Taliban Commander Baitullah Mehsud

Baitullah Mehsud is a natural leader: cagey, dogged and charismatic, with an apparent knack for uniting disparate factions around a common cause. But instead of channeling those talents toward building an empire, Mehsud is trying to bring one to its knees. The shadowy Pakistani Taliban commander, whose vertiginous rise to infamy landed him on 2008’s TIME 100 List, has transformed the badlands of South Waziristan into al-Qaeda’s most important redoubt.

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Terrorists kidnap, torture boy to bully Iraqi policeman

Like many young boys, Khidir loves playing with toy cars and wants to be a policeman like his father when he grows up. But it was his father’s very job that caused the tiny child to suffer the unimaginable. Khidir was just 6 years old when he was savagely ripped away from his family, kidnapped by al Qaeda operatives in Iraq

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‘Great Train Robber’ Ronnie Biggs released to die

Ailing "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs — one of the most notorious British criminals of recent decades — was due to be formally released from prison to his death bed Friday after being granted his freedom on compassionate grounds. Biggs, who is gravely ill with severe pneumonia, is already being treated at a hospital in Norwich, eastern England, where he was moved on Tuesday

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‘Sixteen Candles,’ ‘Breakfast Club’ director Hughes dead at 59

John Hughes, the producer, writer and director whose 1980s films such as "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" offered a sharp-eyed look at teenagers and their social habits, has died, according to a statement from his representative. He was 59. Hughes died of a heart attack while taking a morning walk in Manhattan, according to the statement.

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Immigration: Let’s Get Over It Already

Author Kurt Andersen’s new book, Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America, examines the economic, political and cultural opportunities to be found in the wake of the financial crises. In this excerpt, the fourth of five pieces to appear on TIME.com, he argues that open borders and innovative immigration policy are critical to America’s rebound. No other nation on earth assimilates immigrants as successfully as the United States.

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‘Victoria Beckham look-a-like’ clue in Madeleine McCann disappearance

A new witness in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann has told investigators he talked with a "Victoria Beckham look-a-like" whose may have revealed clues about the girl’s fate, a family spokesman said Thursday. Investigators would not release what was said in the conversation but the clues have led police to try and find the woman. Madeleine vanished from the family’s holiday villa at the Portuguese beach resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007, as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined in a nearby restaurant

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