447. witnesses and international aid groups have described escalating military attacks on protesters. cnn cannot independently verify these reports because syria won t let us in. in a major reshaping of his national security team, president obama will name leon panetta as his nominee to succeed robert gates as defense secretary. general david petraeus will be nominated to take over as cia director. he will be succeeded by lieutenant general john allen as head of the u.s.-led international military force in afghanistan. stocks rallied after the federal reserve s first-ever press conference today. the dow, the s&p 500 and the nasdaq closed at multiyear highs. ben bernanke said the central bank will keep interest rates low and end its $600 billion bond buying program in june. and we saw congresswoman gabrielle giffords in public for the first time since she was shot in january today, boarding a nasa jet in houston.