Beirut Car Bomb: Security Official Among Dead

A top Lebanese security official is among eight people killed by a car bomb in the country's capital Beirut.

Wissam al Hassan died in the rush-hour bomb in the city's east - which also wounded some 80 people - heightening fears that the Syrian civil war is spilling over into Lebanon.

Al Hassan's investigations had implicated Syria and Hizbollah in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri seven years ago.

He had also uncovered a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician, according to a Lebanese official.

He was a close aide to Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who was killed in a 2005 bomb attack in downtown Beirut.

Friday's bombing was the city's first major car bomb attack since 2008.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the blast, in the mainly Christian east Beirut, took place only 200 yards from the headquarters of the Christian party, the Phalange.

A wounded woman near the site of the explosion

The party is hostile to the regime of President Bashar al Assad in neighbouring Syria, which is mired in a lengthy civil war.

But Syrian information minister Omran al Zoabie told reporters: "We condemn this terrorist explosion and all these explosions wherever they happen. Nothing justifies them."

Michael Fish, 25, a British musician visiting Beirut, said he was in his hotel a street away when the explosion happened.

"At first I thought it was an earthquake," he said.

"It shook the whole hotel for a second. I ran down and started filming on my iPhone."

The AFP news agency reported that two apartment buildings had been devastated by the bombing in a narrow street off Sassine Square in Ashrafieh. One building was still on fire as Red Cross workers evacuated bloodied casualties.

Balconies were torn off by the force of the blast, windows shattered and cars crushed by falling masonry.

Phalange leader Sami al Gemayel, a staunch opponent of Mr Assad and a member of parliament, condemned the attack.

"Let the state protect the citizens," he said.

"We will not accept any procrastination in this matter, we cannot continue like that. We have been warning for a year. Enough."

The war in Syria, which has killed 30,000 people in the past 19 months, has pitted mostly Sunni insurgents against Mr Assad, who is from the Alawite sect linked to Shi'ite Islam.

Interior minister Marwan Sharbel was also at the scene of the bombing. The previous such attack in Beirut, in January 2008, killed Lebanon's top anti-terrorism investigator and three other people.

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Shock Fate Of India's 'Stolen' Slum Children

By Alex Rossi, Asia Correspondent

Shocking new crime figures have revealed as many as 50,000 children are going missing from the streets of India every year.

Campaigners claim the youngsters are often 'stolen' by criminal gangs to fuel a growing black market in child labour and prostitution.

For the parents of the victims the not knowing what has happened to their son or daughter is often the hardest part.

Kunwar Pal is overcome with grief. His 12-year-old son Ravi went out for a bike ride two years ago but never returned.

He said: "My life revolved around my son but since he disappeared I have lost everything including my happiness and my job."

It is the poorest families who are most at risk from the growing problem.

Children from the slums are easily snatched from the streets as their parents are often both working and struggling to make ends meet.

One of the worst affected areas is New Delhi.

According to recent crime data, as many as 20 children go missing in the capital every day and at least five of them are never traced.

The police say their job as investigators is made much more difficult because poorer parents often do not even have a photograph of their missing child.

They have now launched a scheme using theatre to try and educate children about the dangers of stranger danger.

They are also taking portraits of children in the areas the human traffickers target, so if the worst does happen, the parents at least have a photographic record of the child they can show detectives.

But many parents with missing children say the police are simply not doing enough.

Tajwar Sultana says her granddaughter, who was three when she vanished in 2009, is just another statistic for the police to ignore.

The family were at a wedding party when their little girl was taken.

She said: "Her mother is in a terrible state. Our situation is worse than death."

There are now demands for tougher punishments for the human traffickers who prey on India's children.

But activists fear as the police struggle with the enormity of the challenge the problem of India's 'stolen' sons and daughters will continue to get worse.

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Armstrong Tells Of 'Difficult Few Weeks'

Lance Armstrong has said he has been through a "difficult couple of weeks" and urged supporters of his cancer-fighting charity to stand behind its mission.

