The influential U.S. Senator John McCain, who was battling a brain tumor, has died at the age of 81.<br />His office released a statement Saturday evening... saying that the 2008 presidential candidate had passed away in the presence of his family.<br />McCain, it said, had served the United States of America faithfully for 60 years.<br />He was a veteran of the Vietnam War, in which his plane was shot down and he was taken prisoner.<br />As a six-term Republican senator from Arizona, he was known for taking an independent stance on many issues,... and also for helping normalize relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. <br />
