Six In The Morning 2 May 2022

 

Ukraine war: Hundreds trapped in Mariupol steelworks despite evacuations

Hundreds of people remain trapped in a steel plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, despite a group of evacuees leaving on Sunday.

The Azovstal plant, which has become the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the city, has been under intense Russian bombardment for weeks.

A commander at the plant, Denys Shlega, said while some civilians had been evacuated hundreds still remained.

He also said Russian forces had resumed heavy shelling of the area.

We are living in hell’: Pakistan and India suffer extreme spring heatwaves

April temperatures at unprecedented levels have led to critical water and electricity shortages

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad

For the past few weeks, Nazeer Ahmed has been living in one of the hottest places on Earth. As a brutal heatwave has swept across India and Pakistan, his home in Turbat, in Pakistan’s Balochistan region, has been suffering through weeks of temperatures that have repeatedly hit almost 50C (122F), unprecedented for this time of year. Locals have been driven into their homes, unable to work except during the cooler night hours, and are facing critical shortages of water and power.

Ahmed fears that things are only about to get worse. It was here, in 2021, that the world’s highest temperature for May was recorded, a staggering 54C. This year, he said, feels even hotter. “Last week was insanely hot in Turbat. It did not feel like April,” he said.

Spanish prime minister’s phone hit by Pegasus spyware, government says

Pedro Sanchez’s phone experienced two security breaches in May last year, government minister says

Zoe Tidman

The powerful “Pegasus” spyware has been detected on the Spanish prime minister’s phone, the country’s government has said.

Pedro Sanchez’s mobile phone was infected twice in May last year, the government minister for the presidency, Felix Bolanos, said.

He said Spain’s defence minister had also been affected by the spyware, which is used to snoop on communications and extract data from devices.

The security breaches resulted in a significant amount of data being obtained, Mr Bolanos added.

DW honors Ukrainian journalists Maloletka and Chernov for Mariupol reporting

Risking their lives, Evgeniy Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov documented Russia's siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The journalists are the 2022 recipients of DW's Freedom of Speech Award.

DW's Freedom of Speech Award 2022 will be given to the freelance photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka and to Associated Press videographer and photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov, who together documented the siege and destruction of the port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, as well as the work of doctors and undertakers, and the suffering of countless victims.

Their images of a maternity hospital destroyed by Russian bombs were seen around the world.

As tobacco demand dries up, Malawians turn to growing cannabis

Until recently, Falice Nkhoma was one of Malawi's many tobacco farmers. Now though, she has switched to growing what she hopes will be a more lucrative crop – cannabis. It comes as global demand for tobacco dwindles, a huge economic problem for a country that depends on the leaf for 70 percent of its export income.

China is obsessed with disinfection against Covid. But is it causing more harm than good?

By Simone McCarthy

Updated 1028 GMT (1828 HKT) May 2, 2022

Hazmat suit-clad workers spraying clouds of disinfectant over city streets, building fronts, park benches and even parcels have become a common sight in pandemic-era China.

In Shanghai, the epicenter of the country's largest outbreak, state media report that thousands of workers have been organized into teams to disinfect areas, with a focus on those known to have hosted Covid patients -- a move the government sees as key to curbing the spread of the Omicron variant.

But the practice often extends much further. Seemingly any outdoor area is at risk of being targeted by workers wielding leaf-blower-style disinfectant machines, as China's rigorous "zero-Covid" policy drives an obsession with sanitizing everything.