NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Students killed: Sudanese security forces fired on student demonstrators in a central province on Monday, killing at least five people, protest organizers said. The Sudanese Doctors Central Committee said the demonstration in Obeid was organized by high school students to protest military rule. It said several people were wounded, some critically. The committee is part of the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, which spearheaded months of protests leading to the military overthrow of President Omar alBashir in April. The protesters have continued to take to the streets, demanding a swift transition to civilian rule. Local authorities suspended classes across the region and declared a nightly curfew “until further notice.”
2 Canada manhunt: Police on Monday urged people in the remote town of York Landing in northern Manitoba to remain in their homes and lock their doors as officers searched for two teenagers sought in the killings of three people in British Columbia. Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, have been charged with seconddegree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, whose body was found last week in British Columbia. They are also suspects in the fatal shootings of Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese of Charlotte, N.C., whose bodies were found July 15 along the Alaska Highway about 300 miles from Dyck’s killing.
3 Prison riot: At least 52 prisoners were killed by other inmates during clashes between organized crime groups at the Altamira prison in northern Brazil on Monday. Para state prison authorities said 16 of the victims were decapitated while others were asphyxiated. The killings echoed those of 55 inmates who died in a series of riots in May in several prisons in the neighboring state of Amazonas. In many of Brazil’s prisons, badly outnumbered guards struggle to retain power over an evergrowing population of inmates who are able to run criminal activities from behind bars.
4 Iran headscarves: Iranians sending images to a U.S.based activist over an antiheadscarf campaign could face up to 10 years in prison. The activist, Masih Alinejad, founded the “White Wednesdays” campaign to encourage women to post photographs of themselves without headscarves online as a way of opposing the compulsory hijab. The semiofficial Fars news agency on Monday quoted the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, as saying that “those who film themselves or others while removing the hijab and send photos to this woman … will be sentenced to between one and 10 years in prison.” The Islamic headscarf is mandatory in public for all women in Iran. Those who violate the rule are usually sentenced to two months in prison or less, and fined around $25.
5 Syria fighting: Government forces made advances on the ground in northern Syria on Monday, seizing a hilltop village and a nearby town from insurgents in the first breakthrough for President Bashar Assad’s troops following weeks of intensive air and artillery bombardment. Syria’s government is trying to regain momentum in its stalled offensive against the last oppositioncontrolled stronghold. The rebel area encompasses Idlib province and the surrounding rural areas of Hama province. At least 450 civilians have been confirmed killed in the threemonth offensive, including more than 100 in the past 10 days alone, according to the U.N. human rights chief.