Four more deaths blamed on a rare outbreak of meningitis in the U.S. brought the nationwide death toll to 12 Tuesday, setting off further alarms about lax regulation on pharmaceutical-compounding companies like the one responsible for the contaminated steroid injections that caused the outbreak. Members of Congress are calling for tighter regulations, as the number of infected people reaches 121. Health officials worry that it could be November before all patients stricken with meningitis are identified. As many as 13,000 may have received the contaminated injections.

Wells Fargo is the latest collateral damage from the housing boom. U.S. prosecutors are suing the bank—the country’s largest originator of home loans—for defrauding the government, accusing it of issuing mortgages without proper discern and then lying about their condition to the Federal Housing Authority. When these problematic loans later defaulted, the FHA was obligated to cover the hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The lawsuit attempts to reclaim those damages. “The bank will present facts to vigorously defend itself against this action,” a Wells Fargo rep said in a statement.

When this man hints he might take action, chances are he will. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced early elections in Israel Tuesday, after saying his coalition government cannot agree on a national budget. Netanyahu held meetings last week to decide whether to continue pushing a 2013 budget, or to hold early elections. In a speech Tuesday, Netanyahu announced that he decided, “for the benefit of Israel, to hold elections now and as quickly as possible.” He is reportedly hoping to take advantage of high approval ratings for himself and the entire Likud party. Elections are expected to be held in late January or early February.

Such a clever wordsmith. Noting at a rally in Ohio that Barack Obama’s supporters traditionally chant “four more years,” Mitt Romney suggested Tuesday that since “there are 28 days before the election, I think the right chant ought to be for them ‘four more weeks, four more weeks.’” The crowd broke into the cheer several times during the rest of Romney’s speech. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was campaigning with Romney in Ohio, also delivered a memorable line while criticizing the Democratic National Convention: “I’ve got to tell you, when I hear that much B.S. I get light-headed.”

Was the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya linked to a controversial anti-Islam film? Well, it depends on whom you ask. During a briefing Tuesday, State Department offered a glimpse at discord between the State Department and the White House over who is to blame. State Department officials say they never linked the fatal attack to the angry response to the film, Innocence of Muslims, which raises the question why the White House used the film to explain the attack for more than a week following the events. Asked why that explanation was floated, one official said, “That was not our conclusion,” adding that the question was for “others” to answer.

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, will no longer contribute to Fortune and Reuters. Tuesday’s announcement comes following widespread mockery of Welch’s Friday Twitter comments that “these Chicago guys” (Obama) may have manipulated Friday’s jobs report to get the unemployment rate below 8 percent. In an editorial for The Wall Street Journal Tuesday, Welch reiterated his suspicion of the "implausible" numbers, and compared the fallout from his comments to living in a Communist country. He did have one regret: "If I could write that tweet again, I would have added a few question marks at the end."

Time to face the music. Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced Tuesday to 30 to 60 years in prison for 45 counts of child abuse. Judge John Cleland could have sentenced Sandusky to up to 400 years, but Cleland said that this sentence “has the unmistakable impact of saying the rest of your life.” Sandusky opted not to speak at his trial, but apparently had been crafting a statement while in jail and told the judge on Tuesday that he has “been kissed by dogs, been bit my dogs. I've been me.” Five of his victims either spoke or had messages read for them at the sentencing, with one victim saying “I want you to know that I don’t forgive you and I don’t know that I will ever forgive you.”

The Tea Party will soon be without biscuits and crumpets. Sarah Palin is writing a fitness book with her family, she revealed Tuesday in an email to People magazine. Numerous profiles of the Mama Grizzly have seized on her tendency to serve high-calorie feasts of moose chili and chocolate cream pies to guests, and, fittingly, Palin writes that her new book will focus on where her family gets “our energy and balance as we eat our beloved homemade comfort foods!” New photos of Palin looking especially thin have raised concern recently, but Palin promises her fitness advice “works and allows a fulfilling quality of life and sustenance anyone can enjoy.”

Take that, Mariah! American Idol agitator Nicki Minaj has been nominated for four American Music Awards, tying Rihanna for the most nods this year, and beating out Justin Bieber’s three category nominations. For her controversial part, Rihanna will be competing with two exes: Drake, for Artist of the Year; and Chris Brown, for Favorite Soul/R&B Album. Christina Aguilera announced the nominations on Tuesday. The winners, who will be revealed during the Nov. 18 show at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, are chosen by online voting.