The former champion cyclist made the remarks last night at the 15th anniversary celebration for Livestrong, the charity he founded in 1997.

He stepped down as chairman earlier this week in an effort to ward off damage caused by doping charges against him.

The event drew 1,700 supporters, cancer survivors and friends who gave him a standing ovation before he spoke.

Armstrong, who denies using performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times, did not address doping evidence presented last week by the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada).

Usada banned Armstrong for life because of his involvement in "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".

Armstrong did not fight the charges, although he insists he never cheated.

The Usada report sent shockwaves through the sport of cycling.

On Wednesday, Armstrong was dumped by Nike, Anheuser-Busch and other sponsors.

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Fort Hood Suspect 'Can Be Forcibly Shaved'

An Army appeals court has ruled the Fort Hood shooting suspect can have his facial hair forcibly shaved off before his trial.

The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the military trial judge's decision to order Major Nidal Hasan to appear in court clean shaven or be forcibly shaved.

It also ruled that Colonel Gregory Gross, the judge, correctly ruled the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not give Hasan the right to have a beard while in uniform at trial.

Hasan has said the beard is an expression of his Muslim faith. His lawyers will appeal the ruling.

The 42-year-old faces the death penalty if convicted of the 2009 attack that killed 13 and wounded more than two dozen others on the Texas Army post.

The Army has specific guidelines on forced shaving.

A team of five military police officers restrains the inmate "with the reasonable force necessary", and a medical professional is on hand in case of injuries.

The shaving must be done with electric clippers and must be videoed, according to Army rules.

Hasan would not be the first military defendant to be shaved against their will.

It has been done to five inmates since 2005, including one man who was forcibly shaved twice, according to the Army's Office of the Chief of Staff.

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Perversion Files: Decades of Scout Abuse Revealed

Confidential papers showing US scout leaders covered up generations of alleged sexual abuse inflicted on their young members have been published.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has released decades worth of so-called "perversion files", showing how a range of authorities - from police to church pastors - quietly allowed scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children to go free.

In many instances - more than a third, according to the Scouts' own count - police were not told about the reports of abuse. And even when they were, sometimes local law enforcement did nothing, seeking to protect the reputation of Scouting.

The Oregon Supreme Court ordered the papers, dating from 1959 to 1985 – and a handful from later years -to be released, despite objections played out in a lengthy legal battle from the Boy Scouts.

The boxes of newly released files containing allegations of sexual abuse

The 14,500 pages of confidential files, including handwritten notes, reveal details of alleged abuses by more than 1,200 scout leaders and other adults.

Officially called the Boy Scouts Ineligible Volunteer Files, some of the papers had been released previously, but others were made public for the first time.

In one case from the files, a distraught mother walked into a Louisiana sheriff's office in 1965 and said a 31-year-old scoutmaster had raped one of her sons and molested two others.

Six days later, the scoutmaster sat down in front of a microphone in the same station and confessed. He admitted to raping a 17-year-old boy on a camping trip and sexually molesting two other boys. The victims corroborated his confession.

"They just occurred," the scoutmaster said.

A boy scout statue outside the organisation's American HQ

Seven days later, the decision was made not to pursue charges against him.

The man "was asked to leave the parish, and if he was caught around or near any boy or youth organisation, he would be sent to state prison immediately", a Scouting executive wrote to national headquarters. "We are indeed sorry that Scouting was involved."

The files also show Scouting volunteers serving in the military overseas molesting American children living abroad and sometimes continuing to molest after returning to the States.

The lawyers who unveiled the files said BSA had not done enough to root out paedophiles using the youth movement to prey on minors.

"What these files represent is ... the pain and the anguish of thousands of scouts," said lawyer Paul Mones, while presenting details of the files at a press conference in the northwestern US city of Portland.

A Boy Scouts of America handbook

Mr Mones said the files "demonstrate the depth and breadth of the BSA's vast knowledge about the threats to scouts by scoutmasters and adult leaders who used their authority ... to sexually molest generations of boys".

