A Spanish doctor and an Argentine nurse abducted a week ago in northern Somalia were released by their captors on Wednesday, a local government official and the two women's charity said.
On Dec. 26, gunmen abducted Mercedes Garcia and Pilar Bauza, a Spanish doctor and an Argentine nurse, in Bosasso, the main port in the breakaway state of Puntland that abuts the Gulf of Aden.
"They have been released," said Bile Mohamud Qabowsade, an official from the Puntland information ministry.
"They are morally and physically well. Their health is very good," the official said, adding that the two women, employed by Medecins Sans Frontieres [Doctors Without Borders] were transferred to a Bosasso hotel.
"They are free now... and they are in a hotel in Bosasso in the presence of the president of Puntland and other top local officials," Qabowsade added.
After the initial capture, Puntland police hunted down the kidnappers, sparking an exchange of fire which resulted in the arrest of two suspects but also sparked concern over the two hostages' health.
Local media reported that the captors were demanding 250,000 euros (US$367,000) to release the two but Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a news conference in Madrid that no ransom was paid.
"What this group of people was seeking was social and political limelight," he said, adding both women were in good health and would arrive in Spain late yesterday.
"They want to forget this very difficult week, but they wish to return," he said.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS