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From Our Own Correspondent: Murder in Bucha: a widow’s story

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07/05/2022 GMT

Murder in Bucha: a widow’s story

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Murder in Bucha: a widow’s story

A killing in Ukraine, plus stories from the Philippines, Singapore and El Salvador.

Two lives destroyed by a killing in Ukraine; online abuse surges before the Philippines’ presidential election; stories of crime and punishment from Singapore and El Salvador.

Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from BBC correspondents and reporters in Ukraine, the Philippines, Singapore and El Salvador. 

Bucha was once a prosperous dormitory suburb for workers in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. Now its name is a byword for the horrors of war. Yogita Limaye heard the story of one woman widowed by the Russian invasion. 

Before the presidential election in the Philippines, you might expect the political rhetoric to get hotter. But in the run-up to the vote, Howard Johnson and many other journalists working in the country also noticed a marked uptick in online abuse. The torrent of aggressive posts and messages on social media often seemed remarkably consistent, but is there evidence that it’s co-ordinated?

The city-state of Singapore is famously tough on crime, with a high-tech surveillance system, a strict penal code and stringent punishment for offenders. Its use of the death penalty for drug trafficking is popular with a majority of Singaporeans – but the recent execution of one Malaysian citizen moved some to express doubts in public. Saranjana Tewari reflects on what the case of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam revealed about the justice system.

More than 20,000 people have been arrested in El Salvador over the past month as the country mounts a huge campaign against the criminal gangs, or maras, whose violence has plagued it for years. The government’s brought in a 'state of exception' allowing it special powers to detain, try and sentence suspects. Mike Lanchin reported from El Salvador during its civil war, and recently went back on a family visit – to find it much changed, and particularly suspicious of anyone with a visible tattoo. 

Producer: Polly Hope
Production Co-Ordinator: Gemma Ashman

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