The lawyers highlighted a 2010 court case, in which an assistant scoutmaster in a Mormon Church-sponsored troop sexually molested a boy in the 1980s.

The abuser involved had previously confessed to molesting 17 other boys in the troop, but was allowed to return to scouting within a few months and then found a new victim.

Responding to the release, BSA national leader Wayne Perry reiterated an apology to the victims.

He said: "There have been instances where people misused their positions ... to abuse children, and in certain cases, our response to these incidents and our efforts to protect youth were plainly insufficient, inappropriate or wrong.

The uniform worn by Boy Scouts of America

"Where those involved in Scouting failed to protect, or worse, inflicted harm on children, we extend our deepest and sincere apologies to victims and their families."

In a statement on its website, BSA also said it has improved its procedures to ensure safety, including now requiring background checks and formal training of its leaders.

But Mr Mones said the organisation, founded as part of the international Scouting Movement in 1910, has not done enough.

The BSA have "made some improvements, but we think there's more still to be done," said the lawyer, noting that on average each abuser typically molested between five and 25 scouts.

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North Korea 'Threatens To Strike South'

North Korea has threatened to open fire on South Korea if anti-Pyongyang leaflets are dropped over its territory.

Human rights activists plan to send giant balloons containing 200,000 leaflets criticising North Korea's government over the country on Monday morning.

Inside the leaflets will be 1,000 $1 notes, prized by the impoverished people of North Korea.

North Korea said that if the leaflets were dropped, a "merciless military strike by the Western Front will be put into practice without warning", according to state news agency KCNA.

It said it would target a tourist area in the border city of Paju a few miles from the demilitarised zone that separates the two countries if the launch went ahead.

"The KPA (Korean People's Army) never makes any empty talk," KCNA quoted military commanders as saying.

North Korea shelled a South Korean island almost two years ago, causing civilian deaths. And in 2010, the North was widely blamed for sinking a South Korean naval ship, although it denied responsibility.

The group planning the leafletting, Fighters for a Free North Korea, said they had no intention of calling off the event.

"We had similar threats last year and they did not stop us before and this is not going to stop us this time," said Pak Sang-hak, a North Korean exile who defected to the South 12  years ago.

The threat came a day after South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak made a surprise visit to an island close to the disputed maritime border that was shelled.

There have been widespread concerns in the South that Pyongyang may try to instigate a military clash that would temporarily destabilise the Korean peninsula in the run up to South Korea's presidential election in December.

Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor at Dongguk University, said: "I think this is a bluff. I don't think they mean to actually target and shell the area.

"It could be an indirect reaction to what President Lee said (on Thursday) and the North is also seeking to drive wedges between conservatives and liberals ahead of the presidential poll," Kim said.

On Wednesday, South Korea had announced an annual, large-scale military exercise aimed at countering threats from North Korea.

The week-long Hoguk exercise beginning on October 25 will involve 240,000 army, navy, air force and marine corps personnel, with 500 US soldiers also taking part.

Some 28,500 US military personnel are stationed in the South, a legacy of the Korean War that ended with a ceasefire but not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.

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Flavor Flav Held Over Assault With Deadly Weapon

Reality TV star and former rapper Flavor Flav has been arrested after allegedly arguing with his fiancee and threatening to attack her teenage son with a knife.

The 53-year-old hip-hop icon, whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr, was taken into custody in the early hours of Wednesday morning from his home in Las Vegas, according to local police.

Officers did not report that anyone was injured.

Drayton faces a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge, carrying a possible penalty of up to six years in prison, and a misdemeanor battery-domestic violence charge, that could get him six months in a county jail.

He was being held on $23,000 (£14,000) bail at Clark County jail pending an initial court appearance on Thursday. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Drayton, whose public persona includes wearing a big clock on his chest, was an original member of the politically and socially militant rap group Public Enemy in the 1980s and '90s.

In recent years he has starred in several reality TV series and lent his name and recipes to short-lived chicken and soul food restaurants in Clinton, Iowa, and Las Vegas.

