Indian doctor freed

Indian doctor freed:

BRISBANE, Australia -- An Indian doctor was set free Friday after Australia's chief prosecutor said a charge linking him to failed bombings in Britain was a mistake. Mohamed Haneef, 27, was released from prison in the eastern city of Brisbane more than three weeks after he was arrested at an airport as he was about to fly to India.

Hostages suffering?

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A purported Taliban spokesman warned Friday that some of the 22 South Korean hostages were in bad health, saying hours after the kidnappers' latest deadline passed that the captives were crying and worried about their future. In eastern Afghanistan, two NATO soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a major clash with militants in a high mountain area where American soldiers do most of the fighting. In southern Helmand province, meanwhile, as many as 50 suspected militants and 28 civilians were killed when international and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban insurgents and called in airstrikes, Gereshk district chief Abdul Manaf Khan said.

Arrest sparks battle:

BAGHDAD -- A fierce gunbattle broke out after a joint U.S.-Iraqi force arrested a rogue Shiite militia leader in Karbala on Friday, leading to an airstrike and the deaths of some 17 militants, the military said. U.S. troops also captured four militants suspected of links to networks that smuggle weapons and fighters from Iran, which Washington accuses of fueling the violence in Iraq with its support of Shiite militias.