Middle East
Hikers held in Iran pass captivity mark
Two U.S. hikers in prison in Iran have been held as long as the U.S. Embassy hostages were during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, observers said. Monday marked the hiker s 444th day in custody, the same number of days the 52 American hostages taken by armed Iranian students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979 were held, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.