It's been a tough couple of days for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. On Thursday, state authorities declared that opponents could proceed with a recall election against him. Less than 24 hours later, a federal court struck down portions of the law he signed that curbs collective-bargaining rights. The court ruled that dues can be automatically withdrawn and the state can't require annual certification votes. Most of the law remains intact, but the automatic dues withdrawal will resume no later than May 31.

The international community can turn up the heat on Iran without fretting about fuel reserves, the White House said Friday. New sanctions proposed by President Obama will move forward after a government assessment of the crude oil available on world markets. The measures take aim at the Islamic Republic’s central bank, the primary middleman for oil exports, by exerting pressure on banks outside Iran that purchase the country’s most valuable commodity. The new sanctions come as U.S. gas prices have risen 20 percent this year due to tensions of Iran’s suspected nuclear program.

As the 2012 GOP primary winds its way to Wisconsin, Newt Gingrich is telling it like it is. The former House speaker said Mitt Romney will "probably"  get the 1,144 delegate votes he needs to secure the nomination. But that doesn’t mean Gingrich is going to give up. He says he will stick it out until the convention in Tampa in August or until Romney reaches the magic number. The comments mark a departure for Gingrich, who earlier in the race said Romney wouldn’t be able to get the votes to win outright. Up until recently, Gingrich had been predicting a brokered convention.

The government is “hiding evidence” from the defense team in the case of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier’s attorney said Friday. John Henry Browne said that the Army is trying to cover up the facts in the case of Bales, who is accused of killing 17 Afghans in a shooting rampage earlier this month. Browne said that the government has withheld files related to the case, and in a statement his defense team said the prosecution is wasting time “while potential witnesses scatter.” Bales, who has been charged with 17 murder counts, is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

What a "martyr." Osama bin Laden apparently didn't have such a bad experience on the run, since he had time to father four children, and owned five houses that he moved among, according to The New York Times, which cited a testimony given by bin Laden's youngest wife to Pakistani investigators. The 30-year-old Amal Ahmad Abdul Fateh's police report offers the most detailed account yet of bin Laden's nine-year-long hiding, though questions persist about how he was able to remain undetected, and whether he got substantial help from the Pakistanis.

It’s happened so many times before, maybe it’s no surprise: Current TV fired Keith Olbermann on Friday, announcing that his show would be replaced by a new one featuring former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. Current originally signed Olbermann after he was thrown off of MSNBC’s primetime lineup in 2011 for contributing to Democrats in violation of the network policy. “Current was founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers,” the network said in a statement. "Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.” Olbermann fired back on Twitter, saying he was planning to file a lawsuit against Current.

It may just be the biggest lottery reward ever. The Mega Millions jackpot has grown to $640 million as the frenzy to buy tickets grew. Officials say that more than $1.4 billion in tickets were sold across 48 states and the District of Columbia. The odds of winning were about 1 in 176 million when the drawing took place Friday night. Some have dropped thousands of dollars on a chance to win the jackpot. If taken in a lump sum, the winner would get about $462 million, but after taxes that would amount to about $347 million.

MasterCard announced Friday that it is conducting an ongoing investigation into a possible breach of cardholder data at Global Payments, one of the company’s payment processors. “MasterCard’s own systems have not been compromised in any manner,” a spokesman for MasterCard said. Visa is also reportedly affected by the breach. The possible extent of the breach at Global Payments has not yet been determined, but it could involve up to 50,000 cardholders. The breach was first reported Friday by the blog Krebs On Security.

Carson Daly apologized Thursday for saying on his radio show earlier in the week that gay passengers would not have been able to deal with the JetBlue pilot who broke down midflight. That hasn’t let him off the hook with everyone, though. The mother of Mark Bingham, a passenger onboard Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, said her gay son didn’t hesitate when hijackers took over his aircraft. “No one among his pick-up team of fellow passengers was asking, ‘Are you straight? Are you gay?’” Bingham’s mother wrote in a letter to TMZ. “The world has its share of strong, heroic gay men.”

