With the final vote on health-care reform presumably on Sunday, every member of the House Democratic Caucus has been invited to a meeting with President Obama on the Hill on Saturday in a final effort to secure the necessary votes. On Friday, Obama spoke in Virginia about the importance of the bill and said that the issue is "about the character of our country" and that without reform, insurance companies "will continue to run amok." Obama also addressed the longstanding tension surrounding the bill, saying that it may not “play politically” and that advocates for the insurance industry are “doing everything they can to kill this bill." Earlier on Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer declared: “We’ll have the votes when the roll is called.”

First Joe Biden, then Hillary. Now President Obama himself will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Fox News says. Netanyahu will be in the U.S. for a meeting with AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobby, and since Obama has postponed his trip to Asia until June, he will be free to meet with the prime minister. Tensions between the United States and Israel have been raised ever since Israel announced plans to expand settlements in the West Bank while Biden was visiting the country.

A lot can change in a day: As of Friday evening, seven wavering Democrats have pledged to vote in favor of the Senate health-care bill on Sunday, Talking Points Memo and others report. Among the converts, four lawmakers who voted against the House health-care bill in November: Rep. Allen Boyd (one of the House's most conservative Democrats), Rep. John Boccieri, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, and Rep. Scott Murphy. In addition, Rep. Brad Ellsworth, who'd held out because of his stance on abortion, vowed to vote for the bill Friday, too. The new votes bring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi close to the 216 count she needs for the bill to pass. "It's looking good," she told reporters. Fox News has even announced that she's reached this magic number, with Kosmas' support.

When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday, he told her that in order for Russia to fully cooperate with the U.S., his country would have to be granted membership into the World Trade Organization. During their first meeting since she was appointed Secretary of State, Putin told Clinton, “We have been negotiating this issue for 17 years now.” She explained that the U.S. was committed to his request and are looking to help facilitate it. The Russian leader also hit Clinton with many economic complaints, saying Russian companies needed help breaking into the American market.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) sent a letter Thursday alerting two senators that he plans to urge a vote on the public option in the “coming months.” Reid wrote to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) that he was “disappointed” the legislation did not make it in and that he “will work to ensure that we are able to vote on the public option in the coming months.” Earlier in the day Friday, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) said that President Obama told him he couldn’t push for the public option this year, but might try again in the year to come.

Though Nancy Pelosi warned there’d be no horse-trading in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote on health-care reform, the House bill has recently been modified to the tune of $8.5 billion in changes that benefit 11 states. Some wavering Democrats from the Pacific Northwest to the Upper Midwest urged for increasing Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors, while others hoped to secure the Obama administration’s plan for an immigration law overhaul. Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Pelosi made a deal with New York’s congressional delegation to the tune of $2.1 billion after he said they’d have problems voting for the health care reform bill without certain changes. Another $100 million was added to fund hospitals that treat poor people in Tennessee. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn) announced Thursday he’ll vote yes. Rep Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) switched his vote after President Obama personally assured him an immigration reform package would soon follow health-care reform.

With more than 5,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the war started seven years ago, The New York Times Magazine presents a movie photo gallery "The Shrine Down the Hall" commemorating those who have fallen. Ashley Gilbertson photographed 20 dead soldiers’ bedrooms in black and white from homes all over the country to honor them, “not simply as soldiers, marines, airmen, and seamen, but as sons, daughters, sisters and brothers—and to remind us that before they fought, they lived, and they slept, just like us, at home,” the artist said.

After generating buzz at Sundance, The Runaways finally hits theaters this weekend—but, according to most critics, it does not live up to the hype. Multiple reviewers complain that the movie exaggerates the impact the band had on the music industry. Entertainment Weekly gave the film, which stars Twilight actresses Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, a B-, deeming it “a highly watchable if mostly run-of-the-mill group biopic." Variety was pleased with Fanning and Stewart’s performances as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, respectively, and USA Today says the movie is “ more arty than eye-opening.” The Hollywood Reporter adds that it is “ not memorable in the sense one recalls it afterward only in flashes and impressions." The New York Times’ A.O. Scott, however, is the sole voice of positivity: “The movie may be a little too tame in the end,” he writes, “but at its best it is just wild enough.”

After experiencing a rise in sexual assaults last year, an Argentine province has legalized a chemical castration process for rapists. Authorities in Mendoza met with a scientific legal committee to come to their decision to allow the voluntary chemical process. “By using medication that lowers the person’s sexual desire and with psychological treatment, the person can be reintroduced into society without being a threat,” said Mendoza Governor Celso Jaque. Thus far, 11 convicted rapists in Mendoza agreed to the treatment in exchange for a reduction in their sentences. Some experts, however, say that the treatment is reversible and ignores the fact that some perpetrators may still enjoy inflicting pain, even if their sexual impulses are curbed. In addition to Mendoza, eight U.S. states—California, Florida, Georgia, Montana, Oregon, Wisconsin, Louisiana, and Iowa—and several European countries have already adopted chemical castration.

Who would have thought the Taliban doesn’t like having its leaders arrested? The New York Times reports that the recent arrests of several high-ranking Taliban officials in Pakistan has led the group to cut off secret communications channels with the West. That’s bad news for peace negotiations, which the U.N. and the Taliban have been carrying out quietly in Dubai. According to Kai Eide, a former special representative for the U.N. secretary general who stepped down this month, the arrests were “negative on our possibilities to continue the political process that we saw as so necessary at that particular juncture.”

Freedom Alliance, the charity that hosts Freedom Concerts in conjunction with Sean Hannity, has issued a response to conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel’s charge that the operation is “all a huge scam.” Schlussel wrote that tax returns show the group spending less than 20 percent of its funds on charitable causes, but Freedom Alliance says it has spent at least 75 percent of its money on “program activities” for each of the past three years. It also says that it has never provided planes, hotels, cars, limos, or anything else to Hannity.

Another big upset in the NCAA tournament: No. 12-seed Cornell upset No. 5-seed Temple 78-65 on Friday in the first win for an Ivy League school since 1998. Led by seniors Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale, and Jeff Foote, it was the Big Red’s first win in five NCAA appearances. Dale scored 21 points, while Wittman scored 20. In an additional twist, Cornell’s coach, Steve Donahue, was the former assistant to Temple’s coach, Fran Dunphy.

A judge rejected the 9/11 legal settlement of over $500 million for those sickened by debris from the former World Trade Center on Friday, saying it did not appropriately compensate the 10,000 police offers, firefighters, and other laborers affected by the attacks. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein added that he was concerned that a large chunk of the money would go to legal fees and that the responders-turned-victims were pressured into signing on in 90 days without knowing just how much they could receive. The proposed settlement, which will now be renegotiated, would have offered the workers $575 million to $675 million, based on a complex point system. As Judge Hellerstein feared, at least a third of the money the plaintiffs received was expected to be turned over to their lawyers. “I will not preside over a settlement that is based on fear or ignorance,” the judge said.

The only confessed assassin of Malcolm X, Thomas Hagan, was granted parole on March 3. It was his 17th time applying for parole; his previous 16 attempts had been rejected. Hagan, 69, was a militant member of the Nation of Islam who shot Malcolm X on February 21, 1965. Two others were charged with the murder, but they maintained their innocence. When Hagan is released on April 28, he won’t be completely unfamiliar with the outside world: For the past two decades, he has been on work release, but he still spends two days a week locked up at the Lincoln Correctional Facility in Manhattan.

Why would anyone dislike a gory movie about guys who repossess artificial organs? Repo Men apparently makes it easy. Only 18 percent percent of its reviews have been positive, according to news aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, as the satire adapted from Eric Garcia’s novel The Repossession Mambo fails to impress critics with its all-star cast of Jude Law, Liev Schreiber, and Forest Whitaker. The premise is a dystopian world 20 years in the future where a company has harnessed the technology to replace any body part, but the replacements are unbelievably expensive, meaning no one can afford them—there’s your health-care parallel. And if people suddenly fall behind in their payments, then the repo men are on hand to knock on their door and take the organs back. “When, after a certain point, Repo Men subsumes its satire to strenuous action sequences,” writes Stephen Holden of the New York Times, “it loses its edge and turns into a chase movie of no special distinction.” Still, the film earned some guarded enthusiasm from Roger Ebert who wrote: “This is the kind of movie that baffles Hollywood, because it isn't made from any known formula and doesn't follow the rules.”

