U.S. Sen. Jim Webb won the release Saturday of an American prisoner convicted in Myanmar and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the senator’s office said.

The bomber evaded several rings of Afghan police and detonated his explosives on the doorstep of the international military headquarters, an assault that comes as Afghans gear up for their second-ever direct presidential election.

Amid recent blows to the Taliban, many in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar are convinced that the setbacks are real. But there are also concerns that the Pakistani government is failing to press home its advantage.

Gary McKinnon admits hacking into dozens of U.S. military computers before and after Sept. 11, 2001, and has lost every appeal available under the British legal system. His case has become a rallying point for Britons who believe their government is too subservient to the U.S.

The Arctic Sea disappeared after passing through the English Channel on July 28 but has been sighted about 520 miles off Cape Verde, according to French and Russian officials. There was no immediate word on the condition of the crew or whether there was anyone other than the crew onboard.

After being held hostage for four months, the crew of two Egyptian fishing vessels fought back against their Somali captors using machetes and tools, killing at least two pirates before sailing to freedom.

Floods and mudslides unleashed by Typhoon Morakot last weekend have destroyed the homes of 7,000 people. He called it the most severe damage to the island in 50 years.

Soon, Erin-Marie Williams will trade the Virunga Mountains for mountains of data, and retreat to a motion analysis lab. And Rwanda’s gorillas are well on their way to being “de-mistified” after 10 million years of evolution, 40-plus years of behavioral observations, 10 years of planning, and two seasons of exhumations.

Taiwan’s army has deployed thousands of troops in a massive effort aimed at saving hundreds of stranded villagers after the worst flooding to hit the country in 50 years. Soldiers used a cable sling suspended above the torrential waters of the Ba Si Lan River to tug survivors 100 yards across.

North Korea on Thursday freed a South Korean worker detained for months in the communist country, officials said, brightening prospects for improved relations on the tense peninsula.