With world leaders pouring into the country for the G-20 summit next week, President Obama used his weekly radio address to tout American efforts to rein in the finance industry. Saying the U.S. "must lead, not just by word, but by example," Obama specifically took on executive compensation, an issue that's been on the table in Europe as well. "We cannot allow the thirst for reckless schemes that produce quick profits and fat executive bonuses to override the security of our entire financial system and leave taxpayers on the hook for cleaning up the mess," Obama said. He also repeated calls for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would regulate mortgages, credit cards, and lending.

Is L'Affair Edwards finally reaching its conclusion? As a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina, continues its investigation into whether John Edwards broke campaign laws while concealing his affair with employee Rielle Hunter, The New York Times reports that the one-term senator is getting ready to go public as the father of Hunter's 19-month-old daughter Frances—despite having unequivocally denied fathering the child on previous occasions. Though Edwards staffer Andrew Young once claimed Frances' paternity, Young is now working on a tell-all memoir that will reportedly admit that it was all a ruse to protect his former boss. What's more, the NYT reports that Rielle Hunter is contemplating a move to Wilmington, North Carolina, not far from the Edwards family's restricted-access beach home. An acknowledgement of paternity would not only be a nail in the coffin of Edwards' credibility, but could "shift Ms. Hunter's image from that of a predatory celebrity stalker... to that of a mother concerned about her child's rights." Holding the public acknowledgement back, NYT reports, is Edwards' cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, who "has yet to be brought around" according to a family friend.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin announced Saturday morning that Russia will no longer position Iskander short-range missiles in the Kaliningrad region of the country as a result of President Barack Obama’s decision to eliminate the Eastern European missile-defense plan instated by George W. Bush. Obama dropped the plan, which included deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic, as a result of a recent U.S. intelligence report revealing that Iran’s nuclear long-range missile will take three to five years longer to build than expected. Popovkin summed up Obama’s decision by saying, “Reason has prevailed over ambitions…Naturally we will cancel countermeasures which Russia has planned in response.” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev supports Obama’s decision, and the two presidents will meet at the U.N. next week. Whether this new development means that Russia is closer to helping the U.S. bully Tehran in regard to its nuclear program, however, is unclear.

The religious right has spoken, and it wants Mike Huckabee. The former governor of Arkansas and Fox News personality won the Values Voter Summit’s 2012 presidential straw poll on Saturday, scoring more than double the votes of his closest competitors. The crowded field included former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, each of whom won about 12 percent of the 597 votes cast. Huckabee’s comparatively blockbuster 29 percent made him the king of the crop, though the president of the Family Research Council (which hosted the summit) noted that, though Huckabee has “potential,” FRC isn’t ready to endorse. “We want a fully rounded conservative candidate,” he said. “Right now, the door’s wide open.” Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum each won a single-digit share of the vote.

Ex-CIA chiefs are lining up to criticize the Justice Department's probe into the agency's treatment of terror detainees, but the investigation may end up being a relatively small one. According to The Washington Post, the probe is set to look at only a few cases—less than the 10 that have been previously reported. One case that's drawn the probe's attention is the November 2002 death of an Afghan man in a CIA facility in Kabul known as the Salt Pit, after he was allegedly beaten and chained to a concrete floor without blankets. In that case, hypothermia was officially given as the cause of death, but investigators did not have access to the body—raising questions about if that was part of a coverup. Seven CIA directors this week called on President Obama to cancel the inquiry, which they warn would be demoralizing and weaken intelligence-gathering efforts.

Just as Texas reaches its highest unemployment rate in 20 years, a video has made its way to YouTube of Rick Perry, a Republican, speaking at a business luncheon in Houston, declaring Texas “recession-proof.” Perry and his audience share a good laugh as Perry announces, “Just today I think, Michael, you said someone had put a report out that the first state that’s coming out of the recession is going to be the state of Texas. I told him, I said, ‘We’re in one?’” Perry is facing a tough primary challenge from fellow Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Texas Monthly editor Paul Burka has already declared, “This gaffe is going to stick.”

