Your customized news for Sat, Feb 25, 2012

The fiscal crises that ignited pitched partisan battles in states across the country in the recession's wake are beginning to ease, leaving Republican governors in several crucial swing states struggling to overcome the political damage caused by past efforts to repair their budgets.

The nation's benchmark stock index closed at its highest level in nearly four years Friday, marking a milestone in the long, slow climb from recession that could help recalibrate a presidential campaign dominated by the economy.

Bank of America's decision to stop selling new mortgages to Fannie Mae seemed a surprising move in a government-backed market in which few other options exist. But even before Thursday's announcement, the bank had been scaling back its share in the mortgage market dramatically in the past year.

Greece kicked off plans Friday to slash its outstanding debts by more than 50 percent, even as a top credit-rating company warn­ed that aspects of the deal could further destabilize Europe's government bond markets.

For the first six months of this year, Denmark holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, giving Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt an unusually clear vantage point on the E.U.'s struggles to overcome its fiscal and economic challenges.

Greece kicked off plans Friday to slash its outstanding debts by more than 50 percent, even as a top credit-rating company warn­ed that aspects of the deal could further destabilize Europe's government bond markets.

Iran dramatically boosted its production of a purer form of nuclear fuel in recent months, with much of the increased output coming from a newly opened plant built inside a mountain bunker, U.N. officials said Friday, further exacerbating worries about Iran's march toward nuclear-weapons capability.

— GQ's excellent Gary Oldman profile comes with a 3,100 word preface explaining why the piece took three years to get published.

— The Economist posts its style guide.

— A $77 million Medicare fraud detection system bought by the government last year has caught... $7,591 worth of actual fraud.

The Internet is having fun with photographs of Mitt Romney giving his big speech on the economy to an empty arena today. But put that aside. The real news is in the speech itself, which is the clearest articulation of Romney's fiscal plan that he's yet offered. When Romney said he "wasn't concerned about the very poor," he wasn't kidding. He's using the policies they depend on most as a piggy bank for tax cuts.

In a new report, the Congressional Research Service breaks down how who represents us has changed over the past six decades:

Members in 2011 are older, more likely to identify a religious affiliation, and include more women and members of racial and ethnic groups than Members in 1945. The data suggest that since the 79th Congress, Members have had high levels of education, and worked in professional positions prior to coming to Congress. The number of Members who previously served in the military has risen and fallen, largely in tandem with the levels of service in the broader population.