Iran has moved five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea, U.S. and Iranian officials said Thursday, as part of a tentative deal that follows months of heightened tensions between the two countries.

Iranian officials at the United Nations told The Associated Press that the prisoner transfer marked "a significant initial step" in the implementation of the agreement, which is still being negotiated and could eventually lead to the full release of the Americans.

Caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim announced Thursday that he was unharmed after the rear door glass of his car was hit with gunshots in the Jisr el-Bacha area.

Tropical Storm Khanun was pouring intense rain on South Korea on Thursday, turning roads into chocolate-colored rivers and leaving at least one person dead as it advanced north toward major urban centers near the capital.

More than a foot of rain fell in eastern and southern areas after the storm made landfall on the mainland in the morning. Emergency workers responded to increasing reports of flooding and landslides by the afternoon.

Thousands of Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town and killing at least 36 people in one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in recent years.

The fire took the island by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had stood in Lahaina Town, which dates to the 1700s and has long been a favorite destination of tourists. Crews battled blazes in several places on the island Wednesday, and the flames forced some adults and children to flee into the ocean.

Egypt's annual inflation rate reached a record high in July, as price hikes continue unabated in the cash-strapped North African country, official figures said Thursday.

Consumer prices rose 38.2% from a year earlier, up from 36.8% in June, according to data released by the state-run Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics.

The United Nations' human rights chief on Wednesday warned that Iraq's water crisis could affect other countries in the region.

Severe water shortages in Iraq because of climate change and government mismanagement have destroyed wheat and fruit harvests, and killed off fish and livestock. Humanitarian organizations have warned for years that drought and mismanagement could deprive millions of people of water from the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which also run through neighboring war-torn Syria.

An Israeli settler suspected of involvement in the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian man in the West Bank last week was released from detention and transferred to house arrest, a Jerusalem court said.

The Israeli judge said there was insufficient evidence to extend the detention of the radical Jewish settler, Elisha Yared. The court also ordered a second Israeli settler accused of shooting and killing the 19-year-old Qusai Matan to remain in custody while being hospitalized for wounds sustained during the attack last Friday on the Palestinian herding village of Burqa.

The army moved a truck that had carried Hezbollah munitions from the road where it crashed to a military post early Thursday after clashes at the scene killed two people.

The truck overturned on a mountain road near the Lebanese capital in the Christian town of Kahaleh on Wednesday, on the highway that links Beirut to the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Lebanese troops detained dozens of Lebanese and Syrian traffickers in the country's north as they were preparing to send migrants on boats to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea, the army said

The military said 31 Syrians and 15 Lebanese were arrested Tuesday in several coastal towns and villages in northern Lebanon, including Minye, Salaata and Deir Am. The smugglers were getting ready to take "people through illegal ways by sea" and had prepared several boats, the army said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has slammed Turkey, blaming Ankara for the uptick in violence in his war-torn country and insisting on the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria.

Assad spoke in an interview with Sky News Arabia, his first interview with a foreign media outlet in months. The interview will be fully aired later Wednesday, but Sky News Arabia released some excerpts before the broadcast.