Six In The Morning Thursday 7 October 2021

 

Ivermectin: How false science created a Covid 'miracle' drug

By Rachel Schraer & Jack Goodman
BBC Reality Check

Ivermectin has been called a Covid "miracle" drug, championed by vaccine opponents, and recommended by health authorities in some countries. But the BBC can reveal there are serious errors in a number of key studies that the drug's promoters rely on.

For some years ivermectin has been a vital anti-parasitic medicine used to treat humans and animals.

But during the pandemic there has been a clamour from some proponents for using the drug for something else - to fight Covid and prevent deaths.

Hong Kong plans megacourt to deal with protest arrests backlog

City’s leader announces initiative as thousands still await trial, and also reveals project for new metropolis

Helen Davidson in Taipei

@heldavidson

Thu 7 Oct 2021 10.27 BST

Hong Kong will build a new megacourt to address a shortage of space as it works through a backlog of the thousands arrested during the 2019 mass protests, and the more than 150 arrested under the national security law.

The city’s leader, Carrie Lam, announced the initiative on Wednesday in a policy address, which also included plans for a new metropolis on the border with mainland China and further tightening of national security laws.

Lam said the megacourt would be established in an existing government building “to handle cases involving a large number of defendants” until a planned new district court is commissioned in late 2027. She said work on the court, as well as supporting facilities, would begin early next year.

100-year-old Nazi concentration camp guard goes on trial

A former guard from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp is charged with complicity to murder in more than 3,500 instances.

In just a couple of years' time, there may be no one left to go on trial for their role in the Nazi killing machine. Either those suspected of involvement in the heinous crimes will no longer be alive or they will be unfit to face trial.

However, prosecutors in Germany are currently probing possible charges against 17 people for their alleged roles in Nazi crimes. Not a single one is under the age of 95. And, this week, a regional court in the northern German town of Neuruppin is the backdrop for the beginning of the trial against a 100-year-old former concentration camp guard.

Behind a ‘green façade’, Modi expands coal mining on India's tribal lands

The Indian government’s push to increase coal production to 1 billion tonnes in response to energy shortages has sparked a protest march by tribal villagers from forested areas up for coal mining. But their voices are being drowned out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s green messaging, which obscures India’s dark addiction to coal.

Hundreds of tribal villagers began a long protest march against government plans for a major coal mining expansion on their lands on October 2, an important holiday in India marking the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

“This land is our land! This land is our land!” chanted the men and women in Hindi as they navigated forest tracts, village paths, and state and national highways on a 300-kilometre (186-mile) trek to make their voices heard.

What does it take to get CEOs to stand against the death penalty?

With some of the biggest names in business signing up to end the death penalty, Al Jazeera speaks to the woman organising the effort.

By Radmilla Suleymanova

7 Oct 2021

Celia Ouellette is the founder and CEO of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), an organisation fighting to abolish the death penalty in the United States.

Ahead of World Day to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 10, RBIJ is unveiling the latest batch over 150 signatories to its Business Leaders’ Declaration Against the Death Penalty. Launched in May, the declaration has seen rock-star CEOs like Virgin’s Richard Branson, HuffPost’s Arianna Huffington, Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz and more vow to use their private-sector power to influence US lawmakers.

A global energy crisis is coming. There's no quick fix

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business

Updated 1143 GMT (1943 HKT) October 7, 2021

Astronomical increases in natural gas prices. Skyrocketing coal costs. Predictions of $100 oil.

A global energy crunch caused by weather and a resurgence in demand is getting worse, stirring alarm ahead of the winter, when more energy is needed to light and heat homes. Governments around the world are trying to limit the impact on consumers, but acknowledge they may not be able to prevent bills spiking.

Further complicating the picture is mounting pressure on governments to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy as world leaders prepare for a critical climate summit in November.