The main reason to shell out for a score is to check it about six months before you want to get a mortgage or car loan.

WSJ: Getting Going: Why Aren't Credit Scores Free?

Main Street is a ghostly shell, and efforts to revive the place continue to stall.

ECONOMIST: Pine Bluff prepares for disposal

Friday night it gave foreign oil interests in Nigeria, especially Shell, which the main operator in Niger Delta, till midnight Friday to leave the area or face what one commander called total war.

NPR: Nigerian Authorities Seek Release of Contractors

Observers say the LCD party, which now becomes the main opposition, may be reduced to a shell ahead of general elections due in May.

BBC: Lesotho's PM Pakalitha Mosisili deserts political party

The main question before the court when it hears the Shell and Torture Protection cases, probably in February, will be whether the laws can be applied to organizations instead of individuals.

FORBES: Supreme Court To Decide If 1789 Law Applies To Shell in 2012