Somali pirates on Wednesday released a Hong Kong-flagged ship and its 25 crew seized two months ago, a Kenyan maritime official said.

The MV Great Creation, with 24 Chinese and one Sri Lankan crew, was seized on September 18.

Somali pirates on Wednesday released a Hong Kong-flagged ship and its 25 crew seized two months ago, a Kenyan maritime official said.

The MV Great Creation, with 24 Chinese and one Sri Lankan crew, was seized on September 18.

JERUSALEM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel confirmed that an exchange was carried out with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Monday in a first concrete step in negotiations for the return of missing Israeli soldiers.

'The Israeli government announces that during this evening a new step was taken within the framework of negotiations for the return of kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser,' the prime minister's office said.

JERUSALEM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Hezbollah will provide information on Israeli airman Ron Arad, missing for more than 20 years, as part of an exchange of two dead fighters for an Israeli man, an Israeli official said on Monday.

'As part of the prisoner exchange deal, Hezbollah will provide Israel with information on Ron Arad,' an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

'This was a confidence-building measure, a small move in the hope it will lead to future progress in negotiations with Hezbollah,' the official added.

NAQURA, Lebanon, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel and Lebanon on Monday carried out a prisoner swap, with the Jewish state handing over the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters in exchange for the remains of an Israeli man, a security source told AFP.

'The swap of the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters for the remains of an Israeli man has taken place,' said the source, who did not wish to be identified.

MOGADISHU, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - Hijackers in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland on Friday freed a cargo plane a day after it was seized while transporting khat, a popular mild narcotic plant, a local official said.

The plane had brought khat from Ethiopia's Dire Dawa region to Bosaso, Puntland's economic capital, when it was hijacked on Thursday and taken to Laskori airport, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Bosaso.

LAGOS, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - Nigerian troops on Friday freed a British oil worker who was abducted two months ago by gunmen in the oil-rich but volatile Niger Delta, police said.

'The man was freed by soldiers,' a senior police officer told AFP by telephone from Port Harcourt.

The British High Commission could not immediately confirm the release.

Rivers state police chief Felix Ogbaudu identified the man as the Briton working for Hydrodive who was seized on August 10 on his way to work.

CAIRO, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - A Cairo court on Thursday ordered the release of a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and nine others, detained last month as part of a massive clampdown on Egypt's Islamists, a judicial source said.

Essam al-Aryan, a member of the opposition group's political bureau, and the nine other Brothers had been held since August 17 in preventative detention accused of holding secret meetings and possessing illegal documents.

BAGHDAD, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - US forces in Iraq have released a total of 707 detainees in the first three weeks of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, the military said on Thursday.

'The detainees were no longer determined a security threat and were released,' a statement said.

On September 13, when Ramadan began in Iraq, the US military said it would release 50 to 80 detainees a day under Operation Lion's Paw, a joint venture with the Iraqi government.

JERUSALEM, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Israel released 29 Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a day later than planned, a prison service spokesman told AFP.

An armoured bus carrying the detainees left Ketziot prison in southern Israel and was expected at the Erez checkpoint with the Hamas-run Gaza at around 1000 GMT, he said.

The detainees were originally due to be released on Monday along with 57 West Bankers, but at the last moment remained behind bars at Ketziot after it was discovered Israeli President Shimon Peres had not signed their pardons.

MANAMA, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Bahraini authorities have released three people out of a group of six arrested in August on suspicion of belonging to an Al-Al Qaeda inspired cell, a legal source said on Monday.

Lawyer Farid Ghazi, who represents two of the detainees, told AFP he expected 'the remaining suspects to be released because there is no strong evidence against them'.

Local media reported on August 9 that police had arrested three people accused of belonging to a cell plotting attacks on US targets in Bahrain.

KETZIOT, Israel, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Israel began freeing dozens of Palestinian prisoners Monday after an hours-long delay, carrying out a goodwill gesture to president Mahmud Abbas for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Two armoured windowless buses left the Ketziot prison in southern Israel around 0930 GMT and headed to the Beitunya checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

A third bus that was supposed to leave for the Erez crossing with the Gaza Strip remained inside the prison for the time being.

DUBAI, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has freed reformist lawyer Issam Basrawi, one of nine advocates of an Islam-based constitutional monarchy held without trial for more than seven months, a fellow activist said on Friday.

Basrawi, who is in his late sixties, was released late on Thursday, Khaled al-Omair told AFP by telephone from Riyadh.

His release came one week after activists said they had petitioned King Abdullah calling for all nine reformists to be freed.

'We hope this is a good omen and that the others will also be released,' Omair said.

LAGOS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The 13-year-old son of a prominent Nigerian traditional ruler who was kidnapped early this week has been released, security officials said Thursday.

