A Minnesota couple is missing from the Costa Concordia shipwreck disaster, and the U.S. Embassy in Italy has requested help in locating them. Jerry Heil, 69, and his wife, Barbara, 70, have not been accounted for, and State Department officials are working with the Costa cruise line and Italian authorities to get more information. The embassy has posted photos of them on its Facebook page. The ship ran aground late Friday, and so far six people have been confirmed dead. The Italian Coast Guard said the number of people missing has risen to 29.

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney had a heated exchange over negative ads. Santorum said Romney’s super PAC put out an ad that claimed the ex-senator was in favor of allowing felons to vote. In fact, Santorum voted for a measure that would have allowed felons who had completed their sentences and probation requirements to vote. Santorum asked Romney if he would support allowing such felons to vote. When Romney hedged around the question, Santorum said he wanted “an answer to the question first.” To which Romney responded, “We have time, I’ll get there. I’ll do it in the order I wanna do.” He then launched into a discussion of super PACS, but did not answer Santorum’s question.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the King Center has released on its website about 200,000 never-before-seen documents, including the slain civil-rights leader’s transcript from Harvard. The online archive, which was financed by JPMorgan Chase, reveals some of King’s most private letters and correspondence with both President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon, to whom he urged the passage of a civil-rights bill. “History has demonstrated that inadequate legislation supported by mass action can accomplish more than adequate legislation which remains unenforced for the lack of a determined mass movement," King wrote to Nixon. The trove also includes hate mail in which detractors called African-Americans “savages” and told King he didn’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

Rick Perry said that the troops who urinated on Taliban corpses were not “despicable,” and that it was inappropriate for the president or the secretary of defense to say so about American servicemen. Perry said the troops “made a mistake and they need to be punished. But the fact of the matter is when the secretary of defense calls it a despicable act … let me tell you what’s despicable: cutting Danny Pearl’s head off and posting a video of it online.”

Standard & Poor’s has slashed its long-term AAA+ credit rating on Europe’s rescue fund following downgrades on nine euro-zone countries on Friday. S&P released a statement saying the latest downgrade was all but inevitable following identical cuts to the sterling credit ratings of France and Austria, two major guarantors of the bailout fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility. Though the EFSF said the downgrade won’t reduce its $558 billion lending capacity, the European Stability Mechanism will replace it as a rescue fund. Meanwhile, Greece has been warned about a potential default if it doesn’t secure an agreement over bond holdings with private creditors, after talks broke down with the creditors on Friday.

Thai police on Monday discovered a large cache—more than four tons—of bomb-making materials in a warehouse south of Bangkok rented by a man with alleged links to Hizbullah. The materials—urea-based fertilizer and ammonium nitrate—were found after some 200 police officers raided a three-story building in Samut Sakhon, to which authorities were directed by Atris Hussein, a Swedish-Lebanese man arrested last Thursday following a tip by Israeli authorities who warned of a potential terrorist attack in Thailand's capital against American and Israeli citizens or property. Hussein, who remains in police custody, reportedly told police that the cache was not intended for any attack, but that he intended to ship the materials to another location. It was not immediately clear what the destination was. Police said he had rented the building for more than a year. The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok issued a terrorist warning for American citizens last week, following the reported threat. The warning, Hussein's arrest, and now the cache discovery are unnerving for Thailand, where tourism is a key component of the economy, and which is only now recovering from massive floods last year and social unrest dating back to 2008, including a bloody crackdown by the Royal Thai Army on so-called Red Shirt protesters in 2010 that resulted in the deaths of about 90 people. The U.S. Embassy reportedly has declined a Thai government request to lift its warning to American citizens.

With Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich once again complaining about Mitt Romney’s inaccurate super-PAC ads, Romney said he had no control over any ads his super PACs produce. Gingrich said that if that is the case, how would Romney have any influence as president? Romney pointed out the ridiculous campaign laws that prevent candidates from communicating with their super PACs and suggested that it would be better to be able to speak with them directly in order to get them to take ads off the air, if their candidate disagreed with them.

Scary, but understandable statistic: in the last six years, the number of headphone-wearing people seriously injured or killed near roads or train tracks has tripled. In 2004–05 there were only 16 incidents, while the number hit 47 in 2010–11. The research was published in the journal Injury Prevention. The study, however, does have a flaw: it relies heavily on media reports.

Guess it’s back to About.com. Legions of college students are rushing to get their “research” out of the way, as Wikipedia announced that it will go dark all day Tuesday, from midnight to midnight, in protest of congressional efforts to legislate against online piracy. Many companies are going offline to express opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act—two bills that critics like the White House say will encourage censorship more than curtail copyright violations. Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia, tweeted: “Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!”

Rabid Steve Jobs fans who already placed their orders will be sorely disappointed. A $100 action figure immortalizing the late Apple cofounder has been pulled from the market, after its Chinese manufacturers received “immense pressure” from Apple’s lawyers and Jobs’s family not to sell the lifelike doll, according to a statement released by its creators. “We have decided to completely stop the offer, production and sale of the Steve Jobs figurine out of our heartfelt sensitivity to the feelings of the Jobs family,” In Icons said on its website. The company had planned to start shipping the action figure—which came with a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and two apples—in February and was already running out of stock due to preorders.

