ORANJESTAD, Aruba - A judge heard arguments Wednesday on whether to prolong the detention of a Dutch suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway.
Defense attorney Antonio Carlo said he urged the judge to release Joran van der Sloot, arguing prosecutors have produced no evidence that his client was involved in Holloway's disappearance or that a crime has been committed.
Carlo said van der Sloot, 18, cried during the closed hearing but answered all of the judge's questions.
"He maintains his innocence," Carlo said. "He wants to go home."
Van der Sloot was arrested June 9 along with two friends, Surinamese nationals Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21, on suspicion of involvement in Holloway's disappearance. The Kalpoe brothers were released July 4 and re-arrested last week.
Eighteen-year-old Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen May 30 leaving a bar with the Kalpoes and van der Sloot, hours before she was to end a vacation celebrating her graduation.
Afghan and U.S. forces pound Taliban hideout
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and U.S. ground troops, backed by attack helicopters, raided a Taliban camp in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, killing nine suspected militants, officials said Wednesday.
The camp in Uruzgan province had been used as a base by about 80 insurgents from where they launched guerrilla-style assaults on Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces in the area, said provincial Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan.
American helicopters pounded the site with rockets before ground forces moved in. Several AK-47 assault rifles, rockets, as well as tents, kettles and other camping equipment were scattered around the area, the governor said.
A U.S. military statement said nine suspected militants were killed. Khan said the rest of the rebels fled during Tuesday's attack on the camp, which had been set up in several adjoining mountain caves.
Jailed Russian tycoon to run for parliament
MOSCOW - Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the billionaire oil tycoon who was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment in a politically charged trial this year, said Wednesday that he will run for a seat in the national parliament.
In a statement on a Web site maintained by his supporters, Khodorkovsky said he will contest a seat in a Moscow district that is being chosen in a by-election that is expected to be held this year.
Khodorkovsky, once the head of the oil giant Yukos, was convicted of fraud and tax evasion in a case that many observers said was Kremlin-directed punishment for his funding of opposition parties.
Russian law allows a convicted person to run for office if his case is under appeal, as Khodorkovsky's is.
Elsewhere . . .
INDONESIA: Indonesia released hundreds of Acehnese rebel prisoners, honoring a major concession in a recent peace deal and triggering tearful reunions as the former inmates returned to their tsunami-devastated homeland. The former inmates said they would honor the peace deal, which is seen as the best chance Acehnese have had in years to bring a permanent end to three decades of sporadic fighting that has killed some 15,000 people.
PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's congressional allies dealt a major blow to efforts to oust her, using their dominating majority - and the opposition's absence - to toss out all three impeachment complaints against her. Opposition legislators cried foul and warned that the country's third "people power" revolt loomed.
