The general everyone's talking about spent almost four hours on Capitol Hill today testifying before Congress about the 9/11 Benghazi attacks. According to ABC News, Petraeus defended U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who has been the target of Republican attacks over her own previous testimony. One GOP senator said that Petraeus "clarified some of the issues that were still a little cloudy." One thing he didn't clarify: his relationship with biographer Paula Broadwell, whom he did not mention. 

Preparing for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country has approved a call for up to 75,000 reserve troops. Israeli aircraft were already bombing Hamas government buildings in response to rockets fired from Gaza that had landed in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, President Obama spoke to Israeli and Egyptian leaders to address the increasingly dangerous conflict. Speaking to Netanyahu, Obama encouraged ways to scale back the escalating conflict while reiterating Israel's “right to defend itself.” In a separate call, Obama also praised Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s attempts to ease tensions. 

Get those Twinkies while you can, as they might soon be a thing of the past. Hostess announced on Friday it is going out of business, claiming that a union strike ruined its operations. Hostess has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court asking to close and sell its assets. This may mean the end of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Wonder Bread, although the company said it may sell its recipes to the highest bidder. Bakery operations have ended at all company plants, and the company will lay off all 18,500 employees. Hostess Brands will continue to be sold for the next several days until all of the already-baked products are sold.

Anyone still scratching their heads over the GOP’s loss: keep reading. During a discussion of poll findings at the Capitol Hill Club Friday, two Republican centrists—former Rep. Tom Davis and retiring Rep. Steve LaTourette—offered a pointed take on the GOP’s problem: the party scares women and minorities. “Some of the groups that would have agreed with us on a lot of issues, they don’t even look at us. We scare them,” said Davis. The two said this week’s move to install Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers as conference chairwoman (the fourth-ranking position in the House) was a step in the right direction, but that there’s much work to be done. According to LaTourette, the GOP needs to change their image from “a group of 50-something white guys from below the Mason-Dixon line,” or they’re doomed to fail.

Now we know why that furniture is so cheap. On Friday, the retail giant admitted that some of its products were produced by East German prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s who were  jailed for political reasons. Peter Betzel, head of Ikea Germany, made the bold move of apologizing for the company’s actions to a roomful of former prisoners. A recent report by auditors had confirmed that managers knew the practice was going on. "It is not and never was acceptable to Ikea that it should be selling products made by political prisoners and I would like to express my deepest regret for this to the victims and their families," Betzel said.

President Obama and congressional leaders seemed in good spirits Friday as they had the first in a series of sit-down talks on a possible deficit-reduction deal that would prevent the country from careening off the “fiscal cliff.” Obama opened his first post-election meeting with lawmakers on both sides by noting that the biggest challenge will be to ensure they can “cooperate together” and “make tough compromises.” Lawmakers appear to have gotten off on the right foot, agreeing to discuss reforming tax code and “entitlement” programs—at this rate real cooperation could be in the future.

John McAfee, the former security-software mogul wanted by police in connection to a murder in Belize last weekend, stays on the lam because Belize authorities will execute him. At least that's what the 67-year-old fugitive told The Telegraph in a phone interview from an unknown location. "What one can expect is that GSU ... will beat me soundly until I confess to a multitude of sins ... and then just simply execute me," he said, adding that he did not kill his neighbor. "Good Lord. I just cannot conceive of myself doing anything like that." McAfee has also been communicating with Wired magazine, describing his evasion tactics: lying on the floors of taxis and traveling by boat, to name a few.

A Louisiana oil rig caught fire on Friday, with 11 people being taken to the hospital, the Coast Guard said. No oil has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico thus far. The rig is not drilling at a deepwater site like the one that blew out in 2010, killing 11 workers and creating one of the most disastrous offshore oil spills in U.S. history. It’s a shallow-water platform located on the south-central Louisiana coast.

The question is, was the man of the hour there? Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite at the center of the David Petraeus scandal, allegedly visited the White House three times in the past year—including to dine with an unnamed staffer in recent months. A White House official confirmed the allegations, saying she had been there “once for a tour with her family and twice for courtesy meals with a White House staffer.” First thrust into the media late last week, when it was revealed that she was the “other woman” in the Petreaus mess, Kelley remains under intense scrutiny for allegedly exchanging inappropriate emails with John Allen, the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

A Missouri man has been charged with allegedly plotting a mass shooting spree at a screening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. Blaec Lammers, 20, reportedly bought assault rifles and ammunition and planned on attacking a weekend Twilight screening. Not to be deterred, the Twihards came out at night, like true vampire fans. Midnight showings of Breaking Dawn Part 2 took in $30.4 million—though the total is a little inflated due to some Thursday previews. Initial box-office receipts are already besting the previous four installments of the popular franchise, though the tally wasn’t enough to beat the opening-night sales record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.

The Pentagon informed the Obama administration that seizing Syria’s supply of chemical weapons would require more than 75,000 troops. The Defense Department has not yet been ordered to draw up detailed plans for such an operation, but it calls into question whether or not the U.S. could act quickly in such an instance. The assessment emerged amid reports that militant group Hizbollah has set up training camps near some chemical weapons depots. In August, President Obama had warned that “a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus.”

