U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney greets supporters at a campaign stop in Greenville, South Carolina, January 21, 2012. REUTERS/Jim Young

Romney, Gingrich battle in South Carolina primary

AIKEN/GREENVILE, South Carolina - Presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich battled to win last-minute supporters in a South Carolina race that could reshape the Republican nominating contest.  Full Article | Video 

Greece's creditors leave Athens, talks to continue 2:40pm EST

LONDON/ATHENS - Chief negotiators for Greece's private creditors left Athens on Saturday without a deal on a debt swap plan that is vital to avert a chaotic default, sources close to the negotiations told Reuters. | Video

Boats enter the port in front of the Costa Concordia cruise ship which ran aground off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island January 21, 2012.  REUTERS/Paul Hanna

Italy cruise disaster captain denies alarm delay

GIGLIO, Italy - The captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which struck a rock and capsized off Italy, told magistrates he informed the ship's owners of the accident immediately, denying he had delayed raising the alarm, judicial sources said.  Full Article 

An empty shopping street is seen in Tomioka town, inside the exclusion zone of a 20km radius around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Fukushima prefecture, January 15, 2012.  REUTERS/Stringer

Fukushima Silence

A Reuters photographer travels inside the exclusion zone where buildings remain vacant and streets deserted inside the 12 mile radius surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The March 2011 tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, leading to the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years.  Full Article 

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour speaks during the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana June 17, 2011.  REUTERS/Sean Gardner

Mississippi pardons largely favored whites

Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's grants of commutations or pardons to more than 200 prisoners, all but eight in his final days in office, disproportionately benefited white offenders among a predominantly black prison population.  Full Article 

Shin Gambira, leader of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance who was recently released, talks to supporters while attending the court hearing of Pyi Nyar Thiha, the head of Shwenyawar monastery,  in the state committee of Sangha Maha Nayaka in Yangon January 19, 2012. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Prisoners freed, Myanmar seeks greater reform

YANGON - Interviews with former prisoners in Myanmar reveal an undercurrent of skepticism about the government's intentions and an impatience for more reforms, though there is a remarkable lack of bitterness and a willingness to work toward reconciliation.  Full Article 

An oil worker walks past a drilling rig at an oil well operated by Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in Morichal July 28, 2011. Venezuela received an enviable honor last month: OPEC said it is sitting on the biggest reserves of crude oil in the world -- even more than Saudi Arabia.  But the Venezuelan oil industry is also sitting atop a well of trouble.   Picture taken on July 28, 2011.  To match Special Report VENEZUELA/PDVSA   REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins (VENEZUELA - Tags: ENERGY POLITICS BUSINESS)

Venezuela signs deal for private oil development

CARACAS - As gas prices plunge to their lowest level in a decade, Venezuela has signed a deal with European companies to develop one of Latin America's biggest fields in the hopes of boosting power generation and even reviving stagnant oil production.  Full Article 

Health workers pack dead chicken at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong December 21, 2011. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Fears of mutant virus escape halt bird flu study

NEW YORK - Researchers studying a potentially more lethal, airborne version of the bird flu virus have suspended their studies because of concerns the mutant virus could be used as a devastating form of bioterrorism or accidentally escape the lab.  Full Article 

Two women walk past a clothing store on the first day of the winter sales in Brussels, January 3, 2012. Reuters/Thierry Roge

Crisis kills revival in Europe microcosm Belgium

ANTWERP, Belgium - High debt, an aging population and a growing mismatch between workers' skills and the jobs on offer mean Belgium, just like the euro zone, must reinvent itself to avoid prolonged stagnation.  Full Article 

In this file picture, a reveler catches a pair of beads on St. Charles Avenue the weekend before Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Louisiana March 6, 2011.REUTERS/Sean Gardner

Rising murder rate may spoil Mardi Gras party

NEW ORLEANS - A rash of murders has City Hall on the defensive just as Mardi Gras season is getting under way, at a time when the town is usually focused on beads and debutante balls.  Full Article 

Open for business in Syria

Jan. 21 - Street markets affected but still bustling in Syria despite crisis. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

David Cay Johnston

The burden of Romney’s tax returns

A tax return says a lot about a man, especially one aspiring to be president. There’s no suspicion that Romney has done anything illegal. But what should be secret about the taxpaying relationship between a presidential hopeful and his government?  Full Article 

Chrystia Freeland

The fight over Russia’s future

Mikhail D. Prokhorov’s decision to run in the presidential election in March is, in the words of the man himself, a sign that the Russian elite is seriously divided.  Full Article 

David Rohde

The world according to Romney

A review of Romney’s foreign policy stands and an interview with one of his foreign policy advisers point toward a bruising battle over America’s place in the world. The foreign policy debate could be just as polarized as clashes over the economy and role of government.  Full Article 

Jack Shafer

What’s bad for publishers is great for readers

As tech giants Apple and Amazon apply the squeeze, there has never been a worse time to be in the publishing business. Apple has turned its disruptive death ray on the publishers with its free “iBooks” app.   Full Article 

Hugo Dixon

Unraveling India Part 3: Demography

It’s common in India to say that, despite short-term political paralysis, the long-term growth prospects are great. But is that really so? India's population explosion isn't an unadulterated blessing.  Commentary  

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