He has a criminal history that includes arrests and convictions on traffic infractions, a month in jail for assaulting his then-girlfriend in 1991, and three months in prison for shooting at a neighbour in New York in 1993.

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China: Bo Scandal Casts Shadow Over Handover

By Lisa Holland, China correspondent

In just three weeks China will get a new President. The Communist Party Congress - China's once-a-decade power transition - will reveal Xi Jinping as the country's next leader.

But it is a power transition which is being overshadowed by the political scandal triggered by the death of the British businessman Neil Heywood in the Chinese city of Chongqing nearly a year ago.

We travelled to Chongqing to assess how the scandal has affected the Communist Party. 

It is the mega city which has lost its guiding star. Chongqing and its surrounding area are home to 30m people - that's half the population of Britain.

It gives you a sense of the power once enjoyed by Bo Xilai - the dominant and ambitious ex-Communist Party boss who transformed it from a drab backwater to a flashy metropolis.

That makes him sound like a hero, and plenty in Chongqing will praise what he did for the city's landscape. But he has now been erased politically - exposed by the Communist Party, which says he was corrupt and caught up in a murder .

Bo Xilai was tipped to go right to the top. Already in the powerful Politburo, he wanted a place in the elite group of nine people known as the Standing Committee. 

Former rising star Bo Xilai has been erased from the political map

It is rumoured he is being kept at a government guest house on the outskirts of Beijing. He has now been thrown out of the party and is awaiting trial, expected to be charged with corruption and abuse of power over the murder of Neil Heywood. 

In Chongqing it is as if he was never here. There is no visible sign of Bo Xilai. But his presence remains in the sprawling city he inspired.

Designer shops dominate the heart of downtown Chongqing. The skyline is a blizzard of skyscrapers drowned in the smog of city pollution.

The bustling traffic and thronging city used to be ruled with a rod of iron by Bo Xilai - a charismatic Communist Party Princeling. The son of a revolutionary, in the end greed was his downfall, says the Communist Party.

We spoke to people in Chongqing who seem emboldened by the fall from grace of the once all-powerful Bo Xilai. 

We had arranged to meet Ren Shiliu at a road junction because he was afraid to be seen openly with foreigners. His son Jianyu has just launched an appeal against a sentence of two years hard labour for re-posting criticism online about Bo Xilai's rousing red campaigns promoting the greatness of the communist party.

It seems a staggering punishment for a small crime of opinion - but in China that is the price to be paid for trying to find a voice.

We drove Ren Shiliu to a backstreet cafe but as we sat outside and discussed his son's case his initial wariness disappeared - he was emboldened by his bitter anger and frustration.

Chongqing and the surrounding area is home to some 30m people

He said: "Bo Xilai used the name of the Communist Party and the power the party gives to them in this place. But they abused it."

He told me he misses his son and went to see him in jail. He said: "My son said to me, 'father take care of yourself. I hope you will be the same when I get out of here - then we could sit together and have meals together anytime we want'.  He said to me that in 20 years things will be different and my name will be cleared."

Ordinary people in China don't have a voice. As we filmed, passers-by were visibly staggered to hear such public criticism of the communist party to a foreigner.

In China people look over their shoulders, fearing the party's iron grip. Two old ladies held each others' hand, as if they needed reassurance about the risk he was taking. Because, just like his son, Ren Shiliu risks arrest for expressing his frustration.

The Communist Party is trying to present Bo Xilai as one bad apple. But its problem is that most people see the issue of party corruption as much more widespread.

A blogger we spoke to put it even more boldly.

He said: "Everybody feels very angry about corruption but people are unable to express their opinions. There isn't a common voice. There isn't a dissident leader to represent us. So people just have to sit back and watch."

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New York Bank Bomb Plot Foiled In FBI Sting

FBI Terror Stings Key To Security

Updated: 5:53am UK, Thursday 18 October 2012

By Hannah Thomas-Peter, New York Correspondent

The FBI sting operation against Quazi Mohammad Nafis reads like something out of a James Bond plot, but it is not uncommon for the federal police to trap suspected terrorists in this way.

