How do they feel about horses and bayonets? The third-party presidential candidate debate was Tuesday night in Chicago, with Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode, and Justice Party nominee Rocky Anderson participating. Larry King and Christina Tobin served as moderators, kicking off the night by asking candidates their opinions on the “top two” system of selecting candidates—a method that most, unsurprisingly, opposed. The Democratic and Republican parties are putting a “stranglehold on our democracy,” Anderson said, with Johnson labeling Obama and Romney “Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”

Hopes for a coming ceasefire in Syria—in honor of the upcoming Id al-Adha holiday—were decimated when artillery gunners shelled a bread bakery full of civilians Tuesday. The gruesome attack, which took place at Al Zura Bakery in Aleppo, left 20 dead and 30 wounded. The New York Times posted a grisly video of the horrific scene—yet to be verified—in which lifeless bodies are seen interspersed with fresh pita bread on the bakery’s bloody floor. It was unclear whether attackers were aiming for the bakery, or whether weaponry was misfired. “The problem is those kinds of missiles are not guided to their intended targets,” an activist in Aleppo said. “They’re not precise. They fall on random buildings.”

Is a performance a comeback if it doesn’t yield results? A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that President Obama handily won Monday’s foreign policy debate, with 47 percent of registered voters saying that he beat Mitt Romney, and just 31 percent said the Republican challenger had the better night. Whether it matters is another question, as both candidates saw only a 1-point uptick in their favorability ratings. Romney maintains a 5-point lead in the Gallup daily tracking poll, garnering the support of 51 percent of likely voters to Obama’s 46 percent. The GOP nominee is also up 48 to 47 percent among registered voters, according to Gallup.

Todd Akin and Joe Walsh, here’s a third member for your posse. Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said Tuesday that pregnancy resulting from rape can be “something that God intended to happen.” The comments came during a debate. “I came to realize life is that gift from God,” he said. “And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.” The Romney campaign immediately issued a statement distancing themselves from the candidate, saying "Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views." Talk about déjà vu.

It looks like the Obamas and Romneys can get along after all. After saying he wanted to take a swing at the President Obama, Tagg Romney apologized to the commander in chief after Monday’s foreign-policy debate. Obama reportedly accepted Tagg’s overture. It’s not exactly clear what the president told Romney’s eldest son, but the president leaned over to whisper something into his ear. Could an Obama—Romney family picnic be far behind?

Cue the lines. Apple unveiled a host of new products—including theiPad Mini—at an event in San Jose on Tuesday. The new iPad Mini is 7.2mm thick—about the size of a pencil—and has a 7.9-inch screen and weighs 0.68 pounds. The price has not been unveiled but it is rumored to be as low as $250. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the iPad accounts for 91 percent of all tablet traffic, with 100 million iPads sold. The event kicked off with Apple introducing a 13-inch Macbook Pro, with retina display. Apple also introduced a new iMac, a sleeker, thinner version of the original, to great applause. Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller calls it the “most beautiful iMac we’ve ever made.”

Has Facebook put its shaky IPO days behind it? The company reported a 32 percent increase in third-quarter revenue, bringing its total to $1.26 billion. The gains translated to a 9 percent jump in the company’s stock price, which shot up to $21.22 on Tuesday during after-hours trading. Facebook’s mobile advertising business drove the company’s revenue bounce. The rest of the market, however, did not have a good day. Disappointing third-quarter reports from companies like DuPont and 3M pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 243 points, the single largest loss since June.

It’s 2012, and sisters are doing it for themselves. They’re just doing it for less money. One year after graduating college, female graduates are earning nearly $8,000 less per year than their male counterparts, according to the American Association of University Women. The figure holds, even when factors like men choosing higher-paying fields and working more hours are controlled for. But not every figure is smaller for women—they also have higher student loan debt than their male counterparts. The AAUW finds that almost 15 percent more women than men are paying an unmanageable percentage of their earnings toward student loan debt.

The blame game over the meningitis outbreak in the U.S. is getting simpler. Visible black specks of fungus have now been found in steroids made by the New England Compounding Center, the pharmacy linked to the outbreak, according to Massachusetts state officials. The investigation also revealed that contaminated drugs were sent out before sterility test results were returned, and that unclean conditions at the center included a leaking boiler near its “clean room.” Ten more people have been diagnosed with fungal meningitis, bringing the grand total of cases up to 308—including the first case in Georgia, which becomes the 17th state to report an infection. Thus far, the outbreak has killed 23 people.

