Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come to an agreement with the Kadima opposition party, forming a unity government and canceling the early election, according to media reports. The election had originally been scheduled for 2013, but disagreements over domestic issues caused Netanyahu to move up the date. Earlier in the day, the government had suggested moving it up to September 4 of this year. The agreement was reported early on Tuesday morning in Israel, but officials have yet to confirm it. Reports said that Kadima agreed to join Netanyahu's government on the condition that it supported a proposal on military deferment for ultra-Orthodox Jews, one of the central issues for the prime minister moving up the election date.

Rick Santorum threw his support behind presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney Monday, sending out an email to his supporters in which he endorsed the former Massachusetts governor. "Governor Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime," Santorum wrote. The endorsement comes after the two former rivals sat down for a one-on-one meeting in Pittsburgh last week where Santorum said he shared with Romney "the issues most important to conservatives." Santorum added, "I strongly encouraged Romney that he add more conservative leaders as an integral part of his team." Santorum dropped out of the Republican primary in early April, revealing that his campaign had run up against the money and power of Romney's well-oiled machine.

Bailout-reliant Greece could face new elections, after both leading parties lost at yesterday’s polls, letting a right-wing extremist group into Parliament with not enough votes to govern alone. The frontrunning New Democracy party failed to form a coalition government on Monday, which leaves the mandate in the hands of the leader of the second party, the Coalition of the Radical Left. President Karolos Papoulias will meet with Alexis Tsipras, that party's leader, on Tuesday, and if he fails to form a coalition, Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos will have a go. If he fails as well, Greece’s president will appoint an interim government in mid-June to reinstate new elections in 30 days—around the same time that it must spell out new austerity measures to avoid being pushed out of the euro zone.

The Associated Press has discovered that the CIA thwarted an al Qaeda bomb plot that was intended for around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, which passed last week. An al Qaeda affiliate group was planning an upgrade to the failed underwear bomb of Christmas 2009, using a bomb that allegedly contained no metal. The CIA stopped the plot before the would-be bomber purchased a ticket for what agents suspected to be a U.S.-bound flight. The bomb has been seized and is being tested to see if it could have, indeed, passed through security and if it had the ability to bring down a plane if detonated. U.S. officials, who asked the AP to hold off on reporting the case until it was finished, still have not confirmed the report, €”though anonymous sources assured its validity.

Oracle wins! Sort of. A jury has decided that Google did use some of Oracle’s Java interfaces—but it’€™s unclear whether the action was allowed under the fair-use doctrine. Google did, however, infringe on some Java code when building its Android phone software—but unfortunately Oracle will get only statutory damages. The lawsuit was filed in the summer of 2010, and Oracle initially demanded that it get $1 billion in damages and the removal of Android devices from the market. Interestingly, documents used in the trail revealed that in 2010 Google through Android would ink $3.5 billion in revenue. Google has requested a mistrial be declared, and will fiile official papers tomorrow.

Liberal donors are planning to inject over $100 million of outside money into grassroots organizing, voter registration, and voter turnout, instead of trying to match Republicans in advertising this election cycle. Famed businessman George Soros will donate to $1 million to America Votes, a group that coordinates political activity for left-leaning causes, and $1 million to another super PAC focusing on research. Conservative super PACs are expected to spend $300 million on the 2012 election. "The idea that we're going to engage in an arms race on advertising with the Republicans is not appealing to many liberal donors," one expert said.

Investigators have still not determined the cause of death of an Army captain who collapsed while Skyping with his wife, though they said on Monday that no foul play was suspected. Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark, 43, was found dead two hours after he fell forward on his computer while video chatting with his wife, who said she saw what appeared to be a bullet hole on the wall behind him. But investigators found no trauma on his body beyond a possible broken nose likely caused by the blow of falling on his face. Officials are still awaiting toxicology and autopsy results for Clark, who was stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Rachel "Bunny" Mellon's lawyer, Alex Forger, testified on Monday that the heiress considered the payments to John Edwards to be gifts, not campaign contributions. Despite the fact that the payments were falsely labeled as furniture payments, Forger testified that Mellon liked Edwards "as a person, not because he was running for president," and that she made the payments because she wanted to help him with his "personal problem." Forger also testified that the middleman who handled the checks had told him that Edwards "did not or should not know" about the money.

China has forced Al Jazeera, the popular Middle East broadcast network, to close the China news operations of its English-language channel. The Chinese government refused to renew correspondent Melissa Chan’s journalist visa or press credentials and would not allow another correspondent to replace her. Chan was scheduled to leave Beijing on Monday night. The government did not state a reason for the expulsion. The last time an accredited foreign correspondent was denied reporting privileges was in 1998.

