2 kidnapped in Egypt are released

2 kidnapped in Egypt are released

EL-ARISH, Egypt

Two American tourists and their Egyptian guide who were abducted by a Bedouin in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula last week were released unharmed Monday after negotiations with security officials and tribal leaders.

Rev. Michel Louis, 61, and 39-year-old Lissa Alphonse, both Boston-area residents, had been kidnapped from a bus Friday along with their guide, Haytham Ragab, on a Sinai road by a Bedouin who was demanding the release of his uncle, who had been detained by Egyptian police on suspicion of drug possession.

The kidnapper, Jirmy Abu-Masuh, told AP that he had handed the three over to security officials near the northern Sinai city of el-Arish on Monday after he was promised that authorities were working on his uncle’s release.

N. Korean military shuffle announced

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea is reshuffling its most powerful institution, the military, with the dismissal of its army chief — a key mentor to young ruler Kim Jong Un — and the promotion of a general little known outside Pyongyang to a central role over the million-man force.

Illness was the reason cited for army chief Ri Yong Ho’s departure, but to some outside analysts, it bore the hallmarks of a purge by Kim as he tries to leave his mark on the regime he inherited seven months ago. The promotion announced Tuesday of Hyon Yong Chol — the fourth vice marshal North Korea has named since the death of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il — could further that goal.

The changes have important but as yet unclear implications for North Korea’s relationship with the rest of the world. The authoritarian nation maintains one of the world’s largest armies, clings to its nuclear-weapons program despite broad condemnation and sanctions, and regularly flings warlike rhetoric at rival South Korea.

Bomb threat closes US-Canada bridge

DETROIT

Detroit police say a bomb threat has led authorities to close one of the busiest bridge-crossings between the U.S. and Canada, just four days after a similar threat closed a nearby international commuter tunnel.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens says a call came in to authorities on the U.S. side of the Ambassador Bridge “pertaining to a bomb on the bridge” around 7:20 p.m. Monday. The bridge connects Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.

Stephens says the call prompted authorities in both cities to halt truck and car traffic across the bridge. So far, authorities haven’t reported finding a bomb.

On Thursday, a bomb threat was phoned in to Windsor authorities that lead to a four-hour closing of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the other crossing between the border cities. No bomb was found.

Delay in air-base sex-scandal trial

SAN ANTONIO

Military officials say the initial flirtations that Staff Sgt. Luis Walker directed at the women he trained at a Texas Air Force base grew into something more sinister: threats and intimidation that eventually led to rape.

Walker’s court-martial, resulting from a widening sex scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, began Monday with discussion of procedural issues in his case.

Opening statements had been expected by afternoon, but debate among attorneys over various legal issues forced the military judge, Col. Wesley Moore, to delay them until today.

Associated Press