National: Two high-school football stars in Steubenville, Ohio were convicted of rape this morning in a case that brought national attention last August. The victim was a 16-year-old girl who was so drunk she woke up naked in a basement, not knowing where she was, or what happened. The girl pieced together the incident from telephone texts, pictures and videos taken by witnesses at a party. Other teenagers watched, and sometimes recorded what happened, but didn’t stop it. The juvenile court defendants, 16 and 17, could be in jail until they are 21.

• House Speaker John Boehner said this morning that Republicans will give President Obama no more taxes. “The talk about raising revenue is over. It’s time to deal with the spending problem,” he said. Budget talks remain in stalemate.

World: Residents of Cyprus are in an uproar after finance ministers for the Euro Zone ordered the seizure of 10% of everyone’s savings to avoid a bank collapse. Cypriots made a weekend run at cash machines, which were quickly emptied. Electronic transfers were blocked. The 10% levy would raise about $13 billion for the island country which is crippled by its financial exposure to its failing neighbor, Greece.

• A high-ranking Syrian general has defected to Jordan saying morale inside the Syrian regime is deteriorating. Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ezz al-Din Khalouf appeared in a video alongside his son, an army captain who also defected.
• Sixteen people are dead and 150 injured in central Mexico after a truck loaded with fireworks blew up at a religious festival. A firework from a nearby display landed in the truck, causing the explosion.

Those Hilarious Conservatives: Les bon temps rolled at the Conservative Political Action Committee convention in Virginia this week. Poison-pen pundit Ann Coulter, in a jab at uninvited New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said CPAC had to cut back on speakers this year by “about 300 pounds”. Sarah Palin stood at the podium sucking a 7-11 Super Big Gulp in a poke at anti-obesity NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg. And Newt Gingrich held up a light bulb as a symbol, saying Republicans need to innovate. It was the old style incandescent bulb, not the new energy saving variety.

Starter Home: Chelsea Clinton and her husband are buying a 5,000 square foot, four-bedroom, $10.5 million New York apartment. She saved up for it by having a newspaper route when she lived with her parents in the White House.

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