Hey, this is Sham, your very own news curator.
In issue #337, I pay attention to Ethiopia's Tigray region that is still at war, the opposition in Thailand and its efforts to finally legalize marriage equality and a respiratory disease in Chile that the government is allegedly having trouble containing. Plus: a sensational scientific discovery at a Costa Rican zoo, Colombia's Indigenous kids who survived 40 days alone in the jungle, Somalia's first all-women newsroom, a documentary about the world's most popular video game designer from Japan, Saudi sportswashing, Lebanese artswashing, and so much more.
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Estimated reading time: 10 min
You have access to all of my sources by clicking on what's underlined.
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Another report found that Ethiopia broke international law during the war in Tigray
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What happened
According to Human Rights Watch on June 1, Ethiopia has continued to commit war crimes in Western Tigray, despite a truce agreement that was signed on November 2, 2022. Ethiopia has dismissed these findings. The government says the report was not informed by thorough and credible investigations. But the evidence of war crimes in Tigray kept pouring in. Last week, Yale University released its own report. The university’s Lowenstein Human Rights Clinic found that Ethiopia, and its allies, broke international law during the Tigray war, by intentionally starving civilians.
Refresher: A war broke out in November 2020 in Ethiopia. Who fought whom? Regional forces from Tigray took up arms against Ethiopia’s federal army and its allies, including forces from the Amhara region and neighbouring Eritrea.
Why this matters
Fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region hasn't stopped since November 2020. In fact, there has been on-and-off conflict since then, causing the deaths of thousands of civilians and pushing hundreds of thousands towards severe hunger. By October 2022, the UN had recorded 47,000 refugees from Ethiopia in eastern Sudan (remember, there is a lot of fighting there now, too). The exact number of Tigrayans internally displaced is unknown.
Did you know that Ethiopia is one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world? It hosts more than 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers. More than half of them are children under 18.
Tell me more
Western Tigray (in Northern Ethiopia) is a very fertile and popular land. It's under Tigray’s authority but also claimed by ethnic Amharas as ancestrally theirs. This is not the first time forces aligned with Ethiopia’s federal government have been accused of forced expulsions and other rights abuses in Western Tigray. The UN-backed Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia issued a report in September 2022 saying there was evidence of widespread human rights violations by all sides during the fighting.
What can be constructive next steps?
Interviewed Tigrayans in the Human Rights Watch report expressed the need for justice and accountability, calling on the international community and the Ethiopian government to ensure that such atrocities never happen again. The Lowenstein Clinic urged the international community to condemn these actions and hold those responsible accountable. The report also demands an immediate stop to the conflict and unrestricted aid access to help the Tigrayan people.
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Thailand is very, very close to finally legalizing marriage equality
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What happened
 Bangkok Pride 2023 officially took place last week. Many thousands of LGBTQ+ people joined Pride celebrations in Bangkok last Sunday to celebrate gender diversity and advocate for their freedom and fundamental rights, such as gender recognition, same-sex marriage, the legalization of sex work and equal social welfare. Last week's Pride might be the last one before the country finally legalizes marriage equality.
Why this matters
Many people consider Thailand to be a LGBTQ+ paradise in Asia. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Thailand, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples do not get the same legal protections as other couples. About eight percent of the Thai population of around 72 million people are thought to belong to the LGBTQ+ community, according to this article.
What's the status quo?
Thai politics hasn't been ready for marriage equality yet but last month's election showed that Thai voters said "no" to Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has ruled the country for nine years, in favour of opposition parties promising reform, including greater LGBTQ+ rights such as equal marriage. Thailand’s Prime Minister-in-waiting Pita Limjaroenrat (leader of the Move Forward Party that won the most seats) has vowed to drive through an equal marriage act if he can form a government in July. Many people in Thailand believe this is a time of new hope for the LGBTQ+ community.
What problems do LGBTQ+ couples face now?
With no legal status, LGBTQ+ couples often feel insecure. If their life partner falls ill and requires an urgent operation, they do not have the right to authorize the surgery because their status is not legally recognized. Should their partner die, they have no right to a share of their assets no matter how long they lived together or if they accumulated the wealth together. And, if their partner is a civil servant, they will not enjoy the state benefits generally provided to civil servants’ family members.
