Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has come under sharp attacks from his opponents on the left, after a video leaked this week in which Romney referred to 47 percent of Americans as "victims," who are dependent of the government.

Late Monday, Mother Jones released video surreptitiously shot during a fundraiser for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in May. Romney’s team response was swift, but he stood by those remarks. What are independent voters saying in response?

Since the drawdown of troops began last summer, the American mission in Afghanistan has been clear: train Afghan troops. But after a string of deadly attacks on NATO personnel by rogue Afghan security forces, that mission, at least temporarily, has changed.

In Vienna, one of the biggest fraud cases relating to the trade in rare musical instruments in underway. At the heart of the drama is a prominent dealer named Dietmar Machold — widely considered to be a world expert in rare and highly-prized Stradivarius violins. Bethany Bell, a reporter for the BBC based in Vienna, explains.

Do you know the first president to write a memoir? Or the one to host the first White House Easter Egg Roll? And if we were to grade each president, would Reagan really come out on top — as many modern Republicans suggest? Kenneth C. Davis knows plenty about the commander-in-chiefs. He's the author the new book, in stores this week, “Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents.”

Burmese democracy activist Aung Sung Suu Kyi will receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in Washington today. Robert Lieberman explores Burma, ruled for years by a repressive military government, in his new documentary, "They Call It Myanmar."

At the age of 18, Damien Echols was wrongfully convicted of murder, along with two other teenagers, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. He was finally released, along with Baldwin and Misskelley, on a plea bargain last August. He shares his story in his new memoir, “Life After Death.”

Ben Folds Five released it’s first new album in 13 years this week, and maybe for the first time since disbanding the eponymous three-piece over a decade ago, the piano man himself finally sounds like he’s a little happier about things. Jay Cowit, Takeaway technical director, reviews the album.