Is the health-care fight making some Republicans nostalgic for the Civil War? Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) spoke of the Civil War as “the Great War of Yankee Aggression” on Friday while denouncing health-care reform on the House floor. “If Obamacare passes, that free insurance card that’s in people’s pockets is gonna be as worthless as a Confederate dollar after the War Between the States—the Great War of Yankee Aggression,” he said.

Jesse James really knows how to pick them: Michelle McGee, the tattoo model with whom Sandra Bullock’s husband is said to have cheated, posed for photos with a Nazi armband while holding a dagger in her mouth. Furthermore, her ex-husband claims that she tattooed a large swastika on her stomach, wrote “White Power” in magnets on their fridge, and routinely dated gang members. In his custody battle for their 5-year-old child, McGee’s ex-husband wrote, “I believe that Michelle is mentally ill and should be in the care of a therapist, which the court ordered her to see, but she refuses to do so.”

One of New Delhi’s most common sights could soon become a thing of the past. A new proposal seeks to ban the more than 55,000 licensed green and yellow autorickshaws in the city—along with the 25,000 more that operate illegally. Proposed by Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, the ban would take about five years to phase all of them out (when she was met with anger in the state assembly, she said that it would not be imposed immediately). The three-wheel taxis have proliferated in Delhi’s streets with India’s economic boom and a high court ruled last month that it would be illegal to cap their numbers. “Autorickshaws are not a good option,” Dikshit said. “They are uncomfortable and pollute [the] environment. Autorickshaw drivers are unruly and harass passengers.” But drivers rejected the charge. "I don't even spit when people are in my rickshaw," one told The Guardian. "That's how polite I am."

As Congress works on overturning the military's ban on openly gay soldiers, a retired U.S. general offered up a particularly grotesque argument against integration: gays cause genocide. John Sheehan, a former general and supreme commander of NATO, told a hearing on gays in the military that the presence of gay soldiers among Dutch U.N. peacekeepers was a factor in causing the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. "That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war," and thus failed to stop Bosnian Serbs from killing Muslims, he said. After the hearing, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told CNN: "I know of no historian or commentator who has attributed this massive failure to protect the citizens of Srebrenica to Dutch policy on gays serving openly in their military."

They may be homemade, but improvised explosive devices used in attacks on U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan are 50 percent more lethal than they were three years ago. According to Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, who spoke to a House subcommittee about IEDs, part of the reason is that insurgents are becoming more sophisticated. In the past year alone, the number of IED attacks has doubled over the past year. What makes them so treacherous is that they are often fertilizer-based and cannot be picked up by metal detectors. The military has not yet found a clear solution for dealing with them. "There is no silver bullet," Oates said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced on Friday, “We’ll have the votes when the roll is called”; shortly thereafter, another Democrat, Rep. John Boccieri of Ohio, said that he would be switching his vote from “no” to “yes” on health-care reform. Boccieri is the fourth Democrat to switch his vote from no to yes in recent days. The House is expected to vote on health-care reform on Sunday.

Big-time businessman Hassan Nemazee took “full responsibility” in Federal District Court in Manhattan Thursday for a $272-million Ponzi scheme he ran from 1998 to 2009. Nemazee is well-known in top-tier Democratic fundraising circles for his donations to Obama, the Clintons, Kerry, and other causes. “I am deeply ashamed of my conduct,” the 60-year-old former CEO of Nemazee Capital said as he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and bank fraud. Nemazee’s fraud was based on soliciting multi-million dollar loans from Bank of America, Citibank, and HSBC for real estate transactions in Westchester County, NY.

