Lagos / AP Gunmen have kidnapped 15 oil workers on a road near Nigeria’s oil hub of Port Harcourt, police said on Saturday, in the latest unrest in the restive region. “Fifteen oil workers, including their driver, were abducted yesterday (Friday) by unknown gunmen who hijacked their vehicle on Omoku/Elele road after shooting into the air to scare passersby,” ...

  New Delhi / AFP Police rescued 22 Nepali women from a hotel in New Delhi who were allegedly being trafficked from the impoverished Himalayan nation to the Middle East, and are searching for two suspects, officers said on Saturday. Officers from the force’s serious crimes branch raided a hotel near the capital’s international airport on Thursday morning after receiving ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong begins voting on Sunday in a legislative election that will test the appeal of a new wave of anti-China activists and set the stage for future political fights over Beijing’s control over the city. The Legislative Council election is the first since police clashes with student protesters two years ago thrust the former British colony’s struggle ...

  Sirte / AFP Forces loyal to Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) said on Saturday they have launched a new attack on diehards of the IS group in the coastal city of Sirte. Backed by weeks of US air strikes, the pro-GNA forces have recaptured nearly all of what had been the extremists’ main stronghold in North Africa. “We ...

Detroit /AFP Donald Trump visits Detroit on Saturday insisting he is the change agent that America’s blackest big city needs in the White House, but residents have a message for the Republican presidential nominee: Not buying it. Many here acknowledge that Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, has fallen short in improving conditions in blighted communities. But in interviews ...

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia reported its first locally transmitted case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus on Saturday, news likely to add to fears of a full-blown outbreak in the tropical nation. The patient was a 61-year-old male resident of the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, the Ministry of Health said. It said local transmission was highly likely because ...

  Bloomberg The European Commission fired a warning shot across Theresa May’s bow after her government decided to seek a tailor-made Brexit deal on its own terms, saying that the U.K. could not pick and choose the conditions it preferred. The British premier earlier this week set out the first of her red lines for Brexit negotiations, saying she wanted ...

  Bloomberg The US Food and Drug Administration has banned several key chemicals in antibacterial hand soap, warning of health risks and saying they were not more effective than the ordinary soap. The FDA move took aim at 19 ingredients including the two most common, triclosan and triclocarban, which are widely included in liquid and bar antibacterial soaps despite fears ...

  Bloomberg A majority of French say that economic and social issues should be the top priority for candidates in next year’s presidential election, an Elabe poll showed. About 64 percent of voters say the economy and social matters are more important than questions about the French identity and security in the presidential campaign, according to a poll of 1,002 ...

  Bloomberg The European Commission said Germany requested that it mediate a dispute with Italy over whether Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s vehicles breached emissions rules. “We will now assist the German and Italian authorities to the extent possible with a view to facilitating a common understanding of the car manufacturer’s compliance, or lack thereof,” commission spokeswoman Lucia Caudet said by ...