With math on his side, Rick Santorum is in the Republican presidential-nomination race for the long haul. Though Santorum’s campaign has prodded Mitt Romney for claiming that the delegate numbers game is on his side, a memo from a Santorum strategist outlines how the former senator can grab the nomination—using a model of the delegates he needs to win.  With Mississippi and Alabama’s primaries on Tuesday—which Romney is favored to walk away with—Santorum’s camp thinks he can win even if he loses both states. Santorum’s positives: momentum, the potential of a drawn-out campaign, the possibility of gaining Newt Gingrich’s delegates and unbound delegates, and a brokered convention. Unfortunately for Rick, if Mitt has a strong April, the race is probably over.

The unidentified American soldier who allegedly opened fire on helpless Afghan civilians, killing 16 near Kandahar, could face the death penalty. While the Army has not yet released the name of the soldier, he has been described as a 38-year-old father of two who was on his first tour in Afghanistan after three in Iraq. The sergeant, who had been trained as a sniper, had been treated for traumatic brain injury after a vehicle he was in rolled in Iraq in 2010, but military officials said it was too early to link his brain injury to the shootings. It is likely that, after psychological evaluation, the accused soldier will face charges in the U.S. military-justice system. President Obama, speaking to Americans who had already lost enthusiasm for the war, said the military will stick to plans to scale back troop commitments gradually over the next two years.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are creeping up on President Obama as new polls show the president’s approval rating at its lowest level ever. Obama now leads Romney 47 percent to 44 percent, down from a 6-point lead over Romney in February. The president holds a similar advantage over Santorum, polling at 48 percent to 44 percent. The CBS News/New York Times poll indicated that the Republican surge is at least partially attributable to Obama’s declining approval rating, which has fallen to 41 percent, down 9 points from a month ago. Romney ruled out picking Santorum as his running mate on Monday, saying the former Pennsylvania senator was not conservative enough. A Gallup poll showed, however, that the president’s approval rating was at a nine-month high.

Remember, the banks still haven’t said they’ve done anything wrong. The government filed a $25 billion settlement with the five biggest mortgage lenders—Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally Financial. The deal struck between the government, 49 states, and the banks is a major agreement in the ongoing saga of foreclosure abuse. The money will be split: $20 billion will go to borrowers to avoid foreclosure and $5 billion in cash to federal and state governments. The banks may still face criminal charges.

After four days of cross-border violence claimed 25 Palestinian lives, Egyptian officials say they have helped broker a truce between Israel and Gaza militants. The two sides “agreed to end the current operations” and “begin a comprehensive and mutual calm,” Egyptians said of the deal. The militants in Gaza reportedly fired close to 150 rockets into Israel since Friday, injuring eight Israelis, military officials said. Hamas’s leadership in Gaza said their forces stayed out of the fighting. Schools were closed, and Israelis stayed in their houses. Meanwhile, in Gaza about 80 Palestinians were wounded.

You probably won’t see ads for Yahoo in your mini-feed anytime soon. Yahoo has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming that the world’s premier social network infringed on 10 of Yahoo’s patents. Among the complaints cited are violations in ads, privacy features, messages, and customization. Yahoo is looking for Zuckerberg and Co. to pay “all damages caused.” Facebook, on the other hand, said it will vigorously fight the “puzzling” accusations. Facebook filed for a hefty $5 billion IPO last month.

