Two Spanish journalists and an Irish citizen have been killed after they were ambushed during an anti-poaching mission in Burkina Faso.
Reporter David Beriain, 44, and photographer Roberto Fraile, 47, had been filming a documentary.
Spanish media producer Movistar+ paid tribute to those killed including Mr Beriain, who had worked on a number of films for the company.
Image:Spanish journalist David Beriain was among those killed in the attack. Pic: Jose Carlos Cordovilla/Diario de Navarra via AP
The Irish citizen has been named as Zambian-born Rory Young, head of the anti-poaching organisation Chengeta Wildlife.
Mr Young was also the co-founder of Chengeta Wildlife, a charity that trains anti-poaching rangers in Africa and which said he had dedicated his life to wildlife protection.
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He was leading a patrol in Burkina Faso's Arly National Park when the team was attacked, the charity said in a statement.
The two journalists had been documenting Mr Young's efforts to protect wildlife, it said.
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A member of the Burkinabe armed forces also went missing on Monday when the convoy of security forces and forest rangers was ambushed. The soldier is still missing.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the ambush, but officials described the attackers as "terrorists".
The team that was attacked was part of a new joint army, police and forestry unit that had just gone through six months of training and was starting operations in conservation areas around Pama on the border with Benin and Togo.
Ireland's foreign ministry said it had been in contact with the family of Mr Young as well as with European Union and Spanish colleagues.
It said "the situation is complex" and added that officials are working with "relevant actors on the ground".
Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed the "worst of news" and paid tribute to the journalists and recognised their "brave and essential" work in zones of conflict.
The Burkinabe government has reported an increase in violence elsewhere in the past 72 hours, with around 10 civilians killed in a spate of armed raids on villages.
Burkina Faso, like much of West Africa's Sahel region, faces a deepening security crisis as groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State step up attacks on the army and civilians despite the presence of French and UN forces.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, faces mounting criticism for pressing ahead with construction work on the country’s new parliament building in Delhi, despite chaos in the capital as hospitals buckle with record Covid-19 infections.
India recorded 362,757 new cases this morning, setting another new record for the highest daily tally worldwide since the pandemic began. Another 3,200 Indians died yesterday with now more than 200,000 killed by the virus, with the true death toll thought to be much higher. Amid widespread allegations of a cover up, one state governor with Modi’s ruling party prompted uproar with comments that it was “pointless” to establish the true death toll, as “the dead won’t come back to life”.
Despite the growing crisis, with Delhi hospitals facing crippling shortages
A Porsche driver who filmed four police officers as they lay dying after a horrific crash has been jailed for 10 months.
Richard Pusey pleaded guilty to a rare charge of outraging public decency and other offences after filming the crash on the Eastern Freeway in the Australian city of Melbourne on 22 April last year.
But, having spent 296 days in custody, his sentence could be complete within days.
Pusey, a mortgage broker and property developer, had been pulled over for driving at 149kmph (92mph) and the officers had been discussing impounding his vehicle when they were hit by a truck.
Pusey, who had MDMA and cannabis in his system, had been urinating on the side of the road when the truck, driven by Mohinder Singh, drove into the emergency lane - and the officers and their vehicles.
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney were killed.
Pusey recorded two videos at the scene, a total of three minutes and eight seconds.
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He zoomed in on the officers' injuries and damaged cars, saying while filming a police car: "That is f***ing justice. Absolutely amazing, that is f***ing amazing."
Filming the truck, he said: "Look at that, man, you f***ing c***s. You c***s, I guess I'll be getting a f***ing Uber home, huh."
Prosecutors accepted he was not taunting the officers but they said he had refused requests to help the injured and to stop filming.
Image:Pusey was not hit by the truck as he was urinating on the side of the road
He told police the next day that he was ashamed of the videos and that he said offensive things because "that's how s**t comes out of my head".
In comments reported by Melbourne newspaper The Age, County Court judge Trevor Wraight said Pusey's words and actions had been "not only derogatory and horrible... but also callous and reprehensible".
The judge noted Pusey's personality disorders and shock at what he had seen, but said his actions were a long way from what would be considered normal: calling for emergency services and trying to help the dying officers.
He added: "Your conduct...was heartless, cruel and disgraceful."
Image:The truck had crashed into the four police officers
The other charges admitted by Pusey were speeding, possessing a drug of dependence, and reckless conduct endangering serious injury - related to him speeding on the same road a month earlier.
His lawyer Dermot Dann QC had suggested a good behaviour bond as punishment, citing time already served, the guilty plea, mental health problems, and the condemnation he had received from the media and the public.
The judge had said last month that Pusey was "probably the most hated man in Australia".
On Wednesday he imposed a 10-month jail term, a two-year good behaviour bond and a fine of $1,000 (£556) for the four charges.
His driving licence was also suspended for two years.
The truck driver, Singh, who was impaired by fatigue and drugs, was jailed for 22 years after admitting four charges of culpable driving causing death among other offences.
