Today's edition of quick hits:
* Iraq: "Ten car bombs struck Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, on Sunday morning, all exploding within 40 minutes. Forty-one civilians were killed and more than 100 others were wounded, according to security and medical officials."
* Somalia: "A United States military strike hit a vehicle carrying senior members of an al-Qaida-linked militant group in Somalia on Monday, killing at least two people including the group's top explosives expert, a militant and a government intelligence official said."
* NSA: "New details about the monitoring of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone by the National Security Agency further stoked the German government's anger on Sunday and raised two questions: Why did the United States target her as early as 2002, and why did it take five years for the Obama administration to put a halt to the surveillance? "
* More NSA: "The Spanish government summoned the American ambassador on Monday to address allegations that the National Security Agency collected data on millions of telephone calls in Spain."
* And there was a counter-NSA rally over the weekend: "Hundreds rallied in front of the Capitol on Saturday in protest of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs and demanded a congressional investigation and reform of the laws governing the agency."
* The sequester is taking a severe toll at the FBI: "President Obama on Monday assured employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he would fight to keep politics from interfering with their mission as the agency struggles to contend with budget shortfalls."
* I wish more in Washington shared E.J. Dionne's priorities: "Here's the mistake made by President Obama and the Democrats that nobody is talking about: They have been too fearful of confronting our country's three-year obsession with the wrong problem. And here is the tea party's greatest victory: It has made the wrong problem the center of policymaking. The wrong problem is the deficit. The right problem is sluggish growth and persistent unemployment."
* When Republicans talk about restoring "patient-centered healthcare in America," I'd recommend caution.
* And "60 Minutes" has apparently gotten the Benghazi conspiracy theorists all worked up again, which for everyone's sake, is a real shame.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.