To be fair, he does know a thing or two about divorce. Donald Trump is inserting himself in the presidential campaign again, as rumors are swirling Tuesday that Trump has unearthed supposed divorce papers filed by the Obamas, according to a tweet this morning from Douglas Kass, a financial adviser who appears on CNBC. Early rumors also swirled that Trump had uncovered evidence of Obama selling cocaine in college, a claim the businessman’s spokesperson has since denied. It’s been widely reported that the Obamas experienced marital growing pains early in the president’s career, but the Trump camp nevertheless insists his announcement—which will be made on twitter tomorrow—will shake up the race.

It’s winter somewhere. Accompanying a wave of chilly temperatures in Northern California Monday was the region’s first major snow storm—bringing up to two feet of snow at the highest elevations in the Sierra Nevada. Law enforcement shut down Highway 20 when six inches of snow caused five big rigs to jackknife. Traffic delays aside, the snow is a good sign for California, a state that relies heavily on winter snow accumulation for its water supply. Residents in snowy areas seemed to be enjoying the flurry of attention that accompanied the snow. "It looks like Mother Nature threw us our first snowball,” said resident Rochelle Jenkins.

Who would have guessed the “Sexyback” singer would be sentimental about his wedding? Justin Timberlake told People magazine on Monday that his wedding to Jessica Biel was “magical.” The pair tied the knot in Italy on Friday. “It was a fantasy,” Biel agreed. The couple flew their closest friends and family to Puglia, Italy, earlier in the week and held a series of pre-wedding festivities before eventually getting married on Friday.

The Pussy Riot saga is taking another troubling turn, as two members of the protestor group have been sent to penal colonies to serve out their two-year jail sentences. The women were arrested in February after performing a song that satirized Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow cathedral. Group member Nadya Tolokonnikova is being sent to Mordovia and Maria Alyokhina to Perm, prison camps that are described as “the harshest camps of all the possible choices.” Both women had petitioned to serve their jail time in Moscow, as they have small children.

A fire at a nursing home in Taiwan on Tuesday killed 12 elderly, bedridden patients and injured another 60. The cause of the fire is not yet known. More than 100 patients were housed at the nursing home, and many were on respirators and unable to move on their own. The nursing home’s remote location is also believed to have contributed to the death toll, although firefighters did arrive at the scene within 10 minutes after the fire broke out.

The first debate had Big Bird, the second had “binders full of women,” and it looks like the third is claiming “horses and bayonets” as its catchphrase—and this one was uttered by President Obama. On Monday night, Obama slammed Mitt Romney for saying the Navy has fewer ships now than it did in 1916, retorting “Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed.” The remark took off on social media, becoming a trending topic on Twitter immediately and spawning a Tumblr shortly afterward. But not everyone found the comment hilarious: right-wing blogs immediately decried Obama as “patronizing” in his comments.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over. The San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night became the third National League team ever to come back from a 3-1 NLCS deficit to advance to the World Series after besting the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0 during a massive rainstorm. The Giants’ World Series trip seemed out of reach many times this season, especially as the team had to win six elimination rounds and was only one game away from defeat by the Cardinals, the reigning World Series champs. The Giants will face the Detroit Tigers, who swept the Yankees.

The BBC director-general will face questioning by Parliament on Tuesday for his handling of an alleged sex scandal involving the late Jimmy Savile, who has been accused of abusing hundreds of underage girls. George Entwistle will face questions by Parliament’s Culture, Media, and Sport committee—the same committee that has been investigating the hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. On Monday, Newsnight editor Peter Rippon resigned amid questions of a piece about the Savile sex scandal that Rippon allegedly pulled. A BBC Panorama program aired Monday night addressed why the Newsnight documentary was dropped, although questions still remain about why the broadcaster did not address the allegations against Savile.

A 20-year-old Louisiana woman is in critical condition Tuesday after three men allegedly set her on fire in what the FBI is investigating as a hate crime. Sharmeka Moffit, who is black, was found on Sunday night by officers with burns over half her body and the letters KKK and a racial slur written on her car. On the 911 call, Moffit said her attackers were three men wearing white hoods or hats, and they doused her in flammable liquid and then set her on fire at a park at Winnsboro, in Franklin Parish. The park has no surveillance cameras, and no arrests have been made yet.

The early results are in: President Obama won the third and final debate on Monday night. A CNN snap poll had 48 percent of registered voters saying Obama won the debate, with just 40 percent putting it as a win in Mitt Romney’s territory. A CBS News poll was even less favorable for Romney, with just 23 percent saying he won the debate, 53 handing it to Obama, and 24 percent thinking the debate was a tie. But Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com warned that the president may get a small bounce from the debate win, but nothing like the 4-point bump Romney got after the first debate.