And Mr Morrison also said his country would be teaming up with the United States in expanded war games aimed at ensuring both nations were battle-ready. In an announcement that comes amid an increasingly bitter diplomatic and trade spat with China, Mr Morrison said Australia must expand its military assets in the Northern Territory to be able to respond to unspecified tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
A total of A$747million (£418million) is being invested, he announced.
Mr Morrison told reporters: "Our objective is a free and open Indo-Pacific, to ensure a peaceful region, one that, at the same time, Australia is in a position to always protect its interests.”
He avoided naming China - but Australia's prioritising of the Indo-Pacific comes against a backdrop of increasing competition between the two in the region in recent years.
Relations deteriorated sharply last year, after Canberra demanded an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, triggering trade reprisals by Beijing.
Mr Morrison said an airstrip in the Northern Territory will be lengthened to support larger aircraft, firing ranges overhauled and new training facilities developed for both Australia’s own defence personnel and US marines.
The military upgrades will get underway this year and are scheduled to be completed by 2026.
The funds come from an Australian defence plan which will see Canberra spend $270 billion in the next decade to improve Canberra's long-range strike capabilities, with the country increasing defence spending by 40 percent over the course of the next decade.
Speaking last year, Mr Morrison said the extra funding was needed as the Asia-Pacific region was experiencing the greatest level of economic and strategic uncertainty since World War II - again, without singling out China.
Australia's assertive approach has gone down well in Washington, and Morrison said the new facilities will enhance joint military drills with the US
More than 2,000 US Marines have already travelled to northern Australia to take part in annual joint training activities.
Australia and the United States also hold war games twice a year, with the next due to begin in August.
In the past, more than 30,000 troops have taken part in the drills, which happen off Australia's east coast.
Michael Goldman, Charge d'Affaires at the US embassy in Canberra, said: "The United States and Australia have been deeply engaged in defence cooperation for over half a century.
"We will continue to look for additional ways to partner with Australia, as our ally, to advance the security and prosperity of Americans, Australians, and the peoples of the Indo-Pacific region."
The announcement comes hard on the heels of a claim by Mike Pezzullo, Australia’s Home Affairs Department Secretary, that liberal democracies must brace themselves for war.
Mr Pezzulo did not offer a specific reason for his remark, but tensions with China, particularly centred on Taiwan, are almost certainly a factor.
Speaking on Sunday, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton also said a conflict between China and Taiwan "should not be discounted".
Last week the Australian Government used new powers to block up two deals struck between the state of Victoria and Beijing in accordance with the Belt and Road outward investment initiative.
The move prompted an angry reaction from the Chinese embassy in Australia, which branded the move “provocative”
In a statement, it claimed the decision was "bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself."
It added: “It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations.”
There's growing concern that India's official tally of coronavirus deaths does not match what grieving relatives and others are seeing on the ground.
India has continued to post alarmingly high global record numbers of coronavirus cases, with more than 300,000 every day for the past week.
But its deaths are still low in comparison to its huge one-billion-plus population (around 190,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic).
Image:One ambulance brought five bodies to the site
Image:Its driver says he is transporting '10 to 12' bodies daily from just one hospital
We've visited a number of crematoriums over the past few days - in Delhi, and in Ghaziabad in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
In both places we found what appeared to be underreporting of the number of bodies coming into the crematoriums for funerals.
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In around one hour in the Electric Crematorium in east Delhi we counted at least 30 active or prepared pyres with bodies entombed underneath the wood. Several ambulances transporting bodies arrived whilst we were there.
We spotted a single ambulance with five bodies stacked inside it. One ambulance driver from a private hospital said he was transporting "10 to 12" bodies daily - from just one of the Indian capital's hospitals.
Yet when we inquired about how many deaths were registered that day, we were told 20. The figure was a miscalculation for just the hour that we were there, never mind the entire day.
Delhi death rates are hovering around the 400 mark per day, but many we spoke to - as well as other commentators - seem convinced the numbers are far higher.
Image:Crematorium authorities said 20 bodies had been registered but Sky News saw more in one hour
One mourner, Amit Kaushik, told us: "The Delhi government says that 380 peoples are dying every day from coronavirus but it's actually around 1,000… more than 1,000."
The general secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors, West Bengal, told the UK's Observer newspaper: "The figures on COVID infections that the government is releasing are actually an underestimate."
Dr Manas Gumta went on: "A huge suspected COVID-positive population is certainly staying away from the tests. I believe the actual number of people dying of COVID is two to three times higher than what the government is reporting."
In Uttar Pradesh, our researchers counted about 25 bodies awaiting funerals at the Hindon crematorium in Ghaziabad and another eight which were lit.
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Mass cremations held in India
Whilst inquiring about the official tally, the person in charge insisted they were dealing with only about six funerals daily on average.
When our researcher challenged him on this, he was informed, "we've been told to give that (lower) number by higher authorities".
We have repeatedly tried to reach the capital's municipal authorities, and the Indian government insists figures are all faithfully recorded and without interference.
