Briefly

NIGERIA

Number of missing students raised to 39

Nine more students than originally thought are missing after attackers with guns stormed a forestry college in northwestern Nigeria last week, a government official in Kaduna state said on Saturday. The revision brings the total number of missing students to 39 following Thursday's nighttime raid on the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, the fourth mass school abduction in the country's north since December. Video on social media showed about two dozen students begging for help. President Muhammadu Buhari called on Saturday for the missing students to be found and returned safely to their families.

AFGHANISTAN

UN laments deaths after bomb kills 8

A powerful car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded 47 in western Herat Province of Afghanistan, officials said. The death toll in the explosion late on Friday that also destroyed 14 houses was expected to rise because several of the injured were critical, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility. Within hours of the attack, the United Nations Security Council condemned an "alarming" increase in attacks in Afghanistan targeting civilians.

UNITED STATES

Biden, Suga likely to meet on April 9

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is likely to meet US President Joe Biden on April 9, the first foreign leader to meet the president in the White House, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday. The two are expected to agree to strengthen the bilateral alliance and their commitment to the freedom of passage in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Yomiuri reported without citing sources. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Friday that Suga will undertake the visit in the first half of April.

UNITED KINGDOM

Popularity of Harry and Meghan drops

The popularity of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan has tumbled in Britain and has never been lower, following their interview with the US chat show host Oprah Winfrey, according to a the You-Gov poll. It found 48 percent of 1,664 respondents had a negative attitude to Harry, compared with 45 percent with a positive view, the first time his net favorability rating has been negative. Only three in 10 people had a positive view of Meghan, while 58 percent had a negative view.

Agencies via Xinhua