Recently in International News Category

An American aid worker that was kidnapped from his Pakistani home in August, is now an Al Qaeda hostage.

Warren Weinstein was kidnapped in Pakistan, ABC reported, but won't be released until the United States meets the nine demands the Al Qaeda has requested via video.

Weinstein worked as a development expert with furniture sellers and dairy farmers. His work was uncontroversial ABC reported.

This kidnapping comes as a shock because the tactic hasn't been used as a weapon in Pakistan since Danny Pearl was kidnapped and executed in 2002.

According to ABC, Weinstein's kidnapping was more of a political statement than it was to make money.

In Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro's largest shantytown, 3,000 troops declared a victory over the drug dealers.

The CNN story begins with a scene of Special Forces raiding Rocinha Monday morning.

The troops won in just two hours and didn't fire a single bullet, and for most Rocinha's 100,000 residents Monday was just another day, CNN reported.

The operation was an effort to eliminate drug gangs before the 2014 World Cup, 2016 Olympic games, and to restore Rio de Janeiro. But still, it's a work in progress, as piles of trash line the streets and a mess of electrical wires dangle over residential houses.

According to CNN, in addition to the victory raid, Rocinha's top drug trafficker, Antonio Francisco Bomfim, was captured by police last week.

Less than three weeks after an earthquake killed more than 600 in eastern Turkey, a 5.7 magnitude quake hit the same region Wednesday night, killing at least three people.

21 buildings collapsed in already damaged capitol of Turkey, Van, leaving dozens trapped in the rubble, the Bangkok Post reported. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, in early rescue efforts, 10 people were pulled out of the debris alive.

In the rescue effort, 9 planes carrying almost 300 rescue volunteers were dispatched to the quake region, the Post reports.

The Sun-Times reported that the Turkish Red Crescent dispatched 15,000 tents to the town of Edremit, the un-damaged epicenter of the earthquake.

About 1,400 aftershocks have hit the area since the massive earthquake on Oct. 23, when at least 2,000 buildings were destroyed. Recently, authorities declared another 3,700 buildings unfit for living the Sun-Times reports.

Andy Rooney died Friday, due to complications following a minor surgery, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 92.

On Oct. 2, one month before his death, the crotchety Rooney made his final appearance on "60 Minutes" and his 1,097th essay for the special, the Wausau Daily Herald reported.

Andrew Aitken Rooney was born in Albany, N.Y., and got his start as a copy boy for the local paper while still in high school, the Daily Herald reported. He was a student at Colgate University, until he was drafted by the Army in 1941 according to the L.A. Times.

Upon his return, Rooney was freelancing magazine stories when he met Arthur Godfrey, a famous radio and television entertainer, in New York City in 1949. That meeting changed his life, and he then wrote for Godfrey's daily radio show and two television shows for the next six years the L.A. Times reported. Eventually, he became the celebrity known today.

According to the Daily Herald, the four-time Emmy winning writer and Writers Guild of America award-winning author did not like the celebrity status he had achieved and would often write "No" when asked for his autograph.

But, one can never be seen in the spotlight without a little controversy. According to the Los Angeles Times, Rooney was suspended from CBS for three weeks for allegedly making a racist remark and an offensive comment toward to the homosexual lifestyle. He was reinstated after a negative public response.

According to military officials, the single deadliest assault on U.S. citizens in Kabul took place Saturday when as many as 13 Americans were killed as a Taliban suicide bomber attacked an armored shuttle bus.

The New York Times reported that a Taliban spokesman said Abdul Rahman Hazarbos drove a vehicle with 1,500 pounds of explosives into a bus kill all of the American military trainers aboard.

The bus, called a Rhino because of its protective armor, was traveling down Darulaman Road, a busy street that is taken mostly by NATO military trainers traveling from the Kabul Military Training Center to downtown Kabul the New York Times reported.

The Los Angeles Times reports 5 troops and 8 civilian workers were killed in the attack according to NATO officials, along with at least 3 Afghan civilians and a policeman according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

Kabul is one of the safer cities according to the Los Angeles Times, because attacks are rare and the city is more secure than other parts of Afghanistan. But, the Taliban have begun to retaliate and strengthen their political stance since Afghanistan has been taking over security forces from NATO.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to their comrades and families, but it will not deter us from our mission," Ryan C. Crocker, the United States Ambassador, said in the New York Times. "It's a shock, but we will not let these guys win."