

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Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (left) and University of Miami President Donna Shalala, who had Mrs. Sibelius' job in the Clinton administration, discuss the still-divisive Affordable Care Act at a community health center in Miami. (Associated Press)

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Igbo people demonstrate on Feb. 29 following the death of their leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, in Nnewi, Nigeria. Assaults by the Boko Haram have sent many Igbo, one of the three dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria, fleeing. Based in the eastern states, most Igbo became Catholic after being colonized by the British. Many became successful traders. (Associated Press)

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Igbo people demonstrate on Feb. 29 following the death of their leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, in Nnewi, Nigeria. Assaults by the Boko Haram have sent many Igbo, one of the three dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria, fleeing. Based in the eastern states, most Igbo became Catholic after being colonized by the British. Many became successful traders. (Associated Press)