Just eight months ago a man of Moroccan descent was arrested on his way to the US Capitol in Washington DC.

He thought he was going on a suicide attack and the undercover FBI agents assisting him were al Qaeda associates.

In November 2011, the NYPD carried out a similar sting on 27-year-old Jose Pimentel.

The police said he was an al Qaeda sympathiser inspired by the radical and now dead US-born cleric Anwar al Awlaki.

Pimentel thought he was wrapped up in a secret plot to bomb police and post office targets.

And in December 2010, a man from Baltimore was trapped in another fake scheme - this time to detonate a car bomb at a US armed forces recruitment centre in Maryland.

The FBI is constantly monitoring people of interest and people they believe to pose a real threat to the US.

Sting operations are always very carefully controlled, and in New York, usually also involve NYPD counter-terror specialists.

One of the reasons for using stings is that large amounts of evidence can be collected by the agents involved, allowing for a higher chance of successful prosecution if the case gets to trial.

In this city such operations are almost always overseen by what is known as the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF.

The NY JTTF is an FBI-led umbrella group encompassing more than 50 different agencies and 500 investigators.

It is a busy place to work.

Since 9/11 there have been 15 foiled plots against New York, including ones targeting the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York Stock Exchange.

To combat the ongoing threat of an attack, and in part to make the public feel safe as they move around Manhattan, over 1,000 NYPD officers are assigned specifically to counter-terror duties every day.

Following the Nafis operation, NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said: "Al Qaeda operatives and those they have inspired have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field.

"After 11 years without a successful attack, it's understandable if the public becomes complacent, but that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford."

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Crowd Racism Mars England U21 Win Over Serbia

England's U21 side were subjected to racist chants and pelted with seats, coins and stones during their European Championship play-off in Serbia.

Danny Rose after the final whistle blew

Captain Jordan Henderson praised his players for their reaction to the alleged racist abuse and called on Uefa to take the appropriate action.

The Football Association reported "a number of incidents of racism" to Uefa after ugly scenes marred a 1-0 win for Stuart Pearce's team in the second leg of their play-off in Krusevac.

Andros Townsend separates Danny Rose (l) and Sasa Markovic of Serbia

Liverpool midfielder Henderson said on www.thefa.com: "There was a lot of racist abuse out there from the stands and a lot going on after the game, which is hard to take for the players."

Defender Danny Rose was sent off after the final whistle after apparently responding angrily to monkey taunts from the crowd.

Scuffles also broke out when supporters invaded the field moments after Connor Wickham's stoppage-time goal secured a 2-0 aggregate success and a place at next year's finals in Israel.

Connor Wickham (l) celebrates his goal Danny Rose is sent off following his angry reaction after the game

Henderson added: "The players coped with the abuse really well. It's not nice. They kept their heads and were professional.

"I thought our players were brilliant and conducted themselves very well. The players completely condemn what happened.

Nikola Ninkovic (r) of Serbia is held back as Raheem Sterling looks on

"There were also stones, coins and seats getting thrown at us. I didn't understand why Danny Rose was sent off at the end - I didn't see he did anything wrong, other than get abused."

A statement from the FA read: "The FA condemns both the scenes of racism and the confrontation at the final whistle during which time our players and staff were under extreme provocation.

Serbia's assistant coach Dejan Govedarica (c) tries to keep players apart

"The FA has reported a number of incidents of racism to Uefa following the fixture.

"These were seemingly aimed at a number of black England players by the crowd. The matter is now with Uefa."

England manager Stuart Pearce said Serbia's technical director Savo Milosevic had visited the England dressing room to apologise.

"I never like to see any football matches end like that," Pearce told ESPN.

"I think there were one or two racist incidents that came on from the crowd. It's in (Uefa's) hands now.

"It's very sad, to be fair, but we're united as a team. I'm very proud of the reaction of our players."

