The American who was sentenced to seven years of hard labor in Myanmar after swimming to the home of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been released and has left the country, the Associated Press reports. Senator Jim Webb secured the man's freedom on his visit to the country after meeting with the junta's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe. Webb also met with Suu Kyi for nearly an hour on Saturday, and requested that the country's leadership release the Nobel laureate from her 18-month house arrest. Suu Kyi was sentenced after John Yettaw swam, uninvited, two miles to reach her home, which violated her house arrest. Yettaw stayed for two days, claiming God had sent him there to protect Suu Kyi. The Nobel laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years in confinement for her pro-democracy actions. Webb is the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar, also known as Burma, in over a decade.

At a health-care town hall Saturday in Colorado, President Barack Obama got personal when he said that those who argue his plan includes a push for euthanasia are "dishonest." “I just lost my grandmother last year, I know what it’s like to watch somebody you love who’s aging deteriorate, and have to struggle with that,” Obama said. “So the notion that somehow I ran for public office, or members of Congress are in this, so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma? When you start making arguments like that, that’s simply dishonest.” Obama addressed the crowd of almost 2,000, pushing back on what he termed the "scare tactics" used by opponents. "For all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary is if we do nothing," he said. Obama also addressed a few sharply-worded questions on the public option, though the crowd seemed largely supportive of the president.

Midway through a difficult month for health-care reform, President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address to stay on the offensive with a message targeting the insurance industry. Referring to people he had met who suffered under the status quo, Obama said: "These are the stories that aren't being told—stories of a health-care system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people." Invoking the insurance companies again, he said that he would "pass health-insurance reform that finally holds the insurance companies accountable." Obama also went after false rumors surrounding congressional proposals to reform health care, including Sarah Palin's "death panel" claim—though he didn't mention the former governor by name. "The history is clear—every time we come close to passing health-insurance reform, the special interests with a stake in the status quo use their influence and political allies to scare and mislead the American people," Obama said.

A bizarre new detail has surfaced about last weekend's deadly crash over the Hudson River: The air traffic controller guiding the small plane that collided with a helicopter was having a "silly" phone conversation about a dead cat before the accident, and initially failed to warn the pilot of the other aircraft in his path. Shortly after he cleared the single-engine plane for takeoff from Teterboro Airport, the controller made the phone call—to an airport contractor—and remained on the phone while further instructing the plane's pilot, officials say. (The dead cat in question had apparently been removed from the airport.) Once the controller became aware of the danger, he tried unsuccessfully to contact the plane's pilot before the accident. The controller and his supervisor are currently on administrative leave, awaiting an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Billy Wayne Posey, a key suspect in the murders of three civil-rights workers in 1964, died at age 73 on Thursday. Federal authorities say they will continue to investigate the Mississippi murders. The 1964 slayings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who were in Mississippi to register black voters, shocked the nation and helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Hundreds of FBI agents investigated the men's disappearance, eventually finding them buried 15 feet below a dam. Seven people were convicted of trying to violate the victims' civil rights, and one man, a reputed Ku Klux Klan leader, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for manslaughter. Authorities say four suspects remain alive, and civil-rights activists have pressed for more murder convictions.

The "King of Bollywood" Shah Rukh Khan was detained and questioned by immigration officials for two hours at Newark International Airport, The Washington Post reports. The star was on his way to Chicago for a parade marking India's Independence Day on Saturday. "I was really hassled—perhaps because of my name being Khan," he said in a text message to reporters in India. "These guys just wouldn't let me through." The movie star recently wrapped a film in the U.S. about a Muslim's "harrowing experience with racial profiling.” Just last month, Continental Airlines apologized to former Indian president Abdul Kalam, who was frisked at a New Delhi airport. "Shah Rukh Khan...is a very welcome guest in the United States," the U.S. ambassador to India said in a statement. The incident has sparked nonstop coverage in India.

