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Seven years after she was abducted at knifepoint, Elizabeth Smart finally has an apology — and a guilty plea — from one of her kidnappers.

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Lie still and this won’t hurt a bit This photo provided by Dr Michael I. Miyamoto shows the mummified remains of Esankh, who lived in the third Intermediate period (1070-712 BCE), entering a CT scanner tube set up outside of the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. A team of researchers using CT scans have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies. The subjects were from 1981 B.C. to 334 A.D.

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“I am so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family,” Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, said Tuesday. “It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me.”

The appeal came minutes after Barzee pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in U.S. District Court.

Smart was 14 when she was taken from the bedroom of her Salt Lake City home, sparking a search that riveted the nation.

Nine months later, in March 2003, Barzee and her now-estranged husband Brian David Mitchell were arrested after they were spotted walking on a suburban street with Smart.

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Pirates get $3.3 million

As a Spanish warship looked on, a $3.3 million ransom was delivered by boat Tuesday and Somali pirates freed a Spanish trawler and its 36 crew members.

Spain’s prime minister did little to deny paying off the hijackers — one reason the lucrative attacks are on the rise.

Somali pirates attacked two more ships on Monday and still hold about a dozen ships with more than 200 crew, including a British couple who were taken from their 38-foot sailboat last month.

TEHRAN, Iran

Five sentenced to death

Iran has sentenced five defendants to death in a mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting the unrest that followed the disputed June presidential election, state television reported Tuesday.

The five apparently include three death sentences announced last month. None of the five have been identified by Iranian authorities.

Iran began the mass trial in August of more than 100 prominent opposition figures and activists, accusing them of a range of charges from rioting to spying and plotting what Iran’s clerical rulers have depicted as a foreign-backed plot to oust them from power.

MOSCOW

Putin new hip-hop idol

Putin in da house? Da! He’s tracked Siberian tigers wearing military camouflage, sat in the cockpit of a fighter jet, and shown off black-belt judo moves.

Now Vladimir Putin is adding another groove to his tough guy persona: hip hop idol.

Since the Russian leader popped up last week on a music TV show surrounded by rappers, some in the Kremlin elite are following his lead.

On Tuesday, lawmakers and musicians staged a “rap battle for justice” that included a freestyle message urging President Dmitry Medvedev to fight corruption and other problems faced by everyday Russians.

Putin, a self-described “jungle” kid hardened in fights on the mean streets of St. Petersburg, appeared on Muz-TV to hand out awards and declare that Russian hip-hoppers can help fight drugs and other problems of the youth.