Crews work to contain oil sheen

Crews work to contain oil sheen

SEATTLE

Environmental crews worked Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire, but officials said there was no immediate indication of harm to wildlife.

Sixteen of the 96 tank cars on the train derailed Friday near Mosier, Ore., about 70 miles east of Portland. Four burned, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames a little after 2 a.m. Saturday.

No injuries were reported.

Former Labour leaders to Britons: Vote to stay in EU

LONDON

Six former British Labour Party leaders including former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown on Saturday urged the British to vote in favor of remaining in the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

Britain’s membership in the EU has provided job protection, lower prices and significant benefits for working people, the leaders said in a statement. The six, who also included Neil Kinnock, Margaret Beckett, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband, spoke as the party began a drive to register people before Tuesday’s deadline.

Man dies days after being bitten by shark

PERTH, Australia

A surfer whose leg was bitten off by a shark last week in waters off western Australia has died at a hospital from his injuries.

The brother of 29-year-old Ben Gerring thanked the “heroes” who brought him to shore after the attack and the medical staff at Royal Perth Hospital, where he died late Friday night.

Ben Gerring was attacked Tuesday afternoon while paddling his surfboard at Falcon Beach in his hometown of Mandurah, south of Perth. Fellow surfers paddled to him to bring him to shore, witnesses said.

An inspection of his damaged surfboard showed a white shark was responsible. The Fisheries Department trapped and killed a large shark Wednesday afternoon but don’t know if it was the same shark that attacked Gerring.

Man charged in boy’s kidnapping

DETROIT

Prosecutors charged a man Saturday with kidnapping in the case of a 13-year-old Detroit boy who was found dead in a vacant lot last week after being abducted from a city street.

Earnest Coleman, 26, was charged with kidnapping and will be arraigned today, Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said in a statement.

Coleman and other people purportedly kidnapped Deontae Mitchell about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday outside an east side market, Worthy said. She did not provide further details, except to say that the investigation is ongoing.

Three other people have been arrested, including a 45-year-old Detroit man who is waiting to be extradited from Ohio.

Boko Haram attack

NIAMEY, Niger

Hundreds of Boko Haram extremists attacked a military post in Niger near the country’s border with Nigeria, killing at least 32 soldiers, Niger’s defense ministry said Saturday.

The attack in Bosso on Friday left 30 Niger soldiers and two soldiers from Nigeria dead, the ministry said in a statement, adding that at least 67 other soldiers were wounded.

“They burned houses, looted food stores and shops, and burned the military post before fleeing with weapons and ammunition,” said Adam Boukarna, a deputy in Bosso.

Combined dispatches