KABUL, Afghanistan – Last year was the deadliest for civilians in the decade-long U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, according to a United Nations report released Saturday.
The report said 3,021 civilians were killed in 2011, an 8 percent increase from 2010. It was the fifth consecutive year that the number of deaths has increased.
Insurgents were responsible for the vast majority of the casualties, at least 2,332, according to the report. Most of the victims were killed by improvised explosive devices or suicide bombers.
The report describes a deteriorating security situation as NATO’s war effort begins to ebb, and as the United States pursues negotiations with an insurgency that shows no sign of relenting.
The report attributed about 400 of the deaths to NATO and Afghan forces, a small decrease from 2010.
Egyptian abductors release U.S. tourists
Two California tourists were released by their Egyptian kidnappers late Friday, after being given tea and dried fruit.
Supe and Patti Ganal, of Los Gatos, Calif., were snatched Friday from a minivan by Bedouin tribesmen.
Their Egyptian tour guide was allowed to go with the women, who said they were treated well.
They were released after the Bedouins conferred with tribal leaders.
Bedouins have long complained of discrimination by the government, and the area was restive even under former president Hosni Mubarak. But security has deteriorated since Mubarak’s ouster last February.
Hackers disrupt Swedish website
A group linked to the hacker network Anonymous says it attacked the Swedish government’s website and shut it down by overloading it.
CyberForce used Twitter to claim responsibility for Saturday’s attack on the website, which all departments of Sweden’s government use.
Government spokesman Jacob Lagercranser confirmed the website had “experienced some problems,” but he declined to give further details, saying the government never comments on security issues.
CyberForce describes itself as part of the hacking collective Anonymous.
Nation
Border Patrol sees overtime costs rise
U.S. Border Patrol agents have racked up daily overtime at a cost of about $1.4 billion in the past six years while the number of arrests of illegal border crossers has fallen to the lowest level in nearly 40 years, an Associated Press analysis of agency records finds.
The cost of overtime rose from about $155.8 million in 2006 to more than $331 million in 2011. That increase coincides with the addition of about 9,000 agents in the past six years and the drop of apprehensions to a nearly 40-year low, from more than 1 million arrests in 2006 to about 340,000 in 2011.
Border Patrol Deputy Chief Ronald D. Vitiello said patrolling the border can be an unpredictable job that requires longer hours from agents.
Most illegal border crossers are apprehended along the 2,000-mile long Mexican border.
In the budget year that ended in September, 18,506 agents made a combined 327,577 apprehensions — an average of nearly 18 apprehensions per agent.
‘Soul Train’ fans pay tribute to Cornelius
Fans of “Soul Train” boogied down Broadway in New York, wearing afro wigs and bell bottoms on Saturday, while others recounted their favorite episodes at a Harlem meeting hall in tribute to the show’s late creator, Don Cornelius.
About 100 dancers descended on Times Square in a “flash mob” organized through the Internet. As startled tourists looked on, they recreated one of the show’s “Soul Train lines” in which people would take turns dancing toward a TV camera while showing off their most outrageous moves.
Cornelius, 75, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday.
“Don Cornelius brought soul to the whole world,” said Ramona Hamm, 37, who came to Times Square with her 9-year-old daughter, Kayla Charles.
