Six In The Morning Tuesday 27 April 2021

 

As Covid sweeps India, experts say cases and deaths are going unreported

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

Updated 1448 GMT (2248 HKT) April 27, 2021

India, home to the world's worst ongoing coronavirus outbreak, has reported more than 17.6 million cases since the pandemic began last year.

But the real number, experts fear, could be up to 30 times higher -- meaning more than half a billion cases.

Health workers and scientists in India have long warned that Covid-19 infections and related deaths are significantly underreported for several reasons, including poor infrastructure, human error, and low testing levels.

Boris Johnson accused of ‘dismal failure’ to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Tulip Siddiq MP says PM did not even send UK officials to recent trial where Iran jailed dual national for further year

Patrick Wintour

Tue 27 Apr 2021 15.29 BST

Boris Johnson has been accused of a “dismal failure” in his diplomatic efforts after Iran sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to a further year in jail on top of the five-year sentence she has already served.

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, the British-Iranian dual national’s MP, questioned the effort the prime minister had put into releasing Zaghari-Ratcliffe, telling the Commons: “From where I’m standing, I’ve seen no evidence on the part of the prime minister so far.

“At the heart of this tragic case is the prime minister’s dismal failure to release my constituent and to stand up for her, and his devastating blunder in 2017 when he was foreign secretary – when he exposed his complete ignorance of this tragic case and put more harm in Nazanin’s way.

Israel is committing ‘apartheid’ against Palestinians, claims Human Rights Watch

Israel denied the allegations, claiming they were ‘preposterous’

Bel Trew

Middle East Correspondent

@beltrew

Israel is committing apartheid against Palestinians, Human Rights Watch has claimed, joining a growing number of rights groups to accuse the country of crimes against humanity.

In a landmark report, HRW said its findings were based on what it argues is Israeli policy to “maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”, as well as what it said were “grave abuses” committed against Palestinians.

The New-York based group said the abuses included wide-ranging movement restrictions in areas such as Gaza, the confiscation of more than a third of the land in the occupied West Bank and harsh conditions that it said has led to the “forcible transfer” of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes.

Burkina Faso: Foreign nationals killed in ambush

Security sources say an anti-poaching patrol accompanied by Western journalists was targeted by armed attackers. At least two Spanish journalists have been killed.

Four people are missing in Burkina Faso following an armed ambush on an anti-poaching patrol Monday. Local officials also said three other people were injured in the attack. Spanish authorities confirmed that two Spanish journalists lost their lives. Following reports that an Irish national was also among the causalities, Irish Foreign Ministry said it "was aware of the reports and is liasing closely with international partners regarding the situation on the ground."

What do we know of the attack?

The suspected victims included two Spanish citizens and an Irish national, along with a member of the Burkinabe armed forces. The three Europeans were reportedly working for a nongovernmental organization dedicated to protecting the environment.

Progressive climate policy can reduce extreme poverty: study

Ambitious climate policies could reduce extreme poverty in developing countries if governments opted for robust taxes on emitters that were then fairly distributed to help the poor, new research showed Tuesday.

Authors of the study said the results showed that policymakers were facing a false choice between climate change mitigation and poverty reduction.

Since fossil fuels and agricultural chemicals such as fertilisers are so heavily subsidised, any attempt to remove taxpayer support to these unsustainable practices frequently prompts fears of higher prices for consumers.

Kyrgyzstan: Family of ‘bride kidnapping’ victim seek justice

Aizada Kanatbekova’s stalker murdered her after she rejected his advances in a case that has prompted calls for reform.

By 

Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska and 

Aigerim Turgunbaeva

27 Apr 20

Aizada Kanatbekova’s cold, lifeless body lay in a red Honda Civic parked in a field about 25 minutes drive from central Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital.

Next to her, the corpse of 37-year-old Zamirbek Tenizbayev.

On April 7, a witness informed the police about the tragic discovery. The car had been parked there for two days.