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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will tap Likud Chair and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the task of forming a ruling coalition, after meeting Wednesday evening with Netanyahu and his main challenger, Blue and White Chair Benny Gantz. The announcement comes after Rivlin received the official election results earlier Wednesday and as he encourages Gantz and Netanyahu to form a unity government.

n an op-ed published in Florida Today on Wednesday, Jeff Kottkamp, a former lieutenant governor of Florida, and Rich Ramos, a Florida businessman, proposed a new justification for sending humans to Mars. A Mars program would serve, in their view, as a means to foster national unity of the sort that is rarely achieved outside times of war. Some recent polling data suggests that they may be on to something.

The argument continues in Washington over whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts to Americans making over $250K per year. Besides maligning these earners as "the rich" and making the same tired appeal to identity politics, the Democrats' position is that extending tax cuts for this income class would leave hundreds of billions of dollars of unrealized taxable income on the table over the next decade. The Republicans' position is to block all tax increases, including those on high earners, so as not to hamper our fragile economic recovery. While this position has merit, it is receiving a...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-unexpected-urgent-refugee-and-migration-needs-related-somal Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Presidential Memoranda The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 09, 2010 Presidential Memorandum--Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to Somalia and Food Pipeline Breaks for Refugee and Other Displaced Populations of Concern Globally Presidential Determination -- June 8, 2010 No. 2010-10 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to Somalia and Food Pipeline Breaks for Refugee and Other Displaced Populations of Concern Globally By the authority vested in me by the...

A coalition of prominent evangelical leaders who've partnered with Third Way, a Washington think tank influential in shaping Democratic Party policy and messaging, is presenting policy recommendations to Barack Obama's transition team today that purport to offer a consensus approach to hot-button issues that have long divided evangelicals and liberals. More News * Hot Docs: Obama and Human Rights, Skewed Nuclear Spending * Is Mike Huckabee Right About Sarah Palin and the Media? * Democrats Push for Stimulus Package to Include Education Spending The recommendations include a framework for reducing demand for abortion without further restricting abortion rights, through initiatives...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Nov. 14, 2005) — Operation National Unity, an ongoing mission which began Sept. 29, continues to produce results in rooting out terrorist activity in and around Baghdad, said military officials. The statistics from Task Force Baghdad include: 25,401 patrols, 14,895 traffic control points, and 1,082 raids and cordon-and-searches by Iraqi and U.S. forces. Add to those figures the rates of success: 36 percent fewer detonated car bombs, a 50 percent increase in improvised explosive devices found before they could explode, and a 67 percent increase in weapons caches discovered and, in most cases, destroyed. Amid the...

Dec. 19, 2004 23:40 | Updated Dec. 20, 2004 22:23 Labor, Likud to sign deal Tuesday By GIL HOFFMAN AND NINA GILBERT After nearly two days of delay since Likud and Labor reached a coalition agreement, the two parties have announced that they will finally sign on the deal Tuesday evening, after the Labor party's central committee meeting. The signing was enabled after a preliminary vote in the Knesset on the "double deputy prime minister" bill approved it 56 to 34 on Monday night. The bill, popularly dubbed the "Peres bill," was aimed at resolving the crisis in unity negotiations...

Dec. 9, 2004 1:16 | Updated Dec. 9, 2004 22:58 Early results: Likud endorses national-unity government By GIL HOFFMAN Prime Minister Ariel Sharon casts his ballot at the Likud party meeting in Tel Aviv. Sharon is seeking his party's approval to include Labor in the government Photo: AP With most of the results in by 11 p.m. Thursday night, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon received a big political boost when the Likud central committee voted 65 percent to 35 percent to authorize him to begin negotiations on a national-unity government with Labor and haredi parties. Sharon, who received election returns on...

Feb. 12, 2003 Likud: Sharon to meet Mitzna again over national union government By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF Officials in the Likud on Wednesday said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to schedule another round of talks with Labor chairman Amram Mitzna to try and persuade him that a national union government including the two parties can be feasibly established. In other developments, Sharon has instructed the Likud's coalitionary negotiation team to keep the Foreign Affairs, Defense, Finance, Education, Law, Interior and Internal Security portfolios in the hands of Likud legislators in any coalition arrangement reached, the officials said....