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Mexican Reporter Shot Dead

Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, has been shot dead.

Unidentified attackers opened fire on him on Monday in Culiacan city in the north-western state of Sinaloa, where he lived and worked.

Valdez, 50, received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 2011 for his work. He is one of several journalists who have been killed in Mexico this year.

Valdez was shot dead on the street near the premises of the Mexican news weekly he had founded, Ríodoce.

During his career spanning nearly three decades, Valdez wrote extensively on drug-trafficking and organised crime in Mexico, including the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. The cartel is believed to be responsible for an estimated 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the US via Mexico.

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New Missile Launched By North Korea

North Korea has claimed that the missile it tested on Sunday was a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead.

The missile, launched at a steep angle, reached an altitude of 2,000km (1,242 miles) and travelled about 700km, landing in the sea west of Japan.

North Korea said on Monday it was a test of the abilities of a “newly developed ballistic rocket”.

South Korea’s military said it could not yet verify the North’s claims. But it said the North’s missiles did appear to be able to leave and re-enter the atmosphere, which is crucial to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Yonhap news agency reported.

Repeated missile tests by the North this year – not all of them successful but all a breach of UN sanctions – have sparked international alarm and raised tensions with the US. The US and Japan have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

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150 Countries Hit By Cyber Attack So Far

A cyber-attack that has hit 150 countries since Friday should be treated by governments around the world as a “wake-up call”, Microsoft says.

It blamed governments for storing data on software vulnerabilities which could then be accessed by hackers. It says the latest virus exploits a flaw in Microsoft Windows identified by, and stolen from, US intelligence.

There are fears of more “ransomware” attacks as people begin work on Monday, although few have been reported so far.

Many firms have had experts working over the weekend to prevent new infections. The virus took control of users’ files and demanded $300 (£230) payments to restore access.

The spread of the WannaCry ransomware attack slowed over the weekend but the respite might only be brief, experts have said. More than 200,000 computers have been affected so far.

The effect in Asian nations so far on Monday has been limited. South Korea said just nine cases of ransomware had been found, giving no further details.

Australian officials said so far only three small-to-medium sized businesses had reported being locked out of their systems while New Zealand’s ministry of business said a small number of unconfirmed incidents were being investigated.

In Japan, both Nissan and Hitachi reported some units had been affected, while in China energy giant PetroChina said that at some petrol stations customers had been unable to use its payment system.

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Bomb Blast In Pakistan Leaves 17 Dead

At least 17 people have been killed in an explosion in Pakistan’s Balochistan province which appears to have targeted a top lawmaker.

The blast took place near a convoy carrying Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, the deputy chairman of Pakistan’s upper house, as it left a mosque in Mastung.

Police official Safar Khan told AFP news agency it was not clear whether it was a bomb or a suicide attack. Many other people were reported to have been injured in the blast.

Senator Haideri told Reuters news agency he sustained minor injuries. “My convoy was going to Mastung and there was an explosion. There are many casualties as there were many people in the convoy,” he said.

The most severely injured were air-lifted to hospital in the provincial capital, Quetta.

Senator Haideri represents the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) party and most of those injured or killed were party workers, Pakistani media reports said. It was not clear who carried out the attack. Separatist militants have been fighting in Balochistan for decades. Islamist extremist groups also operate in the province.

Crackdown On Knife Crime In Schools Produces More Than 2000 Weapons

Samurai swords, axes and air guns are among the 2,579 weapons seized from schools in England and Wales, Freedom of Information requests have shown.

Press Association analysis of data from 32 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales said the weapons had been found in two years to March 2017.

Police chiefs said there had been a “worrying” increase in young people carrying knives.

There are about 25,850 schools in England and Wales.

Heads said children’s safety was their top priority and that schools worked closely with police to protect pupils. In 2016-17 alone, 1,369 weapons were found – a rise of almost 20% on the previous year.

Other weapons confiscated included at least 26 guns, including air guns and an imitation firearm.

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