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Top news: Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb leader who was captured last May after more than 15 years on the run, appeared in a courtroom in The Hague on Wednesday to begin his trial for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in connection with the Bosnian war in the 1990s.
In outlining its case against Mladic, the prosecution accused the former military commander of "realizing through military might the criminal goals of ethnically cleansing much of Bosnia" by orchestrating the slaughter of 8,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and laying siege to Sarajevo for 44 months, a period in which more than 10,000 people died.
Mladic, for his part, has refused to enter a formal plea, but the court has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. On Wednesday, the 70-year-old general appeared to taunt Srebrenica survivors, making eye contact with a Muslim woman in the audience and running a hand across his throat in a gesture that prompted the judge to call a brief recess.
Greece: Greek President Karolos Papoulias appointed a judge to head a caretaker government until a new round of elections can be held on June 17, as the country's failure to form a coalition government roils markets and Greeks began withdrawing funds from banks.
Middle East
- A convoy of U.N. monitors got caught in clashes between protesters and Syrian forces in Idlib province and stayed with members of the opposition Free Syrian Army overnight.
- The Yemeni military killed at least 18 people in airstrikes against al Qaeda as part of a larger offensive against militants in southern Yemen.
- The Libyan Islamist leader Abdel Hakim Belhadj resigned from the military to run in elections next month.
Americas
- Gen. James Cartwright, a former commander of U.S. nuclear forces, called for a steep reduction in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
- A bombing in the Colombian capital killed at least two people, in what appeared to be an assassination attempt on a former government minister.
- The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes died at age 83.
Europe
- Following his inauguration, French President Francois Hollande met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and named Jean-Marc Ayrault as his prime minister.
- The European Union announced new regulations for banks.
- Russian police cleared a campsite occupied by anti-government protesters in Moscow.
Asia
- NATO invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to its upcoming summit in Chicago.
- Investigators discovered the black box from a Russian passenger jet that crashed in Indonesia last week.
- The Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng called into a second U.S. congressional hearing and spoke of local Chinese authorities harassing his family.
Africa
- Ahead of his sentencing, former Liberian President Charles Taylor accused the prosecution in his war crimes trial at the Hague of paying its witnesses.
- The United Nations estimated that more than half the population in South Sudan is facing food shortages.
- Amnesty International accused Tuareg rebels in northern Mali of recruiting child soldiers and committing rape and murder.
Toussaint Kluiters/AFP/Getty Images
