Maduro's victory tainted by ballot rigging claims and protests; 9/11 terrorists admit guilt

While you were sleeping, here’s what world agencies reported overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

  
• Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro officially won the elections in Venezuela. However, opposition leader María Corina Machado claimed that her associates accessed records from electoral commissions, revealing that President Maduro rigged the elections. Former Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, who supports the Venezuelan opposition, announced on Wednesday that he obtained confidential information about Venezuelan ballots being fabricated in Cuba with the help of China to confirm Maduro's election victory. Independent Venezuelan media reported that four unplanned aeroplanes from Cuba arrived at Caracas airport on Wednesday. Commentators are speculating whether these planes delivered the fake ballots mentioned by Santos. According to information provided by opposition leader María Corina Machado, Maduro's officials have killed at least 16 anti-government protesters since Monday and arrested 171.

• The terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks in the US have reached a plea deal and admitted guilt – the Pentagon reported. "A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plea deals almost certainly involved guilty pleas in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table," Reuters reported.

• An evacuation of residents began late Wednesday night in Podgora, a town along the Croatian Adriatic coast battling a fire since Tuesday. Croatian RTL television reported that about 150 residents of the Makarska Riviera town have been evacuated to a nearby primary school. It was added that "the smoke is so thick and pervasive that it is impossible to see the houses and other buildings in Podgora."

• Portuguese police services captured a kangaroo near Lisbon on Wednesday. Frightening residents, the animal had been hopping around the capital's metropolitan area for several days. The unusual species in Portugal, as reported on Wednesday evening by the Portuguese civil defence, was captured thanks to residents of Aroeira, a town near Lisbon, who provided authorities with precise information on the kangaroo's whereabouts. Residents cited by local media emphasised that seeing a kangaroo hopping down their streets surprised them and "caused fear."

  
• Christopher Dunn of Missouri was released from prison in St. Louis after 34 years when his murder conviction was overturned. He had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In 1990, a court found the African American man guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. One of the prosecution's witnesses, Michael Davis Jr., who was 12 years old at the time, recanted his testimony implicating Dunn. He stated that he lied about Dunn shooting Rogers because he believed Dunn had gang affiliations.