Kin Cheung / AP, file

Former South Korean "comfort woman," Kim Bok-dong, 87, front, who was forced to serve for the Japanese Army as a sexual slave during World War II, seen here in April.

TOKYO -- The outspoken mayor of Osaka is under fire not only from the government but from members of his own party for saying that the use of “comfort women,” some of whom were forced into prostitution, during World War II was necessary for the morale of Japanese soldiers.

Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, made the comments during a news conference Monday.

“Whether it was of their own volition or against their will, the comfort women system was something necessary,” he said. “For military morale back then, it was probably necessary.”

The comments brought a quick backlash from senior Japanese politicians.

One of the strongest rebuttals came from a top official in Hashimoto’s own party.

“This is not something that’s coming out of our party. I think Mr. Hashimoto was expressing his own private opinions,” said Sakihiti Owaza, a senior official in the Japan Restoration Party. “If these comments continue, we will need to look into his true intentions and put a stop to this.”

Toru Yamanaka / AFP - Getty Images, file

Osaka Mayor and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party Toru Hashimoto, seen here in 2012.

Yoshihide Suga, chief cabinet secretary in the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, declined to directly criticize Hashimoto; doing so would be considered inappropriate because they are members of different parties.

He said, however, that the government’s position on the matter was clear: "The issue of comfort women is an experience of an unspeakable, painful suffering for which we also feel extreme anguish.”

Cabinet Minister Tomoko Inada did not let the protocols of political politeness stand in her way.

“It might not be appropriate to comment on what has been said by a leader of another party, but I believe the system of comfort women was a tremendous violation of women's human rights,” she said.

Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura said he heard about the comments while on visits to Washington and London and he thought they had been not been “properly understood” by foreign media.

Despite that, given the tensions between Japan and its Pacific neighbors, he said that “the timing of Mr. Hashimoto’s comments couldn’t have been worse.”

“I strongly wonder where there was anything positive in making these comments,” he said.

Hashimoto’s remarks about comfort women represented a break with what has become a Japanese tradition.

In 1994, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued an official apology for Japan's conduct before and during the war, including the treatment of those who came to be known as comfort women. Since then, subsequent administrations have upheld Murayama’s apology.

On Monday, Hashimoto agreed that it was important to accept Japan's role as an aggressor in the war and apologize for its atrocities, but he argued that other countries have had brothels for their troops.

"When a group of men is risking their lives, when this group of men are in a psychologically tense state,  … anyone could understand that they would need something like the comfort women system," he said.

By Tuesday, there was evidence that Hashimoto might be stepping back a bit – but not retreating.

"Just because it was right at the time, obviously you cannot justify it today,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

NBC News’ John Newland contributed to this story.

Related:

• Japan, US agree N. Korea must not have nukes
• Okinawa base plan meets protests
• More Japan coverage from NBC News

The African National Congress has gone on the defensive after being criticized for allowing a visit to ailing leader Nelson Mandela to be broadcast on national television.

In photos and video shown on state broadcaster SABC, the recently hospitalized Mandela appears frail and wears a somewhat vacant expression as he is surrounded by President Jacob Zuma and other ANC party officials.

While some South Africans expressed gratitude on social media for having been able to see footage of Mandela, others attacked the move as being disrespectful and politically exploitative. Zuma is expected to run for re-election next year.

“Mandela survived 27 years in prison only to become a prisoner of the ANC marketing machine,” one Twitter user wrote in a message that had been “retweeted” more than 800 times within hours.

“The ANC are more interested in the brand than the man, or they'd just let him live out his last days in peace,” wrote another Twitter user.

Slideshow: Nelson Mandela: A revolutionary's life

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View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.

Launch slideshow

It was typical of the criticism being lobbed at the ANC, with many people saying Mandela looked too ill to be shown and should be left alone.

Some people also questioned the ANC’s statements that Mandela was “in good health and good spirits,” which the party stood by on Tuesday.

“South Africans are called upon to appreciate that [Mandela] is 94 years old; he will be frail and not as active and energetic as we all fondly remember him,” the ANC said in a statement. “There is no reason to be alarmed by the visuals of an elderly person who clearly is receiving the necessary care and attention.”