Warning: this is hard to watch. Undercover investigators have filmed a video exposing neglect at a U.S. livestock auction house in New Mexico, according to a story in the Daily Mail. The footage was shot by activists at Animals' Angels after they heard a number of complaints from residents nearby. The video showed four animals who were near death, one of them with a huge hip wound. Owner Dennis Chavez is said to be a "kill buyer" who trade livestock primarily for slaughter, and the group said he shipped more than 10,000 horses to be killed last year.

Suspended for a season after it was discovered that his Saints players were paid bonuses for deliberately targeting players on opposing teams for injury, coach Sean Payton filed an appeal of the ban with the NFL on Friday. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that Payton and other Saints officials who challenge their suspensions could keep their jobs while their cases are under review. Payton has been accused by the NFL of encouraging the bounty system for Saints players, as well as about the existence of the program to league officials.

As the nine Supreme Court justices meet Friday to vote on the landmark health-care case—even though the decision won't be announced until June—a negative ruling could prompt a challenge against the Massachusetts law that inspired it, according to legal experts and activists. Then governor Mitt Romney introduced the individual mandate when he pushed through his plan in 2006, and the state and national bills have often been called the same plan, although the Massachusetts version has not seen a serious legal challenge.

The funeral director who prepared Trayvon Martin’s body said Friday there was “no physical signs like there had been a scuffle” on the teenager—a key part of George Zimmerman’s claim that he shot and killed Trayvon in self-defense. “The hands—I didn’t see any knuckles, bruises or what have you,” said Richard Kurtz. Recently released surveillance footage shows that Zimmerman was unharmed 40 minutes after Trayvon’s death. Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported that Zimmerman was fired from a job as a security guard because he was "too aggressive."

The bee population has been dwindling for years, and now scientists have a better handle on why. It turns out pesticides, which disrupt the central nervous systems of insects, disorient bees and make it difficult for them to find their way home. They also reduce the number of queen bees in the hive, which lowers reproductive rates. The Environmental Protection Agency is re-evaluating which chemicals it will allow in pesticides, and last week activists filed a petition seeking to ban neonicotinoids pesticides.

Calling in some bad news for Research In Motion, the Canadian tech company that makes BlackBerrys. RIM lost $125 million last quarter despite a record number of people owning BlackBerrys and is now doing some serious soul-searching to face the challenges of the market. The bad news was compounded as former chief executive Jim Balsille resigned from the board of directors. (He quit his CEO post in January.) Jim Rowan, the chief operating officer, and David Yach, chief technology officer, are leaving the company as well.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney picked up two Bush endorsements Thursday—from former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, after a private meeting in Houston. It's no secret that the elder Bushes and their son Jeb are supporting Romney, but there was no sign of another member of the family. "I haven't met with President George W. Bush," Romney said when asked about the younger Bush. "For now we're just staying out of it," George W.'s spokesman said Thursday. The candidates agree that it's best not to remind voters of George W.'s legacy.

The first eyewitness account of the events leading up to 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s death has emerged: An anonymous man, his voice disguised, said on CNN that he looked out his window and saw Trayvon and George Zimmerman, the shooter, “scuffling” on the ground when two shots rang out. The witness says that Zimmerman then walked away with his hand on his forehead, looking “worried,” but not injured. Before peeping out, the man heard angry voices outside. The man says that he reported the details of the incident to the police when it happened. Police video of Zimmerman doesn’t appear to show any blood—contradicting Zimmerman’s story.

In 2008, the Alabama chapter of Mitt Romney's PAC made a huge contribution to the National Organization of Marriage, the group that was pushing for a gay marriage ban in California via Proposition 8. The $10,000 donation was kept secret until this week when a whistleblower tipped off Human Rights Campaign. Romney's camp insists it was the PAC's donation, not a personal one, and though records show the money did come from the Alabama group,  the donation can be tracked back to Romney's town of Belmont, Mass.

President Obama’s former adviser to Russia, Michael McFaul, said on Thursday that journalists working for Russian state television hacked his phone and email. McFaul, in Moscow to meet with human-rights activist Lev Ponomarev, called the actions of NTV “wild,” despite the channel having denied any wrongdoing. “This doesn’t happen in the United States, this doesn’t happen in England, in Germany, in China—only here, and only with you,” McFaul told journalists. He accused the journalists of reading his schedule to pursue him.

