Special Reports

Special Report: Poor planning left Texas firefighters unprepared

Photo

WEST, Texas - The fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 14 and injured about 200 others in Texas last month highlights the failings of a U.S. federal law intended to save lives during chemical accidents, a Reuters investigation has found.

Photo

Insight: No more easy pickings in Russia's banking market

MOSCOW - Foreign banks that once treated Russia as virgin land where easy money could be made are now finding it a cut-throat market tougher than some bargained for.

Photo

Insight: The road to a greener America is littered with road-kill

LOS ANGELES - In October 2004, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled up to a pioneering fueling station at Los Angeles International Airport in a hydrogen-powered metallic blue Hummer loaned to him by General Motors Corp.

Photo

Insight: The fight for North Dakota's fracking-water market

WATFORD CITY, North Dakota - In towns across North Dakota, the wellhead of the North American energy boom, the locals have taken to quoting the adage: "Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting." | Video

Photo

Special Report: The Rise and Fall of China's Sun King

HONG KONG - In a 2010 speech before a packed ballroom of university students in Sydney, Shi Zhengrong, founder of Chinese solar-panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, listed the people who had been important in his rise to fame and riches.

Photo

Insight: Syria's Nusra Front eclipsed by Iraq-based al Qaeda

BEIRUT - The most feared and effective rebel group battling President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond overthrowing the Syrian leader.

Photo

Insight: Mid-sized Italian banks face big bang for want of bucks

GENOA, Italy - A deepening recession and banking stress tests could find Italy's mid-sized lenders short of billions of euros, putting the state on the hook for a new wave of cash calls and triggering an overhaul of how they do business.

Photo

Insight: Dimon has big say over who serves on JPMorgan board

- For years, JPMorgan Chase & Co Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and other executives have hand-picked new directors, in a practice that is now unusual for a major U.S. bank.

Photo

Insight: Bank documents portray Cyprus as Russia's favorite haven

NICOSIA - When the Cyprus bank run began earlier this year, Russians set much of the pace. Documents seen by Reuters show that as the Mediterranean island headed towards financial meltdown in March, most notable among companies transferring money from the country's two main banks were Russians and East Europeans.

Photo

Special Report - In Myanmar, apartheid tactics against minority Muslims

SITTWE, Myanmar - A 16-year-old Muslim boy lay dying on a thin metal table. Bitten by a rabid dog a month ago, he convulsed and drooled as his parents wedged a stick between his teeth to stop him from biting off his tongue. | Video