In the video, Mandela is sitting in a chair, his legs propped on an ottoman and covered by a blanket. He is expressionless and nearly motionless as politicians and people described as his medical team laugh and smile and pose for photographs.

Shortly afterward, Zuma appeared outside Mandela’s Johannesburg home and said he had conversed with Mandela, whom he described as being “very up and about.” He added: “We’re very happy. We think that he’s fine.”

After the broadcast began to draw the ire of some South Africans, the ANC released a statement saying that showing Mandela was “in the public interest.”

”We maintain that President Mandela is a global icon,” the statement said. “As the ANC we regard him as a leader of the people and we would want to keep the world informed of his condition.”

The party also speculated that negative reaction reflected “the fear of South Africans to accept that President Mandela is mortal and aged.”

Mandela was discharged from a hospital on April 6 after having been treated since March 27 for pneumonia and other problems.

The Nobel laureate and former president, who led the nation’s battle against the white-minority apartheid government, has battled health problems, especially with his lungs, for years.

Related:

What will happen to the 'Rainbow Nation' after Mandela?

Mandela discharged from South African hospital

South African president asks world to pray for Mandela

Dmitry Astakhov / Ria Novosti via Reuters

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stands in his office in Moscow on April 9, 2013, before an interview with a Russian television channel.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin continued a European trip marked by protest, his successor as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was left looking rather wistful at his office back in Moscow Tuesday.

Since Putin and Medvedev swapped jobs in May last year, the latter has found himself out of the limelight and has even found time to indulge his passion for photography.

NPR's Moscow correspondent Corey Flintoff reported earlier this month that Medvedev appears increasingly isolated from the center of power and may have been the target of a campaign to wreck his reputation.

Putin, who was confronted by topless protesters in Germany on Monday, faced further demonstrations in the Netherlands, where 1,000 gay rights activists waved pink and orange balloons and blasted out dance music to condemn Russia's treatment of homosexuals. 

AFP - Getty Images, RIA Novosti via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a busy day Monday: (clockwise from top left) Sitting in a Volkswagen XL 1 Hybrid car in Hanover, Germany; laughing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel; arriving at Schiphol airport in The Netherlands; drinking a toast with Dutch Queen Beatrix at the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam.

Robin Utrecht / EPA

Demonstrators participate in a protest near the National Maritime Museum, where Putin was having dinner, in Amsterdam on April 8, 2013. The protesters were denouncing a so-called 'homosexual propaganda ban' in Russia which was enacted in January.

Previously on PhotoBlog: On holiday with Putin and Medvedev

David Moir / Reuters

A man attends a gathering of people celebrating the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, in George Square in Glasgow, Scotland on April 8, 2013.

Sang Tan / AP

Anti-Thatcher protesters gather at Trafalgar Square in London on April 8, 2013.

Danny E. Martindale / Getty Images

People cheer in front of a banner displaying the message 'The Witch is Dead' in Brixton, south London, on April 8, 2013.

Controversial in life, Britain's ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher continued to divide a nation in death, with somber plans for a funeral and eulogies rejected by some in favor of celebrations and parties, Reuters reports. 

Her radical, right-wing policies, credited by some with modernizing Britain, alienated many, who saw her as a destroyer of jobs and traditional industries.

In Brixton, south London, a banner with the message "The Witch is Dead" was erected above a pub as a hastily convened party gathered pace. 

"Thatcher herself, she represents so much of what people hate about what has happened to Britain in the last 20, 30 years," said 40-year-old graphic designer Ben Windsor.

Police said there was "low level disorder" in Brixton, and six officers were hurt in Bristol after a street party there, ITV News reported.

David Moir / Reuters

Revelers spray champagne in George Square, Glasgow, on April 8, 2013.

More than 200 people gathered in a city square in Glasgow, Scotland, where revelers sprayed champagne and danced as a bagpiper played. 

"We are here because Thatcher's legacy is one of poverty and oppression and it is important that she is remembered for those reasons," Jonathon Shafi told Glasgow's Herald newspaper.

Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

Members of the public dance to mark the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher on April 8, 2013 in Glasgow.

Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

A pint of milk is left outside the residence of Baroness Thatcher in Chester Square, London, on April 8, 2013.

Back in London, a pint of milk was placed on the doorstep of Thatcher's home, a reference to her policy of scrapping free milk for primary school children while head of education in the 1970s, a move which earned her the moniker "Thatcher the milk snatcher."

-- Reuters contributed to this report

Slideshow: The life and times of Margaret Thatcher

John Minihan / Getty Images

A pioneer for her sex, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister of the United Kingdom for almost 12 years. Take a look back at her life and career.

Launch slideshow

Related:

'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

‘True force of nature’: World reacts to Thatcher's death

Thatcher played polarizing role in pop culture

REUTERS/Paul J. Richards/Pool

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to reporters after finding out that the aircraft had a mechanical failure before take off, at the Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland April 6, 2013.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will press Turkey on Sunday to quickly normalize relations with Israel, keep its border with Syria open to refugees and improve ties with Iraq, a senior U.S. official said. 

Kerry arrived in Istanbul some two weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama brokered a rapprochement between Turkey and Israel, whose relations were shattered by the killing of nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. 

The rapprochement could help regional coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran's nuclear program. 

Despite Obama's having pulled off a diplomatic coup on March 22 - a three-way telephone call with the Israeli and Turkish prime ministers, who had not spoken since 2011 - Washington has some concerns that Turkey might be backtracking on the deal. 

Israel bowed to a long-standing demand by Ankara, once its close strategic partner, to apologize formally for the deaths aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara. It was boarded by Israeli marines who had intercepted a flotilla challenging Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had agreed to conclude an agreement on compensation and that he and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed to normalize ties, including returning their ambassadors to their posts. 

A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling with Kerry that he "will encourage Turkey to expeditiously implement its agreement with Israel and fully normalize their relationship to allow for deeper cooperation between the two countries." 

While the official denied the United States was worried the Turkish government might be backing away from the deal, another U.S. official earlier this week said Washington was concerned. 

Kerry will also raise Syria and Iraq during his talks on Sunday with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, his first stop on a 10-day trip to the Middle East, Europe and Asia. 

One of the underlying motivations for the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement, at least on the Israeli side, has been a desire to secure allies in the region as the Syrian civil war churns into its third year. 

Kerry's message in Istanbul will include "reiterating the importance of keeping the borders open to Syrians fleeing from violence," the senior U.S. official told reporters with Kerry. 

The official said this was a reference to reports, which Turkey denied on March 28, that it had rounded up and deported hundreds of Syrian refugees following unrest at a border camp. 

Witnesses said hundreds of Syrians were bussed to the border after clashes in which refugees in the Suleymansah camp, near the Turkish town of Akcakale, threw rocks at military police, who fired teargas and water cannon. 

Turkey's foreign ministry said 130 people, identified as being "involved in the provocations," crossed back into Syria voluntarily, either because they did not want to face judicial proceedings or because of repercussions from other refugees. 

The incident highlighted the strain that the exodus from Syria's civil war is placing on neighboring states. 

Since the revolt in Syria began two years ago, more than 1.2 million Syrians fleeing violence and persecution have registered as refugees or await processing in neighboring countries and North Africa, according to U.N. figures. 

They include 261,635 in Turkey, mostly staying in 17 camps, many of them teeming. 

Kerry also plans to nudge Turkey to improve ties with Iraq, which is troubled by efforts by its autonomous Kurdistan region, where ethnic Kurds have administered their affairs since 1991, to sell energy to Turkey. 

The Iraqi central government argues that this would deprive it of oil revenues that belong to Iraq as a whole.

LONDON -- A father was sentenced to life in jail Thursday for starting a fire that killed six of his own children as part of a disastrous plot to frame his former mistress, in a horrific case that has prompted an emotional debate about Britain’s welfare system.

Rui Vieira / AP

Mick Philpott and wife Mairead.

Mick Philpott, his wife, Mairead, and his friend Paul Mosley, were convicted of manslaughter for starting a house blaze that took the lives of the couple’s children Jayden, 5, Jesse, 6, Jack, 8, John, 9, Jade, 10, and 13-year-old Duwayne.

