Arizona’s hotly contested immigration law is headed to the Supreme Court. The high court announced in a brief statement on Monday that would it rule on whether the state could enforce the legislation, which has currently been put on hold by the Obama administration. The law, SB 1070, requires all immigrants to have their paperwork on them at all times and asks police officers to check for the documents during routine traffic stops if there’s reasonable suspicion that the person may be an alien. Recent appointee Elena Kagan will recuse herself due to her work on the case when she was solicitor general.

Amid an ongoing violent clampdown on protests by the government, Syria is forging ahead with local elections. But despite efforts to increase turnout, most citizens regard the elections as irrelevant. Overall participation is expected to be very low, since many citizens are scared to even show up at the polls—at least 18 people have been killed so far in clashes between opposition groups and security forces. Some, however, will be forced to vote. A U.K.-based human-rights group reported that dozens of people were compelled to go to the voting booth in Idlib, a center of unrest in the north. At least 5,000 have been killed during the nine-month protest, but Syria’s president insists that he’s not behind the crackdown.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron had to face hostile members of Parliament Monday after he vetoed a new euro agreement at the EU summit last week. His deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who is pro-Europe, decided not even to sit next to him in the House of Commons. Cameron told M.P.s that he negotiated in “good faith,” but became the only European leader to veto the agreement because it was not in the national interest. The agreement promises closer fiscal union between European states, but would have required heavy austerity measures if national finances get out of hand. Clegg said being isolated is bad for jobs and the British economy. London banks are also stunned by the veto, spooked that London will further lose financial influence on the continent.

Uh-oh. Iranian officials claim to be in the final stages of recovering data from a captured U.S. drone, which they plan to use to file a lawsuit against the United States for the aircraft’s “invasion.” Iranian officials also indicated they would be able to reproduce the drone using reverse engineering. On Monday, President Obama said the U.S. was pressuring Iran to return the drone, but a senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he would not give it back, because “no one returns the symbol of aggression.”

Faced with allegations of voter fraud, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party held a rally in Moscow Monday. Unfortunately, what should have been a hit back at the successful anti-Kremlin protests over the weekend was actually a dud. The New York Times reports that attendance at the rally was “sparse” and not enough to fill the space reserved. Even worse, some of the “supporters” confessed to being forced to come to the rally to make Putin look better on television. The hits keep coming for Putin: first his party lost its majority in the elections, then anti-Kremlin protests over the weekend brought an estimated 40,000 to revolt, and this morning billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced he was running for president.

President Obama said Washington's relationship with Iraq is "just starting" as the country's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, joined him for a press conference at the White House. The two leaders met to herald a new chapter as the war comes to a close before all U.S. troops withdraw by year's end. The two countries are expected to establish more normal but unfamiliar diplomatic ties. Meanwhile, NATO said Monday it will permanently withdraw all its soldiers from Iraq and end its military-training mission by Dec. 31, concurrent with the U.S. pullout date. Maliki had wanted the training mission to stay until the end of 2013, but insisted that all NATO troops in the country be subject to Iraq’s laws and courts. NATO declined, and decided to withdraw. (The demand also led to the full U.S. pullout.)

In Seattle, demonstrators crowded near the evicted 'Occupy' tent camp and marched to the city's Terminal 18 port, where police used stun grenades and pepper spray to run them away to another port, Terminal 5. Though there were only a few reported arrests, the protest coincides with a NFL game, and will make traffic a nightmare. Meanwhile, protesters shut down two major shipping terminals in Portland, Ore. Pickets were set up from San Diego to Anchorage in an effort to cut off shipping terminals up the entire West Coast. Though Occupiers said they were attempting to show their support for union workers’ rights, the largest unions at the Northwest ports didn’t endorse the shutdowns. 

