Journalist shot dead

MEXICO CITY: A Mexican radio journalist was shot dead Saturday in a restaurant in Tabasco state, east of the capital, the latest victim in what has become one of the world’s deadliest countries for the press. Jesus Ramos Rodriguez was killed in the town of Emiliano Zapata, an official from the local prosecutor’s office said. According to local media, Ramos had hosted a news bulletin for the 99.9 FM radio station for more than two decades. The El Universal daily quoted witnesses as saying his assailant got out of a car and headed straight towards him, shooting him more than eight times at point blank range. The killing comes weeks after a community radio station director was murdered in the northern state of Baja California Sur, in the first such case of 2019. Rafael Murua, who had received death threats for his work, was found dead in a ditch on January 20, after being reported missing. — AFP