News report covering first of deaths from poverty (12)
I believe the answer is:
intelligence
'news' is the definition.
(intelligence can mean news or information)
'report covering first of deaths from poverty' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'report' could be 'tell' (to report is to tell someone about something) and 'tell' is found in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for intelligence that I've seen before include "Military information" , "Mental brightness" , "Secret information" , "Brains -- news" , "Covertly gathered information" .)