The U.S.-Israel dispute might soon be smoothed over. Israeli Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday with proposals on how to begin a resolution with Palestine. Clinton also agreed to meet Netanyahu in Washington for face-to-face talks. Israel's recent announcement of new construction in disputed parts of Jerusalem embarrassed Vice President Joe Biden on his goodwill visit to Israel. While the details of the proposals have not been disclosed, they were enough to prompt the Obama administration to send special envoy George Mitchell to the region this Sunday to begin indirect talks. According to a State Department spokesman, "They discussed the specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere for progress toward peace."

With news from the Congressional Budget Office showing health-care legislation will save $138 billion over the next decade while continuing to expand coverage to 32 million currently uninsured Americans, two legislators on the fence announced they would now vote for the bill. Congress watchers believe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes she is between five and 10 votes from the 216 she needs to pass the bill. Along with Colorado's Betsy Markey, Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon, a Blue Dog Democrat, voted against the bill during its first rounds, but has since changed his decision. "In November, I said I hoped the Senate and House could work out the difference and produce a bill I could support—one that takes responsible steps to make health care more affordable for our economy and for our families and small businesses," he said. However, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) voted yes on the previous bill and is now leaning no, in part because of taxes to high-end plans, and so is Rep. Zack Space (D-OH).

Another twist in the bizarre case of “JihadJane”: After admitting to participating in a terrorist plot and later pleading not guilty, Colleen LaRose is now cooperating with FBI investigation efforts, according to her congressman. LaRose, who used the Internet handle “JihadJane,” allegedly participated in a plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammed. Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA), who represents LaRose’s district, said he believes that the indictment was only filed after the FBI learned as much as possible from her and that she has been cooperative. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office have declined to comment.

ABC News paid out $200,000 that helped fund accused murderer Casey Anthony’s legal defense as she faces charges of murdering her toddler. The network’s payout was uncovered when Anthony tried to declare herself indigent, asking the state of Florida to pick up the tab for the death-penalty case she is facing, and her defense team admitted to using $200,000 from ABC News. A spokesman said the network paid the sum in order to license photos and home video of the toddler, so they could play the images on their channel, but did not pay Anthony for an interview. She is charged with first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. The toddler’s remains were found near her home.

All the dominoes are falling into place for a vote on health-care reform: Democrats are touting the results of the Congressional Budget Office's report on the expected costs and benefits health-care reform. The report shows the bill costing $940 billion over 10 years, but, by increasing revenue and cutting costs, the bill will actually lead to a $130 billion reduction in the deficit over 10 years. Over the next 10 years, it will reduce the deficit by an addition $1.2 trillion. It will also extend coverage to 32 million currently uninsured Americans, so that 95 percent of the legal population will have health insurance. Ezra Klein points out that this is more deficit reduction than both earlier versions of the House and Senate bills, and more coverage than the Senate bill. 

Jihad Jane, meet your soul mate: David Coleman Headley pleaded guilty in a Chicago court Thursday to plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and scouting Mumbai before the terrorist assault in 2008 that left 166 people dead. Headley faced the death penalty if convicted on the most serious charge—conspiracy to bomb public places and six counts of murdering U.S. nationals; however, his plea deal rules out the death penalty so long as he cooperates with investigations.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour has been tapped by ABC News to be the new anchor of This Week, following in the steps of George Stephanopoulos. She will focus the program on international issues and anchor longer prime-time documentary projects in her new position. “We will continue to provide the best in interviews and analysis about domestic politics and policies” but, with Amanpour, “we will add to that an international perspective,” ABC News President David Westin said in a statement Thursday. Amanpour has reported on world conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda and the Balkans and has spoken with leaders and military chiefs from some of the most tenuous areas for global exclusives. “I’m thrilled to be joining the incredible team at ABC News,” said Amanpour.

A gift to Democrats for the upcoming campaign season? Politico reports that a federal grand jury has subpoenaed the National Republican Senatorial Committee as part of its investigation into Senator John Ensign’s affair with a former staffer. The jury wants documents from the committee pertaining to Ensign’s tenure as the NRSC chairman during the 2007-2008 election cycle. According to local reports, federal agents are also investigating Ensign for allegedly offering to block legislation for a Nevada credit-card company in exchange for a $28,000 donation to the NRSC.

