Another new poll brings more good news for Barack Obama. According to the latest NBC News /Wall Street Journal poll numbers, the president holds a five-point lead over Mitt Romney among likely voters. What may be a bigger milestone for the Obama camp, however, is that his approval rating reached the 50 percent threshold for the first time since March. And the numbers may well only get better: the poll was taken prior to Romney’s controversial comments about the 47 percent of Americans “who are dependent on government.” It's not all good news for Obama though: his foreign policy approval rating is 49 percent—a 5-point drop since August.

Protests are flaring up across China and Japanese businesses are closing their doors as tensions escalate between the two countries, which are quarreling over control of an island chain. Japanese businesses including Panasonic, Canon, Honda, Mazda, and Toyota suspended their Chinese operations as tens of thousands of Chinese demonstrated in more than 50 cities. Almost 200 7-Eleven stores shut their doors, while clothing retailer Uniqlo also closed down its shops. As protests raged Tuesday, about 1,000 Chinese fishing boats neared the island chain (which is controlled by Japan and which China also claims sovereignty over) in an act of defiance.

A U.S. district judge ruled Tuesday that police officers in Arizona can begin questioning the immigration status of people they stop while enforcing other laws. The Supreme Court upheld the controversial so-called “show-me-your-papers” law in June, holding that it didn’t interfere with federal statutes. Today’s decision allows police to begin enforcing the policy immediately. Opponents of the law—parts of which have been in effect since 2010—asked Judge Susan Bolton to block its implementation in July on the grounds that it would promote racial profiling. President Obama has criticized the law, but federal officials say they will help uphold the policy so far as it helps remove repeat violators who may threaten national security.

Democrats and Republicans alike are criticizing Mitt Romney for his remarks leaked Tuesday claiming that “47 percent” of Americans are “dependent on the government.” Appearing on The Late Show on Tuesday, President Obama criticized Romney's comments, adding that a president must "work for everyone, not just for some." In an appearance Tuesday afternoon on Fox News, Romney attempted to clarify his comments, saying, “I do believe that we should have enough jobs and enough take-home pay such that people have the privilege of higher incomes that allow them to be paying taxes.” He added that Democrats “believe you have to take from some and give to others.” In the leaked May 17 speech, Romney also claimed Palestinians have “no interest” in peace with Israel.

Kids, pack those lunch boxes—the Chicago teacher’s strike is over. Well, for now, anyway. Union delegates voted to suspend the teachers' strike Tuesday night so that 350,000 students can return to school Wednesday. The union’s delegates met Tuesday to discuss a tentative agreement already approved by the union’s leadership and voted to suspend the strike effective immediately. The measure was approved by a margin of “like 98 percent to 2,” CTU President Karen Lewis said at a press conference following the decision. “We couldn’t solve all the problems of the world with one contract. And it was time to suspend." Mayor Rahm Emanuel lauded the decision as a "honest compromise." The union still has to vote to approve the new contract.

Thousands of followers of Islam are rioting in more than 20 countries around the world because of a movie that mocks the Prophet Muhammad—but that’s not stopping one French magazine’s plans to publish several cartoons depicting the prophet.  The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will publish cartoons depicting the prophet in what Le Monde reports are “particularly explicit poses” in a new issue hitting stands Wednesday. Depictions of Prophet Muhammad are forbidden by Muslims and considered blasphemous. In 2005, at least 100 people died in riots over a cartoon of Muhammad published in Denmark.

Maybe Romney understands financial hardship after all. In the waning months of the primaries, even when he was so often referred to as the “presumptive Republican nominee,” Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign borrowed $20 million, a senior campaign official confirmed Tuesday. Although Romney’s campaign had already raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the general election, election law prevented him from spending any of it until he became the official nominee. To compete with Obama’s cash flow, the campaign borrowed $20 million in August from the Bank of Georgetown. Thus far, $9 million has been paid back. The move is permitted by the Federal Election Commission.

This can’t bode well for health-care costs. A new report released Tuesday by Trust for America’s Health projects that by 2030 more than half of the people in a majority of the United States will be obese. Mississippi, which is currently America’s fattest state, is expected to nearly double its obesity rate from 35 percent to 67 percent. The new report’s predictions of overall obesity even surpass government forecasts, estimating that every state will have rates of obesity above 44 percent by 2030. The numbers are reportedly based on state-by-state surveys taken by the Centers for Disease Control from 1999 to 2010.

