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A woman sits on a bed in a dim, wallpapered room. There's an old rotary phone on a nightstand, a prescription pill bottle by the foot of a lamp. Her long wavy hair is brushed back, and the moonlight peers in from between the curtains, illuminating the flowery pattern of her nightgown and the small tattoo on her fleshy arm. Curled sleeping on the bed is a baby, and the woman's head is turned towards the child. But the expression on her face is unclear. Perhaps it's a look of resentment and exhaustion, of alienation and despair.

Good morning.

Earlier, we posted a guide to "who's who and what's what" in the Petraeus affair.

As for other stories making headlines, they include:

-- "Residents Flee Air Strikes On Syria Border Town." (Reuters)

Fiction and nonfiction releases from Ann Beattie, Ben Marcus, Jonathan Odell, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and Ellen Forney.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. It's a big year for the little word gif. The Oxford Dictionary has chosen it as the word of 2012. Short for graphic interface format, which are looping Internet animations, gif began as a noun in the 80s but caught on as a verb. For example, I giffed. That is made my own looping animations of the president's speech. Runners up include nomophobia - fear of being without your mobile phone. And YOLO - you only live once. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

A police officer in Sarasota, Fla., said he was being conscientious when he arrested a homeless man in a park, who was charging a cell phone in a picnic shelter. The officer accused him of theft of city utilities. A judge threw out the case.

Ian McEwan's 15th book of fiction, Sweet Tooth, is a Tootsie Roll Pop of a literary confection — hard-boiled candy enrobing a chewy surprise at its core. The novel is set 40 years ago, when communism was still perceived as a threat, and takes its title from a fictional clandestine mission by Britain's MI5 intelligence service to sponsor writers espousing the Cold Warrior cause.

There's a new twist to the Gen. David Petraeus scandal. The Pentagon announced the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged "inappropriate communications" with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell. That's the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair.

Transcript

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a small reprieve for Greece.

There are nearly 400 art galleries in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. Many of these galleries were flooded by the storm surge that accompanied Hurricane Sandy. One insurance company estimates it has $40 million in claims.