Today in One Paragraph
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the United States killed a top ISIS commander this week. Belgian authorities confirmed a connection between one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels airport and the November attacks in Paris, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that Americans were among those killed in Tuesday’s attacks. And the Rolling Stones perform tonight in Cuba, becoming the first major rock band to do so since the Cuban Revolution.
Top News
U.S. Killed ISIS Second-in-Command. The Pentagon announced the death of ISIS’ finance minister Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli. “We are systematically eliminating ISIL's cabinet,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Al-Qaduli is the second top ISIS leader killed by the United States in the past month. (Barbara Starr, Ryan Browne and Laura Koran, CNN)
Update on Belgium. Belgian authorities said that Najim Laachraoui, one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels airport, was a bomb-maker who has also been linked to the deadly attacks in Paris. One person was arrested in association with Tuesday’s explosions during a police operation in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek. The U.S. State Department confirmed that two Americans are among the 31 killed in the attacks. (The New York Times; CNN; NPR)