Talk about tabloid fodder. An anonymous masseur has sued John Travolta for assault and sexual battery, claiming that the actor made a pass at him after hiring him for a massage. The suit alleges that Travolta began rubbing the masseur's leg, touched his scrotum and the shaft of his penis after the actor took off his clothes. It also claims that Travolta apologized after the masseur turned down his advances, but continued to try and persuade him to have sex with him and a Hollywood starlet in the building at the time. Travolta's rep has released a statement saying the suit is "a complete fiction and fabrication." The anonymous plaintiff, who identifies himself as John Doe in the lawsuit, is seeking $2 million in punitive damages.

Well, it’€™s a big bang of sorts. British scientists have a new theory about what killed the dinosaurs: flatulence. In a study, researchers found that the Jurassic beasts produced more than 530 million tons of methane gas a year—€”a byproduct of digestion. This amount, roughly the same amount of natural and man-made emissions in our society today, is enough to warm up the world. Who’€™s to blame? Probably those plant-eating sauropods, who ate about half a ton of ferns a day.

One day after Vice President Joe Biden expressed his support for gay marriage, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he too believes couples of the same sex should be allowed to wed. In an appearance on Morning Joe Monday, Mark Halperin asked Duncan, “Do you believe that same-sex men and women should be able to get legally married in the United States?” Duncan replied, “Yes, I do.” The secretary said that he had not been asked before what his stance on the issue was. After Biden said yesterday that he was “comfortable” with gay marriage, the White House was quick to say that he was speaking for himself and not signaling an administration policy change.

America is growing, the Associated Press reported Monday, but not in the way Mitt Romney and Barack Obama would like it to. Drawing on new government data, Duke University researchers predict that by the year 2030, the rate of severely obese Americans, people who weigh 100 pounds over the recommended weight for their body size and type, will have doubled to 11 percent of the population. Over the same time period, researchers estimate, the number of Americans who are obese will jump to 42 percent of the population. The new data showed that even while the rate at which Americans are becoming obese is leveling off, health problems like diabetes and heart disease will continue to plague American health-care costs.

President Obama has an advantage over Romney in the polls in a majority of categories, from foreign policy to health care, but he’s behind the GOP candidate on what is arguably the most crucial one: the economy. If he plays his cards right in the fall, he can reverse the current poll numbers, argues Michael Tomasky. Specifically, he has to use the Bain Capital card to prove that Romney worked for the 1 percent. Sometimes Romney helped workers, other times he hurt them—but nearly every time, the Bain CEO and his wealthy investors came out on top. Here’s a debate that, if argued right, could turn the middle class off Romney—and be Obama’s tipping point on the economy.

Americans should take two lessons from the recent diplomatic tussle that erupted over blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, writes former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Monday in The Wall Street Journal. The country’s influence may be growing, but “the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is profoundly insecure.” On top of that, people from all walks of Chinese life “are increasingly demanding a more transparent and fair society.” The American government and electorate need to come to a better understanding of these often contradictory forces, Huntsman argues. The example of Chen “has given us an opening that we can either see as a source of conflict or as an opening for expanding our dialogue” as America looks to develop more open relations with the Asian power.

A sheriff in Muscogee County, Georgia, claims he has opened the nation’s first jail that will serve only veteran inmates in the hope of cutting rates of recidivism. “If veterans are not dealing with issues they may have, where are they going to go? They’re going to go to local county jails,” John Darr told reporters. But those facilities often don’t have the resources necessary to help veterans assimilate to civilian life. Darr’s new facility will be located close to Fort Benning, a military base. While recent numbers are hard to come by, a 2004 report estimated that 140,000 veterans were incarcerated in state and federal prisons, a number that does not include inmates in county jails.

President Obama has mishandled foreign policy in the Middle East, Republican Sen. John McCain said Sunday. In particular, the United States should be putting weapons in the hands of forces opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, McCain said. The senator dismissed the idea that rebels may then use those same weapons in attacks against friendly nations, calling the Syrian opposition a “direct repudiation of al Qaeda” that tried first to achieve regime change peacefully. “How could we not stand up for these people?” McCain said in an appearance on ABC’s This Week. “How could we sit by and watch this slaughter go on while the president of the United States is totally silent?”

Two new polls are showing Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in a statistical tie for overall support across the nation. According to a Politico-George Washington University Battleground poll, Romney beats Obama 48 percent to 47 percent. But Obama wins over Romney 47 percent to 45 percent in a USA Today/Gallup Swing States Poll. The results were within the margin of error in both cases. Both polls found that while Obama remains more popular personally, voters believe that Romney would be better at fixing the economy. In analysis of the results, pollsters said that the Romney is €œa credible candidate who is fully capable of defeating Obama.

NATO has acknowledged that an airstrike in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan killed six civilians on Friday. The strike was intended to target Taliban forces that had launched an attack in the area. Instead, six members of a family were hit. The provincial spokesman said that they are deeply sorry for the civilian deaths. NATO is also planning an apology. Another incident in the northwest of Afghanistan has reportedly left 14 civilians dead, though no apology has been announced.

