German election: Young candidate MPs on climate and taxes

The pre-COP26 meeting is taking place in Milan where climate ministers are discussing key issues that will be addressed at the upcoming UN conference COP26. At the Youth4Climate conference, which finished on Thursday and was also in Milan, climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke of the “empty words and promises” of politicians, but also urged people…

A plane bound for Lithuania has been forcibly diverted while flying in Belarusian airspace. Opposition journalist Roman Protasevich was on board the plane and was arrested when it landed in the country’s capital, Minsk. Franak Viacorka, adviser to Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and friend of Mr Protasevich, said it showed the risk of flying…

Sweeping changes to Hong Kong’s electoral rules were “not a good sign” and have turned democratic progress “back to square one”, Lo Kin-hei of the Democratic Party said. “These kind of changes… made today is turning Hong Kong back for 20-odd years. “In the past 20 years there was some sort of progress in the…

India has seen more Covid cases in the last seven days than any other country as it battles its second wave. Hospitals have been overwhelmed with relatives begging for beds and oxygen for loved ones – now crematoriums are also running out of space. One man who lost his wife and unborn child on the…

A narrative of Indian exceptionalism led people to believe they were more immune to Covid-19, resulting in them taking fewer precautions and allowing the virus to spread rapidly in the country, the director of the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy has said. The country avoided a crisis last year due to a lockdown…

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary has covered events in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, from the US-led invasion to the fall of Kabul to Taliban militants earlier this month. He told BBC World News how repeated visits from the Taliban to his office had caused him and his family to go into hiding and then…