Yahoo! News: World News

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• Bin Laden driver's conviction reversed by U.S. court
• Karadzic denies Bosnia war crimes as he starts defense
• Taliban says its attack on Pakistani schoolgirl justified
• Cuba lifting hated travel restrictions
• Colombia, FARC rebels set to start peace talks Wednesday
• Insight: Brazen Islamic militants showed strength before Benghazi attack
• Exclusive: Rwanda, Uganda arming Congo rebels, providing troops - U.N. panel
• Divided Syrian rebels agree on joint leadership
• "I take responsibility" for Benghazi: Clinton
• Afghanistan's safest province falling prey to Taliban
• Syrian rebels in Aleppo mostly poor, pious, rural
• Govt to let Cubans travel freely
• Gitmo war court back in session minus 3 defendants
• Shot Pakistani girl responding well to treatment
• 90 dead in Syrian regime attacks on rebel areas
• Hilary Mantel wins 2nd Booker Prize for Tudor saga
• Picasso, Monets stolen in Dutch heist
• Orphaned baby elephant is raised by human mom
• Europeans hoping to fight in Syria raise new fears
• Former Israeli kingmaker poised for comeback
• Dutch art heist 'a nightmare for any museum director'
• Britain nixes extradition of NASA hacker Gary McKinnon to US
• A senior Iraqi official ponders if his government is a client of Iran's
• Israel's Netanyahu banks on tough guy image to win early elections
• Cuban Missile Crisis: 5 ways leftist ideology lives on in Latin America
• Former Serb leader Karadzic: I deserve reward, not punishment
• Iran sanctions: playing the long game
• As sanctions crush rial's value, Iranians point fingers at Ahmadinejad

Bin Laden driver's conviction reversed by U.S. court Posted: 16 Oct 2012 03:37 PM PDT (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver and bodyguard, Salim Hamdan, on charges of supporting terrorism, in a long-running case emerging from the American military trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that providing support for terrorism was not a war crime at the time of Hamdan's alleged conduct from 1996 to 2001 and therefore could not support a conviction. Human rights activists hailed the ruling as a blow to the legitimacy of the U.S. ...

Karadzic denies Bosnia war crimes as he starts defense Posted: 16 Oct 2012 12:54 PM PDT THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, accused of some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War Two, told judges he should be praised for promoting peace, not charged with war crimes, an assertion hotly denied by victims watching the trial. Beginning his defense, Karadzic accused Bosnian Muslims of deliberately staging some of the atrocities against their own people to win international support, drawing gasps of disbelief from Muslim survivors in the gallery of the court on Tuesday. ...

Taliban says its attack on Pakistani schoolgirl justified Posted: 16 Oct 2012 05:06 AM PDT ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents said on Tuesday that the Pakistani schoolgirl its gunmen shot in the head deserved to die because she had spoken out against the group and praised U.S. President Barack Obama. Malala Yousufzai, 14, was flown to Britain on Monday, where doctors said she has every chance of making a "good recovery". The attack on Yousufzai, who had been advocating education for girls, drew widespread condemnation. ...

Cuba lifting hated travel restrictions Posted: 16 Oct 2012 03:39 PM PDT HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba will scrap much-reviled travel restrictions starting in January, making it easier for its citizens to leave the communist-ruled island in the first major reform to its migration policies in half a century. The changes reverse tough restrictions imposed in 1961 when the government tried to put the brakes on a mass migration of people fleeing after the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power. ...

Colombia, FARC rebels set to start peace talks Wednesday Posted: 16 Oct 2012 02:20 PM PDT BOGOTA/OSLO (Reuters) - Colombia's government and Marxist rebels will start peace talks as planned on Wednesday in Oslo in a bid to end nearly half a century of conflict after logistical problems delayed departure of the delegates, Colombia's government said. President Juan Manuel Santos, facing criticism on security issues, has launched the latest attempt to negotiate a deal with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. "We're leaving now with hope, with moderate optimism. ...

Insight: Brazen Islamic militants showed strength before Benghazi attack Posted: 16 Oct 2012 04:19 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the months before the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, U.S. and allied intelligence agencies warned the White House and State Department repeatedly that the region was becoming an increasingly dangerous vortex for jihadist groups loosely linked or sympathetic to al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials. Despite those warnings, and bold public displays by Islamist militants around Benghazi, embassies in the region were advised to project a sense of calm and normalcy in the run-up to the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States. ...

Exclusive: Rwanda, Uganda arming Congo rebels, providing troops - U.N. panel Posted: 16 Oct 2012 03:50 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rwanda's defense minister is commanding a rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that is being armed by Rwanda and Uganda, both of which sent troops to aid the insurgency in a deadly attack on U.N. peacekeepers, according to a U.N. report. The U.N. Security Council's Group of Experts said in a confidential report that Rwanda and Uganda - despite their strong denials - continued to support M23 rebels in their six-month fight against Congolese government troops in North Kivu province. ...

Divided Syrian rebels agree on joint leadership Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:37 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's divided rebels have agreed to set up a joint leadership to oversee their battle to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, two insurgent sources said on Tuesday as fighting raged in cities across the country. Rebels hope the decision, taken after increasing pressure from foreign supporters on them to unite, will help convince those backers that they are a credible and coordinated fighting force deserving to be supplied with more powerful weapons. "The agreement has been reached, they only need to sign it now," one rebel source said. ...