The State Security Service (SSS) said Echemadu Eke, son of Eze Frank Eke, the traditional ruler of Evo kingdom, near Port Harcourt was released around 6:30 am (0530 GMT). A traditional ruler is a local chief who is head of a particular area. The position is usually hereditary.

TEHRAN, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - US-Iranian scholar Kian Tajbakhsh was released from a Tehran jail on Wednesday night after paying one billion rials (107,000 dollars) in bail, an Iranian judiciary official confirmed on Thursday.

'He was released last night after depositing the bail,' the official from the office of judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told AFP.

The official, who asked not to be named, said the delay of over a week between the setting of bail and Tajbakhsh's release was because it had taken some time for his relatives to come up with the sum.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Former American football star O.J. Simpson was released from a Las Vegas jail on Wednesday, hours after being granted bail by a judge on robbery and kidnapping charges.

A scrum of media and dozens of shouting fans and protestors gathered to watch as Simpson, wearing a blue suit and a white shirt, emerged from custody, shortly after posting bail at 125,000 dollars.

LAGOS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - The two-year-old daughter of a boat driver who was kidnapped at the weekend in southern Nigeria has been released, police said Wednesday.

'The girl was released on Tuesday and she has been handed over to her parents. No ransom was paid,' a police spokesman in Bayelsa state told AFP.

Aduntunure Aweri was abducted on Saturday by unknown persons in front of her father's house.

The oil-rich Niger delta has seen a wave of kidnappings of family members of prominent Nigerians in recent months.

BRUSSELS, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said Sunday that no ransom had been paid and no nuclear concessions made to Tehran to secure the release of a Belgian held by Iranian bandits for over a month.

'No ransom has been paid and I have not compromised on my stand,' De Gucht told Belgian television channel RTL-TVI after arriving in Brussels on Sunday with 28-year-old Stefan Boeve.

Boeve, held by bandits for 34 days, was released on Thursday evening.

LAGOS, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - The kidnapped two-year-old daughter of a Nigerian employee of oil giant Shell was released early Sunday, while police were probing a report of another missing girl, officials said.

'The little girl has been released to her mother. She was unhurt,' Rivers state police spokeswoman Barasua Ireju told AFP.

She said no ransom was paid for the release of Nuselba Usman, who was abducted by unknown gunmen from the home of her father, senior Shell worker Anisaba Usman, on Wednesday.

TEHRAN, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - A Belgian tourist freed after being held for more than a month by bandits in southeast Iran was reunited on Saturday in Tehran with his family as diplomats from both countries hailed his release.

Stefan Boeve, 28, appeared at a press conference with his parents, Godelieve Vanderpoorten et Daniel Boeve, and Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki and his Belgian counterpart Karel De Gucht.

LAGOS, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Eight members of Nigeria's ruling party seized by gunmen in the southern oil-producing state of Ondo last weekend have been released, a local state official said Saturday.

'They were all released yesterday (Friday). Several people intervened before the boys set free the hostages,' he told AFP by telephone.

The official, who asked not to be named, said no ransom was paid to the militants, who had asked for 3.8 million dollars (2.6 million euros) for the release of the hostages.

TEHRAN, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - Iran said on Friday that Belgian citizen Stefaan Boeve has been released after being held by bandits for more than a month and that he will soon be handed over to the Belgian authorities.

Boeve was kidnapped by drug traffickers who took him to Iran's eastern neighbour Pakistan, the Iranian interior ministry website reported.

Bandits seized the 28-year-old tourist and his travelling companion Carla Van den Eeckhout, 37, in the notoriously dangerous Sistan-Baluchestan province in southeastern Iran on August 12.

BRUSSELS, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - Belgium's foreign minister will travel to Tehran Saturday to pick up a Belgian national who was freed a month after being abducted by bandits in southeast Iran, a report said.

'At the request of the Iranian authorities, I will go to Tehran tomorrow for the transfer of Stefaan Boeve and to receive him,' the minister, Karel De Gucht, said Friday, according to the Belga news agency.

The minister, who will return Sunday, said the release had been 'a purely Iranian affair'.

BRUSSELS, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - The Belgian foreign ministry confirmed Friday that a Belgian tourist abducted by bandits in southeast Iran a month ago has been freed.

'I can confirm the release. I have no further details, but I can say that he was released and that he is now in the protection of the Iranian authorities,' a ministry spokesman said.

Earlier Friday, the Iranian interior ministry said that Stefaan Boeve, who was kidnapped by suspected drug traffickers and taken into neighbouring Pakistan, had been released and would soon be handed to Belgian authorities.

YANGON, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Angry Buddhist monks in central Myanmar have released all of the 20 hostages they seized on Thursday, ending a tense confrontation with the nation's military government, residents said.

