In brief: Syria arresting males at random

GUVECCI, Turkey – Syrian security forces fanned out through villages and towns in the northern province of Idlib on Thursday, randomly hauling in males over age 16 as the government worked to silence a center of anti-regime protest.

In this border region, where thousands of Syrian civilians have fled to havens in Turkey, Turkish officials were preparing to send food, clean water, medicine and other aid to thousands more stranded on the Syrian side.

The unusual plan for a cross-border operation on Syrian soil appeared to have Syrian clearance, being announced by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after he met with an envoy from President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian regime.

The random detentions were concentrated on the major towns of Jisr al-Shughour and Maaret al-Numan and in nearby villages, an area where the army has massed troops for days in apparent preparation for a fresh military operation, Syrian human rights activist Mustafa Osso reported.

He said at least 300 people were being detained daily.

Mexico reports massive oil theft

MEXICO CITY – Increasingly sophisticated thieves stole about 20,000 barrels per day of oil products from Mexico’s state-owned oil company in the first four months of 2011, thefts worth about $250 million, the company’s director said Thursday.

Juan Jose Suarez Coppel, the head of the Petroleos Mexicanos oil company, says that was more than thieves stole in all of 2010. The company is better known as Pemex.

Sudan president to visit China

BEIJING – China says Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will visit the country in a little over a week, despite the fact he’s wanted by an international court on war crimes charges.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday that al-Bashir is making the June 27-30 visit at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Hong said al-Bashir will meet with Hu and other Chinese leaders and that talks would seek to promote peace in Sudan.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir for allegedly orchestrating atrocities in the African nation’s Darfur region. The Sudanese leader rejects the charges and the Netherlands-based court, which has no police force and relies on member states to execute its orders and warrants.