Marvin Sordell (R) of England shows his anger Serbia's goalkeeping coach is seen raising his fist

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Passenger Jets Help To Rescue Missing Sailor

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

Passengers and crew on two commercial jets have helped locate a missing yachtsman off Australia by looking through the windows with binoculars.

An Air Canada plane and an Air New Zealand aircraft swooped down to 4,000ft to assist rescuers in the search for the solo yachtsman who had activated his emergency beacon.

His remote location was out of helicopter range, so rescuers asked the planes' pilots to get involved as they were flying over the yacht's GPS position.

The crew on each plane asked passengers to tell them if they had binoculars in their hand luggage so they could be used to help in the search.

The Air Canada pilot Captain Andrew Robertson said once he determined he had enough fuel to land the plane safely in Sydney after diverting to search for the yacht, he swooped down to 5,000ft and reduced speed while the crew peered out.

"As we got to about two to three miles of this yacht, the first officer said 'there it is, I see it'. I was amazed.

"We didn't know if we were looking for a sunken boat or one that was still floating."

Captain Robertson circled around once more at 3,700ft for a closer look to see if anyone was on board.

It was then they saw the yachtsman.

Captain Robertson said the search was the first of his aviation career.

"A lot of passengers said it was very exciting to be involved in a search like this," he said.

According to Sydney's Daily Telegraph, one passenger wrote on Facebook: "15 hour flight ends up being 17 hours as we descended to 4,000ft to locate a capsized yacht for search and rescue.

"Amazing, and slightly off putting, to see what a Boeing 777 aircraft can do when not on autopilot and flying/circling low over the ocean."

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the crew and a number of passengers on board flight AC033 to Sydney from Vancouver spotted the boat and advised authorities of its location.

He said the yachtsman was subsequently rescued. He said the airline commends the crew and passengers.

"The pilots immediately determined they had sufficient fuel to undertake this, and headed out to the remote area which was over fairly rough seas," he explained.

"After apprising the customers on board that we would assist as we were the only aircraft in the immediate vicinity, all on board became involved in the search efforts," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

"The crew borrowed binoculars from customers and also engaged those sitting on the right hand side of the aircraft to help look.

"As our aircraft flew over the area at 4,000ft, a reflection from a mirror shining upwards was spotted and the crew saw the yacht in question, de-masted with a person standing - which was confirmed by a number of passengers."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said the 44-year-old sailor had now been picked up 270 nautical miles out to sea.

He is said to be in good spirits and uninjured after drifting for 16 hours.

Speaking about the involvement of the passenger jets, a spokesperson from the Amsa said: "It's not a regular occurrence, but that's because incidents are (usually) much closer to shore.

"Amsa thanks the captains and crews of the Air Canada and Air New Zealand aircraft for their assistance in the search and rescue operation, and their passengers for their patience."

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US Presidential Race: Obama And Romney Clash

President Barack Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney have clashed over both foreign and domestic policy in a feisty live TV presidential debate.

One of the standout moments in the second of three head-to-heads between the candidates came when the pair sparred over last month's attack on a US diplomatic mission in Libya.

The President accused his White House contender of playing politics with national security while Mr Romney hit back by accusing Mr Obama of going on a fundraising tour on the day after the deadly September 11 assault on the Benghazi consulate, and declaring his Middle East policy was "unravelling".

In a television debate that was deemed much more lively and aggressive than the first one, Mr Romney said the President's team either did not know all the details - or did not tell the truth - about the death of four Americans there immediately after the attacks.

Mr Obama admitted for the first time that responsibility for what happened at the consulate in Libya stopped with him and no one else.

But at one point, former Massachusetts governor Mr Romney appeared to get his facts wrong about Mr Obama's handling of the attack and how soon afterwards he described it as an act of terrorism.

In a fierce exchange, Mr Obama called upon transcripts to prove Mr Romney was incorrect and expressed outrage at the Republican's implication that he used the attack to his political advantage.

