Hikers Freed From Iranian Prison, U.S. Warns Pakistan Over Haqqani Network

A picture obtained from Iranian state television showed American hikers Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal in Tehran in May 2010. Shourd was released on bail in September 2010. File photo via Getty Images.

3:45 p.m. ET | A plane carrying Bauer and Fattal landed in Oman, where they were expected to be reunited with their families and with Sarah Shourd, their hiking companion who was freed last year.

Original post: | Two Americans jailed in Iran as spies were being released from prison Wednesday after more than two years in custody, according to media reports. Associated Press reporters saw a convoy of vehicles with Swiss and Omani diplomats leaving Evin prison with Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal inside. They were headed to Tehran international airport, according to the AP.

Bauer and Fattal were freed after their Iranian lawyer obtained signatures of two judges on a bail-for-freedom deal. A $1 million bail — $500,000 for each one — was posted. They were arrested in 2009 on charges of spying after accidentally crossing the border into Iran. Their companion, Sarah Shourd, was freed last year. In September, Bauer and Fattal had been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview last week that the two would be released, but their bail had to be approved by the country’s judiciary. Ahmadinejad is slated to speak Thursday at the U.N. General Assembly.

U.S. Warns Pakistan to Cut Ties With Haqqani Network

U.S. officials issued a warning to Pakistan over the Haqqani network, a Taliban-affiliated group operating along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border tribal areas. The Obama administration’s warnings are yet another display of the tenuous relationship between the United States and Pakistan, which receives military aid but has also been criticized for maintaining ties to extremist groups.

The Washington Post reports:

Although he declined to provide details, Panetta told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday that “we are going to take whatever steps are necessary to protect our forces” in Afghanistan from attacks by the Haqqani network, which has had a long relationship with Pakistan’s intelligence service.

“We’ve continued to state that this cannot happen,” Panetta said of the Haqqani network strikes, including a Sept. 13 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Ga. Inmate Set to Be Executed, Supporters Launch Final Appeal

A Georgia inmate on death row who was convicted of the 1989 shooting of a police officer is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening after the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected calls for clemency. Seven of the nine witnesses in the trial of Troy Davis have since changed or even recanted their testimony.

Supporters say Davis was convicted under racial bias and after police wantonly sought to solve the killing of a member of their force. The prosecutor in the case insists his case was sound. Davis has asked for a polygraph test to show his innocence.

“There is the legal case and the public relations case. We have consistently won in court, and consistently lost in the public relations battle,” Spencer Lawton said.

Typhoon Roke Hits Japan, Killing at Least 6

Typhoon Roke, with winds of up to 130 miles per hour, made landfall Wednesday, bringing torrential rain and flooding, cancelling flights and train service and killing at least six people. Around 1.2 million people have been forced to evacuate the typhoon’s path.

The typhoon is now moving toward the northeast, which is still recovering from the March earthquake and tsunami. Just two weeks ago, Typhoon Talas made landfall there, killing 67 people.