10 things you need to know today: February 26, 2012

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. VIOLENCE CONTINUES AS SYRIA VOTES

Nearly a year into Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's lethal assault on pro-democracy rebels, the regime is touting a constitutional referendum that kicked off Sunday as a sign of reform. Syrians are voting on a draft constitution, though "widespread skepticism" remains as to whether the government will actually "stop slaughtering civilians." At least 34 people were killed in Syria on Sunday alone, as "analysts and protesters ridicule the constitutional referendum as window dressing." [CNN]

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After two top American military officers were shot and killed Saturday at Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, the U.S. made the "unprecedented move" of ordering scores of advisers to leave other Afghan ministries. Officials are still investigating Saturday's shooting, though they reportedly suspect it was continued retaliation for the U.S. military's inadvertent burning of Korans. [Wall Street Journal]

With Michigan's critical GOP presidential primary mere days away, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney "tried vigorously to undermine each other's conservative bona fides Saturday." Santorum insisted that Romney's history of passing health care reform in Massachusetts "disqualified" him, while Romney blasted Santorum as an unprincipled Washington insider. Michiganders head to the polls Tuesday. [Washington Post]

Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.), who famously wagged her finger in President Obama's face on an airport tarmac last month, will not show up to tonight's annual National Governors Association black-tie dinner at the White House. Brewer said she had a scheduling conflict. At least one fellow GOP governor took issue with Brewer's decision. "When the president of the United States invites the governors to come to a formal dinner, you don't turn him down, OK?" said Gov. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa). [Bloomberg]

Unless a settlement is reached in a matter of hours, BP will go on trial Monday in a New Orleans courtroom over "its culpability for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico," one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. A private plaintiffs group and the federal government are each reportedly seeking more than $25 billion in civil claims. "Legal fees alone will eventually run well into the billions of dollars." [Washington Post]

Several machines equipped with "powerful crane-like arms" have begun demolishing the three-story compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where al Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden was secretly holed up before being killed in a daring U.S. raid last spring. The Pakistani government did not announce the demolition in advance, and has yet to explain the motive behind tearing down bin Laden's compound. [Times of India]

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