Officials Say F.B.I. Knew of Petraeus Affair in the Summer  —  WASHINGTON — High-level officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department were notified in the late summer that F.B.I. agents had uncovered what appeared to be an extramarital affair involving the director …

The GOP's media cocoon  —  A long-simmering generational battle in the conservative movement is boiling over after last week's shellacking, with younger operatives and ideologues going public with calls that Republicans break free from a political-media cocoon that has become intellectually suffocating and self defeating.

MSNBC, Its Ratings Rising, Gains Ground on Fox News  —  On Tuesday night, with a minute to go until the polls closed in the battleground state of Virginia, the MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews received word through their earpieces that the state was too close to call …

Romney campaign's lasting mark  —  With the election over, supporters of Mitt Romney have to pack up their campaign signs and paraphernalia and get on with their lives.  —  But what if you can't get rid of that stuff?  Literally.  —  Eric Hartsburg caught some attention in the weeks leading …

Grover Norquist: Obama reelected by characterizing Romney as ‘a poopy-head’  —  Grover Norquist, the man who to many represents the GOP's hard line stance against raising taxes, said Monday that the results of the recent election and the looming fiscal cliff are no reason for the GOP to compromise on a deficit deal.

Hawks and Hypocrites  —  Back in 2010, self-styled deficit hawks — better described as deficit scolds — took over much of our political discourse.  At a time of mass unemployment and record-low borrowing costs, a time when economic theory said we needed more, not less, deficit spending …

Threat-focused Iran launches ‘biggest ever’ air drills  —  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran launched military drills across half the country on Monday, warning it would act against aggressors less than a week after Washington accused Iranian warplanes of firing on a U.S. drone.

North America leads shift in global energy balance, IEA says in latest World Energy Outlook  —  The global energy map is changing in dramatic fashion, the International Energy Agency said as it launched the 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO).  The Agency's flagship publication …