Now that’s entertainment. Presumed archenemies Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly announced Tuesday that they will debate each other live in an Oct. 6 live event called “O’Reilly v. Stewart 2012: The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium.” The event’s site explains “O’Reilly and Stewart will take an entertaining and comedic approach to today’s pressing political issues in an attempt to find the best direction for America.” If the duo’s combative history with each other is any indication, neither is likely to pull any punches. The event will be available for $4.95, a price tag that allows the user to stream it up to three times as well as download video and audio files at “a later date.”

Barack Obama has already been feted at fundraisers by A-listers like George Clooney, Chris Bosh, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Anna Wintour. Tuesday night, it was Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s turn. The king and queen of hip-hop hosted an event to raise money for the president at the 40/40 club in New York City, for $40,000 a head. Obama praised his hosts at the fundraiser, saying Beyoncé “could not be a better role model for my girls” and remarking upon the surprising similarities between himself and Jay-Z: “We both have daughters, and our wives are more popular than we are.” He also made a rare, albeit veiled, reference to being the first black president of the United States, saying, “We’ve made history in the past, and we’re going to make history again in the next seven weeks.”

A French court on Tuesday launched a criminal investigation into the magazine Closer, which published topless photographs of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge last week. The court in Nanterre, near Paris, said the magazine has 24 hours to hand over the photos and banned further publication of the photos. The royal couple has filed a lawsuit against the magazine, and the palace called the photos a “grotesque” invasion of privacy. Meanwhile the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge continued their tour of Southern Asia on Monday, where they were greeted by topless tribeswomen in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. Catherine laughed when the tribeswomen presented her with a nude female sculpture.

There could be more damage to Mitt Romney than just the now-infamous “47 percent” remark. The Obama campaign on Monday attacked the Romney camp over a leaked campaign video where the Republican nominee brags about touring a Chinese factory as president of Bain Capital—and Romney’s campaign gave an official “no comment” on the story. In the video Romney describes the company as having crowded workers into crowded dormitories behind barbed wire while paying them only a pittance compared with American wages. Romney’s had a somewhat strained relationship with China, a point Vice President Joe Biden hit hard on the campaign trail on Monday, quoting the Chinese state media criticizing Romney’s claims of a hard line on trade between the two countries.

A video of Mitt Romney behind closed doors blasting the 47 percent of Americans he says don’t pay income tax has gone viral so quickly that the most wicked influenza strains are undoubtedly jealous. Now, New York’s Daily Intel reports that former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson is to blame—or thank, depending on your view. James Carter IV is credited as a research assistant on the Mother Jones piece that broke the story. Carter spends time “almost every day” searching for video clips of Republicans. Once he unearthed today’s infamous footage, he put the source in contact with Mother Jones, who he has worked with before.

As if a day could go by without a musical reality competition making an announcement about celebrity judges. NBC announced Monday that Usher and Shakira will replace Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera on Season 4 of The Voice, to air this spring. (Season 3 got underway earlier this month.) Current judges Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will return for the fourth cycle. “I am a singer and performer first, and I am so excited to get back to that love,” Aguilera said, adding that the back-to-back seasons is too much of a commitment for her. Green also has new music in the works, as well as an NBC comedy based on his life.

A former police chief in China on Tuesday admitted that he defected and said he did not contest charges of bribe taking and illegal surveillance, a court official said. Wang Lijun, the former police chief in southwest Chongqing province, who exposed the cover-up of the death of a British businessman in February by going to the U.S. consulate, allegedly admitted in court that he tried to conceal the murder of the businessman by former party boss Bo Xilai’s wife, according to an official account of the trial. Foreign reporters were barred from attending the trial. Many have speculated that Wang would say Bo had ordered the cover-up—signaling more charges are to come for Bo.

