Rick is calling it quits. At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, the Republican candidate who enjoyed a sudden surge and touted himself as the anti-Mitt Romney said he has decided to withdraw his name from the contest for the Republican nomination. Santorum made no mention of GOP frontrunner Romney in his speech. "Miracle after miracle, this race was as improbable as any race that you will ever see for president," Santorum said from Gettysburg, Penn. Romney congratulated Santorum on his campaign in a statement, saying, "He has proven himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation."

Florida State Attorney Angela Corey, who is handling the Trayvon Martin case, released a statement Tuesday saying she “is preparing to release new information regarding the Trayvon Martin shooting death investigation” at a press conference in the next 72 hours. The official statement from Corey came on the heels of an announcement by shooter George Zimmerman’s legal team, which said it was breaking off its relationship with Zimmerman and hasn’t spoken to him since Sunday. "I'm not sure ... who he's talking to," attorney Craig Sonner said of Zimmerman. Zimmerman created a website Monday to solicit donations to help with legal costs.

President Obama appeared in Florida on Tuesday to make the case for the “Buffett Rule,” a policy he introduced in this year’s State of the Union address. The rule would institute a minimum federal income tax of 30 percent for Americans who make more than $1 million a year. The administration argues that the rule is designed to prevent top earners from avoiding a large portion of their share of taxes. It takes its name from billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has publicly called for wealthy Americans to be taxed at higher rates than their midlevel employees.

The Syrian government said on Tuesday that it has begun to remove troops as the United Nations’ deadline for a ceasefire draws closer—but activists said 12 people had been killed by government forces early Tuesday. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said that the government had already withdrawn forces and Army units, although even Russia—one of Syria’s few allies left—said Bashar al-Assad’s government could have implemented the ceasefire better. The ceasefire, brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, is seen as the last hope to avoid an all-out civil war.

Sources say that Rick Santorum spoke to GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney before announcing the end of his campaign Tuesday. But the former Pennsylvania senator made no mention of Romney or any of the other Republican candidates in his 20-minute speech from Gettysburg—meaning the Republican frontrunner may have to work a little harder for Santorum’s endorsement. Romney tipped his hat to Santorum, saying in a three-sentence statement that Santorum was an “able and worthy competitor.” Romney, now firmly the presumptive Republican nominee, said Santorum “has proven himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation.”

A Korean Air passenger jet landed safely after a bomb threat was called into the airline, forcing the plane to make an emergency landed. The Boeing 777 was accompanied by two F-15 fighter jets to Vancouver Island in British Columbia late Tuesday afternoon. Korean Air received the bomb threat at its Los Angeles call center. The call came in 25 minutes after the flight took off from Vancouver International Airport. Comox, the airport where the plane landed safely, is 70 miles from Vancouver. Authorities and airline officials have yet to decide if they will continue the flight.

Chinese surveillance boats blocked a Philippine warship from arresting Chinese fishermen who had crossed over into what Philippine officials assert to be their waters. Albert Del Rosario, the foreign secretary for the Philippines, demanded that the Chinese resolve the tension peacefully, but as of Wednesday morning, the two countries were still at an impasse. Philippine sailors boarded the Chinese vessels on Tuesday, finding large amounts of illegally procured coral, giant clams, and live sharks inside at least one of the boats. Last year, the Philippines also accused China of interfering in the nearby Spratly Islands. The Chinese have in the past asserted sovereignty over the area, which is believed to be rich in gas and oil.

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn resigned Tuesday after the company launched a probe into his “personal conduct.” According to a company statement, “Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Dunn chose to resign.” Dunn started with the company as a sales clerk in the 1980s and became CEO in 2009. Best Buy shares rose slightly when the news of Dunn’s departure broke, but fell nearly 6 percent on the news of the probe. One equities analyst said, “It’s good news that he’s gone. But this adds another layer of uncertainty.”

