Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Hundreds of inmates, many of them insurgent fighters, slipped out of a southern Afghanistan prison early Monday through a nearly quarter-mile tunnel dug beneath the compound from the outside. The Taliban issued a statement taking responsibility for the escape from the prison in Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed said digging the tunnel took five months. The escape took four and a half hours, he said. The Taliban claimed 541 prisoners escaped. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said the number of escaped prisoners was closer to 470. The Taliban said 106 of the escapees were military commanders, but there was no immediate government confirmation of the claim.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the
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Taliban and has been the site of fierce fighting between international forces and insurgents.


(CNN) -- After deliberating for about four hours over two days, a jury Tuesday convicted a 47-year-old man of capital murder in the deaths of three members of a Connecticut family in a 2007 home invasion. Steven Hayes was convicted on 16 of the 17 charges against him in connection with the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, including nine counts of murder and capital murder and four counts of kidnapping. The jurors acquitted him of an arson charge in the burning of the family's home. As the verdicts were read, Hayes stood at the defense table, looking down. Some members of the Petit family embraced, while others seemed close to tears.

Outside the courthouse,
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Petit told reporters: "I really can't dignify that insinuation with a response.


(CNN) -- She made it big decades ago, yet Jean Stapleton still has plenty of fans. Some of those fans are entertainers themselves, who either worked with Stapleton or were awed and inspired by her work. Others enjoyed her performances while sitting in a Broadway theater or watching from their living rooms. Below are a sampling a celebrity reactions, most of them from Twitter: '"All in the Family' star Jean Stapleton dies at 90. One of my favorites has passed away. Jean was Brilliant. RIP" -- Michael Chiklis "It's a sad day. RIP Jean Stapleton. #Legend #Icon #OneOfAKind" -- Mackenzie Phillips

"
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All in the Family was a great show, acting may have been best in sitcom history.