This week's biggest stories from the Global South: Syrian mass graves, medicine shortage in Cuba, aftermath of Tsunami in India

Name: This week's biggest stories from the Global South: Syrian mass graves, medicine shortage in Cuba, aftermath of Tsunami in India
Uploaded: 2024-12-22T18:24:51.725Z
Duration: PT56.639S
Description: We bring you a compilation of this week's biggest stories across all topics within the Global South.

We bring you a compilation of this week's biggest stories across all topics within the Global South.

Asia

Cambodia to grant Japan visitation rights to China-linked naval base

Cambodia's parliament votes to confirm new prime minister — Hun Sen speaks at a press conference at the National Assembly after a vote to confirm his son, Hun Manet, as Cambodia's prime minister in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, August 22, 2023. REUTERS/Cindy Liu/ File Photo

Cambodia's influential former Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday that Japan would be granted visitation rights to the country's Ream Naval Base, a facility the United States is concerned could become a military outpost for China. Read more here.

Twenty years after the tsunami, pain lingers on India’s coast

Two decades after the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004, Maragathavel Lakshmi still struggles with the trauma of losing her daughter and home on India’s southern coast. The disaster, triggered by a massive undersea earthquake, sent waves up to 40 meters (130 feet) high crashing into villages, including Akkaraipettai in Tamil Nadu state, where Lakshmi lived. Read more here.

Africa

Sudan’s women filmmakers are telling stories of resilience with just smartphones

Sudan's grassroots aid network targeted as it tries to fend off famine — FILE PHOTO: Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts, in Omdurman, Sudan, May 13, 2024. REUTERS/Mazin Alrasheed/File Photo

Far from the frontlines of Sudan’s devastating conflict, a new generation of amateur women filmmakers is emerging in the city of Port Sudan. Equipped only with smartphones, these women have created three short documentaries highlighting themes of education, independence, and community resilience. Read more here.

Indian opposition's Rahul Gandhi faces police probe over parliament scuffle

FILE PHOTO: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's campaing rally in South Kashmir — FILE PHOTO: Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader of India's main opposition Congress party, addresses his supporters during an election campaign rally ahead of the first phase of the assembly election, in Doru village in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, September 4, 2024. REUTERS/Sharafat Ali/File Photo

India's Rahul Gandhi is under police investigation over a scuffle between opposition members of parliament and those from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which injured two lawmakers, police said on December 20. Read more here.

Africa

Syrian mass graves expose "machinery of death" under Assad, top prosecutor says

Fighters of the ruling Syrian body inspect the site of a mass grave from the rule of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Najha — Fighters of the ruling Syrian body inspect the site of a mass grave from the rule of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, according to residents, after the ousting of al-Assad, in Najha, Syria, December 17, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

An international war crimes prosecutor said on December 17 that evidence emerging from mass grave sites in Syria has exposed a state-run "machinery of death" under toppled leader Bashar al-Assad in which he estimated more than 100,000 people were tortured and murdered since 2013. Read more here.

Several children killed in stampede at Nigerian holiday fair

Seyi Makinde Oyo State Governor — Source: Twitter/@seyiamakinde

Several children lost their lives in a stampede during a holiday funfair on December 18 in Basorun, Oyo State, southwestern Nigeria, officials have confirmed. Governor Seyi Makinde announced that security forces have arrested the organisers. Read more here.

Kenyan man sentenced to 50 years in jail for killing LGBTQ activist

Kenyan court finds housemate of slain LGBTQ activist Chiloba guilty of murder in Eldoret — Jacktone Odhiambo accused in the murder of his housemate, LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiptoo, popularly known as Chiloba, sits in the dock at the Eldoret High Court in the Rift valley town of Eldoret, Kenya December 16, 2024. REUTERS/James Keyi

A Kenyan court has sentenced a man to 50 years in prison after he was convicted of the murder of gay rights activist Edwin Kiptoo nearly two years ago. Kiptoo's killing in early 2023 sent shockwaves through the LGBTQ community in the conservative East African nation. Read more here.

Latin America

Cuba faces severe medicine shortage

medicine supply lybia AI — Source: AI with DALL-E

Cuba is struggling with a major shortage of medicines, a top health official confirmed. According to María Cristina Lara Bastanzuri, the national director for Medical Technology and Medications, the lack of financing and resources has accounted for the problem. Read more here.

El Salvador says it will keep buying bitcoin despite IMF warning

Short on cash, El Salvador continues Bitcoin dream — Members of a local Bitcoin community, gather in a local cafe in Berlin, El Salvador, January 24, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo

El Salvador said on Thursday it would keep buying bitcoin, possibly at an accelerated pace, a day after the government reached a financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund that had said it should limit its exposure to the cryptocurrency. Read more here.

Colombia unveils Latin America's largest 3D-printed image of Christ

A new 11-metre statue of Christ has been mounted in Commune 13, a neighbourhood once known for violence in Medellín, Colombia. Called "El Cristo Paisa," the sculpture is the largest 3D-printed statue of Christ in Latin America. It was built using 1,700 3D-printed pieces by a team of young artists and engineers. Read more here.

Wonder Hagan