While alumni and students continue to criticize Penn State for the firing of legendary football coach Joe Paterno last fall, trustees at Penn State released a statement Monday attributing his dismissal to “failure of leadership.” The coach who led the Nittany Lions for more than 45 years fell short when he chose to do only his “minimum legal duty” after an employee claimed that assistant coach Jerry Sandusky raped a young boy in a shower. The university’s board of trustees has explained on multiple previous occasions its rationale for firing Paterno, prompting the late coach’s family to release a statement through their lawyer saying they were disappointed by the board’s decision to explain again why Paterno was fired “so suddenly and unjustifiably.” Paterno died in January due to complications from lung cancer at the age of 85.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has narrowed the gap between himself and challenger François Hollande to less than 1 percent, according to a poll released Monday. It’s the closest Sarkozy has come to overtaking Hollande, though the poll also shows that only 45 percent of French voters would cast their ballot for Sarkozy in a May runoff. Only 27 percent of respondents think the incumbent’s campaign is the best one going. On Sunday, in what opponents said was an attempt to rev up the flagging effort, Sarkozy said he’d fight for stricter French trade and immigration standards unless the European Union tighten its enforcement.

There’s been a lot of stone-throwing in this glass house, according to the family who built the towering place of worship into one of the world’s most recognizable churches, then watched it slip into decline. After decades of involvement with the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., senior pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman announced Sunday that she and the rest of the Schuller clan would be splitting with the church. Sheila’s father, Robert Schuller, founded the church and launched its signature Hour of Power television show. The family said they were resigning from the Crystal Church’s board of trustees because of an “adversarial and negative attitude” from the other board members, and alleged they are owed money by the church.

Jon Hamm may play a ladies’ man on television, but Kim Kardashian isn’t buying his act. In an interview with Elle UK, the Mad Men star commented on the state of popular culture, saying, “Whether it’s Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated.” Hamm went on to say that being an “idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you’re rewarded significantly.” In an extended Twitter post, Kardashian struck back. “We’re all working hard and we all have to respect one another,” the reality star reminded Hamm. “Calling someone who runs their own businesses, is a part of a successful TV show, produces, writes, designs, and creates, ‘stupid,’ is in my opinion careless.”

The Afghan parliament is calling for a public trial against the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians Sunday. Lawmakers want the man, who allegedly shot dead nine children and three women, to face trial in Afghanistan, and passed a resolution saying that they've lost patience with foreign troops. The Taliban on Monday also vowed revenge. It's not yet clear what prompted the attack, but new details have emerged: an Afghan youth recounted how the serviceman, who seems to have acted alone, moved through homes like he was searching for targets, then even burned some of the bodies.

Bobbi Kristina Brown spoke about Whitney Houston’s death for the first time in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on Sunday night. Brown said that she plans to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a performer. “I still have a voice—yeah we are going to do the singing thing, we are going to do the singing and the acting,” she told Winfrey. The 19-year-old called her mother “a best friend, a sister, a comforter,” and explained that she still feels her mother is close to her. “I can hear her voice in spirit talking to me, ‘I’m right here I’ve got you.’ I can always feel her with me,” she said.

President Obama and his administration are touting a new U.S. report out Monday that show oil imports down by 10 percent from last year and domestic production at its highest since 2003. The report by six federal agencies is being released in an election year that’s seeing the Republican candidates accusing Obama of causing gas prices to rise. The U.S. now imports 45 percent of its oil, down from 57 percent in 2008 and down a million barrels a day from last year. Domestic crude production rose by 120,000 barrels a day in 2011 compared to 2010, to about 5.6 million barrels a day.

The chemistry professor who warned the world that aerosol chemicals were destroying the ozone layer has died at age 84. F. Sherwood Rowland of University of California, Irvine, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995. He discovered—two decades before that—that chlorofluorocarbons, used in products like spray cans, were making a huge hole in the earth’s atmosphere, which blocks humans from harmful ultraviolet rays. Rowland died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Corona del Mar, Calif.

Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina, and Michigan State are the top seeds in this year’s NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. Michigan State was the only one of the No. 1’s to win its conference tournament over the weekend—the other three teams had early exits that had threatened to throw the whole bracket into chaos. Kansas, Duke, Missouri, and Ohio State are the second seeds, and bubble teams like Pac-12 regular-season champion Washington were left out.