Where’s the trust? The CIA’s inspector general has reportedly begun an internal investigation into the general conduct of David Petraeus during the 14 months he was in charge of the agency. The FBI has already said that their investigation has not turned up any threat to national security, but the inspector general reportedly wants to make sure that Petraeus did not misuse any agency assets during his affair with Broadwell. A CIA spokesperson said the investigation is “exploratory” and “doesn’t presuppose any particular outcome.”

Tragedy struck a Midland, Tex., parade on Thursday evening when least four people were killed in a train accident. Around 5pm, a Union Pacific train hit a flatbed trailer carrying 24 veterans and their families. The group was on their way to the “Hunt for Heroes” parade to honor veterans. Another 17 were injured, and 10 of those casualties were in critical condition. What caused the accident remains unclear, but a witness said the truck appeared to have gotten stuck on the tracks. The National Transportation Safety Board says it is investigating the crash.

For someone who went through a presidential campaign cycle, Sen. John McCain hasn’t quite learned how to tolerate tough questions. On Thursday, journalists revealed that McCain skipped a classified Senate Homeland Security briefing about the Benghazi attack in order to hold a press conference on events in Libya. Asked by CNN’s Ted Barrett why he didn’t just go to the briefing to get his questions answered, McCain snapped. “I’m not going to comment on how I spend my time to the media.” Pressed further McCain snapped, “Because I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?” A spokesman later said McCain had missed the hearing “due to a scheduling error.”

Late for a flight and wanted to avoid airport security? A woman with a small child in her car rammed a gate at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and drove onto an active runway on Thursday. She drove onto the runway around 10 p.m. and was quickly stopped by police. A police spokesperson said that the woman may have been impaired and was detained. Neither the woman nor the child was injured, but airport operations were interrupted for about 15 minutes.

In response to reports of suicides linked to foreclosures, Spain has introduced a new law to help protect families from eviction. Under the new rule, issued by royal decree, banks cannot evict families who cannot pay their mortgages for two years, and it applies to families who meet certain conditions, such as making less than $2,041 per month or families with small children. One expert at Deutsche Bank AG said “there seem to be loopholes which could be exploited, which in turn could finally trigger a rise in nonperforming mortgage losses.” Around 400,000 homes have been foreclosed in Spain since the end of the property boom five years ago—and there have been two suicides over eviction in the past month alone.

The FBI special agent who sent Jill Kelley a shirtless photo of himself said Thursday the image wasn’t meant to be sexual. It “was a tongue-in-cheek joke,” Frederick Humphries explained, noting he sent the image to dozens of friends, including a reporter at The Seattle Times. In the 2010 photo, Humphries is posing with two target dummies in the picture, which is captioned, “Which One’s Fred?” Kelley turned to Humphries for help after she received harassing messages from an anonymous email address. Humphries then took the emails to the FBI’s cyber-crime unit, essentially launching the investigation that uncovered David Petraeus’s affair with Paula Broadwell.

Prosecutors on Thursday dropped drug charges against Stephanie Bongiovi, rocker Jon Bon Jovi’s 19-year-old daughter. Bongiovi was found unresponsive on Wednesday after reportedly overdosing on heroin at Hamilton College, and she and a fellow student were subsequently charged with possession of a small amount of heroin and marijuana. But under the Good Samaritan 911 law, which was signed in 2011, someone suffering a drug overdose or trying to help an overdose victim cannot be prosecuted for possessing small amounts of heroin or pot. The Good Samaritan law was created to reduce deaths from overdoses by encouraging people to call authorities without fear of being arrested for possession.

Once a belieber, always a belieber. TMZ reported on Friday that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had a midweek rendezvous and hooked up, despite their recent breakup and Gomez’s attempts to cut the pop star out of her life. Bieber picked up Gomez from the airport on Wednesday and then spent the night at her house. The next morning, the rebooted couple went to the Four Seasons Hotel together, though they entered at separate times. TMZ had previously reported that Gomez was trying break off with Bieber, even going so far as to block him on her cellphone.

Twihards have nothing on these guys. Gamers helped “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” shatter sales records this week, helping the latest installment in the popular franchise move $500 million worth of games in its first day. The previous record? A comparatively paltry $400 million set by 2011’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.” Hype certainly helped the sales numbers—over 16,000 midnight release events took place across the country.

Like true vampire fans, the Twihards come out at night. Late-night showings of the Twilight finale, Breaking Dawn, Part 2, took in $30.4 million from midnight showings in Friday’s wee hours—though the total is a little inflated due to some Thursday previews. Initial box-office receipts are already besting the previous four installments of the popular franchise, though the tally wasn’t enough to beat the opening-night sales record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 last summer.

Sorry, Karl, but you were dead wrong. That's what Fox News chief Roger Ailes said Thursday, noting Rove's error in refusing to accept that President Obama had won Ohio on election night. Rove had criticized Fox for calling the state prematurely for Obama, but Ailes made his decision-desk team go on the air and stick by their call. "As it turned out Rove was wrong," Ailes told TVNewser. "He backed down. Our guys were right."