NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Mexico violence: At least 19 people were killed in clashes between armed men and security forces in the gang-plagued state of Sinaloa, authorities said Saturday. A statement from the State Prosecutor’s Office said two people were killed in an initial shooting Friday involving rival groups in Villa Union, about 15 miles southeast of Mazatlan. In a second clash, 15 municipal police officers came under attack on a highway by people riding in pickup trucks. Marines and state police went to the aid of the municipal police, and 17 attackers were killed. Five municipal policemen suffered light wounds. The number of slayings has risen recently following the capture of Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was extradited to the United States to face drug charges.
_2 Ships collide: An oil tanker and a large cargo ship collided Saturday in the Dover Strait between Britain and France but no casualties or pollution from the accident were reported, French authorities said. The collision between the two Honk Kongflagged vessels took place 20 miles off the northern French port of Dunkirk in one of the world’s busiest sea routes. None of the tanker’s 27 crew members or the 22 on the freighter was injured. Three French experts were dropped onto one of the ships by helicopter a few hours after the collision and assessed that the hull had not suffered substantial damage. The cause of the collision was not immediately known.
_3 Cholera outbreak: The World Health Organization said Saturday that a rapidly spreading cholera outbreak in Yemen has killed 1,500 people since April and is suspected of sickening 246,000 people. WHO representative in Yemen Dr. Nevio Zagaria said in Sanaa that the number of suspected cases in the country’s second outbreak of cholera in six months has multiplied tenfold in the last two months. WHO said a quarter of those killed by the disease in the wartorn country are children. A two-year Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels has damaged infrastructure and caused shortages of medicine in the Arab world’s poorest country.
_4 Kashmir unrest: A prominent rebel leader recently blacklisted as a terrorist by the United States pledged Saturday to continue fighting until India relinquishes control of the disputed Himalayan region. “We will not end this fight without liberating Kashmir from India,” Syed Salahuddin, who heads the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, said amid tight security in a news conference in Muzaffarabad, in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir. The U.S. State Department classified Salahuddin as a “global terrorist” on the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington last month, a decision the militant leader said was only made to appease India.
_5 India taxes: Shops and businesses in India opened amid confusion Saturday after a new nationwide tax system went into effect. The changes are expected to impact the cost of nearly everything people buy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi heralded the overhaul — known as the Goods and Services Tax — at a midnight ceremony Friday in New Delhi. Modi said the new system would eliminate 500 types of taxes in favor of one tax across the country, a catalyst that would remove trade imbalance and promote exports. “GST is a simple, transparent system that prevents generation of black money and curbs corruption,” the prime minister said.