Is there really such a thing as the Ann Curry curse? The Today show has suffered historically low ratings since Curry’s departure—and is set to come in behind its competitor Good Morning, America for the third consecutive week. Today has long had a dominance in the ratings—even with the turnover of hosts over the years—but the loss of the 15-year-veteran Curry proved to be a bit too much. In the 10 weeks before Curry left the show, it averaged 4.94 million viewers with 2.1 million in the core advertising demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds. In the 10 weeks following her departure—including during the Olympics—NBC fell to an average 4.6 million viewers and just 1.9 million of 25- to 54-year-olds.

Too many viewings of The Shawshank Redemption? Mexican authorities said that 132 inmates escaped on Monday from a prison located about five miles from Texas. There is a $15,000 reward for the capture of the inmates, who escaped from the northern border town of Piedras Negras, in the state of Coahuila. Local and federal authorities are blocking roads leading to the U.S.

Looks like Paul Ryan might have a fitness-exaggeration problem. First his claim of a three-hour marathon was debunked, and now it looks like the P90X devotee could have exaggerated his claim that he has only 6 to 8 percent body fat. According to a report in Slate, only very elite athletes can maintain that level of body fat—even Olympic swimmers have 9.5 percent body fat. Even if Ryan had reached 6 to 8 percent body fat at some point, at least one expert points out that it’s very, very hard to stay at that level—and possibly dangerous to one’s health. A Ryan spokeswoman did not respond for comment.

The president of Media for Christ, a Christian charitable organization based in California, said that he was tricked into letting the director of Innocence of Muslims use the charity’s broadcast studio to make the film that inflamed the Muslim world last week. “The final product … bore no resemblance to the film I thought he was making,” said Joseph Nassralla, head of Media for Christ. Nassralla said that he has had to go into hiding out of fears that his life may be endangered due to his connection to the film. Media for Christ broadcasts its own anti-Muslim programs, alongside Christian programming.

Mitt Romney’s leaked comments, recorded by a hidden camera at a closed-door fundraiser, that 47 percent of Americans “believe that they are victims” and prefer President Obama because his politics are “attractive to people who are not paying taxes” quickly lit up the blogosphere Monday—so quickly, in fact, that Romney held an impromptu press conference at 10:30 p.m. that night to address them. In his brief remarks, he doesn’t disavow the argument, instead saying it was “not elegantly stated” and “spoken off the cuff.” He also said that comments were in line with his campaign strategy to “focus on the people in the middle.”

The now-defunct Rupert Murdoch–owned tabloid News of the World allegedly ordered a burglary by a private detective agency at the home of a “newsworthy” individual, according to a report in Tuesday’s Independent. A police report indicates that Southern Investigations or an associate “gained unauthorized access” into a private home “with a view to gaining information on the resident.” The allegations have surfaced as part of Operation Tuleta, the police investigation into illegal activity at News of the World other than phone hacking and corruption. Several public figures reported break-ins around the time their phones were hacked and nothing was reportedly stolen, suggesting the burglars were looking for information.

Fourteen people were killed Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack on a minivan carrying foreign workers near the airport in Kabul. The assailants were female. Afghan militants said the bombing is in retaliation for an amateur anti-Islamic U.S. film Innocence of Muslims, which has caused worldwide protests for more than a week, including an attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. Meanwhile, U.S military announced on Monday that it would be ending the joint missions between U.S. and British troops on Afghan trainees after a deadly attack over the weekend that killed four Americans and two British soldiers.

What else is going to come out in this video? In the recently leaked video from a May 17 fundraiser, Mitt Romney declared that Palestinians have “no interest” in peace with Israel—and he indicated that he would not continue efforts for Mideast peace if he is elected. Romney said Palestinians are “committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel” and “the idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to get Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world.” The video from the fundraiser, leaked to Mother Jones on Monday, has made headlines given Romney’s comments that “47 percent” of Americans are “dependent on the government.”

In case you were wondering, Apple is still doing well. Apple stock hit $700 for the first time, setting a new record for the company. The shares went as high as $701.44 on Tuesday, up a quarter of a percent from Monday’s close, but later fell. The rally put the company’s value at $656 billion—more than any other public company has ever been worth. The news came a day after Apple announced that more than 2 million preorders had been placed for the new iPhone in just 24 hours.

