NEWS OF THE DAY
Terrorism arrests: British police arrested three women Monday as part of a continuing counterterrorism investigation that included a raid last week. The three were arrested on suspicion of planning attacks. Two are 18 and one is 19. They are being questioned at a police station outside London. The arrests are part of an ongoing operation related to a series of arrests that began Thursday when police stormed a house in northwest London. A total of 10 people have been arrested as part of the investigation. None has been charged or identified.
Venezuela protests: President Nicolas Maduro called Monday for a new constitution as an intensifying protest movement entered a second month amid clashes between police and demonstrators. After hundreds of thousands took to the streets again to call for his ouster, Maduro announced that he was calling for a citizens assembly and a new constitution for the economically flailing South American nation. He said the move was needed to restore peace and stop his political opponents from trying to carry out a coup. Opposition leaders immediately objected, charging that Maduro was seeking to further erode Venezuela’s constitutional order.
South Sudan unrest: An advance party of peacekeepers with a bolstered mandate to use force have arrived in South Sudan, the United Nations said Monday, the first blue helmets with a greater authority to protect civilians in the troubled East African nation. At least 13 peacekeepers from a regional protection force mandated by the Security Council have arrived in the capital of Juba, said a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission. The troops will help to prepare camp sites for the 4,000 peacekeepers expected to arrive later this year. The extra peacekeepers were mandated after fighting in Juba in July last year killed hundreds of people and escalated the civil war across the country.
Turbulence injuries: Twenty-seven people were injured, several with suspected spinal damage, after their Aeroflot Boeing 777-300 traveling from Moscow to Bangkok hit strong turbulence Monday. The Russian Embassy in Bangkok said Flight SU270 hit an air pocket on its approach to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, and that those injured had not been wearing seat belts. An embassy duty officer said 15 people remained hospitalized later Monday, but none had life-threatening injuries.
Canada quakes: A magnitude-6.3 aftershock shook a corner of British Columbia near the border with Alaska nearly two hours after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit the same area, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Geophysicist Amy Vaughan says it’s not completely uncommon for an aftershock to be larger than the triggering quake, though normally the following quakes are smaller. The initial quake hit 83 miles southwest of Whitehorse, Yukon. There were no reports of major damage or injuries.
India beatings: Villagers in the northeastern state of Assam beat to death two Muslim teenagers they suspected of stealing cows, the latest in a string of mob assaults in the country. News footage showed the two lying in a field, surrounded by men carrying sticks and belts. Over the past two years, Muslims in India have been attacked in a series of similar episodes, often by “cow protection” groups who said they had caught Muslims transporting the animals. Cows are considered to be holy by Hindus, who often accuse Muslims of killing the animals.