US military planes land near Venezuelan border with aid

CUCUTA, Colombia – The U.S. military airlifted tons of aid to a Colombian town on the Venezuelan border on Saturday as part of an effort meant to undermine socialist President Nicolas Maduro and back his rival to leadership of the South American nation. Three scheduled Air Force C-17 cargo planes were to fly from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida to Cucuta. That border city, swollen by a flood of migrants from Venezuela, is a collection point for aid that’s supposed to be distributed by the Venezuelan opposition.

MIAMI – A federal judge abolished a consent decree that prevented Miami police from arresting homeless people for loitering, sleeping on sidewalks or urinating in public. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno on Friday issued an opinion dissolving the Pottinger Agreement that set protections for Miami’s homeless population from police harassment. The Miami Herald reported that Moreno decided court oversight was no longer necessary because of the shelters and social services now available to assist the city’s homeless.

KADOMA, Zimbabwe – Eight subsistence miners who were trapped underground for several days after heavy flooding in Zimbabwe were rescued, though dozens of their co-workers are still missing and feared dead. Rescuers on Saturday pulled survivors from the ground and took them for treatment. About 20 bodies were pulled later from one of the tunnels in the gold fields. Dozens of the small-scale gold miners were caught underground Tuesday when a dam wall collapsed and water rushed into the nearby mining tunnels.

CAIRO – Egypt’s military spokesman says extremists attacked an army checkpoint in the troubled northern Sinai Peninsula, causing 15 casualties, including the killing of at least one officer. In a Saturday statement, Col. Tamer Rifai said the army managed to kill seven of the extremists during the dawn firefight, but did not give any further information on the army’s own casualties. The army has for years been battling a long-running insurgency in North Sinai that is now led by an Islamic State affiliate.