Unemployed Philpott – a father of 17 children by five women – intended to “rescue” his family and blame the fire on his mistress, Lisa Willis, 28, who was seeking court custody of the five children they had together.

When his plan went tragically wrong, the 56-year-old lied to protect himself - even shedding crocodile tears at a police news conference. But detectives quickly uncovered the truth.

The shocking case, in the central England town of Derby, made for emotive headlines in Britain’s newspaper’s Wednesday. “Pure evil” said The Mirror, while The Sun on its front page called Philpott a “child-killing b*****d.”

Steve Cotterill, Assistant Chief Constable of Derbyshire police, said the fire plot was “the most evil act I have ever known” and had led to “a complete and utter waste of six young and innocent lives.”

Reviled figure
Remarkably, Philpott was already a hate figure in Britain, reveling in notoriety on television where he was portrayed as a real-life version of the social underclass featured in the drama series, "Shameless".

He was pilloried for demanding a larger government home for his rapidly-expanding family. He had appeared on the daytime TV tabloid talk show, “The Jeremy Kyle Show,” alongside both his wife and his mistress to face demands that he have a vasectomy.

Both women for many years lived with Philpott, sharing his affections. Willis slept in a camping trailer parked on the tiny front lawn, while wife Mairead stayed in the house. On more than one occasion they were simultaneously pregnant.   

His deceit over the subsequent tragedy was unmasked when detectives noted his behavior did not fit the pattern of a grieving parent – he was observed singing Elvis’ Suspicious Minds during a karaoke session in a local bar – and began monitoring phone calls with his co-accused.

Mark St George / Rex Features via AP

The parents who killed six children in a house fire were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court, England, Thursday.

Philpott had a history of horrific domestic violence and bullying, but in this instance his crime was motivated by money: Already the recipient of welfare checks owing to his unemployment, Philpott was entitled to further state payments for each of the children under the roof of his rented public home.

In total, he was in legitimate receipt of more than $90,000 a year in government handouts.

“He just wanted a house full of kids and the benefit money that brings,” prosecution lawyer Richard Latham said during the seven-week trial.

Welfare debate
That aspect of the case has further inflamed public anger, coming at a time when austerity-crippled Britain is bitterly divided over welfare payments.

The U.K.’s Conservative-led coalition on Monday introduced sweeping new limits to welfare checks and other government assistance schemes in a bid to save billions of dollars from the national deficit.

The liberal Guardian newspaper gravely characterized Monday’s cuts as “the day Britain changed,” but the government believes the moves have the support of many British taxpayers who are dismayed at some of the welfare checks paid out to large families. The language of the debate has divided the sides into “strivers” versus “skivers,” and “benefit recipients” versus “hard-working families.”

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail described Philpott on its front page as “The vile product of welfare UK” – a headline that drew criticism.

“There are, and have always been, a small minority of individuals capable of breathtaking cruelty,” wrote liberal commentator Owen Jones in The Independent. “The Philpott case relates in no way to people on benefits in this country.”

Derby City Council launched a review of its child welfare service in the wake of Tuesday’s verdict, amid suggestions that it should have intervened to remove the children from Philpott’s care.

However, Ann Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister who made a television documentary in which she tried to persuade Philpott to get a job and stop claiming welfare, said Wednesday: “This was very much a one-off. You cannot blame teachers or social services.

“When I visited, the children were clean, they were well-fed, they were not playing truant. There is no doubt he was using these children as a meal-ticket, but that doesn’t explain this act of wickedness."

“You cannot blame this tragedy on the benefits system," adding that Brits must "keep our heads.”

Related:

'Nasty piece of work': Cloud over London's 'sunshine' mayor Boris Johnson

How do you solve a problem like North Korea? Three viewpoints

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 2:02 PM EDT

Matthew Lloyd / Getty Images, file

London mayor Boris Johnson (right) and Irvine Sellar, developer of the new skyscraper The Shard, cut a ribbon.

LONDON -- He is the goofy London mayor whose jovial self-deprecation and quick intellect have rescued him from a string of political missteps and personal indignities. But floppy-haired Boris Johnson’s happy-go-lucky reputation took a battering this week, just as he revealed his ambition to one day become Britain’s prime minister.