The motive behind the murder of 24-year-old Yale researcher Annie Le is still unclear and may never be known, New Haven, Connecticut, Police Chief James Lewis said Friday. Lab technician Raymond Clark III, 24, was arrested Thursday after police said his DNA matched evidence from the crime scene. Lewis said that investigators are still analyzing a plethora of evidence in an attempt to uncover more information. One theory points toward Clark’s alleged controlling tendencies, which included being possessive about the mice he watched over. Whether this would cause any kind of conflict with Le’s role as a researcher is unclear. Le’s body was found inside lab walls on the day she set to marry Columbia University grad student Jonathan Widawksy. On the same day, Clark casually played in a softball game while undercover police looked on. Le’s memorial will take place in her fiancé’s temple in Huntington, New York, on September 28. Clark is being held in Suffield, Connecticut, and his next court date is scheduled for October. His bail is set at $3 million.

The state of Washington is on high alert this weekend. Two days ago, a legally insane killer managed to evade a massive manhunt and escaped during a field trip to a county fair. Phillip Paul confessed to killing a community activist in 1987, claiming she was a witch, and has been confined to a mental institution. Patients are sometimes allowed to take trips—like the one 47-year-old Paul was on—and now state officials are questioning the policies of the mental hospital. A licensed psychiatrist said of Paul: “He's the only paranoid schizophrenic—I've seen hundreds, maybe thousands of them—that frightened me.” A manhunt is still on for the killer in Spokane County.

Break out the pocket protectors—this weekend New York is turning into a huge art and technology fest. The Conflux Festival, meant to “fuse urban public spaces with exploration and experimentation” is a citywide art installation that began in 2003. Some of the almost improbable events include Gigaputt, during which typically crowded avenues are transformed into fairways and iPhones into golf clubs. Apple fanatics, iPhones in hand, swing their cells and pretend to putt on the fake green. An “Urban Disorientation Game” sounds more like kidnapping—players are blindfolded, taken to remote areas of the city, and are challenged to find Conflux headquarters using maps they create on the way.

And we have a winner: Cathy Maples of Huntsville, Alabama, has secured her place at a dinner table with Sarah Palin with a $63,500 bid on eBay. The money will go to a charity supporting wounded American soldiers. She beat out journalist Joe McGinniss, who profiled Palin for Portfolio magazine and is working on a book about the ex-governor. In a letter provided to the Alaska Dispatch, McGinniss gracefully conceded to Maples. "As one of the underbidders, I salute you and congratulate you on winning the dinner with Sarah Palin," he wrote. "I'm pleased that my bids helped increase the total proceeds that will go to our wounded veterans through Ride2Recovery. I wish you the best for your forthcoming trip to Alaska." According to the Associated Press, Maples owns a defense contracting company and is a "big advocate" for Palin.

The fallout continues over the South African track star who may be disqualified for possibly failing a gender test. "I now realize that it was an error of judgment and I would like to apologize unconditionally," Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuene said at a news conference Friday after emails revealed that Chuene had been aware of internal ASA gender tests on 18-year-old runner Caster Semenya. The emails, published yesterday in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, are between ASA doctor Harold Adams and ASA General Manager Molatelo Malehopo, but Chuene was CC’ed in the exchange. While the ASA had denied knowledge of the tests, which reveal that last month’s 800-meter record breaker Semenya has both male and female characteristics, the emails reveal that Adams did not want Semenya to participate in the race. Chuene said no to the request, in part, because "If we did not let her run, we would be confirming that she is not normal," Chuene said at the press conference. The consequences of Chuene’s decision to withhold information have not been announced.

Who says football is only for men? At 35 years old Sarah Thomas is not only an attractive mother of two young boys; she is also the only female referee in major college football. Born in Mississippi and based in New Orleans, Thomas has always loved sports and worked her way from a youth league line judge in 1996 to a college ref known for her ability to make accurate calls in high-pressure situations. Thomas, who refereed in a maternity shirt when she was pregnant, considered leaving football in 2006, until she was courted to officiate college games by former NFL official and Conference USA coordinator Gerald Austin. “She made one tough call after another and nailed every one of them,” Austin said. Thomas, who folds her long blond hair under her referee’s hat, says players often don’t realize she’s a woman until they hear her voice. Since Thomas began officiating on the college level, the Southwestern Athletic Conference gained its first female official and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference added three women to its roster. Will she conquer the NFL next? Austin says Thomas is so good her name is tossed around as a likely contender when the pros add a female official.

