Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he “would sign into law a ban on adoptions of Russian children by American citizens, retaliating against an American law that punishes Russians accused of violating human rights and dealing a potentially grave setback to bilateral relations,” the New York Times reports.

“The leaders of an independent panel that blamed systematic State Department management and leadership failures for gross security lapses in the deadly Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya will explain their findings to Congress on Wednesday,” the AP reports.

In a letter that accompanied the transmission of the report to Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “thanked the board for its ‘clear-eyed, serious look at serious systemic challenges’ and said she accepted all of its 29 recommendations to improve security at high-threat embassies and consulates.”

Clinton was supposed to testify on Benghazi today, but will not appear due to a concussion suffered after fainting from a stomach
flu over the weekend. Charles Krauthammer says Clinton instead “seems to have a severe Benghazi allergy.”

“The spread of economic hardship is fraying Greece’s social fabric and straining its political cohesion as the country enters the harshest winter of its three-year-old debt crisis,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Many families are sliding down the economic ladder that their parents and grandparents climbed, often making them reliant on those same retirees’ shrinking pensions. Already-poor families are slipping off the ladder, into the arms of overburdened charities. In a country of 11 million, only 3.7 million people have jobs, down from 4.6 million four years ago. Economic activity has shrunk by over 20% in that time.”

“The pressure on society is testing the country’s political stability. Crumbling establishment parties cling to office. Radical-left populists wait in the wings, promising to restore state largess. Violent neo-Nazis are boosting their political profiles by exploiting fear of immigrants, crime and social breakdown. Many Greeks worry that the current government coalition could collapse in 2013, leading to renewed political turmoil that could revive the specter of national bankruptcy and exit from the euro.”

Sources tell ABC News that President Obama has decided that he will nominate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to be Secretary of State.

The Week summarizes the case for and against picking Kerry.

A new study finds that more than 60% of Pakistan’s cabinet and two thirds of its federal lawmakers paid no taxes last year, AFP reports.

“Pakistan has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, estimated at 9.2%. Only 260,000 out of 180 million citizens have paid tax consecutively for the last three years.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told The Cable that he will join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ahead of confirmation hearings for whomever President Obama nominates to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

NBC News: “U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice is reportedly a finalist for Secretary of State. McCain has been a main critic of Rice’s, stemming from her appearances on Sunday shows following the attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including an ambassador. But McCain’s move may not be all about Rice. Because of Republican Conference rules, he is term-limited as ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.”

As Susan Rice comes under increasing fire, the New York Times reports congressional Republicans appear to be coalescing around a familiar name as an alternative candidate for Secretary of State: their current colleague and former presidential foe, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).

“Gone are the criticisms of Mr. Kerry as a waffler who tried to have it both ways on the Iraq war and the caricature of him as a windsurfing symbol of privileged East Coast liberalism. Instead, Mr. Kerry, a Democrat, is depicted as a deeply knowledgeable statesman who would breeze through confirmation on his way to Foggy Bottom.”

“In just two quick meetings on Capitol Hill, Susan Rice may have blown up any goodwill she had with the very senators she’ll need for confirmation if she’s ever tapped as the next secretary of state,” Politico reports.

“Over the past two days, four key Republican senators have emerged from private meetings to blast the United Nations ambassador’s explanation about what happened during and after the deadly attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It’s not clear what Rice said behind closed doors to anger all these senators, but it’s clear the meetings went badly and this was hardly a nominee-in-waiting charm offensive.”

Possible promotions for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and acting CIA
Director Michael Morell “remain in jeopardy” after the two officials met with three of their Republican critics in the U.S. Senate regarding the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, the Washington Post reports.

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) reaction best summarized the reaction: “Bottom line, I’m more disturbed now than I was before.”

The Wall Street Journal has a round up of reactions.

“A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a ‘national security risk’, stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust,” Reuters reports.

As Ambassador Susan Rice prepares to meet with GOP senators today to discuss the administration’s handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, a new CNN/ORC poll finds 54% disapprove of the White House’s actions.

However, 54% also do not believe that the administration purposefully misled the public.

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice will be on Capitol Hill the next two days to meet privately with select senators, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), regarding the attacks in Benghazi last September, sources tell NBC News.

Rice requested a meeting with McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). These are significant because McCain, Graham and Ayotte are prominent GOP national-security voices and have been among Rice’s harshest critics for her handling of the situation in Benghazi.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared to soften his critique of potential Hillary Clinton successor Susan Rice telling Fox News, “I’d give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took. I’d be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her.”

First Read: “Of course, this doesn’t mean that any Rice hearing would be less contentious or that Benghazi wouldn’t be an issue. But it does seem — for now at least — that Benghazi might not be fatal for Rice, if Obama nominates her. The White House is going to get a Benghazi proxy fight at some point in the Senate, perhaps it’s during the Rice confirmation, or perhaps during the confirmation of a new CIA director, or maybe it’s all unavoidable giving the president the leeway to go with Rice without fear of creating a NEW political problem for himself on the Hill.”

And this: “By the way, the State job is down to Rice and John Kerry; there really isn’t a third contender being vetted, we’ve learned. And look for an announcement about State to happen in the next week or so.”

The body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to be exhumed on Tuesday, the BBC reports.

His body is to undergo tests to find out whether his death in Paris in 2004 was caused by poisoning. Arafat’s medical records say he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.

Daily Beast: “The move comes just four months after an Al Jazeera documentary
revealed new Swiss findings of unusually high levels of the deadly
radioactive isotope polonium-210 on Arafat’s last personal effects. It
is seen as a last-gasp effort to finally solve the mystery of his
November 2004 death in France.”

Ynetnews notes that while little was heard from President Obama during the military confrontation between Israel and Hamas, behind the scenes, while visiting Burma and Cambodia, he was working overtime to pressure both sides into agreeing to truce.

“Throughout his trip
in South East Asia he was constantly on the phone with both Morsi and
Netanyahu, before and after his meetings with the leaders of China and
Japan. The president even made time to speak with both leaders during a
dinner held as part of a summit of East Asian leaders.”

“His goal – creating the conditions needed for a ceasefire. Publically
he praised Morsi and Netanyahu, and behind the scenes he was pressuring
them to bring the conflict between Israel and Hamas to an end.”

President Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East to try to defuse the conflict in Gaza, the New York Times reports.

“Mrs. Clinton, who accompanied Mr. Obama on his three-country Asia trip, left on her own plane immediately for the region, where she will stop first in Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, then head to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian leaders and finally to Cairo to consult with Egyptian officials.”

The leader of Hamas “dared Israel to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian enclave,” the New York Times reports.

First Read: “Here is where things stand right now: The primary players are Egypt (which negotiates with Hamas), Turkey (on speaking terms with both sides) and the United States. There is a sense in the White House that they need to get some sort of cease fire negotiated ASAP. Can Egypt convince Hamas it is in their best interests to stop the missile strikes? How much pressure will this new Egyptian government apply to Hamas? If Egypt can get something stopped, then can U.S. talk Israel into accepting? This is a real test of the fragile relationships this new Egyptian government inherited.”

“When they go after the UN ambassador… because they think she’s an easy target, then they’ve got a problem with me.”

— President Obama, quoted by The Hill, defending Susan Rice from criticism.