Days before Afghanistan's presidential election, a "massive" suicide car bomb went off outside the U.S. military and NATO headquarters in Kabul. The attack killed at least seven people and wounded dozens, making it the city's largest attack since February, when the Taliban targeted three government buildings. The explosion set cars aflame, crumbled concrete walls, and broke windows in buildings hundreds of yards from the explosion, The Washington Post reports. There was also damage to residential buildings inside the U.S.'s military compound, though no Americans appeared to be seriously hurt. The Taliban has claimed credit for the attack, saying it was meant to kill Americans and disrupt the upcoming presidential election. "As long as foreign troops are in this country and they consider us the enemy, we will do these attacks," said Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman. "They bomb us and we will kill them through suicide bombs. Nobody can stop us."

Looks like at least one bank was left out of the TARP bonanza. Colonial Bank, which is based in Alabama, will close its doors and be acquired by BB&T, another major regional bank. CNN reports that Colonial "is the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history and by far the largest failure of 2009." The bank's failure will not affect most people with accounts there (all balances up to $250,000 are guaranteed by the government). However, mortgage rates may go up, as Colonial was heavily involved in providing "financing needed by mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders to make home loans." Colonial offices in Orlando, Florida, were recently raided by government regulators in relation to accusations of "bad accounting practice and recognition of losses." So far, 77 banks have failed in 2009.

Lynndie England, the woman who became the face of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, was set to give a speech at the Library of Congress on Friday before staff had to cancel the event due to safety concerns, the Associated Press reports. The event's organizer said he received emails threatening violence over England's speech, which was part of an event to promote a book about her, Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs That Shocked the World. The book's author said other events to promote the book had also been disrupted. England, who is now 26, said she hopes the book improves her image. She served half of a three-year sentence for her crimes (she is appealing the conviction), and was one of 11 soldiers found guilty for offenses at Abu Ghraib.

A female Muslim minister in France, Fadela Amara, told the Financial Times that she hopes the burka will be banned in her country because it represents “the oppression of women,” and might stop the “cancer” of radical Islam from spreading. French legislators are conducting hearings on whether to ban the burka, which covers the entire body except for the eyes. President Nicolas Sarkozy said it’s unacceptable to have women be “prisoners behind netting” and that the burka is “not welcome” in France, which has Western Europe’s largest Muslim population. The National Assembly formed a 32-member committee to look into the matter.

Finnish authorities say a ransom demand has been made for the Russian-manned cargo ship that was reported missing while passing through the English Channel. The ransom demand has not been confirmed as geniune, and neither has a report that the ship was spotted off Cape Verde yesterday, the BBC reports. The 4,000-ton Maltese-flagged ship was carrying timber when it was last spotted July 30. Swedish, Finnish, and Maltese police are jointly investigating the ship's disappearance, which could have been the result of pirates. "The police cannot really speculate," a Finnish police spokesman said. "We need to base our investigation on existing criminal reports, and in this case there are reports of hijacking and aggravated blackmail."

If Hamas is blowing up your house because you're too extreme for them, you might be going just a tad too far. Such was the fate of Sheikh Abu al-Nour al-Maqdessi, the leader of a radical Islamist movement in Gaza called the Soldiers of the Partisans of God. On Friday, the group declared an Islamic emirate in Gaza with al-Maqdessi as its leader and called on Muslims to send weapons and fighters to use in attacks on Jews. The announcement sparked clashes with Hamas, whose spokesman called them "outlaws" who were "terrorizing the country and attacking civilians." Their authority challenged, a gunfight erupted near al-Maqdessi's mosque, which Hamas forces took over, then spread to al-Maqdessi's home, which was destroyed and resulted in his death. According to CNN, some 21 people were killed in the fighting, including al-Maqdessi.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is looking for a third term, but he faces some stiff opposition from within his own party in Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is also running. The race is shaping up to be a microcosm of the national debate over the GOP's future, with the ultraconservative Perry taking on the more moderate Hutchison. “This is a civil war,” Perry said in an interview with The New York Times, “brother against brother.” Perry drew jeers from critics for flirting with secessionists this year and Hutchison has argued that the governor has shrunk the state's Republican Party with his antics. “I do not want a governor who is going to narrow our base, make it dwindle,” Hutchison said in a speech this week. “That is what has happened at the national level, and that is not going to happen in Texas.”

