Mexico Publisher, Reporter Slain

MATAMOROS, Mexico — The publisher and star reporter of a newspaper that had taken a strong stand against corruption and narcotics smuggling were machine-gunned to death today, police said.

The attacks occurred in Matamoros, a border city located across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Tex. The victims were Ernesto Flores, 46, publisher of the daily newspaper El Popular, and reporter Norma Moreno Figarroa, 24, police said. Officers said they died in a fusillade of bullets fired by two men who ambushed them as they stepped from a car outside the newspaper office about 7:10 a.m.