In brief: American tourist killed in botched Colombian robbery

BOGOTA, Colombia – An American tourist was shot to death during an apparent robbery attempt after leaving his hotel in a wealthy enclave of Medellin, Colombian authorities said Saturday.

Police identified the victim as John Mariani, 65, of New York, and said he was attacked Friday night when his taxi was intercepted by gunmen in a car and on a motorcycle. They said the assailants tried to take his wallet and personal belongings and shot him when he resisted. The attackers then fled.

Police offered a $16,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment. Police said Mariani had arrived in Medellin from Costa Rica, but gave no other information on him.

El Poblado neighborhood where the shooting happened is one of Medellin’s wealthiest and safest enclaves.

Iraq facing cholera outbreak

BAGHDAD – Iraq, which is already facing a prolonged battled against the Islamic State group and mass protests against government corruption and inefficiency, is now struggling with a new challenge: a growing cholera outbreak.

As of Tuesday, at least 54 cases have been confirmed in Baghdad, as well as in the southern provinces of Najaf, Diwaniyah, Babil and Samawah, Health Ministry spokesman Rifaq al-Araji told the Associated Press. Four women were reported to have died in Abu Ghraib, but al-Araji said authorities have not yet confirmed if the deaths were cholera-related.

The cause lies partially with Iraq’s antiquated and badly maintained water and sewage systems, and the outbreak comes at a time when Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government is already struggling with large demonstrations protesting the government’s inability to provide security or basic public services.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease, usually spread by contaminated water and food, and can cause severe diarrhea that, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration and kidney failure within hours. It can be prevented by treating drinking water with chlorine and with better hygienic practices.

Iran vows action on hajj deaths

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran on Saturday vowed to take international legal action against Saudi Arabia’s rulers over the crush of Muslim pilgrims at this year’s hajj, which killed at least 769 people, including 136 Iranians, and has led to an escalation of tensions between the regional archrivals.

The pilgrims suffocated or were trampled to death Thursday when two massive crowds converged on a narrow street, in the worst disaster to occur during the annual pilgrimage in a quarter-century. Shiite Iran has accused Sunni Saudi Arabia of mismanaging the pilgrimage, which annually draws some 2 million people from 180 countries.

Mexican students remembered

MEXICO CITY – Thousands of people marked the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students by marching down Mexico City’s premier avenue in an atmosphere of defiant hope Saturday.

Activists said the movement might bring justice for Mexico’s disappeared, though only two of the students’ remains have been identified by DNA analysis of charred bone fragments.

In a meeting with the parents of the 43 missing students earlier this week, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised to create a special prosecutors’ office to investigate all of Mexico’s disappearances.

More than 25,000 people disappeared in Mexico between 2007 and July 31, 2015, according to the government.

The 43 students from a radical teachers college disappeared on Sept. 26, 2014, after a clash with police in Iguala, a city in the southern state of Guerrero. Six other people were killed at the hands of the police during the disturbances.

According to Mexico’s former attorney general, local police illegally detained the students and then turned them over to the local drug gang Guerreros Unidos, which then allegedly killed them and incinerated their remains.

Two leaving Charlie Hebdo

PARIS – Two journalists are leaving Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French newspaper whose staff was decimated in a January terror massacre.

Artistic director Luz had said in May that he planned to end his career as a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist. In this week’s issue, he made known that next week would be his last.

Writer Patrick Pelloux said in an interview Saturday he was also leaving, “probably” in January.

Charlie Hebdo mocked religions, including Islam’s prophet Mohammed. Luz drew the cover cartoon – a weeping Mohammed, saying “All is forgiven” – in the issue following the Jan. 7 attack by Islamic extremists on the paper, which left 12 people dead. A second attack two days later on a kosher grocery store in Paris killed five others. All three gunmen died in clashes with police.

“If I’ve decided to stop writing it’s because … something has ended,” Pelloux told the student radio station Web7Radio. “You have to know how to turn the page one day.”

He said those who escaped the massacre are not real survivors because “a part of us ended with these attacks.”