If there’s one rule about campaigning, it’s that you don’t lie at South Carolina’s Lizard Thicket restaurant. Hours after pledging that he would stay “above board” and not run malicious ads as other candidates have, Rick Santorum released his first attack ad. The main point of the ad: frontrunner Mitt Romney is just like Obama. From Wall Street bailouts to Obamacare and Romneycare, the ad asks why Americans would vote for someone just like Obama when there’s a true candidate on the ballot who can defeat Obama—Rick Santorum. Earlier in the day, Santorum said that he wouldn’t “misrepresent someone’s record for political purposes,” and that the people of South Carolina “deserve an honorable campaign.” Well, by Santorum’s standards, he’s failed.

Cue the Bain puns: as predicted, frontrunner Mitt Romney’s career as CEO of the private-equity firm Bain Capital was immediately targeted by his competitors at the start of tonight’s debate in South Carolina. Newt Gingrich defended his attack ads slamming Romney as a greedy corporate titan, saying it’s about time he comes clean about the fact that he made millions off bankrupting companies. Perry followed suit by challenging Romney to release his tax returns like the rest of the candidates, causing the audience to erupt in cheers. So far tonight, Bain Capital has proved to be the Bain of Romney’s existence.

The Descendants won big Sunday night—snagging "Best Drama" and a "Best Actor" award for George Clooney. Meryl Streep took home the Best Actress in Drama Movie for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. The Artist walked away with Best Comedy, beating out Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which won Best Screenplay. Jean DuJardin from The Artist won for Best Actor in a Comedy. Meanwhile, over in TV land, Modern Family won its first-ever Best Comedy statuette. 

Anyone who had money on Big Blue is having the last laugh now. The New York Giants beat the Green Bay Packers 37-20 on Sunday in a massive upset to advance to the next round of playoffs. The Packers (15-2) were expected to easily best the Giants (11-7), but the Giants will go on to play at the NFC championship game in San Francisco next Sunday. Giants coach Tom Coughlin said, “I think we’re a dangerous team. I like where we are and how we’re playing.”

A series of deadly attacks against Shiite Muslims continued in Iraq when a car bomb exploded inside a residential complex Monday in Mosul, killing at least nine people and wounding five more. The buildings in a small village outside the city housed displaced Shiites of the Shabak minority. Political tensions are running high in the country; in December, Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of a Sunni vice president, touching off a string of sectarian violence that’s threatened to engulf Iraq after the withdrawal of U.S. troops last month.

Anyone seen a spaceship this morning? A Russian space probe meant to explore a Martian Moon crashed to earth last night after two months stuck orbiting the Earth. Russian officials say it probably crashed in the Pacific, off the coast of Chile, but they aren't sure. Another official says the probe probably broke up somewhere over Brazil. The craft launched on Nov. 9, but its engines malfunctioned when it was supposed to leave Earth's orbit for Mars' moon Phobos.

The Taliban chief in Pakistan has apparently been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday. Taliban radio conversations were intercepted and militants reportedly discussed the death of their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, from a Jan. 12 drone attack in North Wazirstan. A Taliban official has denied the claim, saying Mehsud was not in the area when the strike occurred. In 2010, Mehsud was also believed to have been killed in a missile strike, but the claim was proven wrong later.

If this is true, his newfound status as “Italy’s most hated man” is understandable. Passengers say Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, was drinking at the bar with a “beautiful woman” shortly before his ship hit a rocky crag close to the shores of the Italian island of Giglio, according to The Daily Mail. Italian prosecutors also claim Schettino was steering the ship near the rocky shore to send a greeting signal to someone on the island, though they say it had apparently become a tradition to do so. According to the Telegraph, there are reports that the ship’s officers had a friend on shore they wanted to salute.

Online retailer Zappos.com is the latest company to fall victim to hackers. The company says 24 million customer accounts have been compromised. The cyber criminals may have accessed customers' names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses phone numbers, and the last four digits of their credit card numbers. The company is recommending customers reset their passwords, though they say passwords were encrypted.

The thousands of foreign contractors still in Iraq are finding it harder to work with the government now that the military has withdrawn. Shortly after U.S. troops withdrew, Iraq stopped issuing and renewing many weapons permits, and made getting visas more difficult. Consequently, in the last few weeks Iraqi authorities have detained hundreds of foreign contractors over issues with their visas and weapons permits. Despite officially withdrawing, the U.S. Embassy employees 5,000 contractors to protect ints employees and to train the Iraqi military. The oil industry also relies heavily on foreign contractors.

Al-Qaeda fighters have taken over a town south of Yemen’s capital and freed 150 inmates from a local prison. They also seized weapon caches and vehicles from the town’s security headquarters, after shooting and chasing off the guards, and distributed them to the freed inmates. Residents tell the Associated Press that the black al Qaeda flag is being flown above the local mosque and militants are armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. Opponents of President Abdullah Saleh, who is supposed to step down this month, accuse the president of allowing the militants to take the town in order to support his argument that he must be allowed to stay in order to stop al Qaeda.

