The roadside bomb went off as the bus was being driven in Giza, also causing injuries to Egyptians in a nearby car, medical and security sources said.

There were no deaths reported.

“A device exploded and smashed the windows of a bus carrying 25 people from South Africa and a private car carrying four Egyptians,” the security source said.

Video footage captured by AFP showed the bus and car with broken windows on the side of the road.

According to the security source, the wounded were being treated for scratches caused by the broken glass.

Ndivhuwo Mabaya, spokesman for South Africa’s department of international relations, told AFP that “there might be South Africans involved” but declined to give any figures.

Sunday’s incident comes after three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide were killed when a roadside bomb hit their bus as it travelled near the Giza pyramids outside Cairo in December.

It also comes just little more than a month before the African Cup of Nations hosted by Egypt is to kick off.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency that surged especially in the turbulent North Sinai region following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was replaced by former army general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

In February 2018, the army launched a nationwide operation against militants, focusing mainly on the North Sinai region.

Some 650 militants and around 45 soldiers have been killed since the start of the offensive, according to separate statements by the armed forces.

Since first being elected in 2014, Sisi has presented himself as a bulwark against terrorism, promising stability and increased security.

Recently, the country’s vital tourism industry has started to slowly rebound after suffering strong blows due to deadly attacks targeting tourists following the turmoil of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Figures by the official statistics agency showed that tourist arrivals reached 8.3 million in 2017, compared with 5.3 million the previous year.

Authorities have gone at great lengths to lure tourists back, touting a series of archaeological finds and a new museum next to the pyramids, as well as enhanced security at airports and around ancient sites.

But that figure was still far short of the record influx of 2010 when more than 14 million visitors flocked to see the country’s sites.

The seventh and final round of voting ended the world’s biggest election with 900 million eligible voters from Goa’s beaches to Mumbai’s slums and Ladakh’s Himalayan monasteries.

Long queues formed outside polling stations in eight northern states electing the final 59 candidates to India’s 543-seat lower house. Polls close at 1230 GMT with vote counting on Thursday.

Heavy security was imposed in West Bengal, which has seen street battles between followers of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition groups.

An improvised bomb was thrown from a motorbike at one polling booth in the state capital Kolkata but no one was injured, officials said.

One group attacked a makeshift BJP office in the city and police also cleared other activists blocking polling stations.

Modi’s constituency in Varanasi, the holy city in Uttar Pradesh state, was also among those to vote.

The conservative BJP has campaigned aggressively on Modi’s strongman image and played up recent cross-border air strikes against Pakistan. The opposition, led by the Congress party and its leader, Rahul Gandhi, have accused him of pursuing divisive policies and neglecting the economy.

Modi and Gandhi have hurled insults at each other on a near daily basis with the prime minister calling his rival a “fool” while Gandhi derides Modi as a “thief”.

 Jaded voters

The animosity has taken a toll on voters.

“All the abuse and misconduct claims suggest that standards in Indian politics have slipped badly,” Asit Banerjee, a history teacher in Kolkata, said as he queued to vote.

“Endless mudslinging and bitter comments pervaded the campaign. We are losing hope in democracy, it is time for a reset,” the 60-year-old told AFP.

Writing in the Hindustan Times, political commentator Karan Thapar said Modi’s message “played on our insecurities and strummed upon our deep inner fears”. He also criticised Gandhi’s campaign.

Pollsters say Modi remains personally popular but his party’s overall majority is at risk from a backlash.

The 68-year-old Modi has held 142 rallies across India during the campaign, sometimes five a day, but pollsters say the BJP could lose dozens of the 282 seats it won in its 2014 landslide.

– $7 billion vote –

On Saturday Modi, dressed in a long robe and saffron sash, trekked to a Himalayan shrine to meditate. Indian media widely used images showing him seated on a bed inside a cave in the country’s north.

The Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies estimates that the outlay on this election could top $7 billion, making it one of the priciest contests globally — with the lion’s share of the spending by the BJP.

Much has been spent on social media advertising and messages, with the parties using armies of “cyber warriors” to bombard India’s hundreds of millions of Facebook and WhatsApp users.

Fake news and doctored images have abounded, including of Gandhi and Modi having lunch with Imran Khan, prime minister of arch rival Pakistan, or of a drunk Priyanka Gandhi, a politician and the sister of Rahul.

Violence has also broken out. Maoist rebels killed 15 troops and their driver in the western state of Maharashtra on May 1, the latest attack in a decades-long insurgency.

Gandhi, 48, has tried several lines of attack against Modi, in particular over alleged corruption in a French defence deal and over the plight of farmers and on the economy.

Modi’s government has fallen short on creating jobs for the million Indians entering the labour market every month, the shock introduction of a cash ban in 2016 caused huge disruption to livelihoods, and Indian banks are gasping under bad debts.