Canada is leading the way—out of the Kyoto Protocol. The nation is using its legal right to withdraw from the 1997 treaty to end global warming. At the time, Canada’s Liberal government accepted the protocol, but the Conservatives have never used it. Last year, the nation—along with Russia and Japan—said it would not accept new details of the agreement. On Sunday, climate talks in South Africa led to 200 countries striking a deal that will pave the way for a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2015. Canada saves what would be $14 billion in fines for not meeting the regulations of the pact.

What goes “pop” and is on pace to sell around 340 million bottles this year? With sales already up 15 percent from last year, the champagne industry is readying for a huge holiday season. The industry fell drastically in 2008 and 2009 when the financial crisis began and forced champagne makers to cut production. But not all forecasts are bubbly: the euro crisis may put a serious damper on general celebrations—and pocketbooks.

A man who was rushed to the hospital after being shot in the head last Friday by a crazed gunman at a Hollywood intersection died on Monday. John Atterberry, a music executive who was formerly the vice president of Death Row Records, was driving near Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street when he was shot three times in the head by the gunman, who was then shot dead by police. Atterberry, who worked with big-name musicians including Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and Michael Jackson, was driving a Mercedes-Benz coupe when he was hit. The gunman has since been identified as Tyler Brehm, 26. Brehm had reportedly broken up with his longtime girlfriend days before the shooting. His ex-girlfriend told a local news station that he was “stressed out” and taking prescription drugs after the breakup.

The company formerly known as Blackwater will change its name once again, from Xe to Academi. According to Ted Wright, the CEO of the controversial security contractor, the company hopes to be more “boring.” But it’s also looking to get back into business in Iraq, which banned it in 2007 after a deadly shootout. "I think eventually, we're going to get a license; we're going to do business in Iraq," Wright tells The Wall Street Journal.

For all its construction wherewithal, Lowe’s Home Improvement isn’t very good at building bridges: The store has pulled its ads from TLC’s “All-American Muslim.” The move comes after the Florida Family Association, a conservative group, complained that the show was “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." Lowe’s said it was sorry for having "managed to make some people very unhappy,” and that “We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities.” In reaction, a state senator from southern California is considering organizing a boycott of Lowe’s.

Let's hope there's a whole chapter about Sarah Palin. Fox News chief Roger Ailes is in talks with publisher HarperCollins (owned by Fox chief Rupert Murdoch) to write an autobiography, New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman reports—with help from Jim Pinkerton, the ghostwriter behind Michele Bachmann’s Core of Conviction. Ailes’s new literary venture could signal that he's planning to leave Fox News when his contract expires in the summer of 2013. He has not tapped a successor inside Fox, but he recently expressed interest in owning the Cleveland Indians. The 71-year-old Ailes has a long history with Pinkerton, with whom he worked on George H.W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign. A Fox News spokesperson did not deny any of the claims outright but told The Daily Beast in a statement: "There is one source with direct knowledge of Roger’s plans … and that’s Roger himself. Since Roger has never spoken to [New York reporter] Gabe [Sherman] in his life, we continue to be fascinated with Gabe’s uncanny ability to read his mind."

Saudi Arabia executed a woman Monday for practicing magic and sorcery, which is banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom. But it obviously doesn’t ban beheading, which was how Amina bin Abdulhalim Nassar was killed, according to the interior ministry. The woman reportedly claimed she could treat people’s illnesses using witchcraft. Another woman was executed in October, reportedly for setting her husband’s house on fire, killing him. Saudi Arabia has beheaded 73 people this year.

Why does President Obama think you should reelect him? He rattled off his first-term resume on 60 Minutes Sunday: “Not only saving this country from a Great Depression. Not only saving the auto industry. But putting in place a system in which we're gonna start lowering health care costs and you're never gonna go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. Makin' sure that we have reformed the financial system, so we never again have taxpayer-funded bailouts and the system is more stable and secure. Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Decimating al Qaeda, including Bin Laden being taken off the field.” Rebutting some of his critics, Obama insisted “I didn’t overpromise,” and attacked Republicans for calculating, “Our best bet is to stand on the sidelines, 'cause we think the economy's gonna get worse, and at some point, just blame him.”

