COMMODITIES

Long-suffering investors may wonder what to do with their Eastman Kodak shares now that the company has filed for bankruptcy in New York City.

Four key technology giants are to report earnings Thursday. Intel, IBM, Google and Microsoft results may provide keys to 2012 progress, while Apple comes next week.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s admission that his income tax rate was “probably closer to 15 percent than anything” may re-ignite the debate on the lower tax rate for capital gains and carried interest than for ordinary income -- the income category for most typical Americans.

If Mitt Romney grabs the GOP presidential nod, he would be the first Republican candidate in decades to take hard line on immigration policies that Latinos support.

Natural gas prices have plunged below $3 per million Btus (MMBtu) largely due to increased supply from new drilling techniques.

The sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship will be followed by months of litigation, with families of victims, wounded passengers and crew members sure to file suit against Carnival. What is the legal precedent for the maritime case?

A handful of technology leaders – IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Google and Apple – are all scheduled to report quarterly earnings over the next week. Here are five things to watch when the numbers come out because they may indicate prospects for 2012.

With the South Carolina primary just five days off, presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry faced off the first of two debates before Jan. 21. Get a complete breakdown of the GOP candidates' performances, and how the debate is likely to affect the results of the 2012 South Carolina Republican primary, here.

The candidates vying for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination agree that the first imperative is to halt the flow of illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. But the relentless focus on the border obscures the fact that the rate of cross-border migrations is decreasing.

Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) stock, after meandering at $5 for much of the fall, has pushed above $5. What's that mean for the stock, moving forward?

Tunisia is one of the few Arab Muslim countries that still has a significant Jewish community (which traces its origins back 2,000 years).

The prohibition on eating pigs stretches back to antiquity.

The ancient enmity between Shia and Sunni Muslims exploded in violence again on Saturday in Iraq when a suicide bomb killed at least 50 Shia pilgrims and wounded almost 100 in the southeastern city of Basra, according to Iraqi police and security officials.

A video appearing to show U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters promises to become an enduring memory of the Afghan war and is already drawing sharp reaction from across the world as it goes viral on the Internet.

These days, everyone in commerce and finance circles seems to complain about the dollar, but few institutional investors want to part with them.

For all the hand-wringing about Mitt Romney being insufficiently conservative, the last few days have demonstrated how a Romney candidacy would give voters a clear alternative to the progressive vision articulated by President Barack Obama.

Four years ago, Ron Paul was a fringe candidate. Now, he is a legitimate contender for the Republican nomination. The International Business Times talked to some of the new Paul converts about what won them over.

After a virtual tie with Rick Santorum in Iowa and a 16-point win over Ron Paul in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney is looking ahead to South Carolina and Florida -- and new polls show him leading in both states. But can he keep that up?

Fitch Ratings analysts continued their saber-rattling over Italy on Thursday, making remarks observers fear signal a coming downgrade of that country's sovereign credit rating. The comments carry an element of the ratings agency playing catch-up to its two main competitors: New York-based Moody's Investor's Services and Standard & Poor's. Fitch currently holds a rating of A+ on Italian government debt, a notch above the ratings assigned by those competitors

While reports that the world's largest wind turbine maker was firing thousands of workers globally shook the renewable energy industry Thursday morning, the bad news did not seem to diminish investor appetite in solar energy stocks, which has picked up considerably over the past week.

Far from dismissing Ron Paul's 2012 candidacy, Republican strategist Jack Burkman believes the Texas Congressman can actually secure the Republican nomination.

If the current Republican primary has taught us anything, having rich supporters with high incomes has become the difference between first and fifth place. Thank the Supreme Court. Its controversial Citizens United decision has prolonged the shelf life of candidates that once would have been long dead. Ask Newt Gingrich.

Regarding its banking system, the United States has now experienced its third generation of "heads the banks win, tails the taxpayer and the public loses.” Is there a better way? Is it possible to create a bank that serves the people of the United States?

One woman was killed on Tuesday when prospective students waiting outside the University of Johannesburg in South Africa stampeded to get into the school's admissions office.

The Christian presence in Egypt stretches as far back to the earliest days of Christendom.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the world’s biggest software company will thrive in the exploding world of laptops, tablets and new applications.

The split goes all the way back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in the year 632 and it had to do with succession.

It's about sustainability of profits, and sustainability through efficient products that contribute to both the broader environment and consumer benefit that will be at the heart of every automaker's presentations. America's Big Three, in particular, have revealed they are still among the biggest and best global forces to be reckoned with through profitability and strong, advanced product in the past year or two.

The Republican debate on Saturday was not intended to give the impression that Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Perry were reluctant to challenge Mitt Romney -- the presumptive nominee to oppose Democratic President Barack Obama next fall -- but the event certainly had that feel.