Lady Gaga’s polarizing antics may spark passionate debates among music lovers. But amid that intense discussion, Yoko Ono finds peace. The legendary peace activist awarded Gaga the LennonOno Grant for Peace Tuesday, an award established in honor of her late husband, John Lennon. Presenting the award in Iceland, Ono commended Gaga, because “when you are number one, you don’t want to risk yourself. And she did.” Gaga dedicated the award to youth empowerment, saying, “I dare you to be compassionate in a cynical age.”

To be fair, she is something of a music feud expert. Weighing in on the highly-publicized fight between America Idol’s dueling divas, former Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks says Nicki Minaj is to blame. “How dare this little girl ... If I had been Mariah [Carey] I would have walked over to Nicki and strangled her to death right there.” And the landslide wouldn’t have ended there. “I would have killed her in front of all those people and had to go to jail for it,” continued the 64-year-old pop legend. A former coach on American Idol, Nicks says she’s “glad she’s not involved this year.”

Let this be a lesson for those who crave insects a là carte. The winner of a roach-eating contest near Miami, Fla., died after ingesting dozens of live cockroaches and worms, authorities said Monday. Edward Archbold, 32, fell ill shortly after the contest at a reptile store and collapsed outside. All of the other contestants emerged from the contest without so much as a stomach ache, officials said, and that Archbold’s autopsy results had not yet been released. Experts said most cockroaches are not toxic and allergies are rare. Here’s hoping they find out what was bugging him.

A major oversight by the FDA may have put thousands of people at risk of contracting meningitis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday. Thirteen thousand people have potentially been exposed to a tainted steroid linked to the latest meningitis outbreak, which has killed 8 people and sickened 97 others across 23 states. The New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., which the CDC believes began shipping the contaminated steroids used for back pain on May 21, voluntarily shut down last week and recalled all products made at its facility.

What Christian nation? Nearly 20 percent of Americans do not have a religious affiliation, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. That’s an increase of 8 percent since 1990, with one third of Americans under 30 reporting no strong ties to an established religion. While members of “nones” are not limited to any education or income brackets, 68 percent lean toward the Democratic Party—making it the largest faith constituency in that party—while white evangelicals make up 34 percent of the Republican base. The poll also found the number of Americans that identify themselves as Protestants has dipped below half the population, to 48 percent.

Did anyone tell Mitt Romney that Sesame Street isn’t on Nickelodeon? The Republican presidential nominee will not be participating in Nickelodeon’s “Kids Pick the President” event, the network said on Monday. The telecast, scheduled to air on Oct. 15, normally features each candidate answering questions submitted by children, and then there is online voting. The results will be announced on Oct. 22. While children obviously do not vote, the special is considered somewhat of a bellwether—especially since kids often parrot their parents' views. It’s only the second time a presidential candidate has chosen not to participate since 1992, when the special began. In the past six elections, the kids have only been wrong once, in 2004, they picked John Kerry over George W. Bush.

Margaret Thatcher must be smiling. In an impassioned 15-minute speech to the Australian Parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched a blistering counterattack on opposition leader Tony Abbott, calling him sexist and misogynistic. Her words were in response to Abbott’s claim that her support of Peter Slipper—a close ally who resigned after accusations of sexist text messages—was a display of bias. “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man,” she exclaimed. “If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia ... he needs a mirror.”

A 14-year-old girl who has campaigned for women’s rights in Pakistan was shot on her way home from school in the country’s northwestern Swat region on Tuesday. Malala Yousafzai was nominated for an international peace award after she published her diary in 2009 about her life under the Taliban, who have since been ejected from the region. It’s unclear if Yousafzai was targeted in the attack. Initial reports said her injuries are not life-threatening.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday vowed ongoing support for Greece, saying the country has made progress on a “difficult path.” Merkel’s support is especially important since Germany has been the chief financial backer of Greece, although many Greeks blame Germany for the harsh austerity measures. Athens increased security and banned protests for Merkel’s visit. Police fired tear gas at demonstrators who threw stones and gas bombs at them. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund released a report on Monday saying the global economy is still slowing down and it is cutting its growth forecasts. In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that he would not create a “Plan B” to ease up the austerity programs, despite the IMF’s downgrading of Britain’s growth forecast.

Paul Ryan took an eventful campaign tour through Michigan, Sunday. First, in a tense interview with Flint's ABC News affiliate, Ryan told reporter Terry Camp that the U.S. "has a crime problem," not a gun problem, and that it's up to "charities and civic groups and churches ... to help one another make sure that they can realize the value of one another." When Camp asked, "And you can do all that by cutting taxes? With a big tax cut?" Ryan quipped, "Those are your words, not mine," promptly ending the interview. Romney's running mate presumably had more fun at a fundraiser in Rochester later that night, in which he was introduced to the crowd by Republican rocker, Kid Rock. 

