(Continued from page 23)

militants mostly targeted liberal secular parties that supported operations against the Taliban. Sectarian violence by radical Sunni Muslim militants against minority Shiites also has significantly worsened in recent months.
• ___

• CLEVELAND (AP) -- As relatives of the Cleveland kidnapping and rape suspect recounted claims of his unnerving paranoia and violent outbursts, DNA testing confirmed the man who allegedly held three women captive for nearly a decade is the father of a 6-year-old girl who escaped from the house along with the women.
• Ariel Castro, charged with rape and kidnapping, remained jailed Friday under a suicide watch on $8 million bond while prosecutors weighed more charges, including some that might carry the death penalty. Public defender Kathleen Demetz, who said she is acting as Castro's adviser while he awaits a full-time attorney, said Friday she can't speak to his guilt or innocence and said only that she advised him not to talk to reporters.

• But those who know the 52-year-old Castro are speaking up, saying he was often angry, paranoid and prone to violent outbursts against the mother of his children. He frequently beat her, played bizarre psychological games and locked her indoors, they said.
• The stories, repeated in separate interviews with The Associated Press by members of Castro's extended family, have surprised people who knew him as a musician who played bass in several bands around Cleveland the last two decades.
• Miguel Quinones, manager of a group Castro played with twice as a backup bass player about five years ago, said he had nothing bad to say about Castro based on his own experiences.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Steady drips of information about a horrific night in Libya are fueling Republican arguments and ads designed to fire up the conservative base and undercut the Democrats' early favorite for president in 2016.
• Democratic and Republican strategists sharply disagree on the issue's power to

(Continued on page 25)