In the continued outreach that is making some Republicans squirm, President Obama meet with the House Republican conference Wednesday—the first time he has done so since 2011. The hangout underscored the divide between the two sides in creating a budget compromise in the deficit-reduction deal. Yesterday, a deal proposed by Republicans steeply cut into the president's accomplishments. “Our biggest problems in the next 10 years are not deficits,” Obama said in the meeting. But Republicans disagree. “Well, he doesn’t want to balance the budget in 10 years, and he wants tax increases, and he wants new spending,” said Rep. Darrell Issa.

We have a pope! Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina has been selected as the new leader of the Catholic Church, the first pontiff from Latin America and the first from outside of Europe in over 1,000 years. The 76-year-old will take the name Francis I. Shortly after being selected, Francis spoke from Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and asked Catholics to say a prayer for his predecessor. “I’d ask you to pray to God so that he can bless me,” Bergoglio told the cheering crowd. He delivered his first tweet from @pontifex, writing “HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM.” According to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the new pope’s first act will be to visit recently retired Pope Benedict tomorrow at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Not too shabby for a first day.

There will be no Instagramming inside the juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, today, where the trial for two high school football players charged with raping a 16-year-old girl begins. The ban is ironic for a case that is rooted in social media—first exposed through Twitter. The two defendants in the case, Trenton Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, have been condemned by peers and strangers on social media, the majority of whom seem to think they are guilty. The case was brought to national attention partly thanks to bloggers and hackers affiliated with the group Anonymous, who claimed Steubenville officials were ignoring the case in order to protect the school's football program.

Police have identified the man suspected of killing four people and injuring two in an upstate New York shooting spree. The suspect is a 64-year-old resident of Mohawk, New York, named Kurt Myers. Two people were shot and killed at Gaffey’s Car Wash in the Village of Herkimer, and four people were shot at John’s Barber Shop in Mohawk. There were also reports of an explosion and fire in Mohawk shortly before the shooting began. Witnesses say the shooter fled in a Jeep Wrangler. 

Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t actually all bad. February boasted the highest American spending rate in five months, with retail sales boosted by 1.1 percent from January, according to a report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday. Social Security tax hikes, combined with higher gas prices (which contributed about half the sales increase), were expected to curb consumer spending—but even excluding fuel purchases, retail sales rose 0.6 percent. Some economists say the increase may mean that the economy is growing faster than expected in the January-March quarter. 

Mitt Romney will finally know who filmed the fateful “47 percent” video. The bartender, who will reveal himself tonight on MSNBC's The Ed Show, says he never planned to release the video, but after he heard Romney speak he “felt it was a civic duty.” Adding insult to injury, the bartender he says he was partly motivated by how nice Bill Clinton had been to the staff at a similar event, going back to the kitchen to chat and sign autographs. Romney, on the other hand, rushed out without speaking to any of the waiters or bartenders.

It's been only a few hours since Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was appointed pope and his critics are coming to bat. While Argentina was in the grips of the “dirty war” of the ’70s, many say the country’s Catholic Church leadership was complacent and even supportive of the brutal dictatorship. In El Silencio, journalist Horacio Verbitsky claims that Bergoglio helped hide the regime's political prisoners in the his holiday home, keeping them away from a human rights commission. Next month, ex-general Jorge Videla will be brought to court again for the killing of a bishop in 1976, and church authorities are preparing to be called into the witness box.

Just how dedicated are Veronica Mars' fans? We're about to find out. The cancelled TV show's star Kristen Bell announced Wednesday that, after popular demand, a Veronica Mars movie is, indeed, in the works but will only become a reality if enough money can be raised through a Kickstarter fund. The lucky number is $2 million, and if the Veronica Mars Kickstart reaches its goal it will not only bring joy to the show's cult following, it will be the largest Kickstarter-backed project ever.

And you thought getting herring sperm on your pants was a bad thing. Scientists in Italy have found that coating cloth with DNA from fish’s sperm reduces flammability. Eureka! DNA is a flame retardant. DNA’s phosphate-laden backbone gives off phosphoric acid when heated, replacing the water molecules in cotton with a fire-repelling residue. Simultaneously, the bases in DNA let out ammonia. Put those together and you get a coating that isn’t fire-friendly. One drawback: DNA isn’t cheap.

Journalistic rabble-rouser Keith Olbermann has settled his legal dispute with Current TV for $50 million, according to a source. The two parties had sued each other over Olbermann’s firing from the network in April 2012, with the TV host saying he was improperly let go and Current saying he breached his contract. In a joint statement, Olbermann and Current TV said: “The parties are pleased to announce that a settlement has occurred, and that the terms are confidential. Nothing more will be disclosed regarding the settlement.”

Next time an earthquake hits Los Angeles, scientists at Caltech will have an extra 30 seconds to get ready. An earthquake early-warning system passed a test Monday morning when it alerted seismologists in Pasadena 30 seconds prior to a 4.7 temblor. The extra seconds could be the difference between life and death in a major quake, giving time for utilities to shut down and trains to stop. Unfortunately, experts estimate placing the monitors across the state will cost up to $80 million. Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, Romania, China, and Japan already have similar systems in place.

