MANILA (AFP) – Asia’s annual security summit opened in sombre mood Thursday, overshadowed by the plight of 21 South Korean hostages threatened with execution by their Taliban captors in Afghanistan.

South Korea and the United States agreed not to use force to free 21 Korean hostages in Afghanistan on Tuesday, but Afghan troops warned villagers of a possible offensive in the area where the captives are.

One of Egypt’s most prominent secular opposition parties received two serious blows on Tuesday when a court declined to free its ailing leader Ayman Nur on health grounds and handed his job to a rival.