Fresh off his weekend endorsement by evangelical leaders, Rick Santorum renewed attacks on Mitt Romney, who now holds a significant lead in South Carolina. A Romney group, meanwhile, is escalating attacks on Santorum over wasteful spending. The New York Times investigated some of the earmarks in question, and found that Santorum gave out a lot of them, and that they often yielded campaign contributions. For example, Santorum helped secure a $3.5 million military contract for JLG Industries in 2005. The next year, executives from JLG gave Santorum's campaign $6,000. According to Tax Payers for Common Sense, Santorum gave out over $1 billion in earmarks during his 11-year Senate career.

The search for survivors aboard the sinking cruise ship Costa Concordia was put on hold this morning when the ship ran aground, rolling onto its side and leaving at least 6 people dead and 16 missing. The captain has been arrested, and the cruise company, a subsidiary of Carnival, is blaming him for the crash. According to the Costa Crociere CEO, the captain made an unauthorized, unapproved deviation from the ship's programmed course (the BBC has excellent graphics that tell the story) that caused it to run aground. The captain is also accused of abandoning the ship before passengers had evacuated, a claim the captain denies.

The Federal Trade Commission is looking into reports that Google is exploiting its search market to boost its social-networking site, Google+. Google recently announced changes to its search engine so that results will now feature photos, comments, and news from Google+ accounts. The practice might run afoul of antitrust rules, as Google is the undisputed leader in the search market. The FTC is investigating whether the company is exploiting its domination to challenge Facebook.

Does the queen need a new yacht? She so loved her old one, the Britannia, that she shed a tear when it was decommissioned in 1997 after 44 years of service. But when U.K. Education Secretary Michael Gove suggested she should receive a replacement, Prime Minister David Cameron quickly turned down the idea of providing any public funding for a new ship, even if it’s to mark the queen’s Diamond Jubilee year. “We don’t think it would be an appropriate use of public money at the present time,” Cameron’s spokesman said Monday. A new yacht would cost at least an estimated $92 million.

Not sure if this research passes the peer-review process. British psychologist Cliff Arnall claims that, according to a complicated equation he devised in 2005, the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year. He calls it Blue Monday. We’re so blue, Arnall says, because of the weather, the Christmas holidays being over, and already-failed New Year’s resolutions, among other things he takes into account. But Arnall’s formula was created as part of a publicity campaign for Sky Travel, a British TV channel that shut down in 2010. “The fact is that Cliff Arnall’s equations are stupid, and some fail even to make mathematical sense on their own terms,” psychiatrist Ben Goldacre wrote in his “Bad Science” column in The Guardian, and other scientists have dismissed the formula.

Mitt Romney may have made a push for the Latino vote with his "Nosotros" ad, but it was Newt Gingrich who was endorsed Monday by the country's largest Hispanic Republican group. Somos Republicans announced its support for the former speaker of the House today in a statement praising Gingrich for "working hard for many years to include American Hispanics in the overall conversation for a better America." Gingrich's stances on immigration have attracted Hispanic voters from the Republican and Democratic parties alike, which could help in the South Carolina primary because, though only a small percentage of the state's registered voters are Hispanic, the GOP election allows members of all parties to participate.

The standoff between Pakistan’s civilian government, the military, and the judiciary just got even tenser. The Supreme Court issued a contempt-of-court notice to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani today, a first step in a process that could end in his removal from power. The court accused Gilani of failing to obey orders to reopen an old money-laundering case against President Asif Ali Zardari. The court is also investigating whether Zardari ordered a memo asking for U.S. help in putting down a military coup. Gilani is scheduled to appear at a hearing on Thursday.

Jon Huntsman gathered with his family in South Carolina Monday to announce his departure from the Republican primary presidential race. "This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in this nation's history," the former Utah governor said at a press conference. "This is the most important election of our lifetime." He implored his fellow candidates to reject this "toxic form of political discourse" as they continue along the race to the election. Huntsman also confirmed earlier suspicions that he would endorse Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, calling him the candidate "best equipped" to beat President Obama, despite their differences. 

Does this count as an honor? Researchers in Australia have named a recently discovered horsefly after Beyoncé because it has golden hair on its butt—or, in insect terms, the abdomen. The full name of the insect is Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae, though it’s colloquially known as the “gold-bum fly.” Aside from fabulous rear ends, the insect and the singer share an important date. The fly was captured the same year Beyoncé was born—1981—though scientists didn't confirm that it was a new species until now.

We hope he’s sipping on a warm cup of cocoa. A snowshoe hiker who was reported missing on Washington state’s Mount Rainier on Saturday has been found alive and in stable condition, a national-park spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Yong Chun Kim, 66, was leading a hiking club when he slid down a slope and was separated from the rest of the group. Kim, an experienced snowshoer, radioed to the crew and told them to keep going, but apparently got stuck and couldn’t make it out. He survived two nights in temperatures well below freezing as eight inches of fresh snow accumulated on the mountain.