NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Hostages freed: Syrian troops liberated 19 women and children hostages held by the Islamic State since July in a military operation in the country’s center, ending a crisis that has stunned Syria’s Druze minority, state media reported Thursday. SANA news agency said the operation occurred in the Hamima area east of the historic town of Palmyra. It said all Islamic State fighters in the area where the hostages were held have been killed.
_2 Terror charges: An Egyptian court convicted 65 suspected militants of setting up a terrorist group and declaring allegiance to the extremist Islamic State, sentencing 18 of them to life in prison. Thursday’s verdict by a Cairo criminal court also sentenced 41 people to 15 years in prison and six more to five years. Two defendants were acquitted. Of the 67 defendants, only 43 are in custody, while the rest, including two women, are fugitives. The prosecutors said the group set up cells in six provinces and members received training on firearms and explosives. Egypt’s security forces have for years been battling militants in the turbulent northern Sinai Peninsula. The militants’ insurgency, led by a local affiliate of Islamic State, have targeted police, army soldiers and Egypt’s Christian minority.
_3 Taliban attacks: Afghan officials say the latest Taliban attacks in the country’s central and eastern region have left 13 policemen dead. Council member Ghulam Hussain Changiz in eastern Ghazni province says the insurgents attacked a police outpost early on Thursday in Khugyani district, killing eight policemen, including a district commander. The Taliban also attacked a police outpost in central Wardak province on Thursday, killing five policemen. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attacks. Near-daily Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces have been relentless in recent months.
_4 Deadly crash: A head-on collision in Zimbabwe between two buses killed 47 people, in a nation where road accidents are common due to poor roads and bad driving. Two long distance buses going opposite directions collided near Rusape, about 105 miles east of the capital Harare on Wednesday evening, said police spokesman Paul Nyathi. One of the buses tried to pass two trucks on a stretch of the road where overtaking is prohibited, resulting in the collision with an oncoming bus. Bus accidents are frequent in this southern African country, where speeding often means more money for bus crews that compete for customers and try to make as many trips as possible per day.
_5 Pope OKs beatification: Pope Francis has decreed that an American religious brother, James Miller, was killed out of hatred for the Catholic faith during Guatemala’s civil war and can be beatified. The Vatican said Thursday that Francis approved a decree recognizing that Miller died as a martyr Feb. 13, 1982, in Huehuetenago, Guatemala. The 37-yearold Miller, from Stevens Point, Wis., had been working with indigenous youths as a member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Miller’s fellow brothers reported receiving warnings that Guatemala’s armed forces intelligence unit, the G-2 death squad, was looking for them. A U.N. truth commission determined that some 245,000 people were killed or disappeared during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war, with the vast majority of the killings attributed to the army or to pro-government paramilitary groups.