United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan's spokesman said Friday that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must order a ceasefire without waiting for the opposition to make the first move. "The deadline is now," Ahmad Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva. Assad has reportedly declared acceptance of the Annan peace plan, but it has not been popular with the opposition, since it does not hinge on Assad leaving office. There has been no let-up to the violence—especially in Homs—despite Assad's agreement.

Burma will hold historic elections Sunday, but pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday there are efforts being made to disrupt the campaigns of opposition candidates. Calling these efforts "beyond what is acceptable for a democratic election,” Suu Kyi is accusing her rivals of vandalizing election posters, padding electoral registers and other cases of intimidation. The 66-year-old Suu Kyi is contesting a seat in her first election since being freed from house arrest in 2010, and she made her first public appearance since falling ill from seasickness and exhaustion over the weekend.

Wisconsin recall activists collected hundreds of thousands of signatures more than required for a recall election to take place against Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. Close to 901,000 signatures were submitted on the petition submitted Thursday. Only 540,000 were needed. The Government Accountability Board is expected to vote Friday to certify the recall elections. Only five fake names, 4,000 duplicate names and 26,100 incomplete names were found on the petitions. Wisconsin residents had already collected enough signatures to recall four GOP state senators, as well.

French police on Friday arrested 19 people described as radical Islamists as part of an operation targeting suspected jihadist networks in a number of cities. President Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview with Europe1 radio that he was mounting a crackdown after self-proclaimed al Qaeda member Mohamed Merah killed seven people in the Toulouse area before being shot dead last week. Automatic weapons were found in the homes of some of those arrested in cities including Paris, Marseille, Nice, Nantes, and Toulouse. Sarkozy, who is running a highly contested reelection campaign, said the arrests were not related to Merah.

There's no doubt about it, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will definitely face a recall election in June. The state's Government Accountability Board has confirmed the validity of 900,938 signatures on a petition to get rid of the governor—much more than the 540,208 required. Walker's office became vulnerable after his controversial union-restricting legislation incited statewide protests.

Call it aspirational buying. American shoppers laid out more in February than they have in recent months, with the Commerce Department announcing Friday that consumer spending rose 0.8 percent over the last four weeks. But income grew only 0.2 percent over the same period—which means that after taxes and factoring in inflation, income for the average American actually dropped, even as they were queuing up at the registers. The increase in spending may be linked to higher gas prices and rising hiring rates, economists explained. Seventy percent of the economy’s activity is powered by consumer spending.

Kinde Durkee faces up to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to looting at least $7 million from several political groups and Democratic candidates. The former California campaign treasurer was accused of carrying out the largest case of political embezzlement in California, reportedly stealing money from at least 50 accounts in her control, and using it to pay for mortgages, employee benefits, and personal expenses.  U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein is among the many politicians who claim to be victims of Durkee's theft.

Turning anti-greed is good—for Greg Smith’s bottom line, that is. After quitting Wall Street’s most notorious investment bank by publishing his resignation letter in the opinion pages of the New York Times, the former Goldman executive director has stuck another harpoon in the vampire squid, scoring a $1.5 million tell-all book deal, according to the New York Post. Smith inked the whopper of an advance with Hachette Book Group on Thursday. The payday is reportedly three times what Smith was making a year as a banker. Next stop, Hollywood!

Police officers in Pasadena, Calif., are being questioned over the shooting death of an unarmed 19-year-old college student Saturday night. Kendrec McDade was killed on a dark, narrow street, and reports say no light was turned on to see what was happening. The police say a 911 caller has been arrested accused of involuntary manslaughter and lying about being robbed by two armed men, but in fact no weapon was involved.

See ya, skinheads. A neo-Nazi pilgrimage site is no more after officials in Austria said on Friday that a tombstone marking the grave of Hitler’s parents has been removed. The lease on the grave is reportedly up, as renting graves in increments of ten years is a common practice in Austria. A descendant of Hitler’s father’s first wife requested the removal, saying she’d had enough of it “being used for manifestations for sympathy” for the fascist leader and mass murderer. Neo-Nazi groups were reported to come to the grave to mark the site with flowers and Nazi paraphernalia.