World IN BRIEF : ALBANIA : 2 Refugees Killed Fleeing to Italy

Two Albanians were killed by gunfire and four were wounded aboard a fishing boat filled with refugees that reached Italy, port officials in Otranto, Italy, said. They quoted Albanians aboard the Delvina as saying Albanian coastal patrols fired on the boat shortly after it left for Italy. The Delvina, carrying about 30 refugees, was part of an armada of 50 fishing boats trying to make the 35-mile run across the Adriatic Sea to Italy. Two Italian ferryboats picked up 317 Albanians from flimsy vessels and brought them ashore. Thousands of Albanians have fled to Italy to escape crushing poverty.