LAGOS (Reuters) - Armed men abducted several worshippers from a mosque in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state during Friday prayers, police said on Saturday, in the latest mass kidnapping in a region plagued by violent gangs. Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said the attackers stormed Kpenya Mosque in the Dekara district of the Borgu local government area at about 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Friday after first attacking Gidan-Zana and Kpenya villages. “The developing report indicated that no life was lost, while joint security detachment has been deployed to the area for assessment and rescue operations,” Abiodun said in a statement. He said police could not confirm figures.

 

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STOCKHOLM (AFP) - One person died and three were wounded after a sword-wielding attacker entered a high school in the town of Fagersta in central Sweden Friday, police said, adding the suspect had been arrested. Local police chief Tommy Alriksson told journalists that one person had been found dead after police entered the school, having shot and arrested the assailant. “Our current assessment of injuries is that there are three wounded people and one deceased,” Alriksson told journalists, adding that two had been seriously wounded and a third had lighter injuries.

 

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PARIS (AFP) - Air traffic at Marseille Provence Airport in southern France was disrupted Saturday due to a failure of a critical weather system used to provide atmospheric pressure data to aircraft, BFM TV reported. The failure was detected at around 6 am local time (0400 GMT) at the airport in Marignane, near Marseille, according to airport authorities. The system is considered “critical and vital” for aircraft landings and, depending on the aircraft and airline, departures, an airport spokesperson told Actu Marseille. The cause of the failure was not immediately known. The airport said operations had been gradually returning to normal since around 10 am local time (0800 GMT) and advised passengers to follow updates from their airlines.

 

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BELGRADE, Aug 22 (Reuters) - The European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism will send helicopters and firefighters to help Serbia fight a massive wildfire in a nature reserve in the northeast of the country, the head of the EU mission to Belgrade said on Saturday. Serbia activated the mechanism on Friday after struggling for weeks with a wildfire in Deliblatska Pescara, a unique mixture of sand dunes and woods about 80 km (50 miles) from the capital Belgrade, as well as other blazes in the southwest of the country.

 

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UNITED NATIONS (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Friday held its second straw poll on the candidates for the next UN secretary-general. “The second round of straw polls has taken place,” said Christina Markus Lassen, the UN ambassador of Denmark, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of August. After the conclusion of the secret vote, Lassen told reporters that the candidates will be informed of the results through the respective permanent representatives of the member states that nominated them. The president of the UN General Assembly will also be informed that the straw poll has been concluded, she said.