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April 08, 2012 | | SAVAGE State Department legal adviser Harold Koh, who once called Bush the "torturer in chief," has become one of President Obama's fiercest defenders of aerial drone strikes. He talks to Tara McKelvey. EASTER Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Easter mass before a massive crowd of worshipers in St. Peter’s Square Sunday. The pope, who will turn 85 later this month, recently returned from a trip to Mexico and Cuba and looked tired as he presided Sunday. He’d been up late Saturday night, however, for a three-hour vigil inside St. Peter’s Basilica at which he delivered a sermon in which he warned that mankind is “in darkness.” The pope’s hectic schedule and the events surrounding Easter, Christianity’s most sacred day, have reportedly taken their toll on the aging pontiff. WAR CHEST Rick Santorum’s sticking in, as is Newt Gingrich, but in the minds of many Americans, an unofficial general-election race between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama has already begun. And when that fight begins in earnest, super PACs, which can raise unlimited amounts of money from anonymous donors, may take center stage. Republicans have an advantage on the super-PAC front—of the top 10 presidential super PACs, nine back Republican candidates and have netted a total of $116 million. Priorities USA Action, the one pro-Obama super PAC that makes the list, has taken only $6.5 million, giving the Republican candidate a substantial fundraising lead. VIOLENCE After one of the most violent days Syria has seen since resistance began to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the government said it wanted “written guarantees” from the opposition before pulling back its troops. The new demand comes two days before a ceasefire agreement backed by the United Nations. One hundred sixty people were killed Saturday, yet the Syrian Foreign Ministry said it would not go forward with the plan to pull back its troops until Kofi Annan, the U.N.’s envoy to Syria, provided it with a written agreement demonstrating “the acceptance by armed terrorist groups of a halt to all violence.” Annan presented a plan approved by the U.N. last week that called for a full ceasefire by April 12. SUSPECTS A spree of shootings that terrified Tulsa, Okla., may have been brought to an end, with police saying Sunday that they’ve arrested two men in connection with the case. Police said Saturday that they believed the series of shootings were linked. Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, will be charged with three counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. The city police and county sheriff’s office worked around the clock with U.S. marshals and the FBI on the case Friday and Saturday. | | 
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