Cuba Libre: President Obama plans to visit Cuba within weeks as relations warm between the two countries, the NY Times reports. He would be the first president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge 88 years ago — and definitely cooler.

It’s Political: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has endorsed Marco Rubio as her candidate for the state primary and to become president. If Rubio wins the nomination you might even look for her to be Rubio’s vice presidential running mate to put a next generation team on the Republican ballot.

Both are in their 40s and the children of immigrants — Haley’s family from India and Rubio’s from Cuba. Haley said, “I wanted somebody that was going to go and show my parents that the best decision they ever made was coming to America.”

It’s a big contrast to her trashing of Republican leading candidate Donald Trump, who she said, represents “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.”

Speaking of Whom: Trump yesterday said about defending national security that, “Torture works.”   Waterboarding is your minor form. Some people say it’s not actually torture, let’s assume it is. People ask me the question, ‘What do you think of waterboarding?’ Absolutely fine. But we should go much stronger than waterboarding.”

It has been long held that the use of torture is un-American.

Clash of Titans: Apple is in for a big battle with the government over a judge’s order to create special software to unlock the cellphone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists. What’s at stake is digital privacy vs. the government duty to fight crime.

iPhone software erases a telephone after 10 attempts to open it with the wrong password. The judge ordered Apple to create software that bypasses the self-destruct feature.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the idea of creating a “backdoor” key to the iPhone operating system is just not acceptable. He said in a statement, “Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes.”

China Syndrome: The US says China has placed missiles on an island in a South China Sea archipelago that is claimed by both Vietnam and Taiwan. China is using its muscle to expand influence and power in the area, raising tensions with Asian countries and the US. China issued a statement saying, “China has the legitimate and legal rights to deploy defense facilities within its territory, in order to defend the sovereignty and security of the country.”

Money, Money: The Dow Jones jumped 257 points yesterday on news that the Federal Reserve may slow down its increase in interest rates. The market has been on the skids lately, but some analysts say it may still be too early to say that the drop has hit its bottom.

Permawar: A car bomb yesterday in Ankara struck a convoy of buses carrying Turkish soldiers, killing 28 people. It happened near the Turkish parliament.

Turkey has been hit with an increasing number of terrorist attacks in recent months as it fights the Islamic State and Kurdish forces that are also fighting ISIS. One attack last October killed 100 people.

Hollywood Knives: The ABC network has ejected Paul Lee, the head of its entertainment division in a power struggle won by Disney’s television chief Ben Sherwood. Apparently Lee didn’t like taking direction on entertainment shows from Sherwood, who came from ABC News

Landing on top after the storm is Channing Dungey, a woman who becomes the first black president of a major broadcast network. Dungey has worked on development of the popular shows “Scandal” and “American Crime.” Ironically the departing Lee was a champion of diverse casting for television parts.