Someone has been Googling "antitrust" over at the Justice Department. Federal officials on Friday urged a judge to reject a settlement Google secured with authors and publishers to sell access to millions of digital books online and share revenue. According to The Wall Street Journal, Justice Dept. officials are concerned that the deal insufficiently protects obscure authors and could block competitors from joining the digital book business themselves. Despite their criticism, the department said in a brief that the settlement was otherwise a productive idea that "has the potential to breathe life into millions of works that are now effectively off-limits to the public." Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers said in a joint statement that "We are considering the points raised by the department and look forward to addressing them as the court proceedings continue."

President Carter may think Obama’s critics are influenced by racism, but the president begs to differ. Obama taped five interviews on Friday, which will run on five networks' Sunday-morning talk shows. USA Today snagged a sneak preview and reports that Obama used his interview with CNN’s John King to acknowledge but steer away from Carter’s conversation about race: “Are there people out there who don’t like me because of race? I’m sure there are,” Obama said, but noted, “That’s not the overriding issue here.” The people who are a problem, he said, are those “who are anti-government.” They’ve come out of the woodwork now because they’re “more fierce during times of transition of when presidents are trying to bring about big changes.” Obama reportedly struck similar chords in interviews with CBS’ Bob Schieffer, NBC’s David Gregory, and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. He’ll also appear on Spanish-language channel Univision on Sunday.

Is Michelle Obama pulling a Hillary? The first lady stepped into the health-care debate on Friday with a speech that called the health-care status quo as “unacceptable.” But unlike Hillary, Michelle stayed away from the nitty-gritty policy details, focusing instead on a distinctly feminine—and maternal—take on health-care reform: Women are “crushed by the current structure of our health care” when they are tasked with managing their families’ health, prescriptions, follow-up care, and doctor appointments. “Mothers are the ones that do it. And many women find themselves doing the same thing for their spouses.” She pointed out that women are more likely to work only part-time or at a small business that can’t provide health coverage, leaving their insurance options disproportionately stifled.

Politically incorrect comedy impresario Sacha Baron Cohen will guest star on The Simpsons this season, playing a "pretty angry but funny" Israeli tour guide in an episode titled "The Greatest Story Every D'ohed," Hollywood Insider reports. When the Simpson's parish tours the Holy Land, Homer gets an acute case of "Jerusalem Syndrome," believing that he is the messiah. Executive producer Al Jean explained a scene between Baron Cohen's character and Marge Simpson: "He's trying to get Marge to give him good grades on the comment card, and she goes 'You people are pushy,' and he goes, 'What do you mean, you people? You try having Syria for a neighbor! What do you have—Canada?'" The episode is tentatively scheduled to air on March 28, Palm Sunday.

While the press has portrayed the American decision to cancel a missile-defense system based in Poland as a slight to the country, a new poll shows strong support for the move within Poland itself. According to a survey published Saturday in Polish daily Rzeczpospolita by polling firm GFK, some 48 percent of respondents said the U.S. decision was good for Poland with only 31 percent disagreeing. A solid majority, 58 percent, said the move would have no impact on Poland's security. The public doesn't seem sold on the notion that the move was just about providing the most effective defense against Iran, however—40 percent say it was a concession to Russia. The surprise survey could help strengthen the White House's hand in rebutting critics who say the plan weakens American allies in Eastern Europe.

The circle of life continues in the corporate world: Walt Disney Studios head Dick Cook has left the company suddenly after 38 years. Whether Cook simply resigned or was pressured to quit is unclear, but the Los Angeles Times chalks up the abrupt departure to bad blood between Cook and Disney Chief Executive Robert A. Iger, who supposedly blames Cook for a less-than-stellar track record. The box office has not always been kind to Cook, with duds like G-Force and Race to Witch Mountain occurring under his watch. A former Disneyland ride operator who made his way to the top, Cook is reportedly known for maintaining a high level of secrecy that conflicted with Iger’s push for collaboration. Cook’s successor has not yet been announced.