Bobby Petrino will not return to coach the University of Arkansas football team, the school's athletic director revealed Tuesday. Petrino, who has coached the Razorbacks since 2007—and is married with four children—was having an "inappropriate relationship" with a 25-year-old female employee, Jessica Dorrell, a former Arkansas volleyball player. Petrino didn't immediately tell his bosses that Dorrell was with him when he wrecked his motorcycle on April 1. The former coach of the Atlanta Falcons led the Razorbacks to a 34–17 record while at the helm.

The Simpsons has been on for decades, and creator Matt Groening has finally revealed Springfield’s location. The town is named after Springfield, Ore. Growing up, Groening watched Father Knows Best and always thought that show’s Springfield was the same Springfield located south of his hometown, Portland. “When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield. And they do,” he said. Well, not anymore.

Eight gay couples filed suit on Tuesday to overturn Nevada’s same-sex marriage ban, arguing that the ban is a “violation of their rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” The plaintiffs include couples who have been denied a chance to exchange vows and others who married in other states but have faced discrimination since moving to Nevada. It’s not clear when the federal court will act on the suit, which was filed against Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and three marriage officials in the state. The suit follows comes after February’s federal ruling declaring California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, which could lead to a showdown in the Supreme Court.

China says ousted high-profile leader Bo Xilai has been suspended from the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo and placed under official investigation on suspicion of “serious discipline violations.” Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, is reportedly a suspect in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, according to the Associated Press. Bo was sacked as Chongqing’s Communist Party leader on March 15, after he reportedly had a falling out over the murder scandal with his ex-police chief Wang Lijun, who then sought asylum in a U.S. consulate. Wang is detained in Beijing and being investigated for treason.

Ozzie Guillen struck out big time just days after the baseball season began. The Marlins manager is scheduled to speak in Miami Tuesday morning after a Time magazine article quoted him remarking “I love Fidel Castro,” then offering some explanation. The local Miami-Dade population is about 34 percent Cuban, and maybe Guillen was just trying to find some common ground with the locals, but the Venezuelan Guillen made a serious misstep as far as Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who condemned the remarks, was concerned. What may have been some misguided bluster will have serious ramifications, with ESPN reporting that Guillen has been suspended by the Marlins for five games.

A filing could come as early as Wednesday morning as the Justice Department prepares to sue Apple over alleged e-book price-fixing. The DOJ is investigating whether the tech giant cut unfair deals with five publishers—Simon & Schuster Inc., HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Pearson, and Macmillan—to inflate the cost of e-books. Under the agreement, the publishers would set the price of the books, and Apple would get a 30 percent cut. The DOJ has been negotiating with publishers, and several are expected to settle this week. Publishers are expected to begin selling their content to other retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble at a lower cost.

Now that Santorum has bid the 2012 campaign trail goodbye, Romney looks to be the inevitable GOP nominee. But Gingrich, who is trailing Mitt considerably in the polls, is reportedly determined to give conservatives “a real choice” and ride out the rest of the race to the convention. If that means having to tattoo “All the way to Florida” on his forehead, the former speaker of the House just might do it.

Actress Melissa Gilbert suffered a mild concussion and whiplash during a particularly brutal session of Dancing With the Stars on Monday night. Gilbert was rushed to the hospital in a stretcher, but she tweeted after the show that she will “soon” be “safely home resting and being taken care of.” In a follow-up tweet she thanked competitor Gavin DeGraw for “carrying me down all those stairs” to the ambulance. Her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, injured his elbow and his groin during the rehearsal, his brother Val Chmerkovskiy said.

Former President George W. Bush came out of hiding to attend a conference at the New-York Historical Society on Tuesday, speaking on the tax cuts for the wealthy that are associated with his presidency. "I wish they weren't called the Bush tax cuts. If they were called someone else's tax cuts, they'd be less likely to be raised," he suggested. He also boasted the Bush Institute's upcoming book featuring contributions from 21 economists—five of them Nobel Prize winners. "They didn't think I could read, much less write a book," he said to laughs.