Oops, again. Perry faced a room full of hecklers while speaking in Ames, Iowa on Sunday afternoon. Following a speech in which Perry referenced the “$500 million that went to the country Solynda” (he also mispronounced the company's name), several hecklers began yelling from around the room about his recent ad attacking gay soldiers. Still, Perry is sticking by his guns and trying to paint himself as the most Christian, most conservative candidate in the race. He's spent more than $2 mililon so far on ads in Iowa.

The Los Angeles Lakers upended both the basketball and reality-television worlds Sunday by trading Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks. “We are all sad,” Odom’s wife, Khloe Kardashian, wrote on Twitter. She wasn’t the only one unhappy with the deal: “To be honest with you, I don’t like it” Kobe Bryant said. According to ESPN, Odom requested the trade after he was hurt to be included in an earlier three-team trade to the New Orleans Hornets that the league vetoed. In exchange for Odom, the Mavericks will give the Lakers a 2012 first-round draft pick.

After 20 years in overseas prisons, Manuel Noriega will serve out the rest of his days in Panama. The former Panamanian leader was extradited home Sunday evening to serve time on murder, corruption, and embezzlement charges. Once an ally of the U.S., Noriega spent 20 years in an American prison before his extradition in 2010 to France, where he was convicted of money laundering. It’s unclear, however, if he’ll remain in prison in Panama, which has a law allowing people over age 70 to serve out their sentences at home.

The Brooklyn DA has arrested 85 suspected child molesters over the past three years in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, according to the New York Post. The arrests came as the result of a special program called Kol Tzedek, which encourages victims to come forward from the insular communities. Of the 38 cases tried so far, 14 have resulted in jail time. The latest led to the arrest of a 27-year-old man, Andrew Goodman, who is accused of abusing two young boys, throwing parties with liquor and child porn, and threatening to kill a boy who reported him.

They’re not just for distant wars and border patrols: In June, police in North Dakota recorded the first arrests in the country made with the assistance of a Predator drone, after the aircraft helped them to locate suspects in the wilderness. Since then, local police in North Dakota have called in drone assistance from the Grand Forks Air Force Base at least two dozen more times. The FBI and DEA also use the unmanned aircraft in investigations, according to the Los Angeles Times. The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which typically uses them to patrol the country’s borders.

Remember in June when 60 Al Qaeda prisoners escaped from a prison in Yemen? Well, its happened again: Between 10 and 15 militants escaped from prison early Monday in the city of Aden. According to the Associated Press, they tunneled their way out. The tunnel was 130-feet long and dumped the prisoners at a petrol station outside the prison walls. In 2003, 11 Al Qaeda militants convicted for the U.S.S. Cole bombing escaped from the same prison.

Only one detainee remains in U.S. custody in Iraq. What should be done with him when American troops leave the country on December 31? The U.S. is debating trying to bring him with them, rather than handing him over to Iraqi custody like the rest of Iraqi detainees. Republicans are arguing to send him to Guantanamo Bay, but a military tribunal—perhaps at the naval base in Charleston, South Carolina—seems more likely. Such a course of action would require the approval of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

No one is more surprised by Newt Gingrich’s recent surge than Gingrich himself. The candidate admits in an exclusive interview with Peter J. Boyer that he nearly quit the race earlier this year, and says of his struggle over the summer, “It was really hard. I got fairly tired of doing radio shows with people who would say, ‘Well, so since you’re dead…” He also has the audacity to suggest that his plan for the poor “makes me, in some ways, like the two Roosevelts.” And in response to criticism that his policy ideas make him something of a big government conservative, Gingrich says, “If you want to smear people who are trying to think, fine.”