"The suggestion that anybody on my team, whether it's a secretary of state, our UN ambassador, anybody on my team, would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive," Mr Obama said wagging his finger at his opponent across the stage.

Mr Obama was fighting to reverse a slide in the polls

With three weeks to go until the US election, Mr Obama fought to reverse a dramatic slide in the polls that has given Mr Romney a lead for the first time in over a year.

They took questions from 80 undecided voters at a town hall-style forum on New York's Long Island.

The tension between the pair was obvious almost from the start when they clashed over domestic oil production.

During a discussion about immigration, Mr Obama and Mr Romney were side-tracked and ended up making digs at each other over their respective financial arrangements.

In another animated moment, Mr Romney was asked by one voter how he differed from fellow Republican George Bush. The White House hopeful responded by saying he took an alternative stance on energy policy, China and deficits.

But the President said his biggest difference was that his Republican rival is more extreme on social issues than Mr Bush, who left office deeply unpopular.

Mr Romney said that he would govern under different conditions that would allow him to make North America energy independent from Arab and Venezuelan oil.

He also claimed he would crack down on China's currency manipulation and cut the deficit by increasing trade.

The President concluded the debate by bringing up Mr Romney's now notorious 47% remark. The Republican had to apologise earlier in the month after he was secretly filmed making disparaging comments about nearly half of Americans who do not pay income taxes.

The debate, watched by millions, was won by Mr Obama, according to an instant CBS poll at the end.

The final face-off between the candidates before the November 6 election will be held next Monday in Florida.

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Yahoo! Names Henrique De Castro As New COO

Yahoo! has poached a second big name from rival Google after announcing Henrique de Castro as its new chief operating officer.

It is the latest move by chief executive Marissa Mayer to build a new management team at the struggling company.

Ms Mayer also joined the firm from Google earlier this year.

Mr De Castro will oversee Yahoo!'s global sales, operations, media and business development.

Yahoo! said he would receive a $600,000 (£363,000) annual salary and a potential annual bonus of up to $540,000 (£336,000).

His total package is believed to be worth around $58m (£36m), which consists of restricted stock and stock options that will vest over the next four years.

Marissa Mayer joined Yahoo earlier this year

In a statement, Ms Mayer hailed Mr de Castro "as an incredibly accomplished and rigorous business leader" with the internet advertising insights that "make him the perfect fit for Yahoo! as we propel the business to its next phase of growth".

Yahoo! has been struggling to attract more advertising for several years - a problem Ms Mayer believes can be fixed by hiring the Google executive.

Through the first half of this year, Google's advertising revenue totalled nearly $21bn, a 22% increase from 2011, while Yahoo! generated about $2bn, unchanged from 2011.

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Karadzic Opens Defence in UN War Crimes Trial

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is due to open his defence at a war crimes trial in the Hague.

In his defence before the United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes court, he will hope to convince judges of his innocence in a conflict that claimed 100,000 lives.

Brought to court after his arrest on a Belgrade bus in 2008, Karadzic, 67, is charged with masterminding the murder of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys by forces loyal to him in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995.

The massacre, when Bosnian Serb troops under the command of wartime general Ratko Mladic overran Dutch UN peacekeepers, was the worst atrocity committed on European soil since World War Two.

Over the space of a few days, thousands were systematically executed and dumped into mass graves in the area.

The remains of people thought to have been killed during the Bosnian war

Karadzic's legal adviser, Peter Robinson, said his client would argue that "no policy was being implemented (at Srebrenica)", asserting that the former Bosnian Serb leader "did not know prisoners would be executed".

He added that Karadzic - who faces life imprisonment if convicted - would tell the judges that while he did not deny that people were killed in Srebrenica, he "challenges the scale of the massacre".

Prosecutors say Karadzic, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and Mladic acted together to "cleanse" Bosnian Muslims and Croats from Bosnia's Serb-claimed territories after the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991.

Milosevic died midway through his own trial for genocide and war crimes in March 2006.