The Dow Jones fell 213 points on Tuesday, closing at 12,715.93, marking its biggest drop of 2012. The drop marked the stock market’s third triple-digit loss in just four days. Investors have been jittery over the never-ending European debt crisis and underwhelming corporate earnings reports. The market has lost about 550 points over the last week after climbing above 13,000 in March. The market had rallied at the beginning of the year, posting the best gains since before the financial crisis hit in fall 2008.

Winter is coming! HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones has been renewed for a third season in 2013. The show's second season premiere had 3.9 viewers and 6.3 million viewers tuned in for reruns during the night—huge gains over the first-season average. HBO programming president Michael Lombardo said, “Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss raised our expectations for the second season—and then surpassed them. We are thrilled by all the viewer and media support we’ve received for the series and can’t wait to see what Dan and David have in store for next season.”

The Florida neighborhood where Trayvon Martin was killed resounded again with gunshots early Tuesday as someone pumped six rounds into an unoccupied police car. The town, Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett warned, has become “a kindling box,” but authorities want to maintain calm and “so far it’s been absolutely peaceful.” ABC News reported that emergency operations centers in three surrounding counties have been placed on the same level of preparedness as for a hurricane. “You plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Triplett told reporters. According to the Associated Press, the cruiser had been parked outside of a Sanford elementary school at the school’s request.

After a weekend filled with rumors that Saturday Night Live star Kristen Wiig would be leaving, the actress said Monday that her future at the late-night staple is uncertain. Wiig, whose contract is up this year, said “I don’t know” when Alec Baldwin asked her during an interview if her time at the show is “winding down.” “Everyone has to leave … and I will say that when I do leave, it’s not because I’m sick of it and not because I see something better or anything like that,” she said. “It’s just time.”

The eastern U.S. was hit with record-breaking temperatures last month, making it the warmest March since record-keeping began in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The average temperature was 51.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 8.6 degrees higher than the 20th-century average for March. All 50 states recorded at least one record daily temperature during the month. In all, over 15,000 temperature records were broken. It wasn’t all sun and games, however. Washington, Oregon, and California experienced cooler than average months, while Alaska had its 10th coolest March ever.

A new study to be released Tuesday says that President Obama’s health-care law will add $340 billion to the national deficit over the next decade. The study stands in direct opposition with the administration’s claim that the bill, which the White House claims will cut Medicare payments, will save the country money in the long run. The study was directed by conservative policy analyst Charles Blahous, who oversees Medicare financing. He was appointed by Obama in 2010 as a public trustee for Medicare and Social Security. “Does the health-care act worsen the deficit? The answer, I think, is clearly that it does,” Blahous said.

Osama bin Laden has officially been knocked off the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, and replaced by Eric Justin Toth, a suspected child pornographer. Toth, a former third-grade teacher at the tony Beauvoir-National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., has been sought by the FBI for almost four years, since he was indicted after pornographic images were found on a school camera he used. The FBI had two vacancies on the Ten Most Wanted list this year, bin Laden’s and Whitey Bulger, who was captured by FBI agents in California in June.

President Obama’s lead among women isn’t going away easily. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll now has Obama 19 points ahead of Romney among women, though he’s 8 points behind with men. Obama also leads Romney on a slew of personal issues: voters find him more likable and friendly by a 2–1 margin, and “more inspiring” by almost the same margin. His Achilles’ heel is, as always, the economy. Nearly half of all Americans say his handling of the economy is a major reason to oppose his reelection. Overall, Obama leads Romney 51 to 44 percent.

Even as violent crime has declined across the country, an increasing number of police officers are being killed. According to the FBI, 72 officers were killed by suspects last year, a 25 percent increase from the previous year and a 75 percent increase over 2008. It was the highest number in two decades. It’s not clear why officer deaths are on the rise. Some say it’s because of a change in strategy: other departments are adopting the New York model of sending officers into the most dangerous neighborhoods and making frequent street stops.

