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. …

Massacre: In a continuing war against education, yesterday’s Taliban attack on a Pakistani school in Peshawar resulted in the death of 141 people, 132 of them just schoolchildren. Authorities say nine Taliban gunmen assaulted the compound of the Army Public …

Down Under: Police in Sydney have locked down the central business district of Australia’s largest city as they negotiate with a gunman who’s taken hostages in a café. Five people are reported to have escaped but more are inside. The …

Gaza: Israel is pounding Gaza while searching for a missing soldier believed to have been captured by Hamas militants only two hours into a 72-hour ceasefire yesterday. Hamas denies it’s holding the soldier. Another 55 people were killed today, bringing …

Ft. Hood: A female MP is being credited with heroism in the latest Ft. Hood shooting. She confronted and fired at gunman Ivan Lopez before he killed himself. Specialist Lopez used his own .45 caliber pistol, which is prohibited to …

Syria: A new report says Syria has systematically tortured and executed 11,000 prisoners since the start of its civil war. The report from three former war crimes prosecutors is based upon 55,000 digital pictures of victims brought to them by …

School Shoot: A Colorado high school student who took a shotgun to school yesterday to hunt a teacher, ended up wounding two students before killing himself. It happened at Arapahoe High School in suburban Denver, just a few miles from …

Marathon Bombing: Investigators say the Boston bombs were made of pressure cookers filled with explosives, ball bearings and nails, then placed in black duffle bags. Using a pressure cooker is a known technique for improvised bomb making around the world. …