Cairo - German ambassador in Cairo Bernd Erbel has praised Egypt's 'intense efforts' to secure the release of the Germans among the 19 people kidnapped on Sept 19, media reports said on Wednesday.

"We are happy the German hostages plus a Romanian national have returned home in good health," Erbel told the English-language daily The Egyptian Gazette.

The hostages - five German, five Italian and a Romanian tourist, as well as eight Egyptian tour guides, were freed on Monday, 10 days after they were kidnapped while on safari in the Gilf Kebir region of Egypt's Western Desert.

"We are all happy about our common success," he said.

Cairo  - While world markets were going up and down on Tuesday, in the wake of US Congress defeat of a 700-billion- dollar plan to ease trouble in the financial industry, the Egyptian stock market was safe from all the turmoil.

It was closed - marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The Egyptian Stock Exchange, along with other Arab bourses, were not open due to the three-day feast holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Cairo - Five Italian tourists kidnapped on a desert safari in Egypt arrived home early Tuesday after being freed soldiers, news reports said.

The tourists, part of a group of 19 kidnapped in Egypt's Western Desert by masked men on September 19, landed in Turin at 1.45 am (2345 GMT), Italian media said.

The three men and two women aged between 48 and 72 left Cairo by military plane after a medical checkup.

Cairo  - Five Italian tourists who had been kidnapped while on a desert safari 10 days ago in Egypt left Cairo airport for Italy on Monday after they were freed by Egyptian forces, security sources said.

The Italian tourists, part of a group on 19 kidnapped in Egypt's Western Desert by masked men, left by military plane after a medical checkup in Cairo, the sources said.

Cairo (Egypt), Sept. 29 : The eleven hostages, who were kidnapped 10 days ago by gunmen, have been freed.

The five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian, besides their guides are said to be in good health.

According to the BBC, the group that was abducted in a remote border region of Egypt, are now en route to a military base in Cairo.

During their captivity they were moved around a lawless desert area straddling Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad. No ransom was a paid, an Egyptian official said.

Cairo  - Egypt and Pakistan were the only nations in a poll of 23 nations released Friday in which the majority of people did not have a negative view of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Around 60 per cent of Egyptians had "positive or mixed" view towards al-Qaeda, the opinion poll carried out for the BBC World Service said.

In Pakistan, where much of the battle against al-Qaeda is being fought, just 19 per cent said they had a negative view of Osama bin Laden's organisation.