In Brief

FREE AT LAST – Four French tourists abducted in Yemen have been freed, said an MP who had been mediating their release.

Awad Bawazir said the four had been delivered into his care by the kidnappers, 15 days after they were seized en route to Aden in a convoy. * CRASH – At least 47 people, among them 17 children, have been killed in a bus crash on a mountain road near the Ecuadorean capital, Quito.The bus overturned along a steep, winding road in what officials say is the country’s worst accident in years.* FIRE – Australian fire fighters are battling to limit the damage caused by more than 50 bushfires which broke out around Sydney over the weekend.Officials said they suspected at least some of the fires, which destroyed seven homes, were started by arsonists.* NUCLEAR POWER – Egypt is to revive the civilian nuclear power programme it froze 20 years ago following the accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine.Egypt’s energy minister told the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper of plans to build a nuclear power station.* KILLED – Unidentified gunmen have killed a top women’s affairs official in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, security officials say.Nampa-AFP-AP-Reuters* CRASH – At least 47 people, among them 17 children, have been killed in a bus crash on a mountain road near the Ecuadorean capital, Quito.The bus overturned along a steep, winding road in what officials say is the country’s worst accident in years. * FIRE – Australian fire fighters are battling to limit the damage caused by more than 50 bushfires which broke out around Sydney over the weekend.Officials said they suspected at least some of the fires, which destroyed seven homes, were started by arsonists. * NUCLEAR POWER – Egypt is to revive the civilian nuclear power programme it froze 20 years ago following the accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine.Egypt’s energy minister told the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper of plans to build a nuclear power station.* KILLED – Unidentified gunmen have killed a top women’s affairs official in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, security officials say.Nampa-AFP-AP-Reuters