Seeking to protect the Congo Republic from circling vulture funds, the Paris Club of sovereign creditors, along with Brazil, agreed Thursday to cancel all $2.4 billion of debt owed to them. "As a contribution to restoring the Republic of Congo's debt sustainability, the agreement will provide a cancellation of $981 million," the Club said in a statement. "Paris Club creditors also expressed their intention to grant additional debt relief to 100 percent on a bilateral basis for an amount of $1.4 billion." Congo and recently completed the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program, meaning it has met certain high standards for transparency and fighting corruption. The participating Paris Club members included France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Watching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in action, it's easy to forget that just two years ago she was engaged in a no-holds barred brawl with President Obama in the Democratic primary. Now the former senator has been an enthusiastic supporter of Obama's agenda, according to the New York Times. Her dedication was so strong last month she met with Obama for 45 minutes to work out a planned trip to the Persian Gulf immediately after hearing word that her husband was in the hospital with chest pains. “No one had any idea” that Clinton had a personal crisis going on back home, a White House official said. Obama reportedly has warmed to Hillary, at one point offering the White House for her daughter's upcoming wedding (she politely declined). Still, their working relationship remains less than clear—the Times notes she's been more apt to enforce Obama's policies than craft them. “We’ve developed, I think, a very good rapport, really positive back and forth about everything you can imagine,” Clinton told the Times.

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.

For the past three months, a suspected gang in California has left an array of deadly traps for cops that have only narrowly avoided doing damage. In what has been described as “urban terrorism” by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, the gang has set three booby traps since December clearly designed to kill police officers in the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force. One of the devices included a rigged handgun, designed to fire at an officer as they opened a gate. "It is incredible and even unprecedented for police officers here to be subject to terrorist attack," Brown said. "We have seen it south of the border, but not here yet." No suspects have been identified yet, but signs seem to point to the Vagos outlaw motorcycle gang, which is active in Hemet.

Anything can happen in the NCAA Tournament. And it usually does. On a day that saw six lower seeds provide upsets, none was so stunning as the one Ohio delivered against third-seeded Georgetown. In convincing fashion, the Mid American Conference champions humbled the Hoyas, 97-83 to become the first No. 14 seeds to win a game since 2006. Even though the Big East is widely considered the toughest conference in college basketball, its teams failed to show their pedigree Thursday as three of the four Big East teams in action fell to weaker sides. (No. 6 Notre Dame losing to No. 11 Old Dominion and No. 6 Marquette slipping up agianst No. 11 Washington were the other two.) Only No. 2 Villanova produced a victory and even then, it took overtime for them to sneak by No. 15 Robert Morris.

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).

Conventional wisdom among Republicans and Democrats is that health care is likely to pass in the House this weekend, but deciding which votes bring it across the finish line is a tough task for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The bill is likely to pass by the barest margins and a number of Democrats in conservative districts, like Jason Altmire (D-PA) and Bill Owens (D-NY), could face a backlash in the midterm elections for lending their support to the legislation. Now Democratic leaders must decide which representatives are permitted to vote against the bill and which ones will face an all-out pressure campaign. “Every vote around here is a heavy lift,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

As House Democrats scramble to gather votes for their hotly-debated health-care bill, a few detractors are saying they could now be persuaded to change their votes. Some anti-abortion House Democrats like Michigan’s Bart Stupak are saying they would be open to reconsidering the legislation, but only if it is amended in the Senate so that it will block federal funding for abortion. “A lot of promises are made around this town,” Stupak cautioned on Good Morning America Friday. “You got to lock them down, and there has been no lock-down yet. We're still negotiating.” Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur also said she could be swayed if the position on abortion changes.

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 President Obama reassuring Hispanic leaders this week that he'll tackle immigration after health care is finished, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) may have handed him the bill he needs to do it. The lawmakers unveiled a rare bipartisan agreement on a major piece of legislation with a plan that would legalize millions of undocumented immigrants, step up border enforcement efforts, and create a biometric identification card. The proposal quickly earned Obama's praise on Thursday; he said in a statement that the legislation "thoughtfully addresses the need to shore up our borders" and "demands accountability from both workers who are here illegally and employers who game the system."

For years, Sean Hannity has hosted “Freedom Concerts” across America. He has claimed that the proceeds are donated to help the children of fallen soldiers pay for college and to pay for the medical care of wounded veterans. But according to conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel, “it’s all a huge scam.” She went through the tax returns of Freedom Alliance, the charity that helps Hannity throw the concerts, and found that less than 20 percent of the money raised goes to these causes—in 2006, for example, Freedom Alliance raised almost $11 million, but only $397,900 was donated to children of fallen soldiers or to injured veterans. $979,485 was spent, meanwhile on consultants, and more than $3 million was spent on postage and shipping and printing. One person tells Schlussel that Hannity demands a private jet and a fleet of Cadillac or Lincoln SUVs to transport him to the concerts.