Ben Smith  says it's "the clearest sign yet that Nancy Pelosi has the votes," but Kate Pickert points out that personal interventions in Massachusetts and Copenhagen didn't do much good: Either way, President Obama has delayed his trip to Indonesia and Australia, scheduled for Sunday, until June. But it’s the second time he’s pushed it back; originally, he was supposed to depart on Thursday. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said the trip was delayed because Obama wanted to be in Washington when Congress votes on Sunday.

Did Jesse James cheat on Sandra Bullock or didn’t he? It’s hard to tell if he’s fessing up in a statement he issued to People magazine. Jesse James says, "The vast majority of the allegations reported are untrue and unfounded. Beyond that, I will not dignify these private matters with any further public comment. There is only one person to blame for this whole situation, and that is me. It's because of my poor judgment that I deserve everything bad that is coming my way. This has caused my wife and kids pain and embarrassment beyond comprehension and I am extremely saddened to have brought this on them. I am truly very sorry for the grief I have caused them. I hope one day they can find it in their hearts to forgive me."

Coming soon to a television near you: Variety reports that Sarah Palin is near a deal for her TV project about Alaska, which Mark Burnett will produce. A&E and Discovery are the front-runners for the show, which is expected to cost about $1 million per episode. Variety says the show “will center on interesting characters, traditions, and attractions in the 49th state—with the ex-VP candidate as guide.” Palin and Burnett pitched the show to the four major networks, before moving on to cable. A decision could be made in the next day or two.

As the Red River continues to rise because of rapidly melting snow, residents of Fargo, North Dakota, and the surrounding areas have all hands on deck to brace the area for flooding, and have thrown down more than 1 million sandbags at the river’s edge. Members of the National Guard are on site and numerous volunteers have been at work for days, including inmates, who get a day taken off their sentences for each day spent volunteering. "Usually in normal floods there's one day of chaos. We have the potential for not having that this year," said Fargo’s mayor. Still, the river is expected to rise to 38 feet and could put a number of residences and roads in jeopardy. “Right now our focus is on life saving and protecting property,” said a spokesman for FEMA. “We feel confident in our plan.”

Tiger Woods’ former porn-star mistress is apparently hoping to spoil his return to golf: Joslyn James has released a bunch of text messages that she claims are from the golfer. "Have you ever had a golden shower done to you," asks one.  “I want to treat you rough,” reads another. “Throw you around, spank and slap you.” He says elsewhere he wants to "choke" and "bite" her. Another gem: "Then im going to tell you to shut the F--k up while i slap your face and pull your hair for making noise." In a final text, Tiger appears to flip out on James. “Don’t F—ing talk to me,” it reads. “You almost just ruined my whole life. If my agent and these guys would have seen you there, F—k.”

Alex Chilton, whose raspy voice powered huge hits like "The Letter" with the Box Tops in the 60s, died Wednesday at the age of 59. Chilton had been complaining of health problems earlier in the day, and was taken to a hospital by paramedics from his home in New Orleans, but they were unable to revive him. Chilton was set to play Saturday at Austin's South by Southwest, a festival that showcases indie rock, a genre the Memphis-born singer-songwriter pretty much invented.

What will Lady Gaga wear to court? An ex-boyfriend of the pop star, songwriter Rob Fusari, is suing her for $30 million, saying that he came up with her stage name and that they made a business deal giving him 20 percent ownership of her companies. The lawsuit is awfully personal: It calls Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, a “scorned woman.” Fusari says that over a seven day period in 2006, he remade Gaga from a piano-playing “guidette” into her present-day image, and he went on to cowrite “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” and “Paparazzi.” The couple broke up in January 2007.

At age 7, Berthe Meijer was freed from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she says she remembers Anne Frank telling fairy tales to other kids to distract them from the horrors of the Holocaust. Meijer’s family knew Frank’s in Amsterdam, where both families hid from German occupiers until they were caught and sent to the camp. Meijer’s book deals with her struggles to live with her memories after the war ended, and though she mentions the famous diarist on just a few pages, the book is titled Life After Anne Frank, because it’s meant to tell victims’ stories after Frank’s diary leaves off. "The dividing line is where the diary of Anne Frank ends. Because then you fall into a big black hole," Meijer told the Associated Press. She remembers Frank, who died at the camp at 15, telling "fairy tales in which nasty things happened, and that was of course very much related to the war… But as a kid you get lifted out of the everyday nastiness. That's something I remember. You're listening to someone telling something that has nothing to do with what's happening around you—so it's a bit of escape."

