More good news for Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor took first place in the Maine Caucuses on Saturday with 39 percent of the votes. Ron Paul was close behind with 36 percent. Rick Santorum, who won three states earlier this week, finished in third place with 18 percent and Newt Gingrich took a distant fourth with 6 percent. Romney also won the CPAC straw poll earlier in the day.

Whitney Houston's publicist has confirmed that the singer, 48, has died. Houston was found dead at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where she was scheduled to attend a pre-Grammy party hosted by Clive Davis. CNN reporter Justin Lear tweeted that CNN confirmed that Houston's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Ray J, found the singer dead in her hotel room, although Ray J denies the account. The day before she died, paparazzi took pictures of Houston emerging dishevelled from a nightclub, with scratches on her arms. In January, sources reported that the singer was nearly bankrupt. Simon Cowell was reportedly considering the singer as a judge on his beleaguered talent show, The X-Factor.

The circus of conservatism known as CPAC wraps up each year with a straw poll, and Mitt Romney took home the prize, winning 38 percent of the vote Saturday afternoon. He narrowly edged out Rick Santorum, with 31 percent; Newt Gingrich got 15 percent and Ron Paul 12 percent. The slight boost for Romney comes on the heels of a new national poll that shows Santorum with a whopping 15-point lead.

Here’s some much-needed political advice from a former vice-presidential candidate. Sarah Palin said on Saturday that there is no need for a hasty conclusion to the GOP primary and that she would not encourage any of the candidates to drop out of the race at this point because there is still “room for more debate, more discussion.” Palin said, “People who start screaming that a brokered convention is the worst thing that could happen to the GOP, they have an agenda. They have their own personal or political reasons, their own candidate who they would like to see protected away from a brokered convention.” She added, “Don’t let the political experts in the party say that we need to sew this thing up now.”

Though they initially didn’t respond very loudly to President Obama’s new birth-control plan, the leaders of the U.S. bishops’ conference have released a second statement declaring that the mandate for contraceptive coverage in health-care programs “unacceptable” and insisting it “must be corrected.” While Obama’s new plan doesn’t force religious-affiliated employers to pay for contraceptive coverage—insurers would still be obligated to provide the coverage for free—the bishops said the change isn't enough. “At this point, it would appear that self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate.” The church leaders raised specific concerns about the enforcement for coverage of “sterilization and contraception,” which raised a “grave moral concern.”

Rupert Murdoch said Saturday that he will not shut down the daily tabloid The Sun, after five employees were arrested earlier in the same day. Murdoch, the paper's owner, said that he will visit the paper's offices next week. The arrested are believed to be picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker, reporter John Sturgis and associate editor Geoff Weber. They are suspected of having bribed police officers and allegedly covering up those bribes. News International chief executive Tom Mockridge issued a memo to Sun staff saying “The Sun has a proud history of delivering ground-breaking journalism.” With a circulation of over 2 million as of October 2011, The Sun has the highest daily readership of any newspaper in Britain—but high circulation did not stop News International from shutting down The Sun’s sister paper, The News of the World, which stopped printing in July in an attempt to end the ever-growing scandal.

In the midst of a two-day strike, Greek leaders warned a “dangerous, unknown” path is ahead if an agreement is not reached over the deeply unpopular European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout. “The consequences of a disorderly default would be incalculable for the country—not just for the economy,” said Deputy Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis. Parliament will vote Sunday over the 3.3 billion euros in deep austerity cuts proposed in the 130v billion euro bailout that Greece desperately needs to avoid default—which could result in the country being removed from the euro regime. While Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has a majority, six cabinet members have resigned in protest and a number of lawmakers have said they are planning on voting against the deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Friday that there will be “uncontrollable consequences” for the euro zone should Greece default.

Syrian state television reported Saturday that gunmen in Damascus had assassinated an Army general—the first killing of a high-ranking military official in Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The state-run news agency said three gunmen opened fire at Brig. Gen. Issa al-Khouli as he left his house Saturday morning. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. Also Saturday, activists said Syrian troops shelled the Baba Amr district in central Homs, killing at least four people. The U.N. estimated in January that 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March—but recent chaos has made it impossible to get up-to-date numbers.