A first group of five hostages were released after being held for about five hours inside a teaching temple in the town of Pakokku, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of the country's commercial capital Yangon, residents said.

The other 15 people, mainly local and security officials, were released about 45 minutes later, residents said.

YANGON, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Angry Buddhist monks in central Myanmar have released five of the 20 hostages they seized at their monastery on Thursday in a tense confrontation with the nation's military government, residents said.

The five hostages were released after being held for about five hours inside a teaching temple that is home to some 700 monks in the town of Pakokku, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of the country's commercial capital Yangon, residents said.

DUBAI, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Eight women arrested in Saudi Arabia for staging a sit-in were released on Wednesday after four days in detention, an activist said.

But three men who drove the women to the venue of the sit-in, as well as a reformist arrested in connection with the protest, remained behind bars, Khaled al-Omair told AFP by telephone from Riyadh.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday welcomed the release of the last remaining South Korean hostages who had been held by the extremist Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

In a statement, Ban, who is currently in Italy ahead of a trip to Darfur, Chad and Libya next week, said that despite the death of two of the hostages in July he 'was happy that those released are now on their way to being safely reunited with their loved ones.'

BERLIN, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta on Thursday said it was lamentable that it appeared as if South Korea had heeded a Taliban ultimatum to secure the release of the country's hostages.

He told Germany's RBB radio there was a risk that people could think South Korea decided to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan at the insistence of the Taliban, handing the hardline Islamic militia a propaganda victory.

'Regrettably ... it can be interpreted in this way,' Spanta said.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - The Taliban's last three South Korean hostages were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross late Thursday, an ICRC official told AFP.

The man and two women were in a Red Cross vehicle and being driven to the town of Ghazni, ICRC official Irfan Sulejmani told AFP.

JANDA, Afghanistan, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - Four South Korean hostages freed by Afghanistan's hardline Taliban were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross Thursday, an ICRC official told AFP.

'We have received the first group of hostages -- two women, two men,' ICRC official Irfan Sulejmani told AFP. He said he was travelling to an area where he expected to receive the three remaining hostages.

JANDA, Afghanistan, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - The Taliban have handed four South Korean hostages to Afghan tribal elders and will hand over the remaining three later Thursday, a rebel negotiator told AFP.

'We have handed four people -- two male and two female -- to tribal elders,' Qari Mohammad Bashir said.

A tribal leader involved in negotiations to free the hostages said that 'three of four' had been handed over to other elders and would be delivered to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

KIGALI, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - Rwandan authorities freed a local weekly newspaper editor who was detained for a week on rape charges, officials said Thursday.

Gerard Manzi, the editor of privately-owned Umuseso weekly, was freed late Wednesday, the paper's director Charles Kabonero told AFP.

'The journalist was freed, but his detention was a plot because the charges were trumped up ...there was no tangible offence with which he was charged during the whole week in detention,' he said.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - The Taliban handed over three of their 19 South Korean hostages on Wednesday to an Afghan tribal elder who was taking them to Red Cross officials, the elder and the Taliban told AFP.

'We have been handed three female hostages,' said Haji Mohammad Zahir, who was involved in negotiations to free the captives. 'They are with us. They are in good health.'

The hostages were being driven towards the town of Ghazni and would be handed over to officials with the International Committee of the Red Cross, he added.

SEOUL, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban agreed Tuesday to release 19 South Korean Christian aid workers held hostage for nearly six weeks, the presidential office announced.

'The agreement was reached on conditions that South Korea withdraw its troops stationed in Afghanistan by the year's end and impose a ban on missionary activities' by its Christian groups, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon said.

'The South Korean government welcomes the agreement on the hostage release,' he added.

SEOUL, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban agreed Tuesday to release 19 South Korean hostages, the presidential office announced here.

The Taliban agreed to release the hostages after South Korea promised to stop religious activities there and withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon said.

'The South Korean government welcomes the agreement on the hostage release,' he said.

LAGOS, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Gunmen in oil-rich southern Nigeria have set free a Nigerian supervisor for the Elf oil group who was seized in Port Harcourt about a month ago, the Rivers state police said Tuesday.

Rivers police spokeswoman Ireju Barasua told AFP that Peter Agwuna, a Nigerian operations supervisor with the Elf oil company, who was kidnapped on his way from church on August 1, was released late Monday.

LAGOS, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) - Gunmen in oil-rich southern Nigeria on Monday released a Pakistani construction manager kidnapped one month ago, Rivers state police said.

'The Pakistani seized one month ago in Ogoniland has been handed over to the authorities,' Ireju Barasua, Rivers police spokeswoman told AFP.

The man worked for Gitto, an Italian road construction company. He was kidnapped near Bodo community in restive Ogoniland on July 31.

Barasua was not able to say whether a ransom had been paid to obtain the man's release and had no further details.