A video showing Warren Weinstein, a 70-year-old American citizen who was kidnapped in Pakistan last year, surfaced on Islamist websites Sunday. “My life is in your hands, Mr. President,” the al Qaeda captive said in the video, addressing President Obama. “If you accept the demands, I live. If you don’t accept the demands, I die.” A development consultant who was kidnapped in the city of Lahore, Weinstein referenced his children and Obama’s daughters in the three-minute impassioned plea for help, asking that the president fulfill a list of eight demands laid out by terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The demands include the release of any person charged with belonging to al Qaeda and the Taliban and an end to strikes in Pakistan.

Vice President Joe Biden sent White House staffers into a PR tizzy Sunday after saying on Meet the Press that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. Biden is known for going off the script, and staffers said that the veep was speaking for himself and not for President Obama. Calculations in the Oval Office on the issue of gay marriage have been slower than many advocates for a more-liberal national policy would like; Obama has said that his views on same-sex marriage are “evolving.” Biden’s candid remarks made him the highest-ranking member of the executive branch to publicly express support for gay marriage.

A nation of pubescent girls just went out and bought Raging Bull on Blu-ray. Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber accompanied Floyd Mayweather Jr. to the ring Saturday, and now TMZ reports that the “Baby” singer has become friendly with the hard-knuckled champion ever since he saw Bieber in Never Say Never. According to TMZ’s sources, Bieber thinks of Mayweather as a mentor who’s really just a “hardworking and clean-cut guy”—even though Mayweather’s about to spend a three-month stint in prison on domestic-violence charges. Bieber carried two of the super welterweight’s title belts to the ring when Mayweather took on Miguel Cotto Saturday.

Hundreds of opposition protesters were detained in Russia Monday as Vladimir Putin was sworn in as president after serving four years as prime minister. Putin took his oath of office in a glittering former throne room in the Kremlin that included a blessing from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Outside, however, 20,000 people rallied in a demonstration against the former KGB spy that turned violent when protesters and police fought with batons and flagpoles. “Putin has shown his true face, how he ‘loves’ his people—with police force,” said Dmitry Gorbunov, a 35-year-old computer analyst involved in the protests.

News Corp. board members have a cushy job that “pays over $200,000 a year and requires lifting nothing heavier than a rubber stamp.” Sounds posh, but that’s precisely the problem at a company that requires some serious oversight, media reporter and columnist David Carr argues in The New York Times. There are plenty of reasons why the News Corp. board, which recently expressed its “full confidence” in chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, should be asking tough questions as the company is battered from all sides by hacking and corruption investigations. But that the board is stacked with family friends doesn’t help, Carr writes. Nor does the fact that “the board of News Corporation has no independence, little influence, and no stomach for confronting its chairman.”

The United States has engaged for several years in a secret program to release captured high-level militants from a prison in Afghanistan as part of a bid to calm violence in some provinces, The Washington Post reports. The “strategic release” program is risky, U.S. officials have acknowledged, but they have come to see it as a necessary bargaining chip in regions where violence has shown little sign of abating. “Everyone agrees that these are bad guys,” one U.S. official told The Post. “But the benefits outweigh the risks.” The militants are asked to pledge not to engage in violence against U.S. or Afghan troops again or risk further detainment. Officials would not comment on how many detainees released from the Parwan detention center may have returned to violence.

An Illinois couple who fled after getting caught running a Ponzi scheme on their friends, family, and the elderly were caught after 12 years on the run, authorities said Monday. U.S. marshals said Nelson Grant Hallahan and Janet Hallahan took off through the Southwest and lived under aliases, but were finally caught after an episode of America’s Most Wanted led someone to phone in a tip. The couple’s scheme, to which they pleaded guilty before skipping out on sentencing and going on the run, brought them millions of dollars, according to the marshals. The Hallahans were living apart and were arrested at separate homes about 50 miles outside Phoenix, according to one deputy marshal.

Syria held elections Monday as violence continued in the country, where more than 9,000 people have died since a popular uprising began more than a year ago. The vote for seats in the country’s 250-seat Parliament was a sham, members of the opposition against President Bashar al-Assad said. A total of 7,195 candidates from seven political parties are competing for the seats. Bashar al-Haraki, a member opposition coalition the Syrian National Council, said the election was “a farce which can be added to the regime’s masquerade.” Political parties that opposed Assad’s ruling Baath Party were illegal until the adoption of a new Constitution three months ago.

German Chancellor Angela Markel instilled a small measure of confidence in European investors Monday, saying she would welcome newly elected French President Francois Hollande with "open arms." Stocks dipped, then advanced in the first day of business after elections in Greece and France that were widely seen as rebukes by voters against leaders who favored austerity measures to solve Europe's debt crisis. Market indexes rose in 10 out of 16 European nations early Monday after sustaining brief pre-trading dips. Merkel told reporters she is ready to work with the socialist Hollande to promote sustainable growth for the euro zone.