No, this is not news from December. President Obama used his weekly video message Saturday to tell Congress to pass a longer-term extension of the payroll-tax cut. After much haranguing, Congress agreed to a two-month extension at the end of December, which will expire at the end of this month. Congress, Obama said, “needs to stop this middle-class tax hike from happening. Period. No drama. No delay.” Obama once again urged Americans to “pick up a phone, send a tweet, write an email and tell your representative they should get this done before it’s too late.” The $550 billion bill would also renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and prevent doctors from getting a 27 percent cut in their Medicare payments.

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Iran had made nuclear progress despite the tough Western sanctions—and an official announcement will come soon. Speaking at celebrations for the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah, Ahmadinejad said “in the coming days” Iran would announce a “very major nuclear achievement.” Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags with pictures of the ayatollah chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” during the rally, which was also attended by Hamas leader Ismail Haniya. Iranian officials have brushed off the effects of the tough U.S.-backed sanctions against the country, but industry analysts have said that Iran’s oil sector has been hit and global oil flows are already changing. China and India, in an effort to head off more sanctions, have sent officials to Tehran for nuclear talks.

A hacker affiliated with the group Anonymous said Saturday that he had acquired the personal information of more than 350,000 members of the porn site Brazzers after he broke into the discussion forum. The hacker, a 17-year-old who lives in Morocco and has claimed to have taken down the sites of the Church of Scientology and the FBI, said it was “pretty easy to find” a vulnerability in the site’s code. A spokesperson for Brazzers said they are “currently investigating” the issue, but the forum was unreachable Saturday. The site insisted no credit-card information had been leaked.

A key Catholic group has backed President Obama’s Friday announcement that he would not enforce a provision of the health-care law that required religious institutions to pay for women’s birth control. Sister Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Organization said the president “has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed.” Keehan and the support of her organization represent exactly who Obama was hoping to win over: Catholic Democrats. Obama apparently spoke to Keehan and Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the head of the U.S. Conference of Bishops and a cardinal-designate, before announcing the policy change—but it’s unclear what exactly they discussed. While the Republican candidates for president were quick to say they opposed the health-care law in the first place, conservatives remained unmoved by the policy shift, with Rick Santorum saying Friday that the debate had “not been about birth control” but about “economic liberty.”

Jon Huntsman’s daughters, the famed @Jon2012Girls, said Friday that they were not invited to the annual conservative gathering in Washington, CPAC, but a CPAC spokesman said Saturday that they would be happy to “contemplate” inviting Mary Anne, Abby, and Liddy Huntsman. “For everyone wondering if we made it to CPAC this year, the answer is no,” they tweeted. “We didn’t quite make the list. #CPACdoesn’twantyourcommentary.” Al Cardenas, a spokesman for the American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC, said his organization never received a request from the Huntsman daughters to attend. “Have them contact us, and we’ll be happy to contemplate the possibility,” Cardenas said.

The family of 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Brandon Powell held a public memorial service for them on Saturday, nearly a week after their father killed them and himself in a gas-fueled blaze. Their mother, Susan Powell, has been missing for two years and their father, Josh Powell, had been declared a person of interest in her disappearance. Hundreds of people attended Saturday in Tacoma, Wash., some wearing purple and blue ribbons in memory of the boys. Family members and the boys’ teachers are scheduled to speak. Recently released divorce papers from their grandparents’ divorce showed that both grandparents had concerns about Josh Powell from early on.

Move over Blue Ivy Carter, the Twitterverse is exploding with a new star, and he’s a lot taller. Jeremy Lin, the 23-year-old Asian-American Knicks guard, has became an online meme with tweets about him exploding—and his own personal followers increasing from 200,000 to 383,000 in just four days. Lin led the Knicks to crush Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Friday night, and he faces off against LeBron James and the Miami Heat on Feb. 23—in other words, don’t expect the hype to die down yet.

Paul McCartney was named the Person of the Year on Friday by MusiCares, an organization run by the same group that oversees the Grammys, at a gala that included all-star tributes to some of his best songs. In front of a crowd of 2,800 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, McCartney sang two numbers from his recently released album, before performing a live rendition of the medley at the end of the iconic Beatles album Abbey Road. The crowd roared when he sang: “And in the end, the love you make is equal to the love you take.” Other performers included Tony Bennett, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, and James Taylor. Neil Young brought down the house with “I Saw Her Standing There.” The dinner raised more than $6.5 million for the organization, which provides financial aid, drug treatment, and medical care to musicians.