A University of Maryland student has been arrested and charged after allegedly threatening to go on a “shooting rampage” Sunday on campus. Alexander Song, 19, posted on a website Saturday that “I will be on a shooting rampage tomorrow on campus” and “hopefully I kill enough people to make it to national news.” He warned others to “stay away from the Mall tomorrow at 1:30.” Song was arrested and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. He has been suspended from the school after being charged with disturbing the orderly conduct of the university and could face six months in jail.

The country simply can’t get a break. A huge avalanche struck two remote villages in northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, with 45 people feared trapped under the snow. “We are not sure how many died and how many survived,” a provincial spokesman said. “There is no rescue team there yet.” It’s been the worst winter in the country for some 30 years as heavy snowfall has resulted in more avalanches than normal. At least 50 people were killed in another avalanche March 4 in Badakhshan province.

The case over accusations that former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky raped and sexually abused children continues Monday as his lawyers ask for more information about the alleged crimes. Sandusky is not expected to attend the hearing, but his defense attorneys are trying to get information about the 10 purported victims and when and where the alleged crimes occurred—including names of people who were reportedly present or nearby—which would throw light on the magnitude of the charges and how strong a case the prosecutors have. Sandusky remains in house arrest at his central Pennsylvania home awaiting trial in May.

Invisible Children, the nonprofit group that produced the hugely popular half-hour documentary Kony 2012 about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, will release a new film Monday to respond to criticism of its transparency and that it manipulates the facts in its efforts to end the murders and rapes committed by the child-recruiting LRA. The Kony 2012 video has been viewed more than 72 million times on YouTube, but with the new success comes critiques of its methods, including charges that the filmmakers fail to sufficiently protect the children who were shown in the documentary.

Well, he just lost the teleprompter vote. In Rick Santorum’s ongoing war on teleprompters—or as Santorum probably calls them, “digital mouthpieces for pollsters and speechwriters”—the presidential hopeful said that it should be illegal to use the machine. “You’re voting for someone who is going to be the leader of our government,” he said. “It’s important for you to understand who that person is in their own words, see them, look them in the eye...hear what’s (in their) heart.” It seems as though President Obama and Mitt Romney are reading other peoples’ less-inspired words, at least according to surging Santorum.

Gas prices are up, which is bad news for President Obama’s approval rating, which has seen a significantly negative turn in response to the rising costs at the pump. While last month, 44 percent of those polled approved of Obama’s handling of the economy and 53 disapproved, now 59 percent disapprove while only 38 percent approve. More specifically, 65 percent of the public disapproves of how the president is handling the “situation with gas prices,” with only 26 percent saying they approve.

European Union finance ministers are meeting Monday to decide whether to approve a $170 billion bailout package to Greece—which would be the second in two years—after the country successfully restructured its debt last week. But even if the aid is approved, the reprieve could be short-lived, because the country is planning on holding new elections in late April or early May to vote for new leadership. Euro-zone leaders could pull the plug if the eventual winners of the elections do not deliver on austerity reform.

Tongues are wagging at South by Southwest over reports that CNN is in talks to buy Mashable, the social media blog that racks up 20 million unique visitors every month. Reuters’ Felix Salmon reports that the deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, while The New York Times says the talks aren’t quite there yet. Mashable, which was launched in 2005 by Scottish founder Pete Cashmore, covers social-media news with a focus on business and tech.

Friends don’t let friends become political enemies. A new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project shows that 9 percent of social-networking users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone because they disagreed over something about politics posted. Eight percent have done so because they argued about politics. (Read the report here.) But friends often disagree without comment: 73 percent of users “only sometimes” agree with friends’ political postings; 66 percent usually ignore the posts; 25 percent always agree or mostly agree.

