In brief: Cartel boss, others killed by gunmen

MEXICO CITY – Five gunmen burst into a bar early Thursday and killed a reputed drug gang boss, a reporter and four other people in Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Veracruz, authorities said.

The Veracruz state prosecutors’ office said the gunmen entered the bar and went directly for the victims, who included the local boss of the Zetas drug gang, identified as Jose Marquez Balderas. It said reporter Juan Santos Carrera was among those sitting with him.

Two other reporters in the bar were not shot, but were fired by their newspaper for being at the scene with the local cartel boss.

Police chased the assailants, and two officers were wounded in an ensuing exchange of gunfire in the streets of the city of Orizaba, but there were no immediate arrests. The prosecutor’s office said some of the victims had weapons with them.

Veracruz state now has seen 14 journalists killed since Gov. Javier Duarte took office in 2010 and three more have gone missing, drawing criticism from press freedom advocates.

Study: Pollution kills 4,000 in China daily

WASHINGTON – A new study shows that air pollution is killing about 4,000 people in China a day, accounting for 1 in 6 premature deaths in the world’s most populous country.

Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated that about 1.6 million people in China die each year from heart, lung and stroke problems because of incredibly polluted air, especially small particles of haze. Earlier studies put the annual Chinese air pollution death toll at 1 to 2 million, but this is the first to use newly released Chinese air monitoring figures.

The study was released Thursday.

Six hurt in Jordan from Syrian shell

AMMAN, Jordan – State media say an illuminating shell fired from Syria hit a home in a Jordanian border town injuring six people.

The Petra news agency said the shell struck a home in the town of Ramtha on Thursday evening. It said five people were lightly hurt and one was in moderate condition.

Petra said the shell was fired as part of clashes on the Syrian side of the border.

Shells from Syria have hit Ramtha in the past.

The conflict in Syria erupted in 2011 and quickly turned into a civil war between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels trying to topple him.