Russia can join Israel in the penalty box: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Russia during her visit to the country on Thursday for aiding Iran in its construction of a nuclear power plant. Clinton said that Iran should first demonstrate it’s not developing nuclear weapons, adding "In the absence of those reassurances, we think it would be premature to go forward with any projects at this time, because we want to send an unequivocal message to the Iranians.” Her statement came just hours after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the plant would be finished in just a few months. The Washington Post calls the tiff “the most visible sign of discord in a visit that both sides celebrated as marking an improvement in relations since the Obama administration took office.”

Less than a week after actor Corey Haim died of what appeared to be an accidental overdose, Los Angeles police have charged someone with providing him with illegal prescription drugs. The suspect has not yet been identified, though he or she is believed to be involved in what officials called a "massive" drug ring. Officials added that the investigation into the ring had been under way long before Haim died. So far, investigators have discovered about 5,000 fraudulent prescriptions connected to the drug ring.

In an effort to mark his own authority, acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved his cabinet Wednesday. Jonathan, the vice president who has filled in since February during President Umaru Yar’Adua’s absence due to illness, appears to have made the unexpected move without presenting a clear reason to the public. It is widely believed that he is simply trying to consolidate power—the cabinet had been picked by Yar’Adua—ahead of next year’s election, which could be moved up by about three months. Nobel Prize-winning writer, Wole Soyinka, however, says he believes the dissolution was the right thing to do, despite his well-documented criticism of Nigerian politics. "I think he's been as delicate as anybody who's in charge of country like Nigeria can be," Soyinka said. "In fact, I think he's erred on the overcautious side. This should have happened a very long time ago."

U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday that a drone strike last week killed a senior al Qaeda trainer in Pakistan. The trainer, Sadam Hussein Al Hussami, also known as Ghazwan Al-Yemeni, had coached Taliban and foreign al Qaeda recruits for attacks on troops in Afghanistan, among others. He was also one of the masterminds behind the strike on a CIA base in the city of Khost, which killed eight CIA staffers. "He's a significant operator," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer now at the Brookings Institution. "And it's another sign that the pressure is substantial." Hussami's death is being trumpeted as a significant blow to al Qaeda, while the organization is praising his "martyrdom" on various Web sites.

After more than a year and half of recession, the U.S. stock market may be getting a reprieve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its highest point since October 2008 on Wednesday. Buoyed by evidence that the economic recovery isn't pushing inflation, the Dow rose for its seventh consecutive session, reaching 10767.98 in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index grew 0.8 percent to 1169.20. "There's nothing here to stop the stock rally," said one investment strategist. "That comes on the heels of the Fed's statement yesterday that we don't have to tighten because inflation is not an issue."

Nearly a century and a half after Augustus Tolton escaped slavery in Missouri and became the nation’s first black Roman Catholic priest on record, he will be considered for sainthood. A commission will assess the reverend’s "heroic virtues" and present his case to the Vatican, upon which he could become St. Augustus. After being ordained in Rome because no American seminary would admit him, Tolton returned to Quincy, Illinois, where he preached to an integrated congregation. He eventually moved to Chicago to start a mission for African Americans in the basement of another parish. That eventually became the city’s first black parish. "To think that every seminary in the U.S. was closed to him… but that did not stand in the way of him being able to fulfill his call," said Vanessa White, director of the Tolton Center for African-American Catholics at Catholic Theological Union.

One of the most recognizable faces of CNN appears close to defecting. Christiane Amanpour, a longtime foreign correspondent for the network, is expected to become the host of ABC’s political talk show This Week. An announcement could be made as early as tomorrow, though many details still have to be ironed out. One concern is that Amanpour has made her name reporting on foreign affairs, but one ABC News staffer told The New York Times’ Media Decoder blog that they are confident she can adapt to political reporting.

House Democrats are inching slowly toward the majority they need to pass the health-care bill, but believe they could be ready for a vote by Sunday. Working frantically to court the roughly three dozen Democrats whose votes are still believed to be in play, House Dems locked in two more on Wednesday from Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Dale Kildee of Michigan—both had expressed serious reservations. Actually passing the bill could require employing several procedural technicalities like budget reconciliation to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. But President Obama said he is not worried. “What I can tell you is that the vote that’s taken in the House will be a vote for health-care reform,” he said. “And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health-care reform.”

