After four years of secret back-and-forths between American and Iranian diplomats, Iran has agreed to one-on-one negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program, The New York Times is reporting. The Times cites senior government officials who say Iran is looking to avoid military intervention, but has stipulated the talks can only occur only after the presidential election. The White House vehemently denied  the Times's report Saturday, saying "it’s not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections." 

Well isn’t that ironic. Mitt Romney, known for his enormous personal wealth, is being surpassed in spending and cash intake by President Obama. The Romney campaign finished September with $63.1 million in its main fund to use before Election Day, while Obama is holding around $100 million. The president also spent $94.8 million on advertising and mail, more than double Romney’s $42.4 million just last month. Maybe Romney’s been too generous with his staff: according to reports, he’s doled out $425,000 in bonuses since the GOP convention.

Exactly one year after his father was killed, 28-year-old Khamis Gaddafi is reportedly dead after a battle in Bani Walid, a remaining pro-regime stronghold. Reports vary as to whether Gaddafi’s youngest son was captured and is alive but wounded, or was captured and has died from injuries. Libya’s recently overthrown prime minister tweeted that Khamis’s body was taken to a Misrata hospital, and a Libyan journalist told NBC that his right leg had been amputated. Gaddafi’s son has been reported dead in the past and is known as one of the most extreme of his siblings.

Emerging from scandal, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., was reported Friday to be looking to buy two newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune from a company with struggles of its own. But he’s not buying yet! Murdoch is reportedly waiting for the Tribune Co., which owns both papers, to emerge from bankruptcy—which could happen by the end of the year. However, there could be trouble: FCC regulations prevent ownership of a newspaper and a TV station in the same market, and he already owns Fox stations in both Chicago and L.A.

Kids really are growing up sooner. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a large-scale study on Saturday revealing that boys in the United States are entering puberty sooner than historical counterparts. The current benchmark for the beginning of puberty in boys is 11.5 years old, but now it seems the series of changes is occurring between six months and two years earlier.

Constituents of District 2 in Chicago got a robocall Saturday from their congressman, who’s been virtually absent since checking into a hospital in June. Jesse Jackson Jr. is being treated for bipolar depression, and he thanked his district for their prayers during his leave of absence. “I am human. I am doing my best. I am trying to sort through them all,” Jackson said in the message. He also expressed his desire to continue serving in Congress, saying, “I am anxious to return to work on your behalf, but at this time it is against medical advice, and while I will always give my all to my constituents, I ask for your continued patience as I work to get my health back.”

Officials said on Saturday that two more people were killed by a deadly meningitis strain, bringing the official tally to 23, as states report 13 new cases over the last few days. The total affected is now 281. The outbreak was traced back to the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts, which is facing federal and state investigations along with a multitude of lawsuits over tainted steroid injections.

President Obama’s super PAC Priorities USA had its biggest haul yet last month, with the help of entertainment kings Steven Spielberg and Jeffery Katzenberg. The director and DreamWorks CEO donated $1 million each, along with attorney David Boies Jr., who fought to overturn California’s Proposition 8. Priorities USA raised a total of $15.25 million this month, and the young PAC has been attracting big-name donors like Morgan Freeman and Bill Maher, who donated $1 million, along with Chicago media mogul Fred Horwich Eychaner, who gave $3 million. Maybe this is why Obama has been leading Romney in cash intake and spending.

If there’s a bad review of a tell-all about Wall Street, does it matter? That’s what publishers will be asking after The New York Times panned a book by ex–Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith, who quit in spectacular fashion in an opinion piece in the Times. His book, Why I Left Goldman Sachs, goes on sale Monday, and the Times describes it as “curiously short on facts” and says there are almost no examples of the so-called toxic atmosphere that caused him to pen the piece in the first place—aside from the now-infamous way managing directors called their clients “muppets.” Also problematic? Smith says the book is “from memory” and he tries to “retain the spirit of what actually happened”—and the Times finds several inconsistencies.

Looks like Jay-Z’s down to 98 problems thanks to the help of his close friend President Obama. During an interview with a Cleveland radio show, Obama spilled on what he and the famous rapper talk about, including parenting advice. “I made sure that Jay-Z was helping Beyoncé out” with the baby, he said. “And not leaving it all with mom and the mother-in-law.” The celebrity couple have been ardent supporters of the president, hosting a major fundraiser and even starring in a recent campaign ad. The love is clearly mutual: “They really are down-to-earth folks. We talk about the same things I talk about with all my friends,” Obama said. You know, like gasoline prices.

What’s a week without a police stop at a Lohan house? On Friday, Lindsay Lohan’s dad, out of fatherly concern, threw her the most awkward surprise party ever. Michael Lohan and a few other concerned parties showed up at her door on Friday, ready to stage an ambush intervention. The reason? He had heard she missed work that day and came to the obvious conclusion that she must have relapsed. But Lohan resisted and reportedly called the police to break up the intervention party. But the whole intervention could have been avoided, since the film’s producer, Bret Easton Ellis, said he was cracking a joke that Lohan missed work, since she had apparently been out promoting her new Lifetime film, Liz and Dick. Oops.