New York-born Johnson -- memorably caught on camera dangling from a broken zip-wire during the London Olympics -- was accused of being a “nasty piece of work” in a train-wreck television interview that surfaced a darker side to his persona.

The mayor was asked about a number of embarrassing episodes in his past including being fired from his former job as a reporter with The Times newspaper for making up a quote, losing his opposition cabinet role after lying to his Conservative party leader about an affair and the accusation that he agreed to provide a reporter’s address to his friend, a convicted fraudster, so the journalist could be beaten up.

There were no new revelations in Sunday’s interview, which was hardly in the mold of Frost vs Nixon. But the feline approach of BBC presenter Eddie Mair exposed a testy, evasive side to Johnson that observers say has undermined his affable public image.

“What’s remarkable is not that the interview happened but the fact that it hasn’t happened before,” said Johnson’s biographer, Sonia Purnell.

“He has always used his jovial fellow act and has never really been challenged like that in an interview until now.

“It is true that he is very charismatic, very clever and engaging. But there is a dark side to his character. He has a ferocious temper and he bears grudges.”

The clash was in stark contrast to Johnson’s winning encounter on “Late Show with David Letterman” last year, when he entertained the studio audience and shrugged the gibe that he cut his own hair.

It has sparked a debate in Britain about whether the mayor, a keen cyclist and classical scholar whose full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson -- can still be taken seriously as a contender to replace David Cameron as prime minister and leader of his Conservative party.

Mair teased Johnson about his repeated refusal to admit that he harbors ambitions to replace Cameron, with whom he has a mild personal rivalry that dates back to their shared time at Eton, Britain’s most elite private school.

Jan Kruger / Getty Images, file

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Boris Johnson warm up for a tennis match during the London Olympics.

“What should viewers make of your inability to give a straight answer to a straight question?" asked Mair, adding: “You’re a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?”

An online Guardian newspaper poll found 62 percent of its readers thought Johnson could no longer be considered a candidate for Britain’s top job. The interview “was inevitably described as a car crash, but in the case of Johnson, it was more of a bicycle crash: spokes all over the road, wheels mangled and a reputation badly dented,” wrote the newspaper’s veteran political editor, Patrick Wintour.

Purnell added: “I think it left a tidemark in people’s minds about Boris’s character.”

However, conservative commentator Toby Young said Johnson’s leadership prospects remain unchanged. “It's an elementary rule of politics that if you have any skeletons lurking in your closet that are likely to make an appearance during an election campaign, better to get them out in the open now,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “Not only will it rob them of their bad juju, it will enable his supporters to claim -- yet again -- that he's popular in spite of his character flaws, not because the public isn't aware of them.”

Matthew Norman, in The Independent, asked: “Boris would be a disastrous PM. So why do I quite like the idea?” He wrote: “Life for diarists and political pundits would improve immeasurably, which strikes me as a very reasonable price to pay for the national shame of having Boris Johnson as prime minister.”

Johnson, 48, has long been a grassroots favorite to lead the Conservatives if Cameron stood down or lost office. However, to be prime minister he would first need to stand again for election to the House of Commons, which he quit in 2008 to run to be mayor of London. He is currently serving his second four-year term and has remained coy about whether he will quit early and return to parliament.

His mix of conservative economics and liberal social values -- he supports gay marriage and an amnesty for immigrants -- helped secure his election in a city long dominated by left-of-center politics, but it may not sit well with the U.K.-wide Conservative party.

His personal morality may also hinder his progress: He has acknowledged a number of affairs and has been likened to Italy’s serial philanderer and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi by satirical magazine editor Ian Hislop.

Then there is Johnson’s apparent lack of attention to detail. Purnell, who worked alongside him in the Brussels bureau of the Daily Telegraph, said: “Some of the things he wrote were on the limits of the truth. He was, at best, creative.”

Max Hastings, a former editor of Johnson's during his time as a journalist, described Johnson as "utterly chaotic," adding: "Supposing he became prime minister, the idea of Boris Johnson's finger on the nuclear button ... one day he would get it mixed up with the one to call the maid."

