Israel inches closer to second election in months

Israel edged closer to snap polls as a bill to dissolve parliament passed its first reading in the early hours of Tuesday morning, despite a general election last month.

Pitched into chaos by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failure to form a governing coalition after the April polls, the Knesset voted 66 to 44 in favour of a new election, tentatively scheduled for September 17, the parliament's website said.

Later on Tuesday a committee was to meet to prepare the bill for its second and third readings, which if passed would make the bill law.

No timetable was published for the two final votes on the legislation, which had passed an initial reading Monday night.

Netanyahu's Likud party submitted the bill to dissolve parliament Monday as a Wednesday night deadline to form a viable coalition loomed with negotiations deadlocked. 

Ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman has blocked a deal by refusing to budge from a key demand -- and he showed no sign of backing down on Monday.

Lieberman is seeking a guarantee that legislation aimed at having ultra-Orthodox Jews perform mandatory military service -- like other Jewish Israelis -- be approved without changes.

His party controls five...