Did you know that people in Thailand can already thai, um, tie the knot at Buddhist temples in the country? Thesen unions are not legally recognized marriage registrations, however. Their weddings regularly make headlines. Many LGBTQ+ people don't like the fact that they do. 'This is also a form of discrimination. Hetero marriages don't receive this kind of attention and scrutiny.'
Zoom out: In 2000, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages. Over the past three decades, in the face of growing gender awareness, many countries have followed suit. At present, 31 countries across the world, from France to Taiwan, have laws to endorse marriage equality. Meanwhile, in Japan, the Nagoya District Court recently ruled that not allowing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, becoming the second court to do so. Japan is the only G7 nation that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
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It's winter in Chile, and respiratory diseases are skyrocketing
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What happened
 It's winter in Chile. Four children have died from a respiratory disease called the respiratory syncytial virus, short RSV, in Santiago, Chile. It's the most severe outbreak of this virus in years. Children's doctors are very overwhelmed.
Why this matters
RSV kills around 100,000 newborns and tens of thousands of older people every year around the world. RSV is also the second most-common cause of death in children under one year of age after malaria.
Tell me more about the disease
Respiratory syncytial (pronounce: sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Almost all children will develop an RSV infection before they are two years old. Most recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants (younger than two years of age) and older adults.
Is there a vaccine for RSV?
Nope. The search for a vaccine began about 60 years ago. In February of this year, there was news of an experimental vaccine for the elderly by GSK called RSVPreF3 which shows promising results. 25,000 patients over 60 years of age tested it. Pfizer is testing one for pregnant women right now. But: Nearly all (97%) of RSV cases and deaths occur in low- or middle-income nations. While these vaccines may be approved soon in Europe and the U.S., it is not clear when it will reach these countries.
Why is there an outbreak now?
"There's a different immunological situation now, a greater vulnerability, and that leads us to have an unusually high circulation of this virus," Chile's Health Minister Ximena Aguilera said. Plus, it's winter-time, respiratory diseases tend to skyrocket during winter in Chile (and anywhere else), and Santiago (in a basin surrounded by hills) isn't really famous for its good air quality.
How is Chile handling this recent outbreak?
Not well. A report from Chile's Health Ministry last Friday showed that the average pediatric ICU bed capacity in the country had reached 94 percent. The government has recently issued a "How to recognize and prevent" guide to RSV for the public. The government has been criticized for moving too slow on a public health campaign before the start of winter in the southern hemisphere.
Did you know that the Covid-19 vaccines took months because the RSV vaccine takes decades? Nuño Domínguez for El País wrote about this very lucky scientific discovery.
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Pakistan: At least 25 people were killed and 145 others were injured after heavy rains caused houses to collapse across Pakistan. (AP)
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Vietnam: Several people were killed and several others were injured in a mass shooting at a police station in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Six people were arrested in connection with the shooting. (CNA)
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Haiti: 51 people were killed, 140 others were injured and eleven went missing after severe flooding in Haiti. (AP)
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Angola: Five people were killed and eight others were injured when police opened fire on taxi drivers protesting against high fuel prices in Huambo, Angola. At least 34 others were arrested during the protest, which was in response to the government's decision to cut fuel subsidies. (News24)
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El Salvador: The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador voted to reduce the number of legislative seats from 84 to 60 ahead of the 2024 general election. (Reuters)
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Rwanda: 88-year-old Félicien Kabuga, who is accused of having been a major financier of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, is deemed unfit for trial because he suffered "severe dementia", a United Nations war crimes court ruled last week. (BBC)
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South Africa / Zimbabwe: Just weeks before it expired, South Africa extended the validity of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) – a visa that allows over 200,000 Zimbabweans to live and work in the country. The extension is for six months only. ZEPs were granted to accommodate refugees fleeing economic devastation and political persecution in Zimbabwe, but have become a major political issue, with populist Afrophobic movements calling for Zimbabweans to be expelled. (The Continent, issue 128)