However, there remains a lot of affection for a man whose unvarnished approach is a breath of political fresh air.

“He is a sunshine politician and people like that,” said Ross Lydall, chief news correspondent of London’s Evening Standard newspaper, which supports Johnson.

“The way he has improved life for cyclists in London is remarkable -- as a cyclist myself, it certainly puts a smile on my face. He represents a sense of optimism compared to the old, miserable municipal politics of London.”

Ronen Zvulun / Reuters, file

Yair Lapid, right, stands behind Israeli President Shimon Peres, who is seated next to Benjamin Netanyahu, at a reception in Jerusalem on Feb. 5. Lapid, a relative newcomer, has been able to gain numerous concessions from the veteran Netanyahu as the latter struggled to form a coalition government.

News analysis

TEL AVIV -- It is no surprise that Benjamin Netanyahu will be Israel's prime minister for the third time. The makeup of his Cabinet, however, may be jarring, especially to him.

Two days before the deadline imposed by election rules, he overcame the final obstacles and reached a compromise with Yair Lapid, the political novice who heads the second-largest party in the Israeli Knesset.

The agreement, which is expected to be signed Thursday, gives his coalition 68 seats out of 120 in the new parliament, which should be sworn in next week.

Lapid may be a novice, but analysts here say he achieved major victories over the prime minister. He demanded that there be a maximum of 20 Cabinet ministers instead of the bloated 30.

Struggling to find seats for his party members, Netanyahu fought tooth and nail against Lapid and lost. There are now likely to be 22, including Netanyahu.

Netanyahu was determined to keep the education portfolio for his own party. Lapid insisted on having it and appears to have won.

It didn't all go Lapid's way, but the message to the voters is clear: Lapid is the man to watch. Indeed, the former television host has already let it be known that he wants to be Israel's next prime minister.

If Lapid, and for other reasons Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman, were the winners in the Jan. 22 elections, the losers, to a large extent, were the ultra-orthodox religious parties. The Haredim, as they are known here, who form 10 percent of Israel's population and are by far the fastest-growing group, have no seat at the Cabinet table.

That means the government has the opportunity to cut the funds devoted to ultra-orthodox institutions such as their study yeshivas and schools, which in the 2012 education budget totaled close to $1 billion.

Large state subsidies go to their traditionally large families and fund the men who study the Torah full time. These are some of the issues that upset Lapid and his voters, and that now, as Israel's minister of finance, he would have an opportunity to change. That's why control of the education ministry was so important to him: Most yeshiva funding goes through that ministry.

Bad blood
This is not what Netanyahu wanted. He wanted his usual rightist/ultra-orthodox coalition. Instead, through failed brinksmanship he ended up with exactly the opposite: a coalition of his rightist party, Likud-Beitenu, with the left and center, as well as with his natural partner, another new young politician, Naftali Bennett, who leads a rightist party that coordinated every move with Yair Lapid.

Blame the wife. That's what the analysts here say. Bennett, who was once Netanyau's chief of staff, had a major falling out with Sara Netanyahu, ending in bad blood between him and the prime minister.

The natural coalition after the January elections was between the two rightist parties, Netanyahu's 31 seats and Bennett's 12 seats, which would have guaranteed them power if allied with the ultra-orthodox parties. Experts say Netanyahu should have drafted Bennett to the cause immediately.

Instead Netanyahu miscalculated and, reportedly because of personal animus, tried to form the basis of a government without him.

That drove Bennett into the arms of Lapid, where he stayed. The two new young leaders displayed a virtue rare in politics: loyalty to an ideological opponent, based on the power of their word.

Result: Netanyahu has what he most wants, the position of prime minister. But he has the Cabinet that he least wants. A rocky term awaits him.

NBC News' Martin Fletcher is the author of "The List,""Breaking News" and "Walking Israel."

Related:

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A $1 billion bet on peace: Qatar funds huge Palestinian settlement in West Bank

Full Israel coverage from NBC News

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

Protesters scuffle outside the National Library in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Feb. 8, 2013.

Shakh Aivazov / AP

Anti-Saakashvili protesters scuffle with opponents outside the National Library where Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was to give his last state-of-nation address in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Feb. 8.