A few dozen congressional Democrats have massive targets on their backs thanks to their public wavering on the health-care overhaul. Some indecisive representatives are worried about abortion, others costs or polls, but by delaying their commitment to vote yea or nay, many are feeling intense pressure as the bill enters crunch time. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA) has met with the president twice this month, received a phone call from him on Air Force One, had his district circled by planes carrying anti-health-care reform banners, and has been confronted by Tea Partiers in his office, The Washington Post reports. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) had a long meeting with the president Tuesday, the first in his 12 years in office. Meanwhile, Democratic strategists are increasingly frustrated with representatives who are facing no serious electoral threat yet are threatening to vote no. If no Republicans vote for the bill, Democrats can lose only 37 of their members, and they want those no slots to go to people in highly competitive districts. But right now, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), for example, says he’ll vote no, despite winning his seat by 70 points in 2008.

Idaho's governor signed a law Wednesday requiring the state's attorney general to sue the federal government over any mandate to require health insurance. The move leads the way in a states-rights backlash against potential legislation. According to the Associated Press, similar legislation is in the works in 37 states. Gov. Butch Otter conceded that law scholars believe that federal law will trump state law in a U.S. District Court case. "The ivory tower folks will tell you, 'No, they're not going anywhere,'" Otter said Wednesday. "But I'll tell you what, you get 36 states, that's a critical mass. That's a constitutional mass."

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told House Financial Services Committee members Wednesday that he would like retain regulatory powers within the Federal Reserve which are under threat by newly proposed reforms. “We are quite concerned by proposals to make the Fed a regulator only of the biggest banks,” Bernanke said. “It makes us essentially the too-big-to-fail regulator. We don’t want that responsibility.” On Monday, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd released a plan which would limit regulatory powers of the Fed so that it only supervised banks with assets over $50 billion.

Vice President Joe Biden, who is known to keep his foot in close proximity to his mouth, made Washington wince Wednesday night with his wisecrack about Tiger Woods. At the Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner, Biden said being vice president gave him certainly privileges like getting tips from Tiger Woods. "Hey guys, those were golf tips," he joked. Earlier in the day, Biden committed a bit of a diplomatic boo-boo when he said of visiting Irish Prime Minist Brian Cowen's mother, "God rest her soul." Cowen's mum is still alive.

Notorious fraudster Bernard Madoff was sent to a prison hospital in December after receiving a broken nose and other injuries suffered at the hands of a felon serving time for drug conviction. Three sources confirm new details of the assault to The Wall Street Journal, while officials at the Bureau of Prison deny that the assault took place at all. According to the broadsheet, the attacker has a black belt in Judo and believed Madoff owed him money.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined the chorus of European leaders calling for investigations into sex-abuse allegations against Catholic priests. Merkel called the scandal a "major challenge" Wednesday while the Archbishop of Dublin said more inquiries are needed in Ireland. Merkel's remarks come just before Pope Benedict XVI is expected to release a pastoral letter addressed to the Irish faithful. The latest sex-abuse allegations stretch across Europe.

Will they count her handle as evidence against her? Colleen LaRose, the woman who called herself “JihadJane” online, pleaded not guilty to four terror-related charges on Thursday, despite the fact that she admitted to the FBI in October that she participated in a plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammed. LaRose appeared in court in a green jumpsuit with her blond hair in cornrows; she was arrested after returning to the United States from Europe in 2009.

So much for standing up for the little guy: House Minority Leader John Boehner spoke to the American Bankers Association on Wednesday and when the subject of new regulations came up, he told the bankers, “Don’t let those little punk staffers take advantage of you and stand up for yourselves.” Think Progress points out that, in February, Boehner met with JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to appeal for Wall Street support by stressing that “Republicans had stood up to Mr. Obama’s efforts to curb pay and impose new regulations.”

Sandra Bullock has left the house she shares with her husband Jesse James, a source tells People magazine. On Wednesday, In Touch magazine reported James cheated on Bullock while she was filming The Blind Side. Earlier this month, the actress won her first Oscar for that role. On Monday, she she canceled an appearance at the London premiere for the film. The couple met in 2004 and were married a year later. James is the host of a Discovery Channel show, Monster Garage. In Touch magazine first reported the alleged affair James had with a tattoo model.