AP News in Brief
Libya's official news agency says abducted prime minister has been freed
• TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Libya's state news agency says Prime Minister Ali Zidan, abducted by gunmen at dawn, has now been freed.
• Government Spokesman Mohammed Kaabar told the agency, LANA, that Zidan has been "set free" and was on his way to his office on Thursday.
• The brief report gave no further information. Details were sketchy but it appeared Libyan forces had intervened in some way and that the abductors did not free Zidan voluntarily.
• Hours earlier, Zidan was snatched by gunmen before dawn from a Tripoli hotel where he resides.
• The abduction appeared to be in retaliation for the U.S. special forces' raid over the weekend that seized a Libyan al-Qaida suspect from the streets of the capital.
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US holds out possibility of restoring aid to Egypt if it moves toward democratic government
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- While dissatisfied with Egypt's progress toward reinstating a democratic government, the U.S. is holding out the possibility of restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in aid if its Mideast ally moves toward free and fair elections.
• At stake: a sizable portion of the $1.5 billion the U.S. provides Egypt each year. Much of the aid is in military equipment, and at least a quarter-billion in cash assistance to the Egyptian government and $300 million in a loan guarantee are also now in limbo.
• The State Department made clear Wednesday that the decision to freeze the aid wasn't permanent and it could be restored if "credible progress" is made toward setting up an inclusive government in the wake of the military coup that overthrew the
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