It appears that nothing can legally be done to prevent the re-entry to Israel in a few months of convicted murderer Eli Cohen. He cannot be incarcerated, retried or even denied parental rights.

Much of the advance talk regarding the next legislative session is predicting the fight ahead between Gov. Paul LePage and the new Democratic majorities in House and Senate.

Congress is looking for someone to blame for the fungal meningitis outbreak linked to steroid injections that so far has killed 34 people and sickened nearly 500. In hearings last week, partisan politics took the place of fact-finding.

Intelligence work is all about secrets: finding the other side’s, protecting your own.

One of the most valuable pieces of information about a video game is also the simplest: the rating that tells parents what ages the story and graphics are suitable for and why it might not be right for younger users.

Thanksgiving food drives have become as much a part of the holiday’s tradition for some Americans as football games and cranberry sauce.

Discussion of the “fiscal cliff” since the presidential election has focused so far on the type and amount of tax increases that congressional Republicans might accept and the changes in entitlement programs that President Barack Obama and Democrats could agree to in exchange.

While Sunday morning’s talk shows were all abuzz about what UN Ambassador Susan Rice said or did not say on a previous round of Sunday morning talk shows, news was happening in the Middle East.

The immediate cause of the exploding conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was a series of attacks by Palestinian militants, including a missile fired at a jeep carrying Israeli soldiers inside Israel, and a rain of rockets against Israeli towns — more than 180 in the course of a few days.

David Petraeus made an enormous contribution to his country. He helped rescue the war effort in Iraq. He led the troop surge in Afghanistan. He was accepted by Democrats and Republicans — 94-0 — when President Barack Obama nominated him to be chief of the Central Intelligence Agency. Now he is gone because of an affair with his biographer. It would be nice if someone in authority said straight out why he had to go.