A U.S.-born Muslim who along with his wife gunned down 14 people in California may have been radicalized and had been in contact with known terrorism suspects, reports said Thursday.

The FBI, which has cautioned it was too early to link the attack to terrorism, has taken charge of the investigation into Wednesday's mass shooting in San Bernardino.

Critics have hit out against a new Malaysian security law granting unprecedented emergency powers to the government, which they say is aimed at quashing challenges to scandal-tainted Premier Najib Razak and is propelling the country toward dictatorship.

Malaysia's parliament passed the National Security Council Bill late Thursday -- the final day of the chamber's 2015 sitting -- just two days after it was tabled, spurring opposition accusations that it was quickly rammed through to thwart scrutiny and debate.

Members of the Arab and Muslim communities in the United States said Thursday they feared a backlash, as details emerged of the Muslim couple who shot dead 14 people in California.

One organization will meet officials with the Department of Homeland Security on Friday to assess safety measures after the attack that left 14 dead and 21 wounded in San Bernardino, a city about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles with a large Arab and Muslim population.

Australia's parliament has passed legislation to strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are convicted of terrorism offenses or found to have fought with banned groups overseas, despite concerns about deporting jihadists.

Attorney-General George Brandis said the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill, passed late Thursday, updated existing law to reflect "the new age of terrorism".

Ecuador's Congress voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to lift presidential term limits from 2021, triggering violent demonstrations that saw police attacked with spears, clubs and home-made rockets.

Ecuador now joins fellow leftist-led Latin American nations Venezuela and Nicaragua in allowing multiple re-elections.

One of the most controversial vice presidents in U.S. history will have a permanent presence in the halls of power in Washington after a marble bust of Dick Cheney was unveiled Thursday at the U.S. Capitol.

Cheney, 74, was vice president at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks and was seen as one of the most influential hawks in the George W. Bush administration.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy officially kicked off his campaign for re-election Thursday evening with the promise that his party "takes Spain seriously", ahead of tight legislative polls on 20 December.

The head of the outgoing government faces three challengers who were unknown when he first took power in 2011: rising star Albert Rivera, 36, from the centrist Ciudadanos party, the Socialists' Pedro Sanchez, 43, and far-left Podemos candidate Pablo Iglesias, 37.

Venezuela's opposition will fight to seize control of the legislature from the socialist government in elections on Sunday that leaders warn risk sparking violence in the crisis-hit major oil producer.

For the first time in 16 years of "Bolivarian revolution" under late president Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro, polls show their rivals could now win a majority in the National Assembly.

A teenage migrant died when he was hit by a van on a motorway close to the Channel Tunnel near Calais Thursday, becoming the 18th person to die trying to reach Britain from the northern French port since June.

A van hit the Sudanese 16-year-old on the motorway connecting the tunnel to port of Calais late in the afternoon, according to emergency services.

British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn passed a key electoral test on Friday when his Labor party won in the first regional ballot since he took the helm in September.

The win bolsters the embattled leader of Britain's main opposition group amid mounting talk of a leadership challenge, and as the anti-European Union UK Independence Party (UKIP) targets voters in former Labor strongholds.