Zurab Kurtsikidze / EPA

Protesters scuffle outside the National Library in Tbilisi, Georgia on Feb. 8.

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili delivers a speech at his residence in Tbilisi, where he was forced to make his speech.

By Margarita Antidze, Reuters

Hundreds of protesters who accuse Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of flouting human rights and stifling dissent forced him to change the venue of his annual address to the nation on Friday.

Political tensions have engulfed Georgia since Saakashvili's party lost parliamentary elections in October to a group led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. Now prime minister, Ivanishvili is experiencing a difficult cohabitation with the president.

Scuffles broke out as protesters barred officials from Saakashvili's party entering Georgia's National Library, the venue for the speech that was due later in the day. Continue reading.

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

A woman looks out of a window as protesters gather outside the National Library in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Feb. 8.

Kristina Young / Handout / EPA

The USS Harry S. Truman at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean in December 2012.

Published 6:30 p.m. ET: Budget constraints are prompting the U.S. Navy to cut back the number of aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region from two to one, the latest example of how contentious fiscal battles in Washington are impacting the U.S. military.

According to Defense Department officials, the USS Harry S. Truman, which was set to leave for the Persian Gulf region on Friday, will now remain stateside, based in Norfolk, Virginia. 

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the change to the department’s “two-carrier policy” in the Persian Gulf region early Wednesday.

The U.S. has steadily kept two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf for much of the last two years. In 2010, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a directive to keep two in the area given the volatility of the region.

The cutback is largely a result of automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, passed by Congress during the summer of 2011. Congress has failed to pass a budget for the fiscal year, and has instead opted on passing legislation that will keep spending at the same level as last year. But that means the Pentagon has been operating with less money and is unsure of what the future holds for its bottom line.

Under sequestration, the Navy would lose $4 billion over the next six months, the last half of fiscal year 2013. The Navy was already $4.6 billion in the hole for this year because the continuing resolution for 2013 was budgeted at 2012 rates.

Navy officials say the Defense Department ordered members of their branch and all services to “prepare for sequestration,” even though it’s not yet clear the automatic budgets cuts will kick in next month. 

“We cut back to one carrier in the Gulf region to save money now, or wait until sequestration and be forced to cut back to zero carriers,” a senior defense official told NBC News.

It’s not certain whether the Defense Department or the White House would permit a zero carrier presence in the Persian Gulf, no matter what the budget constraints, given rising tensions over Iran. The Truman would still conduct exercises off the US East Coast and would be “surge ready” in the event of an emergency or disaster.

A statement from Pentagon Press Secretary George Little assured that the United States will “maintain a robust presence” in the area, but cited the pending sequestration cuts as the reason the Navy sent Panetta the request.

“This prudent decision enables the U.S. Navy to maintain these ships to deploy on short notice in the event they are needed to respond to national security contingencies,” read the statement.

Revelation of the cutbacks comes the same day as news that Panetta is recommending military pay increases be limited to one percent in 2014. Uniformed military will still get a raise, but it will be much smaller “to reflect the difficult budget decisions” facing the department, a defense official told NBC News.

At a speech Wednesday, the outgoing secretary of defense warned that the budget battles in Washington are putting America at risk.  

“The Department of Defense and other agencies across government have been living under a serious shadow -- the shadow of sequestration ... Today, with another trigger for sequestration approaching on March 1st, the Department of Defense is facing the most serious readiness crisis in over a decade,” he said to a crowd at Georgetown University.

“Make no mistake, if these cuts happen there will be a serious disruption in defense programs and a sharp decline in military readiness,” Panetta said in his speech Wednesday.

“We have begun an all-out effort to plan for how to operate under such a scenario, but it is already clear that no good options exist.”

On Tuesday, President Obama called on Congress to pass “a small package of spending cuts and tax reforms” to avoid the automated cuts set to kick in at the beginning of next month.

Republican Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte – who have toured the country warning that sequestration cuts could put U.S. national defense at risk – responded on Wednesday by introducing a bill that would avoid cuts by slashing the federal workforce by 10 percent. 

Additional reporting from Courtney Kube