First her Playboy cover gets leaked, then this? Lindsay Lohan lost her purse during a busy Saturday night of partying. She reportedly left the $5,000 Chanel bag in her car and then found it missing, but a local returned it Sunday. Then she found her $10,000 in cash was missing, although her passport and probation documents were still there. Who carries around that much cash?

The family of suspected gunman Ross Truett Ashley has apologized to the family of the police officer who was slain last week on the campus of Virginia Tech in an apparent murder-suicide. “The Ashley family would like to offer their condolences to the family of Officer Crouse,” they said in a statement to the Associated Press. The funeral for officer Deriek Crouse will be held in Blacksburg, Va., at 2 p.m. ET Monday. Police are still investigating why Ashley, a part-time student at nearby Radford University, allegedly walked up to Crouse and shot him point blank, then reportedly committed suicide later.

Passengers on American Airlines flights might find passing the time a bit more difficult if the company’s flight attendants' union has its way. American confirmed Monday that it was considering cutting 30 Rock as a choice for passengers to watch on its flights following the continued fallout from the show’s star Alec Baldwin being kicked off one of its flights on Dec. 6. Baldwin may or may not have helped his cause over the weekend by appearing on Saturday Night Live in a sketch in which he portrayed an American pilot apologizing to Baldwin.

An interview with a young Fidel Castro, made just days after he claimed victory in Cuba’s revolution, has emerged after lying around untouched in the archives for more than 50 years. Shown as part of a new documentary, The Longest Day, released in Cuba last week, the footage shows the then-32-year-old Castro flushed with victory. “I devote my memory to the fallen heroes in this hour of triumph,” he said, speaking to a reporter on Jan. 4, 1959, in an airport in the eastern city of Camaguey. Castro had just toppled the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista on New Year’s Day.

Mitt Romney didn’t waste much time in the new week in going after new GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich. The former Massachusetts governor said Monday morning on Fox News that Gingrich demonstrated “erratic outspokenness” when he called Palestinians an “invented people” last week. Romney said that tendency "may be great in a campaign but not great for someone running for president.” The Romney campaign simultaneously sent out an email to reporters calling Gingrich an “unreliable leader," as many pundits believe Gingrich came out on top in the Iowa debate on Saturday, and polls show Gingrich with a comfortable lead in the key states of South Carolina and Florida. Romney’s email singled out a public-service announcement Gingrich had done with then–House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on climate change in 2008, which Gingrich has characterized as the "dumbest single thing I've done in recent years."

Vladimir Putin’s troubles are stacking up. As protests rage against allegedly flawed elections that saw his party narrowly cling to power, Russia’s prime minister will now be facing off against one of the richest men in the nation for the presidency. Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire tycoon who owns the New Jersey Nets, announced Monday that he will run for the job. “The society is waking up,” Prokhorov said at a news conference, saying he agrees with the anti-Putin demonstrations that have been gripping Moscow. Meanwhile, Putin's party United Russia held a rally in Moscow that few attended—and some were forced to attend.

My dog ate my homework. To be fair, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s not making any excuses on his stalled GOP presidential campaign, though he is. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Perry explained that his recovery from back surgery in July affected his debate performances. “I would suggest to you that I was pretty fatigued,” he said. “No excuses. It was error. It is what it is.” Then he went on to be a bit too honest. “Look, if anybody is looking for the perfect candidate, I’m not it.” He also said it’s too late to regret his performances. “Looking back and trying to ‘would have, could have, should have’ is an interesting question to ask, but the facts are the facts.”

Since she announced she’s not running for president, Sarah Palin has been out of the spotlight. Maybe the Fox News contributor is bored with staying home, so here she comes with an idea: put me back in the spotlight. The former vice-presidential candidate is pitching a new reality TV show. It would be about her husband Todd’s career as a championship snowmobile racer; it frankly sounds cold and noisy. Then again, so did her TLC show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which ended in November 2010. So far, TLC has passed, and so has A&E. Palin is reportedly asking a steep price—Palin’s Alaska went for more than $1 million an episode.