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California is celebrating the 100th birthday of the former president's wife, Pat, with love letters that “Tricky Dick” wrote her years before rising to power. Nixon gushed and called his future bride “dearest heart” and “Irish gypsy.” “Every day and every night I want to see you and be with you,” he wrote. “Let’s go for a long ride Sunday; let’s go to the mountains weekends; let’s read books in front of fires; most of all, let’s really grow together and find the happiness we know is ours.” The two met while auditioning for a play in Southern California and dated for two years until he proposed on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He delivered her engagement ring in a small flower basket. They married in 1940.

Many in the South are not still convinced that President Obama is a Christian. A survey by Public Policy Polling reveals that a majority of Republicans in Alabama and Mississippi—states with primary elections on Tuesday—believe the president is a Muslim. Forty-five percent of Republican voters in Alabama think Obama is a Muslim, while 41 percent are "unsure." Only 14 percent believe he is Christian. In Mississippi, belief in the president's supposed Muslim faith is even stronger. Fifty-two percent of Republicans there think Obama is Muslim, while 36 percent are unsure and only 12 percent believe he is Christian.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton butted heads with her Russian counterpart during a frosty exchange at the United Nations today. The U.S. and Russia split on the best response to the crisis in Syria; both called for an end to the carnage, but with very different ideas about how to accomplish that. Clinton said, "We expect all nations, including Russia and China, to join us now in pressing the Assad regime to silence its guns, to allow humanitarian aid to enter, and to make way for a real political transition." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took a very different view, pointing out that while the Syrian authorities “bear a huge share of responsibility,” al Qaeda extremists and opposition fighters also bear some responsibility for the violence.

The U.S. has scuttled a Texas law that would have required voters to show a photo ID in order to vote, arguing that it would have unfairly targeted the state’s Hispanic voters. What’s more, the Justice Department argued that there was no problem to fix in the first place—Texas had not demonstrated any significant fraud that the new law would have corrected. It’s the second time the U.S. has struck down a voter ID mandate, the first time being a South Carolina law in December. Both states are appealing.

If it were a metaphor, it'd still be a very bad idea. But it's real. Homeless people at the South by Southwest music and interactive festival in Texas have had 4G routers strapped on them and been turned into wireless hotspots. The program, a "charitable experiment" started by advertising agency BBH Labs, allows the already hip and connected festivalgoers to pay a whatever-you-wish donation to get Wi-Fi access. Wired magazine's Tim Carmody slammed the idea: "The homeless turned not just into walking, talking hotspots, but walking, talking billboards for a program that doesn’t care anything at all about them or their future."

In a surprise twist, Apple has successfully launched a new product. Wall Street estimates indicate that the company will shift more than 1 million of its new iPads on launch day, March 16. Apple had previously said that preorders were “off the charts,” and ship dates for the devices have been slipping behind by several weeks. One research analyst said in a note to investors: “Clearly, this is a positive sign for demand of the new iPad, particularly because initial supply appeared to be strong for the first few days of pre-orders.” The first-generation iPad sold 300,000 units on its first day on sale back in 2010.

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal has given up the gun and taken up a fencing sword in a new music video for the French band The Shoes. In “Time to Dance,” Gyllenhaal plays a serial killer who knocks off victims by slicing throats, chasing them up fire escapes, and more nefarious acts. We’re even given an intense close-up of the Donnie Darko star getting a close shave. The electro-pop video is not Gyllenhaal’s first venture into the music world—he played a tennis player in Vampire Weekend’s “Giving Up the Gun.”

The American soldier who allegedly went on a shooting spree in Afghanistan, killing 16 villagers as they slept, had a traumatic brain injury at one point in his life, officials told ABC News. The soldier had been declared fit for duty and was deployed to Afghanistan in December, but his identification remains under wraps as protests over what is to be done with him spread across the country. Reports on Monday were that the soldier was a 38-year-old who had been deployed four times, the first three in Iraq. An official said the soldier had suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in the past in a minor accident and had received treatment at a U.S. base. He had also undergone a mental-health screening to become a sniper in 2008. The soldier was said to have had marital problems during his last deployment in Iraq and had trouble reintegrating with his squadron.