NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
U.S. deployment:
Polish leaders welcomed American troops to their country Saturday, with the defense minister expressing gratitude for their arrival and calling it the fulfillment of a dream Poles have had for decades. The ceremony in the western town of Zagan came 23 years after the last Soviet troops left Poland. It marks the first time Western forces are being deployed on a continuous basis to NATO’s eastern flank. The move has infuriated Moscow. The deployment includes an armored brigade of 3,500 troops from Fort Carson, Colo. It comes in reaction to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its backing of separatist insurgents in Ukraine’s east.
Deadly crash:
At least 19 people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a passenger bus collided with an off-duty school bus along a highway in Ecuador. The collision occurred late Friday near the Pacific coast. It was raining heavily at the time. Guayas state Gov. Luis Monge visited the crash site and expressed solidarity with the families of those killed and injured.
Train protests:
A Serbian nationalist train took off Saturday from Belgrade aiming for northern Kosovo but halted at the border in a stunt that spurred a dramatic escalation of tensions between the former wartime foes. Kosovo officials had protested earlier that the train was a violation of their country’s sovereignty and promised not to let it in. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic ordered the train stopped at the Serbian town of Raska as it approached the border with Serbia’s former province, claiming that Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians had tried to mine the railway. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia does not recognize the split.
Boat capsizes:
As many as 21 people drowned and a dozen others were missing after their overcrowded boat capsized in a river in eastern India on Saturday, police said. The incident took place as 50 people were returning by the boat after attending a Hindu religious festival in a village near Patna, the state capital of Bihar, police said. At least13 people were rescued and hospitalized. Police said the boat had a capacity of up to 25 passengers. The state government has ordered an inquiry into the accident.
Peru pollution:
South America’s largest lake is about to get a major cleanup after years of uncontrolled pollution. Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said the construction of 10 treatment plants on rivers emptying into Lake Titicaca will carry a price tag of $437 million. He made the announcement Friday during a visit to the high-altitude lake straddling the border with Bolivia. The rapid expansion of towns and factories near the lake has contributed to runoff that has turned once crystal azure waters a murky green and destroyed the livelihood of thousands of fisherman. Each year, some 750,000 tourists visit the 12,470-foot-high lake.
Prison violence:
At least 10 inmates were killed Saturday in fighting between rival drug gangs in a prison in northern Brazil in the latest in a series of massacres in the country’s penitentiaries. Three of the victims were beheaded. The riot broke out at the Alcacuz Penitentiary in Rio Grande do Norte state. The spike in Brazilian prison violence began early this month when 56 inmates were killed in the northern state of Amazonas. Then in the neighboring state of Roraima, 33 prisoners were killed, many with their hearts and intestines ripped out.