  There have been several surprising developments in our understanding of
symbiotic binary stars and nova eruptions over the last decade or so based on
multiwavelength data. For example, symbiotic stars without shell burning on
their white dwarfs have been revealed through their X-ray emission, UV excess,
and UV variability. These purely accretion powered symbiotic stars have much
weaker optical emission lines than those with shell burning, and are therefore
harder to discover. Yet they may be as numerous as symbiotic stars with shell
burning. Interestingly, both types of symbiotic stars are capable of driving
strong outflows, leading to colliding wind X-ray emission and spatially
resolved jets. For nova eruptions, the most surprising discovery has been that
they are capable of particle acceleration as evidenced by Fermi detection of
novae as transient GeV gamma-ray sources. For nova eruptions in cataclysmic
variables, this implicates internal shocks, between a slow, dense outflow and a
fast outflow or wind. Other signatures of shocks include thermal X-rays and
non-thermal radio emissions, and a substantial fraction of optical emission may
be shock-powered in the early phase of novae. Radio (V959 Mon) and HST (V959
Mon and T Pyx) images of nova shells within a few years of their respective
eruptions suggest that the ejecta from a nova may commonly consist of an
equatorial ring and a bipolar outflow.