Karadzic, a poet and trained psychiatrist, is also charged over his alleged role in the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo between May 1992 and November 1995 in which 10,000 people died under terrifying sniper and artillery fire.

Karadzic talks to his defence team in a courtroom

Like Mladic, he has also been charged for his alleged role in taking hostage UN observers and peacekeepers to use them as human shields during a Nato bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb targets in May and June 1995.

Indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1995, Karadzic spent 13 years on the run before being arrested in 2008 in Belgrade where he practised as a doctor of alternative medicine.

His trial began in October 2009 and prosecutors put their case against him between April 2010 and May this year.

Judges dropped one genocide count in June, saying there was not enough evidence to substantiate the charge for killings by Bosnian Serb forces in Bosnian towns from March to December 1992.

Genocide, the gravest crime in international humanitarian law, is the hardest to prove.

Karadzic has planned a four-hour statement to open his defence, followed by the testimony of Russian colonel Andrei Demurenko, the UN chief of staff in Sarajevo from January to December 1995.

Wives and relatives of victims of the massacre will look on from the public gallery.

Karadzic, who has been allocated 300 hours for his defence, has said he will call 300 witnesses to testify on his behalf.

The names include Greek President Carolos Papoulias, who was Athens' foreign minister during the Bosnian war.

Karadzic has said Mr Papoulias' testimony could prove his innocence for the infamous shelling of Sarajevo's Markale market on February 5, 1994, in which 67 people died.

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US Presidential Race: Second Debate 'Critical'

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney go head-to-head in their second televised debate tonight - and the president knows it could be critical to his hopes of a second term in the White House.

Mr Obama's lacklustre performance in the first debate two weeks ago has led to him slipping in the opinion polls both nationally and in key battleground states.

Mr Romney has enjoyed a 'bounce' in his popularity from that performance and has the air of a man reinvigorated with three weeks to go until polling day.

The two will go head-to-head on stage at Hofstra University on New York's Long Island for the second of three live prime-time clashes.

This debate will take the form of a 'town hall', with the candidates facing questions from members of the audience, voters selected from the nearby Nassau County.

Experts say the format might hamper Mr Obama's attempts to go on the offensive, after admitting he was "too polite" in the first debate.

The pair shake hands during the first TV debate

Debate coach Brett O'Donnell, who worked with John McCain in 2008 and Mr Romney during this year's primaries, said: "This is the one debate that belongs to the people.

"You can't have this sort of all-out slugfest at a town hall debate."

The Obama camp hopes that addressing voters face-to-face will play on his perceived strength, according to pollsters, as a man who understands the problems of real Americans.

It is clear the debates are having a real-time impact on the election with early voting already taking place in many states.

Those who know the inner workings of the Obama White House say it has led to an increased focus on avoiding the mistakes of the first debate.

Corey Ealons, a former Obama communications official, said: "We know that's not President Barack Obama when he's at his best.

First Lady Michelle Obama has already cast her vote

"So if he's awake, aware, present and calls Governor Romney on the facts when he has the chance to, I know he'll have a really good performance."

This debate also gives Mr Romney the chance to overcome a persistent weakness in the campaign: the suspicion among some voters that he's too wealthy to relate to the middle class and the poor.

Some good news for the Obama campaign has come with the release of the latest fundraising figures for the two candidates.

Mr Romney and his allies raised $170.5m (£106m) in September, short of the record-breaking $181m (£113m) raised by the Obama camp in the same month.

It is the second successive month that Mr Obama has out-raised Mr Romney after the Republican candidate had enjoyed a financial lead for much of the year.

This election is expected to be the most expensive in history.

The president has also received some unsurprising backing: First Lady Michelle Obama cast an absentee ballot on Monday.

She tweeted: "Hey, @BarackObama, I just dropped my absentee ballot in the mail -- I couldn't wait for Election Day! Love you! --mo."

The president tweeted back: "I'm following @MichelleObama's example and voting early, on October 25. If your state has early voting, join me ... --bo."

The first couple add their initials to tweets when they, rather than campaign workers, have composed them.

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