How did Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, come to cross swords with Fox News’s Glenn Beck? This week, the congressman released a report on one of Beck’s advertisers, Goldline International, alleging that the company “grossly overcharges consumers for their coins.” Read the rest of this entry »

At CIA headquarters last week, spy chief Leon Panetta was presiding over a quiet ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Security Protective Service, the agency’s police force, when things went, er, to the dogs. “For our agency, you form the first line of defense,” the director told the assembled crowd in remarks that were shaping up as pro forma, says one intelligence insider. Panetta then paid tribute to the elite SPS K-9 corps, calling its dogged efforts at tasks like bomb detection “indispensable.” (The pooches are so skilled that they’re often called into special service at events like the Super Bowl.) At the end of Panetta’s remarks, Bob, a chocolate Labrador retriever, trotted forward carrying on his collar a special commemorative badge for the director. As Panetta leaned over to give Bob a pat, the dog unexpectedly jumped up and slathered the boss with a big kiss. Panetta, the proud owner of an Irish setter, chuckled in good humor.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a delegation to China this week for a series of economic and diplomatic meetings in Beijing. For Clinton, the agenda includes trying to forge consensus on issues from North Korea and Iran to the improvement of intellectual property rights. Boosting U.S. exports to China, meanwhile, tops Geithner’s priority list, but there are a host of other vexing issues in his portfolio, including China’s reluctance to revalue its currency and the yawning trade imbalance between the two nations. Fitting then, that employees at the Treasury have adopted a new moniker for their boss: Safecracker. “The name stuck because he’s meticulous and intensely focused when he works on these complicated problems; it’s like he’s trying to crack a secret code or something,” says one staffer.