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Israel election Netanyahu claims victory as
main rival concedes
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• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed
  victory Wednesday after a bitter election and
  last-minute declarations to boost his party's low
  opinion poll numbers. With 99 of the votes
  counted, his Likud party grabbed at least 29 of
  the 120 seats in Knesset. Its main rival, the
  Zionist Union, got at least 24 seats. Israel's
  ballots are for political parties rather than
  individual candidates. No party has ever won a
  majority, but the victory goes to the party
  leader most suited to put together a 61-seat
  majority with coalition parties. Netanyahu's road
  to victory was bumpy, with the final results a
  far cry from experts' predictions. For weeks, his
  party was lagging in various opinion polls,
  prompting Netanyahu to make sharp turns toward
  the right during the final days of the campaign.
  Days before the election, he said there would be
  no Palestinian state under him, reversing his
  earlier stance. Shortly after opposition leader
  Isaac Herzog conceded and congratulated
  Netanyahu, the shift turned to the formation of a
  coalition government. An optimistic Netanyahu
  claimed victory shortly after polls closed and
  said he plans to work "quickly and responsibly"
  to form a new government. "Now we should form a
  strong and stable government that will be able to
  take care of the security, safety and welfare of
  each and every citizen of Israel."

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In Other News

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  paint Obama's glass as half full, and argued that
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  that hasn't rattled the man in the Oval Office.
  The new sense of serenity in the White House
  solidified this week with figures showing that
  more than 16 million people have now signed up
  for health plans under Obamacare, the president's
  top domestic achievement.
• The country's largest Presbyterian denomination
  has changed its definition of marriage to include
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  Presbyterian Church (USA) approved an amendment
  to its constitution after most of its 171
  presbyteries -- or governing bodies -- voted for
  it, PC (USA) said Tuesday. Before, the definition
  said marriage was between "a man and a woman."
  The new definition says, in part, that "marriage
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