Cat got your tomb? Mirko Curti was chasing his cat through the streets earlier this week when the animal disappeared into a cave on the side of a cliff. When Curti followed, he discovered that his pet had stumbled upon a tomb containing piles of bones and Roman urns. Archaeologists say the site dates from between the second century B.C. and the first century A.D. As for the cat, he's probably off to find the Lost Ark.

Five years ago, Britney Spears was getting too toxic for her own good, her father’s attorney told the courtroom in her trial against former manager San Lutfi. “Jamie [Spears] was living in constant fear that he was going to look at the TV one day and see Britney was dead,” he said, describing a period when the pop star was hospitalized and lost custody of her children. “He is scared to death, and he’s thinking to himself, ‘My daughter has lost everything. Here she is, in a psychiatric ward, out of her head.’” The attorney also said Spears suffered from depression for years after breaking up with Justin Timberlake. Spears’s family says Lutfi was trying to keep her away from them, while Lutfi says he found what was probably crystal meth in the singer’s house and was trying to stop her drug use.

Sometimes you don't want to be ahead of schedule. A major federal study has ended two years early after it became clear that diet and weight loss do nothing to prevent heart attacks and strokes in overweight people with type 2 diabetes. Doctors were surprised, as both previous short-term studies and common sense seem to indicate that weight loss would help prevent heart attacks in these patients. But medical experts caution that this study doesn't mean you should stop exercising: maintaining a healthy weight is always a good thing.

Sometimes a hospital isn't the safest place. An 18-year-old in China was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for killing a medical intern and stabbing three others in an argument over treatment for a spinal condition. Attacks are not unusual in China, where 70 percent of hospitals have experienced 17,000 violent incidents against doctors in 2010. Chinese patients have no means to take legal action if their doctors make a mistake, which could be a factor in the epidemic.

A ship of pro-Palestinian activists carrying aid to the Gaza Strip was boarded Saturday morning by Israeli military forces. Although the ship, the Estelle, was intending to breach Israel's naval blockade on the area, the attack took place in international waters. The Estelle is the latest in a series of ships attempting to break the blockade in the Freedom Flotilla movement. There are 17 activists aboard the ship, with passengers and crew from the U.S., Canada, Israel, Sweden, and others. 

Shamed cycling legend Lance Armstrong stated the obvious when he said the last few weeks have been “difficult” at his first public appearance since being outed for doping. Armstrong addressed a crowd at Livestrong’s 15th-anniversary celebration, saying he was “humbled” by their support. “It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for me and my family, my friends and this foundation…I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse,” he said. Nike, Anheuser-Busch, and other sponsors said they would terminate their contracts with Armstrong after the USADA released evidence that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs. The cyclist stepped down as chairman of Livestrong, but will remain on the board of directors.

French police apparently decided to drastically reduce surveillance on Mohamed Merah, the man who went on an anti-Semitic rampage in Toulouse in March before being killed by police, in the months before the attack, according to French intelligence documents leaked Friday. Although authorities knew of his ties to Islamist extremists, they determined to monitor him on only a "selective basis" in November, four months before the shootings. Merah had apparently been under surveillance since 2006 and identified as a “privileged target” at the beginning of last year, after he returned from Afghanistan. Other documents indicate that he was in regular contact with “the radical Islamist movement in Toulouse.”

The state of Texas is mourning the loss of an important figure recognized statewide: Big Tex, the 52-foot-tall cowboy statue who had presided over the state fair since 1952, caught fire Friday morning. The fire started in Big Tex's right boot due to an electrical short and took only 10 minutes to consume the rest of the mascot. He was 60. Fair officials say not to worry: he'll be rebuilt in time for next year's festivities. But will he be the same?

September was the best month yet for the Obama campaign's fundraising efforts, according to reports released Friday. Not only did the committee bring in $126 million over the course of the month, but the fact that less money was spent ($115.55 million) than earned means that they went into October with nearly $100 million for the beginning of the final push. Filings have yet to be released on contributions to the Romney campaign.

Doctors in the British hospital where young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai is being treated for gunshot wounds said on Friday that she is steadily recovering. Having come out of a medically induced coma, she is now able to write and stand up on her own and has indicated that she has retained her full memory. However, Yousafzai is "still very ill," according to the hospital, and doctors warn that due to swelling, her brain injury has not been fully evaluated. Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban last week, targeted for her efforts to improve girls’ education.

It was the shot heard ‘round Wall Street: Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit abruptly resigned on Tuesday—a move that senior executives say was facilitated by the company’s chairman, Mike O’Neill. According to eight senior Citi executives and other sources close to the situation, Pandit and his lieutenant, John Havens, were blindsided after O’Neill made it clear in a meeting on Monday that they would have to go—despite the party line that resignations were joint decisions. Despite several sources saying that new CEO Mike Corbat had been told to prepare three weeks ago, the transition within the ranks has been anything but smooth, with one analyst calling it the worst he’s seen in 25 years.

After a bomb exploded in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut Friday afternoon, many Lebanese are pointing fingers at neighboring Syria for targeting a high-profile security official who was a major foe of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government issued a statement condemning the bombing, but some have said Syria has wanted to destablize Lebanon for harboring refugees. Protesters gathered at the bombing site later in the night to mourn the victims and express anger over the fallen official. On Saturday, the Lebanese prime minister offered to resign over the blast, but many worried the country would descend into chaos without him.