World Briefs: 2/4/12
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CAIRO -- Bedouin gunmen stormed a minivan in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Friday, kidnapping two U.S. tourists and an Egyptian tour guide for several hours before releasing them to police, Egyptian security officials said.
Bedouin tribesmen took the hostages in the hopes of pressuring the government into releasing two of their relatives, who had been arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs.
An official in south Sinai, Gamal Abdel Barry, said the relatives were not released, and that the abductors relented after being told that "this was bad for Egypt's image and tourism." He also said no one was arrested.
The tourists' minivan was attacked in the town of St. Catherine, a tourist hub near Mount Sinai.
KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwait's opposition won a majority in the country's new parliament in elections that saw gains for Islamists and a defeat for liberals and women.
Opposition supporters won at least 32 seats, up from about 20 in the previous National Assembly, according to official results released Friday. Women, who in May 2009 won their first four seats in the 50-member assembly, lost all four of them. Islamist politicians from Kuwait's Sunni Muslim community took more than 20 seats, and four of the seven successful Shiite candidates were Islamists.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The United Nations on Friday declared Somalia's famine over, but officials warned that more than 2 million Somalis are still in dire need of assistance and that conditions could again slide by May.
Since July, when the United Nations declared a famine after successive failed rains, the Horn of Africa nation has been in the grip of one of the worst humanitarian emergencies the region has experienced in recent memory.
First Published February 4, 2012 12:21 am
