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NEW YORK – An American woman who was held in Iran for more than 13 months and accused of espionage said Sunday she and two men detained with her never spied or committed any crime, calling their arrest "a huge misunderstanding." Discussing her experience at the most length since her release Tuesday, Sarah Shourd underscored her gratitude at being released but said she felt only "one-third free" because her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal remain in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

> Shane Bauer > Mr Bauer has said he is opposed to "the US hegemonic policies in the Middle East". > Sarah Shourd > In one article she recounted a meal as a guest of Iraqi refugees in Yemen, writing: "Everyday I feel ashamed at what my country has done to their country." > Josh Fattal > He travelled to Damascus in the summer of 2009 for a brief reunion with Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd. >

Iran's envoy to the United Nations has confirmed that a female American held for more than a year will be released. Iran had earlier announced that one of the three Americans captured by Iran in July 2009 would be released to mark the holidays at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Bak Sahraei, second counselor of the UN mission confirmed Thursday in an e-mail that Sarah Shourd would be the one set free on Saturday.

Iran says it will release 1 of 3 jailed Americans on Saturday.

Last week the president spoke out on behalf of the three American hikers who have been held in Iran for nearly a year. During that time, they have been able to make only one telephone call — to their families back in the U.S. — and write no letter at all. Sarah, Shane, and Josh are in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, and Sarah is locked in solitary confinement save for once a day when she goes to the prison yard and sees the others. “I want to be perfectly clear,” the president said.  And then he lapsed into incoherence.  “Sarah,...

"Rooz: Kurdish Officials' Silence on American Hikers Affair – Motivated by Fear of Iran" SNIPPET: "A recent article in the American journal The Nation stated that the American hikers who have been detained in Iran for over a year for entering the country illegally were actually seized in Iraqi Kurdistan. In response to this article, Kurdish journalists told the Iranian online daily Rooz that the silence of Kurdish officials in this matter was due to their desire to avoid confronting Iran." The spokesman of the Kurdistan government has refused to answer Rooz's questions on this issue."

Three weeks after the failed mission to free her son Josh from an Iranian prison, Laura Fattal, of Elkins Park, is relentlessly on message, plotting new strategies and addressing criticisms that he put himself in harm's way. "Iran says the investigation is ongoing," she said in her first detailed interview since her 48 hours in Tehran. "If it is, please conclude it. Let our kids speak with their lawyer and go to trial. They will more than defend themselves." Josh Fattal, 28, and his friends Shane Bauer, 27, and Sarah Shourd, 31, were arrested 10 months ago for entering Iran...

The Iranian ambassador in Baghdad said the recent release of two Iranians from Iraqi custody is not an indication of any impeding deal to free three Americans held by Tehran on spying charges. Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press the fate of the Americans, who have been held since July, is in the hands of the Iranian judiciary and has no connection to the release of two Iranians earlier this month. "There were no deals," Qomi said. "They (Americans) are in the custody of the judiciary system."

Dealing with terrorists or terrorist states such as Iran is simple. Never negotiate with them. They are by definition inhuman. They take every opportunity to turn a humanitarian dilemma in to a propaganda win. Who else could support the murder of innocents for a political agenda? When the state of Israel became the focus of world terrorism in the 1960s, they quickly realized that to negotiate was in itself to capitulate. Terror wins when the civilized world talks to it. To allow the bad guys a venue to speak is to allow them to win no matter how the negotiation...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

The United States remains deeply concerned by the case of three American hikers, Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, who have been detained in Iran without charge or access to legal representation since July 2009. While we welcome the decision by the Iranian authorities to allow Shane, Sarah and Josh to receive another Swiss consular visit at long last, we were deeply alarmed to learn from the families today of their physical and emotional state of health. We fear their well-being will suffer even more unless their case is resolved without delay. We strongly believe these urgent developments are...

(04-08) 18:15 PDT BERKELEY -- Iran appears to have hardened its position on three UC Berkeley graduates who have been held in the country since last summer, accusing them of having links to U.S. intelligence. The charge, made by Iran's intelligence minister in an interview on state television, elicited strong denials Thursday from the U.S. State Department and the families of the prisoners, who were arrested after hiking across the border from Iraq. It also struck experts as an orchestrated move in a high-stakes chess game between Iran and the United States over nuclear ambitions and other issues. Read more:...

<p>Two of three hikers being detained in Iran are Bay Area residents and freelance journalists.</p> <p>Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, both UC Berkeley graduates, worked as freelance journalists affiliated with New American Media in downtown San Francisco, according to Sandy Close, executive director.</p>

OLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Hikers who climb to Pikes Peak's summit but don't feel up to walking the 12 miles back down could soon have to pay for their ride. The Colorado Springs city council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal from Pikes Peak Highway officials that would charge up to $500 for each uninjured hiker who calls 911 for a ride down. The city runs the toll road up the 14,115-foot peak, but the U.S. Forest Service owns the land.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hikers in northern California have found clothing and personal items possibly belonging to millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who went missing a year ago, CNN reported on Wednesday. Mammoth Lakes Police Chief Randy Schienle told CNN that a sweatshirt and other identification possibly with Fossett's name on it had been found by hikers in the area.

Several hikers ran across eight bares last week in Gathland State Park. A group of men between the ages of 40 and 60 reportedly disrobed and started walking along the trail, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources. About 10:30 a.m. Friday, a man was in the park when he saw the men gathering near the Appalachian Trail. He then saw them hiking in nothing but their shoes, Turner said. His wife reported the sighting to police about an hour later, Turner said. Officials did not release the name of the man or his wife....

A Giles County man paroled from prison after serving 14 years for killing two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1981 now is suspected of shooting two campers just off the trail in Giles on Tuesday. Randall Lee Smith, 54, was in a Roanoke hospital yesterday after crashing a pickup truck in Giles, Sgt. Michael Conroy of the Virginia State Police said.

PROVO — The bodies of four hikers trapped in a small cave, just south of the "Y" on Y Mountain, were found Thursday morning after rescue crews pumped out enough icy water to safely enter the cave and search. Three of the bodies were found around 10:45 a.m. in the second of two caves, according to Karen Mayne, public information officer for the Provo Police Department. The first body, that of a 19-year-old woman, was found almost an hour earlier. She had been trapped in a small underwater tunnel connecting the two caves. The four hikers ranged in age from...

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- A man was arrested Tuesday after deputies caught him setting a fire in a steep, remote canyon filled with dry brush and large trees in the Angeles National Forest, according to sheriff detectives. Hikers in a remote trail about a half-mile north of the Eaton Canyon Bridge in Altadena saw a man making a fire there and alerted authorities, sheriff's Detective Ed Nordskog said. Los Angeles County Parks officials and deputies arrived about 10 a.m. as the man was standing next to a fire about four feet in diameter. He warned the deputies to stay away...

NASHUA – It was a mild Labor Day morning. Longtime friends Nils Wygant and Tom Crosson had just begun a day hike in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park. It was a trip they had planned for two years. What they hadn’t planned was a harrowing encounter with a 400-pound grizzly bear. It was a day they’ll never forget, and one that has made Wygant a hero. The two were off trail in the backcountry of Yellowstone. The attack happened shortly after Crosson, a 43-year-old veterinarian from Springfield, Mass., had stepped about 12 feet away from his friend to relieve...