Did Mitt Romney know that the host of his now infamous videotaped fundraiser had such a scandalous past? Private equity tycoon Marc Leder is well known in for throwing bacchanalian parties, according to the New York Post, including several this summer at his Bridgehampton estate. During one particularly debauched bash, guests reportedly “cavorted nude in the pool and performed sex acts.” In July, Russell Simmons and ex-wife Kimora Lee attended a slightly more tame party hosted by Leder, who is an event chair for Simmons’ Art For Life charity, though a witness said there was nude swimming in the wee hours. There was no streaking at Leder’s fundraiser for Romney in Boca Raton last May, where the GOP nominee talked about the entitled “47 percent” of Americans who are Obama supporters.

Iran’s senior atomic energy official said Monday that separate explosions had targeted power supplies to the country’s two main uranium-enrichment facilities—including the deep underground location the U.S. and Israel have claimed is invulnerable. Fereydoon Abbasi, Iran’s senior nuclear scientist, said the United Nations’ nuclear inspections division, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is filled with “terrorists and saboteurs” and hinted they were responsible for the attacks. A spokesman for the IAEA would not comment as to whether power had been disrupted. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Iran launched a submarine and a destroyer in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, as the U.S. and allied navies held exercises nearby.

Egypt has ordered the arrest of Florida pastor Terry Jones for helping to promote the amateur U.S. anti-Muslim film Innocence of Muslims. Arrest warrants were also issued for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians now living in the United States, including Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who has already been questioned over his involvement with the film. The prosecutor’s office in Egypt said that the eight are accused of “insulting the Islamic religion, insulting the Prophet and inciting sectarian strife.” The office also said that if convicted all could face the death penalty.

Don’t forget Todd Akin: the official deadline to drop out—or be kicked out—of the race is still approaching. The Republican Missouri Senate candidate launched his new campaign, “Women for Akin,” on Monday with a video featuring five women supporters—one of whom is a rape survivor. It’s an odd approach for the Senate candidate, infamous for the legitimate rape comment he made in August. Charging forward, despite the GOP’s request that he drop out, is Akin’s family. With his son as campaign manager and daughter featured in his new campaign, his wife, Lulli, made waves Tuesday with a National Journal interview in which she compares the GOP’s alienation of her husband to “rape itself.”

Was Jesus married? That’s a question Harvard historian Karen King may be closer to answering with a newly revealed scrap of papyrus. Smaller than a business card, the fragment reads “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ... ’” and then goes on to quote him as saying “she will be able to be my disciple.” The papyrus has eight lines of text and was written in Coptic in the fourth century. A handful of other scholars have concluded it is most likely authentic, though where the relic came from is a mystery. The owner has chosen to remain anonymous.

After much controversy and deliberation, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a new voter I.D. law will be sent back to a lower court for further deliberation. The law, which is championed by Republicans, would require each voter in the state to show a valid photo I.D.—a mandate that opponents say will make it harder for the elderly, disabled, poor, and young to vote. In their decision Tuesday, the six justices expressed concern that many voters would not be able to secure required identification in time for November’s election. “There is ample evidence of disarray in the record, and I would not allow chaos to begat chaos,” Justice Debra McCloskey Todd wrote. The 4–2 decision sends the case back to a Commonwealth Court for review, where a decision will be made by Oct. 2.

Clint Eastwood has a few choice words for those who say his appearance at the Republican National Convention hurt the Romney campaign more than it helped. “I figure if somebody’s dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they’re gonna have to take what they get,” the veteran actor told Extra. The 82-year-old even explained where he got the idea for the empty chair. “Actually, I did a funeral speech for a friend of mine and I started talking to mythical people imitating him and I sorta stole that for myself," Eastwood said. "But it reminds me of the days of Shelly Berman ... all those guys who used to do those phone conversations, all that sort of stuff.”

A testament to the political progress made between the two countries over the past year, Burma’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, began her first official visit to the U.S. Tuesday. The trip comes almost nine months after Hillary Clinton became the first secretary of state to visit Burma since 1955. The two have remained in contact since, slowly negotiating the ease of sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Burma because of its repressive policies. In addition to meeting with Clinton in Washington, Aung San Suu Kyi will receive the Congressional Gold Medal for her work in the country, and visit both Kentucky and New York.