The United Nations has sent a draft resolution to the General Assembly to apply pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. It's similar to the earlier version that Russia and China vetoed, so it's unclear how this one will play out. Meanwhile, neither the Syrian government nor the opposition has taken responsibility for Friday’s deadly twin bombings in Aleppo—although both groups have been quick to blame the other. Syrian state television said 28 were killed and more than 200 wounded in the bombings, which marked the first time the Syrian violence has spread to Aleppo, a prosperous northern city where the government still enjoys large support. A spokesman for the opposition group the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union said that it would have been “impossible” to carry out the Aleppo attacks due to the heavy security at the buildings. Opposition groups said another 14 people were killed Saturday, most of them in Homs.

These are the pictures the world has been waiting for. Jay-Z and Beyoncé have released the first photos of their month-old bundle of joy, Blue Ivy Carter. The proud papa posted the pics on his website, Life and Times, with a note thanking fans. “We welcome you to share in our joy,” Jay-Z wrote. “Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives.” The photos were released just as news broke that Blue’s famous parents are thinking about trademarking her name.

Sources told Reuters on Friday that former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is being investigated by federal authorities for allegedly receiving favors or items of value from vendors under city contracts. Nagin, made famous in 2005 for his defense of his city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, is reportedly cooperating with both the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department. Nagin said the charges are three years old and he wants a chance to finally deal with them. “Hopefully we can have an honest, open approach where truth and justice will prevail, but I’m starting to worry about that now,” Nagin said, without saying what prompted his concerns. Since he left office in 2010, there has been speculation that he could face corruption charges—especially after a former associate and close personal friend pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the city.

The primary battle continues. Rick Santorum is the most recent GOP candidate to experience a surge—he’s now leading Mitt Romney 38 percent to 23 percent, according to a recent poll. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul trailed the pack with 17 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Additionally, 64 percent of voters say they have a favorable opinion of Rick Santorum, compared with 44 percent for Romney. And even more bad news for Romney: 58 percent of those polled said they would move over to Santorum if Gingrich were to drop out of the race, propping Santorum up to 50 percent support and Romney at just 28 percent.

After calling himself the “severely conservative” candidate at Washington’s conservative conference CPAC, Mitt Romney headed to Maine ahead of the state’s final caucusing on Saturday—a contest where he faces an ongoing threat from Ron Paul. Romney held his first town hall in the state on Friday night, where he focused on attacking President Obama’s policy shift regarding religious institutions and health care. Ron Paul, meanwhile, looked to grab his first victory in the 2012 Republican race, with strong organization in the state where Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have not campaigned heavily. Paul, who won 18 percent of Maine’s vote in 2008 and whose support has only grown in the state since then, drew huge crowds Friday—enough of a threat that Romney added two caucus appearances to his schedule on Saturday.

Maybe foreign-policy miracles really do happen. Iran is ready to negotiate with Western powers over its nuclear program, Turkey's top diplomat said Friday. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he believes negotiations could be successful if each side sets aside its deep distrust of the other. He also cautioned that current economic sanctions weren’t working, and a military strike would be a catastrophe. Both the U.S. and Israel have stated they will use any means necessary to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Talks have stalled over the last several months, and it's not clear that Iran has made any concrete overtures to resume discussions, though President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said publicly that he is ready to restart negotiations.

Egyptians organized mass strikes Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of former president Hosni Mubarak’s fall from power, although the country’s Muslim Brotherhood has not endorsed the protests. The military, headed by Mubarak’s long-time defense minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has called for additional troops to be deployed throughout the country. On Friday, thousands of protesters marched in Cairo demanding an end to military rule, and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces responded by issuing a statement to state television saying “we will never yield to threats, and we will never give in to pressure.” Since Mubarak’s fall last year, the Egyptian economy has tumbled and protests have raged on, most recently over 74 deaths at a soccer match. The military leaders have pledged that elections will take place in June.