This is AP News Minute.

I.                    Take a look at this dramatic new video tape of the moment when several hostages were freed this week from years of captivity in Columbia. The tape shows them crying with joy and hugging each other at the moment they grasp the reality of their freedom.

II.                 Former Senator Jesse Helms has died at the age of 86. President Bush is calling the longtime North Carolina Senator a kind, decent and humble man. He’s also being remembered as an unyielding and sometimes combine ofcombative champion of the conservative movement.

III.               Wildfires on opposite ends of California’s Los Padres’s national forest continue to burn. The big sur/ fire at the northern end is threatening the historic town. To the south, more than 1,700 homes are evacuated in Geleta.

IV. Thousands enjoyed the spectacular fireworks display in the national’s capital Friday night. The whole show is choreographeda graph to music. Americans also celebrated the July 4^th holiday with parades and cookouts around the nation.

Mike Gracia, the Associated Press with AP News Minute.