"I take responsibility" for Benghazi: Clinton Posted: 16 Oct 2012 07:39 AM PDT LIMA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton assumed responsibility on Monday for last month's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which has become an issue in the hard-fought U.S. presidential campaign. "I take responsibility" for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN during a visit to Peru, adding that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden would not be responsible for specific security instructions for U.S. diplomatic facilities. ...

Afghanistan's safest province falling prey to Taliban Posted: 16 Oct 2012 02:04 PM PDT BAMIYAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Violence is returning to what has long been the most tranquil region of Afghanistan, where fears of a resurgent Taliban are as stark as the ragged holes left by the bombing of two ancient Buddha statues in cliffs facing the Bamiyan valley. Bamiyan had been seen as the country's safest province due to its remote location in the central mountains and the opposition of the dominant local tribe, the Hazara, to the Taliban, mostly ethnic Pashtuns who massacred thousands of Hazara during their austere rule. ...

Syrian rebels in Aleppo mostly poor, pious, rural Posted: 16 Oct 2012 02:35 PM PDT Most of the rebels fighting government forces in the city of Aleppo fit a specific mold: They're poor, religiously conservative and usually come from the underdeveloped countryside nearby.

Govt to let Cubans travel freely Posted: 16 Oct 2012 12:41 PM PDT The Cuban government announced Tuesday that it will eliminate a half-century-old restriction that requires citizens to get an exit visa to leave the country.

Gitmo war court back in session minus 3 defendants Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:47 AM PDT Three of the five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks skipped their military tribunal hearing Tuesday after a judge ruled the men could not be forced to attend the session.

Shot Pakistani girl responding well to treatment Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:43 AM PDT A teenage Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has responded well to treatment and impressed doctors with her strength, the British hospital where she was being treated said Tuesday.

90 dead in Syrian regime attacks on rebel areas Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:49 AM PDT The Syrian military unleashed heavy airstrikes and artillery bombardments targeting rebel strongholds in the north on Tuesday, killing at least 90 people according to activists.

Hilary Mantel wins 2nd Booker Prize for Tudor saga Posted: 16 Oct 2012 04:04 PM PDT British writer Hilary Mantel won the prestigious Booker literary prize for a second time Tuesday with her blood-soaked Tudor saga "Bring Up the Bodies," which the head of the judging panel said had "rewritten the book" on historical fiction.

Picasso, Monets stolen in Dutch heist Posted: 16 Oct 2012 01:56 PM PDT Thieves broke into a Rotterdam museum on Tuesday and walked off with works from the likes of Picasso, Monet, Gauguin and Matisse potentially worth hundreds of millions.

Orphaned baby elephant is raised by human mom Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:16 AM PDT Lots of mothers wake in the middle of the night to feed their babies, but not many get up to give a bottle to an infant elephant.

Europeans hoping to fight in Syria raise new fears Posted: 16 Oct 2012 02:20 PM PDT European governments have been among the most vocal supporters of Syria's rebels — to a point: Last week, Muslims in Britain and France accused of trying to join the fight against the regime were detained.

Former Israeli kingmaker poised for comeback Posted: 16 Oct 2012 01:53 PM PDT The popular ultra-Orthodox Israeli politician Arieh Deri is preparing a comeback after a 13-year hiatus that included a brief prison term for accepting bribes.

Dutch art heist 'a nightmare for any museum director' Posted: 16 Oct 2012 12:42 PM PDT Seven highly valuable paintings by artists like Matisse and Picasso were stolen last night from the Kunsthal Rotterdam in The Netherlands in what the museum director called "a nightmare."

Britain nixes extradition of NASA hacker Gary McKinnon to US Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:14 AM PDT The British government today announced that Gary McKinnon, a British hacker diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, will not be extradited to the US. But while the decision is nominally about his human rights, it may also be a byproduct of a long-standing debate over the US-UK extradition treaty, which British critics say is weighted too much in favor of US interests.

A senior Iraqi official ponders if his government is a client of Iran's Posted: 16 Oct 2012 10:15 AM PDT Foreign Policy ran a piece a few days ago examining the question "Is Iraq an Iranian proxy?" that was most interesting for one of its co-authors: Safa al-Sheikh, the acting national security adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Israel's Netanyahu banks on tough guy image to win early elections Posted: 16 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come charging out of the gate with his reelection campaign, fashioning himself as a tough leader who is unrivaled in his ability to keep Israel safe and prosperous at a crucial time.

Cuban Missile Crisis: 5 ways leftist ideology lives on in Latin America Posted: 16 Oct 2012 07:22 AM PDT This week marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the US and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war over the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba. It is what many consider the most dangerous conflict in modern history. This week also features the beginning of peace talks between the government of Colombia and FARC rebels, who emerged in 1964 as a group of communist peasants rebelling against the state, and later turned to the cocaine trade to fund their activities. ...

Former Serb leader Karadzic: I deserve reward, not punishment Posted: 16 Oct 2012 05:36 AM PDT Accused Bosnian war criminal Radovan Karadzic opened his defense today at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague today, claiming that he was a "tolerant man" who had done "everything within human power to avoid the war and to reduce the human suffering."

Iran sanctions: playing the long game Posted: 16 Oct 2012 05:22 AM PDT This article is part of a special report on the impact of sanctions on Iran's economy. For the main story, go here.

As sanctions crush rial's value, Iranians point fingers at Ahmadinejad Posted: 16 Oct 2012 05:22 AM PDT Parinaz could see the growing impact of Iran's deepening economic chaos every day while riding the Tehran subway. To make ends meet, more and more Iranians had gone underground to sell cheap Chinese goods to passengers.

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