IRELAND: Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral mass for 23-year-old primary schoolteacher Ashling Murphy today.

Ms Murphy’s body was found on the banks of a canal near Tullamore on January 12. Her murder while out jogging has led to calls for a national strategy to tackle violence against women.

Ireland’s President Michael Higgins and Prime Minister Michael Martin attended, pupils from her school provided a guard of honour for her coffin and schools across Ireland observed a minute’s silence.

MEXICO: Morelos state Governor Cuauhtemoc Blanco accused his predecessor Graco Ramirez of being in cahoots with drug gangs on Monday, after himself being accused of this.

Photos have emerged of Mr Blanco with three suspected drug traffickers, one now in jail, one dead and a third at large.

The governor said that as a former football star he was always having his photo taken with people and didn’t necessarily know who they were. “I’m such a good guy, I take photos with everyone,” he explained.

CHINA: The world’s largest country’s population is peaking and entering a period of “zero-growth,” its National Bureau of Statistics says.

At the end of 2021 its population, at 1.413 billion, was 480,000 higher than a year earlier, a rise of 0.03 per cent. At 10.62 million the number of newborns dropped for the fifth consecutive year.

China’s 2021-25 Five Year Plan incorporates adaptations to a declining population such as increased investment in elderly care, but some officials are calling for incentives to raise the birth rate.

ISRAEL: Tel Aviv announced a successful missile test today, saying it could intercept missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Arrow weapon system is one of several missile defence systems deployed by the undeclared nuclear weapons state, and it “performed beautifully” according to US Missile Defence Agency chief Vice-Admiral Jon Hill.