4 Westerners taken in Nigeria ambush
LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen ambushed two Americans and two Canadians traveling through Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state, kidnapping them and killing two policemen, a state police spokesman said Wednesday.
The foreigners were heading south from Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday night when they were ambushed around Kagarko, Kaduna state police spokesman Mukhtar Aliyu said.
Aliyu reported earlier in the day that only two people were kidnapped, one American and one Canadian. He revised the numbers based on updated information.
“The two police escorts attached to them engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gunbattle, which resulted in the unfortunate death of the two police officers,” he said.
The kidnapped visitors are investors setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan, Aliyu said.
Security officers, including an anti-kidnapping unit, have been sent to the area to try to rescue the North Americans, he said.
Victims usually are freed unharmed after a ransom is paid.
Facebook widens probe into U.K. election
Facebook is expanding a U.K. investigation into possible interference by Russia ahead of the country’s 2016 election to exit the European Union, after facing pressure from lawmakers who were unsatisfied with an earlier probe by the social media company.
Facebook and Twitter had previously told U.K. lawmakers that it found minimal use of its platforms compared with the more comprehensive Russian misinformation campaign ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
The companies reached that conclusion by analyzing accounts U.S. intelligence officials said were used during the American election. British policymakers have pressed the companies to investigate further to see if Russia had used other methods on social media to influence the important EU vote.
Facebook said it would look for coordinated activity to spread misinformation ahead of the vote. The company said it would take several weeks to complete the review, and asked U.K. authorities to share intelligence assessments and other information that could help in the review.
Van crashes with 20 Pakistani migrants
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Police in Slovenia on Wednesday found 20 migrants from Pakistan in a van that crashed after entering the country illegally from Croatia on a quest to reach Western Europe.
A police patrol chased the van, which then swerved off the road due to the speed it was going, according to police. Several people have been hospitalized, one with serious injuries.
The van had Austrian license plates and a Ukrainian driver who tried to escape by a crossing a river but stopped after a police warning, police added.
The incident illustrates dangers migrants face as they try to cross borders illegally in an attempt to reach wealthy European nations.
Also Wednesday, the U.N. secretary-general’s humanitarian envoy, Ahmed Al Meraikhi, visited a center for asylum-seekers and migrants in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Several thousand people have been stuck in Serbia waiting for a chance to move on.
Al Meraikhi praised the Balkan country’s efforts in hosting the refugees and other migrants.
Police kill 7 people at protest in Burma
BANGKOK — Burma police opened fire at hundreds of protesters angry about a ban on a local festival, killing seven people, officials said Wednesday.
The protesters in Rakhine state marched through the ancient city of Mrauk-U and ransacked a government building Tuesday after authorities banned the anniversary celebration of the founding of the old kingdom, saying they were not informed about it beforehand.
Tin Maung Swe, deputy director of the regional government, said police warned the mob to stop but they were being attacked and officers had to respond after initially using rubber bullets.
The protest involved Rakhine Buddhists. Rakhine is also home to minority Rohingya Muslims, who have long faced persecution that has seen about 650,000 people driven away from their homes into Bangladesh since August.