Inside the talks: Fiscal framework emerges  —  Listen to top Democrats and Republicans talk on camera, and it sounds like they could not be further apart on a year-end tax-and-spending deal - a down payment on a $4 trillion grand bargain.  —  But behind the scenes, top officials …

Damascus fighting cuts off Internet, airport  —  (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad just outside Damascus on Thursday, forcing the closure of the main airport road, and the Dubai-based Emirates airline suspended flights to the Syrian capital.

Photo of Officer Giving Boots to Barefoot Man Warms Hearts Online  —  On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence Deprimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man.  The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots …

The Trouble With Susan Rice  —  The would-be secretary of state's record on Iran, Israel, human rights and more.  —  Several Republican senators continue to oppose the possible nomination of Susan Rice, currently the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to be secretary of state in President Obama's second term.

The Incestuous Bleeding of the Republican Party  —  If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 22314.  —  Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza …

The Science Behind Those Obama Campaign E-Mails  —  One fascination in a presidential race mostly bereft of intrigue was the strange, incessant, and weirdly overfamiliar e-mails that emanated from the Obama campaign.  Anyone who shared an address with the campaign soon started receiving messages …

Drive to Unionize Fast-Food Workers Begins  —  After three years of working at the McDonald's restaurant on 51st Street and Broadway, Alterique Hall earns $8 an hour — and is yearning for something better.  —  So when he heard about an unusual campaign that aims to unionize dozens …

Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalized in Houston  —  Former President George H.W. Bush remains in a Houston hospital, where he has been for seven days as doctors battle a lingering cough that has drawn concern, officials said Thursday.  —  Bush, 88, has bronchitis …

National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 3rd quarter 2012 (second estimate); Corporate Profits, 3rd quarter 2012 (preliminary estimate)  —  Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

Mitt Romney face tattoo man does an about-face  —  Critics of Mitt Romney accused him of being a flip-flopper.  Now one of his die-hard supporters is guilty of the same charge.  —  Eric Hartsburg, the 30-year-old resident of Michigan City, Ind., inked the Romney/Ryan campaign's distinctive …

EXCLUSIVE: UN CONSPIRES TO EXPEL PROMINENT JEWISH GROUP FROM PALESTINE VOTE  —  Today, for the first time, the United Nations will name Palestine a (non-member) “observer state” by first engaging in exactly the charge that they press against Israel: apartheid.

Rick Warren: Churches Are ‘Probably’ Responsible For Negative Attitudes Towards Gays  —  Pastor Rick Warren admitted on CNN on Thursday that Evangelical churches are at least partly responsible for some of the negative attitudes towards gay and lesbian people.

Mortgage-interest deduction could be on the table in ‘fiscal cliff’ debate  —  Of all the deductions woven into the sprawling U.S. tax code, few have been more fiercely guarded than the enormous tax break that lets homeowners deduct the interest they pay on their mortgages.

VP Biden attends Costco grand opening in DC  —  Vice President Joe Biden attended the grand opening of a Costco in Washington D.C. on Thursday.  —  According to pool reports, Biden flashed his Costco card as he walked in, was met with cheers, and an employee handled his cart as he walked the aisles.

David Petraeus says he ‘screwed up royally’ in letter to old Army buddy  —  Ex-CIA chief David Petraeus took the blame for the extramarital affair that torpedoed his career, but his forgiving wife, Holly, is sticking by him, according to a newly revealed private letter.

Top Romney strategist: Failure to reach out to women, Hispanics biggest mistake  —  Mitt Romney's top political strategist on Thursday said the campaign's failure to reach out to women and Hispanic voters was their biggest mistake.  —  In an interview on CBS's “This Morning,” …

Fed Stimulus Likely in 2013  —  Bond Buying Is Expected to Continue in Effort to Spur Slow-Growing Economy  —  Three months after launching an aggressive push to restart the lumbering U.S. economy, Federal Reserve officials are nearing a decision to continue those efforts into 2013 …

Jon Huntsman: GOP Primary Barriers To Entry Were ‘Pretty Damn Low’ … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Jon Huntsman, Republican Party, Republican Party, Video, Grover Norquist, Jon Huntsman Republican Primary, Gop 2012, Gop Future, Jon Huntsman Foreign Policy, Jon Huntsman Gay Marriage …

The Tea Party Goes to War  —  A left-right attempt to treat terror detainees like common criminals.  —  There's a lot to be said for the libertarian approach to government, but the realities of a dangerous world can make its more rigid adherents seem naïve.

The Brotherhood delusion  —  The great, acerbic 19th-century satirist Ambrose Bierce defined a revolution as “an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.”  He would understand events in Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak very well.  —  In the signature revolution of the Arab Spring …