AP - In today's headlines: flavored newsprint, high-tech ferrets and the revelation that Britain's greatest writer was — quelle horreur! — half French.

Reuters - The wreckage of Wall Street's subprime mortgage machine was laid bare on Wednesday by a U.S. congressional panel that pointed the finger at Alan Greenspan for not stopping it from running out of control.

AP - The NAACP is ending its lawsuit against Wells Fargo that alleged the bank was forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates.

BusinessWeek - It's hard to believe that any asset class could top the 76% runup in equities since the stock market bottomed last March, but real estate investment trusts have done just that. Since Mar. 9, 2009, the S&P Global REIT Index has climbed 114%. In the U.S., the 14 REITs in the S&P 500 are up 140%. 'A year and a half ago, people were saying that the REIT industry is going to disappear,' says Howard Roth, global leader of real estate at Ernst & Young. Now, even after posting such gains, the industry is in recovery mode, says Roth. ...

The Motley Fool - It could be the single-most important factor when sizing up a potential investment. After all, if your target company doesn't disclose key data on market share, growth strategies, or product volume, how can you accurately value its shares?

AP - Thanks to revived book sales after he became president, Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, made $5.5 million last year. They paid about one-third of it in federal income taxes.

The Motley Fool - Gold has certainly received a lot more attention from investors since the beginning of 2009. Last Wednesday, with gold near its high for 2010, precious metals consultancy GFMS said in its annual report that the market 'has moved out of kilter with its underlying fundamentals.' George Soros, the wildly successful speculator, went as far as to call gold 'the ultimate bubble' at Davos in January. But talk of a gold bubble is nonsense, and here's why.

AP - In a move that could be good news for high-end home buyers, a California firm will try to jump-start the dormant market for mortgage securities. If more companies follow, it could lead to lower mortgage rates.

The Christian Science Monitor - Anthony Digati wasn’t just another disgruntled client of the New York Life Insurance Company. He was a former agent and manager at the firm who had become ensnared in a $49,500 policy dispute.

The Christian Science Monitor - The impetus for Wall Street reform may be escalating.

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