BERMAN: Welcome back to THE LEAD, everyone. Now the Buried Lead, as weird as it sounds, there a ton of people who are actually happy with the IRS today. That's because the Internal Revenue and Treasury Department agreed to give married same-sex couples the same federal tax benefits as straight couples. Same-sex couples can now file jointly and they're eligible for federal benefits in states that do not recognize same-sex marriage. That means the federal government will recognize marriages in states that do not recognize same-sex marriages. That will apply to all federal taxes, includes estate taxes and even retirement accounts as well. After years of rumors and speculations surrounding the "Fab Four," the secret is finally out. It looks like the Beatles have a new record coming out this year. According to Mashable, someone dug up a post on MCA's music Facebook page that mentions the upcoming release of the Beatle's "Live at the BBC Volume II." Volume I came out almost 20 years ago and featured never released recordings of the group. MCA is owned by Universal Records, which currently owns the rights of the Beatles catalogue. And there are aliens among us. In fact, you might be one of them. A new study says that there's evidence that life originated on Mars and was brought to this planet aboard a meteorite. These are the findings of a biochemist from the West Heimer Institute for Science and Technology in Florida who says 3 billion years ago, Mars was a much more livable place than earth. It had oxygen and the building blocks for life that somehow made their way here at some point. So that's good news for all of us who thought we are weird already. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm John Berman sitting in for Jake Tapper today. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Victory For Same Sex Couples; New Beatles Album Coming?