Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Afghanistan: “An Afghan civilian stole a military pickup truck, rammed through a fence and crashed into a ditch by a runway around the time that a plane carrying Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta landed at an airfield in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, U.S. officials said. Panetta was unharmed and carried on with his visit as planned.”
* President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron appeared together for a press conference today on the South Lawn of the White House.
* The Army staff sergeant suspected of the slayings of 16 Afghan civilians over the weekend has been taken out of Afghanistan “based on a legal recommendation,” according to the Pentagon.
* Syria: “Gathering confidence after flushing rebels from strongholds in the north, the Syrian government on Wednesday launched its biggest raid in months on the southern city of Dara’a, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began a year ago, opposition activists said.”
* Stress tests: “The Federal Reserve said 15 of the 19 largest U.S. banks would remain healthy in a severe crisis, demonstrating the scope of the recovery of the nation’s financial system since it nearly collapsed in 2008.”
* The U.S. Army has joined the very large group of advertisers dropping their sponsorship of Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. * In the most talked-about op-ed of the day, Greg Smith explains in the New York Times today why he’s walking away from his career at Goldman Sachs. * And disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) of Illinois is heading to prison this week, but not before one more carefully-timed press statement outside his house this afternoon. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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