A Twitter video doing the rounds in India shows furious relatives apparently attacking hospital workers after one of the family died from coronavirus before a bed could be found.
A second shows the floors of a hospital corridor splattered with blood after the fracas when health workers were apparently beaten by the same unnamed relatives.
There is much anger throughout the country as the nation struggles to cope with this deadly virus ripping through its people, and which is bringing its health service to its knees.
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The desperate hunt for oxygen in India
The scarcity of beds, the acute shortage of basic supplies like oxygen, the rampant black marketing as vital medicines double and triple in price is straining the faith of people who are reeling from the ferocity of this pandemic.
The west Delhi private hospital we visited a day ago, the Aakash Health Care Super Speciality Hospital, put out a red flag about its oxygen supplies.
Every doctor we spoke to there told us of their concern about oxygen supplies and how they were living on tenterhooks about when they would need to source more.
It is this desperate search for such a basic commodity of life which has enraged Indians and left them questioning and challenging the government's preparedness for this second surge.
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Tents put up in hospital car parks to cope with demand
Now, as they struggle to find places to bury their dead, as they roam around their capital trying to find a crematorium where they can cremate their loved ones and pay their last respects, they're starting to also question the accuracy of death statistics which do not seem in sync with their own experiences.
"There's no hospital beds available," said Amit Kaushik.
"And now for cremation, we searched two or three but there are no spaces… and finally we came here and we've been waiting for the last two or three hours… just for a space."
A graveyard worker who's been working on the ground, extending the crematorium by a hundred plots, told us he had observed multiple bodies and multiple funerals.
"So many people are dying and brought here," he told us. "Daily, at least 250 to 300 bodies are brought here… we see it."
Image:Workers are extending the crematorium to cope with the demand
Image:This man says they see at least 250 to 300 bodies brought there each day
There is a searing shock over the suddenness of all this and the country's citizens are in the midst of the whole world's worst nightmare about this pandemic.
"Eighty per cent of the deaths are due to the medical negligence here," one mourner who's lost five relatives to COVID told us.
Nishant Wadhwan said: "What I have realised is, we could have saved our relatives. They were in hospital and they did not get the proper care that they wanted because of the lack of oxygen, lack of medicines, lack of injections… and people are dying here."
And just why this has happened will be down to the Indian authorities to answer.
Brussels warned that its trade deal with the UK would allow the EU to hit British goods with tariffs if Boris Johnson fails to honour post-Brexit obligations on Northern Ireland, as MEPs moved to ratify the treaty.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Tuesday, ahead of the vote to approve the 1,449 page trade and co-operation agreement, that the deal would equip the bloc with new ways to exert pressure on Britain.
She said this included extra powers to address violations of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, part of the 2019 Brexit deal, which avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland. The protocol means the creation of a trade frontier in the Irish Sea, which even before its full implementation has led to disruption and friction for businesses in the region, contributing to a wave of unrest.
MEPs earlier this year put ratification of the trade agreement on hold in protest against threats by the UK government unilaterally to extend the grace period to implement the protocol. Last month, the European Commission launched legal action against the UK after it granted extended waivers from some of the protocol’s rules.
Von der Leyen told MEPs that ratification would “give us the tools we need to ensure full and faithful compliance with the obligations which both sides signed up to”, adding that it would “also focus minds on finding pragmatic solutions where they are needed, most urgently around the [Northern Ireland] protocol”.
MEPs are expected to approve the text of the trade deal — which has been in provisional force since Britain left the EU single market at the end of 2020 — by a comfortable majority when voting opens on Tuesday evening, clearing the way for its formal adoption by the EU.
Britain’s trade deal with the EU was sealed during frantic negotiations in the last days of December 2020. The UK parliament voted the agreement through in a single day in order to ensure that its benefits, including tariff-free trade on British and EU-made goods, were in place for the end of the country’s post-Brexit transition period. But the European Parliament insisted on more time for scrutiny.
Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s Brexit commissioner, told MEPs that the powers in the trade deal that could be used to hold the UK to account included “cross retaliation and suspension of market access in the case of breach of the good faith obligation to implement the withdrawal agreement, including the protocol”.
The result of the parliament vote will be announced on Wednesday morning.
Both sides are under pressure to find ways to ease tensions in Northern Ireland caused by the protocol arrangements, which have been denounced by the region’s unionist politicians. Along with paperwork and checks on trade, other irritants have included problems with parcel deliveries and restrictions on travelling with pets.
Von der Leyen said she was “glad to report some progress” in talks with the UK on a joint implementation plan, adding that “in recent days and weeks we have seen a new constructive dynamic”.
“The next step is to mutually agree on a compliance path with concrete deadlines and milestones,” she said. “The EU is steadfast in its determination to make it work.”
Tuesday’s vote was also an opportunity for the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, to reflect on the outcome of four years of talks with the UK.
Britain’s decision to leave was a “warning,” he said. “It’s a failure of the EU, and we have to learn the lessons.”