Police say the two men arrested in connection with the shooting spree in Tulsa, Okla., have confessed. Alvin Watts, 32, confessed to shooting two people, and Jake England, 19, confessed to shooting three. Three of the victims died and two were seriously injured. All were black, and authorities are still investigating whether the crime was racially motivated. Last Thursday, on the two-year anniversary of the death of England’s father, killed by a black man, England posted racial slurs on his Facebook page and said he was “gone in the head.”

Remember when Herman Cain endorsed Newt Gingrich? The two even campaigned together in Georgia. Well, those days are over. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO/presidential candidate has officially changed his mind and is now calling on the rest of the Republican party to do the same. “The numbers are on Mitt Romney’s side, and yes, I have always said I will support whoever the nominee is, and it looks like Mitt Romney’s going to be that nominee, and we do need to get behind him,” he said on Fox News Tuesday. 

Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in one of Norway’s deadliest shooting rampages in history, was found on Tuesday to be sane enough to withstand a trial and a jail term. The findings contradict an earlier evaluation in November, which found him legally insane. Breivik himself has insisted he is mentally stable and that his first evaluation was based on “lies” and wrote in a letter that being sent to a psychiatric hospital is a “fate worse than death.” He has confessed to killing 77 people and injuring 151 in two attacks on July 22 of last year.

Rick Santorum’s 3-year-old daughter, Bella, was released from the hospital Monday night, and the presidential candidate canceled a few campaign events on Tuesday to spend time with her. In a statement the campaign said Santorum would not be attending events in Bedford and Carlisle, Pa., but had added an unspecified event in Gettysburg, Pa. Bella has Trisomy 18, a rare genetic disorder whose sufferers often do not live longer than a week. Santorum had been planning on focusing all his campaign efforts on Pennsylvania, his home state, where polls have shown him trailing Mitt Romney.

The radical cleric Abu Hamza may soon be on his way to the United States, along with four other men, now that the European court of human rights has ruled their rights won’t be violated by extradition. In 2006 Hamza was sentenced to seven years in prison for inciting hatred at his north London mosque, and he’s also accused of attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon in 1999 and working with the Taliban to kidnap 16 Western tourists in Yemen. Hamza had claimed that extradition to the U.S. would violate his human rights because he could be placed in solitary confinement.

At least 15 people were killed by early-morning suicide bombings in Afghanistan, officials say. Eight civilians and three policemen were killed by a blast at a local government office in Herat, while another four policemen were killed by three suicide bombers at a police compound in southern Helmand province. In the Helmand attack, two of the bombers had explosives strapped to their chests; the third was killed by police. While Helmand is frequently targeted by insurgents, Herat has been relatively quiet, although it did see an uptick in violence during protests in February after U.S. troops inadvertently burned the Quran.

There’s the obvious reason Facebook would pay $1 billion for Instagram: the mobile app, with its 33 million users and recent expansion to Android, was a growing threat to Facebook’s spot as the largest photo-sharing service in the world. But Lauren Goode at AllThingsD points out that Facebook gets something else in the deal in addition to Instagram’s easy interface. Instagram also makes it very simple to automatically tag the location of your photos. Some users have complained that it’s too easy—that it’s hard to know when your location is being automatically shared. Facebook has repeatedly tried and failed to get more of its users to post their location.

Three teachers from Maryland came forward to claim their share of the record-shattering Mega Millions jackpot, the state announced Tuesday. The teachers pooled $20 each to buy 60 tickets at various Maryland locations, and will each have $35 million wired to their bank accounts within the next 10 days. The trio includes an elementary-school teacher, a special-education teacher, and a school administrator. The three are remaining anonymous and said they planned to continue working despite their newfound fortunes.

George Zimmerman, phone home. The attorneys for the 28-year-old Sanford, Fla., man who shot unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin in February have dropped their client, saying at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that they haven’t heard from Zimmerman since the weekend. They also said that Zimmerman had an off-the-record chat with Fox News host Sean Hannity on his own initiative. Zimmerman has still not been charged with any crime, but dropped out of sight after Martin’s death became a cause célèbre. He claims that the shooting was in self-defense, and this week set up a website through which supporters can donate money toward his living expenses and legal fees.