World
UN security staff released in Yemen after 18 months in al-Qaeda captivity
Five United Nations security staff who were kidnapped in Yemen by al-Qaeda militants 18 months ago have been released, the United Nations said on Friday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the release and “reiterates that kidnapping is an inhumane and unjustifiable crime, and calls for the perpetrators to be held accountable,” a UN spokesperson said.
The staff – four from Yemen and one from Bangladesh – were in “very good health and good spirits, despite everything that they went through,” the top UN official in Yemen, David Gressly, told reporters.
“But they went through a very difficult period of 18 months of isolation,” he added.
The UN staff were kidnapped in Yemen’s southern region of Abyan on Feb. 11, 2022. Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has used a conflict between a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis to enhance its influence, Reuters reported.
Gressly warned that AQAP was an “increasing threat.”
Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthi group ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in late 2014. The Saudi Arabia-led military coalition intervened in 2015, aiming to restore the government.
Peace initiatives have seen increased momentum since Riyadh and Tehran in March agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016.
A major fire at a sofa manufacturing factory in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, killed 16 Bangladeshi migrant workers, officials in Dhaka said on Monday.
The fire broke out on Sunday in the Musa Sanaiya industrial area, Reuters reported.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is monitoring the situation, while officials from the Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh are working with Saudi authorities to complete the repatriation formalities.
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has instructed officials to bring back the bodies as soon as possible and ensure necessary government assistance and compensation for the bereaved families.
With around 3.5 million Bangladeshis living in Saudi Arabia, the country remains the largest destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, who sent home more than $2.7 billion in remittances last year.
Israel has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace 15-point plan for Gaza, and will not withdraw until Hamas fully disarms, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, Reuters reported.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him severe pain, his son Hunter Biden has said in an interview with the BBC.
“The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,” Hunter Biden told BBC’s Newsnight, according to video of the interview posted online on Friday. He described the illness as “very painful” and “very debilitating in many respects.”
A spokesperson for the 83-year-old Biden declined to comment on Hunter Biden’s remarks on Saturday.
Biden announced in May 2025, less than four months after leaving the White House, that he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer. At the time, he said the cancer had already spread to his bones.
In October, a spokesperson said Biden was receiving radiation treatment and hormone therapy.
Biden was the oldest person to be elected U.S. president when he won the 2020 election. His physical health and mental fitness also came under increased scrutiny during his presidency from 2021 to 2025.
Biden attended the dedication of former President Barack Obama’s presidential library in Chicago in June. He served as Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017.
Biden’s presidential memoir is scheduled to be released on November 17.
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