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February 27, 2012 | | CHILLING Witnesses of the Ohio high-school shooting that killed one student and wounded four others tell the Cleveland Plain Dealer that fellow student T.J. Lane is the alleged gunman. Read the frightening Facebook letter that Lane posted on Dec. 30, 2011. UPRISING Really? That’s quite a landslide. The Syrian government claimed Monday that Sunday’s referendum on a new constitution passed with 89.4 percent support. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, citing the Interior Ministry, said the ballot drew 57.4 percent of eligible voters. This comes despite widespread criticism from opposition groups, who boycotted the vote, saying that the referendum was a complete sham. Meanwhile, at least 41 people died in the country Monday, according to Al Arabiya television, as government troops continued shelling the city of Homs. MIXED The Obama camp might not know whether to smirk or frown today. Two new national polls released Monday show very different pictures of the 2012 presidential election outlook. According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, Rick Santorum would beat President Obama 49 percent to 46 percent if the election were held today. Santorum does even better than Mitt Romney, who would only tie Obama 47 to 47, which undercuts the former Massachusetts governor’s claim that he is more electable than Santorum. (Note there is a four-point margin of error.) But in another poll, conducted by Politico and George Washington University, Obama would beat Romney 53 to 43 percent, and leads Santorum 53 to 42. (The margin of victory would be greater than the 3.1 percent error.) NOT AGAIN Another Italian cruise ship has run into trouble. A fire broke out in the generator room of the Costa Allegra Monday, causing no casualties but leaving the ship adrift off the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. But the area is known to have active Somali pirates. The ship is owned by the same company that included Costa Concordia in its fleet, until the latter ship ran aground off the coast of Italy six weeks ago, likely killing 32 people. ATTACK A strike by a suicide car bomber against a military airport in Afghanistan left at least nine people dead Monday. It’s the latest violence in a turbulent week following the revelation that copies of the Quran were burned at the country’s largest NATO base. At least 12 people were wounded in the attack on the airport, which did no damage to the airport itself, according to a NATO spokeswoman. Anger among Afghans over the burning of Islam’s most holy book have provoked apologies from President Obama and other American leaders, but the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan has said that changing attitudes in the country should not accelerate the American timetable for withdrawal. | | 
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