Lynchings of Muslims and low-caste Dalits for eating beef, slaughtering and trading in cattle have risen during Modi’s tenure, leaving some of the country’s 170 million Muslims feeling threatened and anxious for their future.

The store employs people with hearing challenges and provides equal training opportunities. All employees in the store are professional baristas and can communicate in sign language.

The store also is aimed at raising awareness and understanding of deaf and hearing impaired experiences in the workplace, according to Starbucks.

Starbucks employs over 100 people with special needs in China.

To nurture talent and create more opportunities for the deaf workforce, Starbucks has partnered with the Guangdong Deaf People Association to offer professional skills training and sign language courses.

“Diversity and inclusiveness is the general trend of community development. Thanks to Starbucks, deaf partners are empowered to develop their careers in a vibrant and supportive environment, while the store provides a strong platform to drive societal awareness around deaf culture and the needs of the community,” said Fan Yitao, vice-chairman of China Deaf People Association.

“We also hope that more social forces will join us in the future, and we will achieve equal employment in the future nationwide,” Fan added.

The coffee chain has more than 3,800 stores in the country; the move is part of its ongoing efforts to get closer to local communities.

“Starbucks China will continue to build a different kind of company and use our large scale of operations to create the perfect place for everyone in China, no matter what their needs are,” said Belinda Wong, chief executive officer of Starbucks China.

The store design has taken special needs into consideration. Sign language symbols are printed on umbrellas in front of the store, and there are indicators throughout. All baristas will wear aprons with the word “Starbucks” embroidered in sign language, while deaf employees will wear an additional pin.

The store is equipped with a customized “easy-ordering” system. Customers and partners will be able to communicate using notepads and two-way digital displays.

For customers new to sign language, there will be a dedicated area for customers to write down their orders on an electronic board and wireless vibrating pagers will notify customers when their orders are ready.

To create an inclusive environment and encourage customers to learn more about the deaf community, the store also will offer sign language lessons and coffee workshops in sign language, in partnership with the Guangdong Deaf People Association.

This is Starbucks’ third signing store worldwide, after Kuala Lumpur and Washington.

May said that when she brings the Withdrawal Agreement Bill before parliament early next month, it will come with a new package of measures attached that she hopes can command majority support.

“I still believe there is a majority in parliament to be won for leaving with a deal,” May wrote in The Sunday Times newspaper.

MPs three times rejected the deal May struck with Brussels, forcing Britain’s EU departure date to pushed back from March 29 to April 12 and again to October 31.

The bill is needed to ratify the divorce agreement struck with the European Union.

On Thursday, May agreed to set out a timetable for her departure following the vote in the week beginning June 3, regardless of whether MPs back her deal at the fourth time of asking.

It is thought that she will trigger a contest for the leadership of her governing Conservative Party once the bill either falls or completes all of its stages through parliament.

– ‘New and improved’ –

“When the Withdrawal Agreement Bill comes before MPs, it will represent a new, bold offer to MPs across the House of Commons, with an improved package of measures that I believe can win new support,” she told the newspaper.

“Whatever the outcome of any votes, I will not be simply asking MPs to think again. Instead I will ask them to look at a new and improved deal with fresh pairs of eyes — and to give it their support.”

The bill is expected to include new measures on protecting workers’ rights, future customs arrangements with the EU, and on the use of technology to avoid the need for border controls between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state and the UK’s only land neighbour.

It will not, however, seek to re-open the withdrawal agreement, which Brussels repeatedly insisted could not be re-negotiated, despite many MPs voting it down due to concerns about its so-called “backstop” clauses on Northern Ireland.

May is expected to set out the details of her proposals in a speech later this month.

– May’s poll gloom –

Her gambit on Sunday comes ahead of the European Parliament elections, to be held in Britain on Thursday.

The opinion polls make dire reading for the Conservatives, with the newly-formed Brexit Party forecast to win the most seats, ratcheting up the pressure on May.

The latest survey out Sunday put eurosceptic figurehead Nigel Farage’s single-issue party way ahead on 34 percent, with the main opposition Labour Party on 20 percent, the pro-EU Liberal Democrats on 15 percent and the Conservatives on 11 percent.

Furthermore, the poll said the Brexit Party had overtaken the Conservatives in general election voting intentions too, with Labour leading on 29 percent, Farage’s party on 24 percent and the Conservatives on 22 percent.

Opinium Research conducted an online survey of 2,004 British adults between Tuesday and Thursday for The Observer newspaper.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Saturday that whoever replaces May, calling an early general election risked “killing Brexit” and making veteran socialist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn prime minister.

“A general election before we’ve delivered Brexit would be a disaster,” he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“A general election before that not only risks Jeremy Corbyn, but it risks killing Brexit altogether.”

The next Conservative leader is set to be chosen by the centre-right party’s members. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is the clear front runner, according to a YouGov survey of grassroots Conservatives for The Times newspaper.

Johnson was on 39 percent, ahead of former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab on 13 percent, interior minister Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove on nine percent each and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on eight percent.