The Nobel Prize was awarded Tuesday to two scientists, one American and one French, for their work in quantum physics. The scientists, David Wineland and Serge Haroche, have been experimenting with new ways to measure quantum particles without destroying them—which could pave the way to build a powerful new computer model. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel, suggested the “quantum computer” could “change our everyday lives in the same radical way as the classical computer did in the last century.” When informed of the news, Haroche said he would celebrate with “champagne, of course.”

Wonder what WikiLeaks will say about this one. Lady Gaga visited the embattled website founder Julian Assange on Monday at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he is holed up as he fights extradition to Sweden. The singer arrived at the embassy around 7 p.m., dined with Assange, staying for around five hours and posing for photos while wearing a witch’s hat. Meanwhile, a British court ordered Assange’s friends and supporters to pay his $150,000 bond, since he refused to report to police to be extradited to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning for sexual-abuse allegations.

Two large blasts were reported near the official Air Force compound in Damascus on Monday night, the Syrian opposition said Tuesday. The death toll is still uncertain in the car bomb attacks, although opposition activists the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that “hundreds of regime forces” had been killed—and one opposition activist called it the “largest blast” he had seen since the uprising began last year. Meanwhile, heavy bombardments in Idlib, Homs, and other areas were reported on Monday as fighting between Syria and Turkey has continued for seven straight days.

The Mexican Navy said on Monday that it believed it has killed Heriberto Lazcano, known as El Lazca, the man considered to be the main leader of the violent drug gang the Zetas. In a statement, the Navy said Lazcano had been killed in a battle between Marines and two armed men, one of whom is believed to be Lazcano. The Navy said it would be conducting forensic tests to identify the men. The Zetas are one of the Mexico’s largest gangs and have been blamed for beheadings and kidnappings throughout the country—as well as some of the most astounding jailbreaks.

Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner will have to delay his attempt to break a new record by surviving a 23-mile free fall, after high winds aborted his launch. Baumgartner has spent five years training, and he planned to take off in a 55-story helium balloon headed to the stratosphere, where he would have made his 10 minute jump from 120,000 feet. But wind gusts moved the balloon around as it began to inflate, leading to the cancellation. An annoucer said, "This is going to be off for today ... They had the window for a short while. But the winds are a huge concern."

Just don’t tell Big Bird. Mitt Romney now leads President Obama by four points, according to a Pew research poll released on Monday—the first national survey since last week’s debate. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they believed the Republican performed better than Obama in the debate, compared with just 20 percent that picked Obama. There were even more devastating results for Obama: the two candidates are even on who is a stronger leader—a category that Obama led by 13 points in September. In the potentially crucial swing state Nevada, polls show that Obama still maintains a slight edge—but the state has been inundated with political ads for both candidates, and the state’s battered economy has been anything but strong over the past few months.

Well, that’s a good omen. Alcoa, the giant aluminum manufacturer, is always the first major corporation to report quarterly profits, and the company kicked off the fall earnings season Tuesday with a reassuring report. Alcoa reported a loss, thanks to a legal settlement, but revenues came in better than analysts expected. The company’s CEO said business was looking up despite the global slowdown, and that “the market has forgotten the fundamentals and sentiment dominates the pricing.”

The riot at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya that resulted in the death of four Americans grabbed global headlines, but it was hardly an isolated incident. According to U.S. investigators, a top State Department security official in Libya reportedly requested more security in the area just weeks before the deadly attacks on the embassy, but was told that the department wanted to “normalize operations and reduce security resources” instead. The officer who made the request cited a State Department document that detailed 230 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012, all of which posed a threat to Americans in the area.

At least 40,000 demonstrators took to the streets near Parliament to protest against Angela Merkel during her visit to Greece. One small group burned a flag bearing a Nazi swastika and some protesters dressed in Nazi uniforms. Banners at rallies read “Don’t Cry for Us Mrs. Merkel” and “Merkel You Are Not Welcome Here.” In preparation for Merkel’s trip, authorities banned protests in many parts of Athens and launched the biggest security operation since 1999, when protesters broke out over NATO airstrikes.  A police spokeswoman said that 217 people have been detained and 24 have been arrested and 7,000 police officers are on standby in the capital to keep order.

Sesame Street’s letters of the day are T-A-K-E I-T D-O-W-N, O-B-A-M-A. After the president’s campaign used Big Bird to mock Romney in a new ad, Sesame Street asked Obama to pull the spot. In a statement on its blog, Sesame Street said that it doesn’t participate in political campaigns. “We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down,” the blog post read. The ad cast Romney as the only soul brave enough to fight Big Bird, an “evil genius” that was not only big and yellow, but a menace to our economy.