NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Venezuela crackdown: Venezuela’s government continued to crack down on opponents with an order to arrest a fifth opposition mayor who has been promoting protests against President Nicolas Maduro. A small group of youth, some of them masked, set up barricades of strewn metal objects in the eastern Caracas district of El Hatillo on Thursday to protest the previous day’s supreme court decision to order Mayor David Smolansky imprisoned for 15 months for not obeying orders to shut down the protests.
2 Syria war: Syrian government forces and their allies captured a key area along the border with Jordan on Thursday in their latest push against insurgents groups there. Syrian state media said the capture closes major smuggling points used by rebels to bring in weapons and fighters from Jordan into the war-torn country. Syrian state TV reported that the troops captured an area of 502 square miles. The opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the push by the troops. Syrian troops have captured wide areas around the country over the past year, mostly under the cover of Russian air strikes.
3 Maldives executions: Human rights groups expressed concern Thursday over the Maldives government’s purported plan to carry out its first execution in 60 years. Seven groups, including Amnesty International, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, said in an open letter to President Yameen Abdul Gayoom that they have seen credible reports that the convictions have been secured through forced confessions and other due process violations. They say all three prisoners currently on death row did not receive fair trials. Gayoom said the country will execute the first of the three convicts next month.
4 Iranian blogger: An Iranian blogger who wrote for an Israeli news website and who left her country for exile after threats of imprisonment arrived in Israel on Thursday, saying she feels “safe now” after finally reaching the Jewish state. Neda Amin spoke shortly at a joint press conference with David Horovitz, the founding editor of the Times Of Israel where her work has appeared and who helped bring her to the country. Amin, 32, who had been living in Turkey since 2014, left Iran after being threatened with prison for writing material critical of the government in Tehran. Turkish authorities recently told her she would be deported back to Iran.
5 Never too old: A 91-year old woman in Thailand earned a college degree this week after spending more than 10 years studying for it and has received her diploma from the country’s king. Kimlan Jinakul was granted the bachelor of arts degree in human and family development in Bangkok. “If we do not study, do not read, do not know, then we won’t be able to speak and make sense,” she said.
6 China accident: An official Chinese news agency says at least 36 people were killed and 13 others injured in a crash on an expressway in the country’s northwest. Xinhua News Agency reported Friday, citing local police, that a coach crashed into the wall of a tunnel on an expressway in the province of Shaanxi. The crash occurred late Thursday as the coach was on its way to Luoyang, a city in central China, from Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan. The injured have been sent to the hospital. Chronicle News Services