FBI searches home of shooter’s brother
CORONA, Calif. – FBI agents on Thursday searched the California home belonging to a family member of the husband-and-wife killers who massacred 14 people in the San Bernardino terror attack, but the relative was not arrested and has not been named a suspect.
Syed Rizwan Farook’s brother, Syed Raheel Farook, is a military veteran who earned medals for fighting global terrorism. The search warrant is sealed.
Obama announces plans to visit Cuba
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Thursday he’ll raise human rights issues and other U.S. concerns with Cuban President Raul Castro during a history-making visit to the communist island nation.
The brief visit in mid-March will mark a watershed moment in relations between the U.S. and Cuba, making Obama the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on the island in nearly seven decades. While in the country, Obama plans to meet with groups advocating for change in Cuba, a condition the president had laid out publicly for such a trip.
“We still have differences with the Cuban government that I will raise directly,” Obama wrote on Twitter in announcing the visit.
Turkey blames Kurds for Ankara bombing
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants at home and in neighboring Syria for a deadly bombing in Ankara and it stepped up pressure on the U.S. to sever ties with the Syrian Kurdish militia that has been a key force against the Islamic State group in the complex Syrian conflict.
The blast at rush hour Wednesday killed 28 people and wounded dozens more in a car bombing that targeted buses of military personnel. Ankara’s second bombing in four months came as Turkey grappled with an array of serious issues, including renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels, threats from Islamic State militants and the Syria refugee crisis.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a Syrian national with links to Syrian Kurdish militias carried out the attack in concert with Turkey’s own outlawed Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency.
Britain asks leaders for new EU deal
BRUSSELS – Prime Minister David Cameron faced off Thursday against the 27 other European Union leaders, telling them to grant his country a new deal to settle the festering issue of their relationship or face a possible divorce as soon as this summer.
Cameron said he was “battling for Britain” at a Brussels summit and for a less intrusive EU that would benefit other countries, too. But French President François Hollande struck a cautionary note, warning that no individual leader should be allowed to stop closer European cooperation.
Associated Press