The emir of Qatar became the first head of state to visit the Gaza Strip in 13 years on Tuesday, in a trip called “astounding” by Israel. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani crossed into Gaza from Egypt with a large international delegation, and was given the VIP treatment by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh—and his archrival, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, saying he hoped the visit would not undermine efforts to rebuild Palestine. Qatar’s emir has been working to improve the diplomatic standing of his country, and has mediated in the past between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement.

Talk about harsh. China’s ruling Communist Party said on Monday that it will drop customary references to Mao Zedong in statements ahead of its leadership transition later this year. The move is the strongest hint yet that the Politburo is seriously considering reform, as Mao has always been referenced with Marx, Lenin, and Deng Xiaoping as ideological heroes in the party’s documents. The Politburo also said it will consider amending the party’s constitution. The significant move comes just months after the ouster of Bo Xilai, a powerful political boss who is being investigated for alleged involvement in the murder of British diplomat Neil Heywood.

You’d think a shirtless Paul Ryan riding a horse and wielding a bayonet would just make sense. Apparently dreams of such a super-soldier are just not meant to be. The vice presidential candidate said that he “just doesn’t understand” Obama’s comparison of American battleships with bayonets. Speaking on CBS’s This Morning several hours after the debate, Ryan had his own zinger for the president: “The ocean hasn’t shrunk.” As vice president, we imagine Paul Ryan has a solution to continental drift, which is slowly shrinking the Pacific.

The Dow was down some 248 points in early-morning trading on Tuesday—almost 2 percent of its total value—much of that drop happening in just the first few minutes of trading. The NASDAQ is down almost 40 points, around 1.3 percent, hitting a low not seen since August. There were no immediate reasons for the sell-off, but one big data point was DuPont, the multinational chemical company, reporting disappointing earnings and announcing 1,500 layoffs.

It’s a love story, America, just say yes. If Taylor Swift’s new album Red continues to sell at the rate it’s going, she will become the first artist in a decade to have two straight albums go platinum in their debut week. The feat hasn’t been achieved since the ’90s, when boy bands hypnotized the nation. According to Hits Daily Double, “early retail reads” show that she’s on target to reach 1 million copies, with 4 million tracks from the LP already sold. It won’t be the first record she’s broken. In just six years, the singer/songwriter boasts 50 songs on the hot 100, only the fifth woman in history to do so.

As Malala Yousafzai fights for her life, another Pakistani teen activist says the Taliban has threatened her for promoting girls’ education. Hina Khan, who is believed to be 16, claims that someone painted a red "X" on her family’s house and made death threats. “My parents received a death threat saying that I’m next on their target list. I may not be able to continue my education anymore because of the threats that I might be kidnapped or killed like Malala,” Khan said. And the family’s requests for protection have been denied. Khan’s father said, “We went to the police and they told us to arrange security for ourselves.”

While Apple was busy announcing its new, smaller iPad and super-thin MacBook Pro, Zynga was reportedly was busy announcing layoffs Tuesday. According to several reports, the online game company Zynga shut down its Sims knock-off The Ville and laid off employees in its Austin, Chicago, and Boston offices. The company’s stock, barely hovering above $2, closed down more than 6 percent today.

Investigators in Colorado said on Tuesday that they have found a definitive connection between the murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway and the attempted abduction of an adult jogger on Memorial Day. The jogger was near Ketner Lake Open Space when a man attempted to cover her mouth with a chemical-soaked rag—and then she escaped. Police have declined to specify what the link is, and on Monday they held a meeting with news directors asking them to be more discreet in their reporting of the case. “Police need to preserve the integrity of the investigation as much as possible,” a spokesman said. “We are asking people to understand that some of this needs to be withheld.”

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Indiana can’t cut off funding for Planned Parenthood just because the organization provides abortions—contrary to a 2011 law signed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. That law was the first time a state denied Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds for general health services, including cancer screenings.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. returned to the Mayo Clinic on Tuesday for further evaluation, his father tells the Associated Press. The younger Jackson, who represents Illinois’s second district, took medical leave in June and checked into the Mayo Clinic for treatment of bipolar disorder. He was released in September. Despite being virtually absent from his campaign, Jackson remains on the Nov. 6 ballot. He released a robocall last week asking for voters’ support. “While I will always give my all to my constituents, I ask for your continued patience as I work to get my health back,” Jackson said.

Bob Schieffer never says never, but if Monday night's presidential debate was the last one he ever moderates, he’ll survive. He’s also not at all torn up about the fact that he accidentally called Osama bin Laden “Obama bin Laden.” Schieffer said Tuesday he didn’t even realize he’d made the slip-up until he read about it in the news and confirmed it with his wife. “I had no idea I said that,” Schieffer told Politico. “But what are you going to do?”