He’s just being Liam. According to multiple sources who spoke to Page Six, Miley Cyrus has cut ties with her husband-to-be, Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth. The Australian actor has apparently already bolted back to his native land, in order to “get away from Los Angeles and spend some time with his brother and friends.” The reason behind the breakup remains unclear. One source claims the two split due to Miley’s partying habits, while another insists she was uneasy about his “wandering eye.” The two were engaged last May after Hemsworth presented her with a 3.5-carat ring from Neil Lane. 

Anna Wintour laughs in the face of the phrase “ain’t nobody got time for that.” The iconic face of Vogue and its editor for the past 25 years will add one more title to her résumé: artistic director. Condé Nast allegedly plans to announce the move Wednesday, putting a stop to rumors that Wintour will be retiring and leaving the company. The 63-year-old fashion mogul will absorb some duties once handled by S.I. Newhouse Jr., who headed the editorial management of Condé for more than 30 years.

Now to the pubs! British Prime Minister David Cameron was trounced in Parliament today after a cabinet revolt killed off his plan for a new minimum price for alcohol. Labour leader Ed Miliband mocked Cameron for making a “U-turn” on his alcohol policies, accusing him of being unable to organize “anything in a brewery.” Cameron had initially vowed to end cheap alcohol sales, raising the prospect that Chancellor George Osborne might use next week’s budget to sharply increase taxes on inexpensive booze blamed for the country’s heavy drinking habits. But Cameron ultimately lost this one, taking hit after hit from Miliband, who seized on reports of unrest within Cameron’s cabinet and claimed his government was “falling apart.”  

It’s a happy day for Bing. On Wednesday, Internet superpower Google agreed to settle in the Street View mapping case, admitting that the project had “violated people’s privacy.” The case against the search-engine giant was brought by 38 states who claim that their secret collection of personal data from users’ private computers was unethical. Google’s settlement includes a meager $7 million fine and an oath to “police its own employees on privacy issues” through a privacy program that must be created within six months. Richard Blumenthal, one of the attorneys who helped launch the case, said the biggest win is Google admitting that they “weren't just taking pictures.”

A 53-year-old man captured the win in Alaska’s legendary Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becoming the oldest winner in the race’s storied history. Mitch Seavey crossed the finish line after 7 hours and 39 minutes of guiding his 10 dogs through treacherous trails in temperatures that teetered around 0 degrees F. A former champion of the race, Seavey dedicated his win to other athletes like him. “This is for all of the gentlemen of a certain age,” said the winner.

All entertainment roads lead to Austin, Texas, this week. Capturing the award for Grand Jury Prize at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival was Short Term 12, a movie that follows an employee at a foster-care group home. Other films recognized were Carlo Puga’s Burma for Best Ensemble Cast and William and the Windmall for Best Documentary Feature. Also getting its moment in the sun was the long-anticipated Selena Gomez flick, Spring Breakers.

Five officers in India were killed Wednesday after armed militants launched a suicide attack at a police camp in Srinagar, Kashmir. The incident, which took place at 10:45 a.m. near a children’s school that was closed, involved four men armed with ammunition in sports kits. The chief minister of Jammu, Omar Abdullah, reported that five police officers had been killed and at least three civilians wounded. The attack was the first of its kind to occur in the area since January 2010. India’s peaceful reputation was shattered with the Delhi gang rape that brought the country up in arms. Violence has further intensified in recent weeks following the execution of Muhammad Afzal, who many believe was framed for the 2001 attack on Parliament.

You guys, my eyes are, like, huge. A new study released by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal Wednesday proposes that Neanderthals became extinct because of their large eyes. The research concludes that this feature cost them high-level processing as they dedicated a larger amount of time to seeing in the dark. While they were busy being big-eyed, Homo sapiens were able to sneak in and create “warmer clothes and develop larger social networks” that were crucial to survival in the Ice Age.

Following the late-Tuesday-night announcement launching a formal investigation into accusations that former president Chávez was poisoned, newly appointed President Nicolás Maduro confirmed his own belief in the conspiracy. “We have the intuition that our commander Chávez was poisoned by dark forces that wanted him out of the way,” Maduro insisted. The 58-year-old president died on March 5 from complications of the pelvic cancer he had been battling since 2011. 

A 25-year-old “whiz kid” and government hacker in China is providing a sneak peak into the highly secretive hacking establishment of the Chinese military—one of the most sophisticated in the world. Wang, as the young man is known, details the “prisonlike conditions” of his job on a blog he named Prison Break, after his favorite American TV show. Led by the People's Liberation Army, the hacking unit is run like a government agency, with employees paid little, forced to wear uniforms, and monitored almost constantly. The intimate look at China’s hacking program comes as U.S. concerns about cyber-espionage have reached a new high. Officials claimed Tuesday that cyber-attacks are now more of a threat to America’s security than al Qaeda.