Protests Spread in Venezuela

Venezuelans in poor areas blocked streets and lit fires during scattered protests across the country on Tuesday night, and two people were killed during the growing unrest in the midst of a crippling economic crisis. In a worrying sign for leftist President Nicolas Maduro, groups in Caracas’ traditionally pro-government hillside slums and low-income neighborhoods took to the streets, witnesses and opposition lawmakers reported. Maduro foes were galvanized by footage of a crowd in the south-eastern Bolivar state heckling and throwing objects at the closely-protected leader during a rally on Tuesday, before state television cut off the broadcast.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/2p7rDM5)

Russia Once Again Blocks UNSC Resolution on Syria…Russia blocked a Western effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn last week’s deadly gas attack in Syria and push Moscow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad to cooperate with international inquiries into the incident. It was the eighth time during Syria’s six-year-old civil war that Moscow has used its veto power on the Security Council to shield Assad’s government. In the latest veto, Russia blocked a draft resolution backed by the United States, France and Britain to denounce the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun and tell Assad’s government to provide access for investigators and information such as flight plans.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/2p78bzi)

Horrendous New UNICEF Report on Children Used as Suicide Bombers by Boko Haram…According to the report, the number of children used as suicide bombers is surging this year. There are nearly as many children — mostly girls — sent to their deaths as suicide bombers in the first four months of 2017 than all of last year. “Since January 2014, 117 children – more than 80 per cent of them girls – have been used in ‘suicide’ attacks in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon,” the report says. “As of March this year, 27 children have been used in this way in northeast Nigeria alone.” (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2p7g08d)