Could President Bush's relatively liberal stance on immigration stem from his love for baseball? A 2007 law signed by the former president has flooded the minor leagues with international players by making it easier for them to obtain work visas. Now about 3,500 of the 8,532 players under contract in the major and minor leagues are foreign-born, up from 2,964 just three years ago. One minor-league team, the Boise Hawks, has 18 foreign players on its 25-man roster from countries like South Korea, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. According to The Wall Street Journal, the foreign players not only deepen the talent pool but are often sought after because they're willing to accept lower signing bonuses than U.S. prospects. "I signed for $1,000, before taxes," one Spanish player told the Journal. "Basically, I signed in exchange for a plane ticket and a work visa."

What's old is new again in Hollywood: NBC has announced that comedian Jerry Seinfeld will be the first and only guest on the premiere of The Jay Leno Show, joining previously announced musical guests Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West. Leno's new weeknight prime-time series begins September 14. Seinfeld, meanwhile, will be reuniting with Seinfeld co-creator Larry David (and the rest of the old cast) in the new season of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. He'll also be returning to NBC early next year with The Marriage Ref, a reality series he's planning to produce.

Two fires are blazing along California's coast, forcing the governor to declare a state of emergency. One fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains—only 10 miles north of the city of Santa Cruz—has forced the evacuations of more than 2,000 people and is being fought mostly by air due to adverse weather conditions. The second fire, raging in Los Padres National Forest, has grown to 67,092 acres and is 10 percent contained, the L.A. Times reports. Firefighters have been hampered due to gusty winds there, as well. The declaration of a state of emergency was issued by Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi because Arnold Schwarzenegger was away attending the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, his mother-in-law.

Many U.S. car dealers are anxiously awaiting payment from the government through the popular "Cash for Clunkers" program, and are starting to complain that the delay is causing a cash crunch. There are dealers that still have not been paid for clunkers that were turned in three weeks ago, when the program began, the Associated Press reports. A survey in Virginia this week found that only 2.8 percent of car dealerships had been paid. The likely culprit for the delay is the unexpected success of the program. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is in charge of it, said that the requests for rebates that have been filed amount to $1.5 billion; half of the total money that is available. One car dealer told the AP that dealerships may stop participating in the program if the government doesn't start holding up its end of the bargain.

"Like a complete unknown," indeed. On the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, Bob Dylan just wanted to go for a stroll in Long Branch, New Jersey to kill time between concerts when someone called the cops about a "scruffy old man acting suspiciously." Unfortunately, the wrong cop arrived at the scene; Kristie Buble, a 24-year-old who was sure Dylan was not the legendary singer-songwriter she had seen in photos. "I asked him what his name was and he said, 'Bob Dylan,' Buble said. "Now, I've seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn't look like Bob Dylan to me at all. He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head." Buble followed her training and humored Dylan, who she thought was maybe an escapee from a hospital. "So I said, 'OK Bob, what are you doing in Long Branch?' He said he was touring the country with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. So now I'm really a little fishy about his story." She drove him back to his hotel to confirm his identity, and was shocked when a staffer showed her Dylan's passport.

After some half-hearted attempts to ease the worries of its South American neighbors, Colombia has reached an agreement that will allow U.S. forces to use its military bases. Colombia has said that the accord is only meant to provide the U.S. with a base of operations in its war on terrorism and drug trafficking, but President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said the move suggests U.S. forces are preparing to invade his country. He said "the winds of war were beginning to blow" in the region. The presidents of Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina have expressed concern about the plan and the rising tensions it's causing. Last year, Ecuador gave the boot to U.S. forces stationed at one of its military bases, which is why they are seeking a new home in the region.