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South Korea: The Ministry of Justice said that it will submit a bill to parliament to lift the ban on carrying out death sentences after 30 years, although South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997. (Yonhap)
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Egypt / The Netherlands: The Egyptian antiquities ministry prohibited a group of archaeologists from the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands, from conducting excavations in Saqqara after the museum unveiled an exhibit about ancient Egyptian music that Egyptian authorities criticized for its Afrocentricdepictions of certain figures, claiming it was historical negationism. (CNN)
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Romania / Kenya: Romania recalled its ambassador to Kenya after he used a racist slur during a meeting with African Group representatives in Nairobi in April. (Al Jazeera)
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Sudan: Some 280 babies and 70 care workers were rescued this week from Khartoum’s Maygoma Orphanage. They were moved to Wad Madani, a safer location 200km away. (CNN)
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Equatorial Guinea: The World Health Organization announced that the outbreak of Marburg virus disease in Equatorial Guinea, which has killed 35 people since February, has ended. (CBC News)
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Costa Rica: In a report published in Biology Letters, scientists have documented the first-known instance of a “virgin birth” by a crocodile, which had been living in isolation for about 16 years at a Costa Rican zoo. Researchers suggest that the findings could provide insights into the reproduction of crocodile ancestors, including dinosaurs and pterosaurs. (Al Jazeera)
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Colombia: President Gustavo Petro confirmed the successful rescue of the four Witoto children who had been missing in the Amazon rainforest since the Cessna 206 they were traveling in crashed on May 1. The children were found alive but weak, while the bodies of the three adults accompanying them, including their mother, were found at the crash site. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)
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Somalia: It's hard to be a journalist in Somalia but it's especially hard to be a female journalist. Somalia's first all-women newsroom, Bilan Media, recently celebrated its first anniversary in April. Staffed by five female journalists and an editor, all under 30, they have covered stories from Somalia's extreme drought and living with AIDS, to climate change. (Bilan Media)
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Watch... the trailer of "Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds", a documentary about Hideo Kojima, one of the most lauded video game designers on the planet. If you don't know him, check out his games "Metal Gear Solid" and "Death Stranding". The film will feature "shots from the early days of our independent studio, memories from my childhood and my creative journey," Kojima wrote on Twitter. It will also feature some of his friends and collaborators, including film director Guillermo del Toro and actor Norman Reedus. The film will premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 17th.
Listen to... the podcast episode: "The Closer Weekly: The Saudis and the Soccer Team" by Project Brazen and PRX. Are you interested in sportswashing? If yes, buckle up. Expect: "A new kind of money is flooding into professional sports: sovereign wealth. Aimee and Ben check in on Saudi Arabia's ownership of Newcastle United – who have now qualified for the Champions League – and why sportswashing is so prevalent and successful for these investors." Ultimately, sporting acquisitions like these are likely to prove important for softening the image of a regime that recently executed 81 people in a single day.
Read... Article: "Where Art and Terror Collide" by Alexandra Bregman for Airmail. "Meet the alleged money-laundering, sanctions-evading Lebanese collector with a penchant for expensive art, blood diamonds, and, possibly, Hezbollah." That's the tagline, and if that doesn't make you want to get to know Nazem Said Ahmad, then nothing I will write will convince you otherwise. Bregman also references one of my most favorite articles, Ben Taub's "The Real Value of the ISIS Antiquities Trade" for The New Yorker in which he shares his research that all the arts stuff ISIS stole back then "hardly factored beyond US$100,000" – but everyone, specifically U.S. authorities, believed that ISIS was making tons of money with antiquities trade.
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"DLC" by Stray Kids just came out yesterday, and close to two million people have watched the music video on YouTube. Stray Kids is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment through the 2017 reality show of the same name. While one of many Korean idol groups inspired by hip hop and electronic dance music, Stray Kids have managed to make their mark on the music industry by creating their own no-color: the mala taste genre. 'Mala taste' originates from the word malatang, which is used to describe a popular Chinese spicy, numbing hot soup. (I'm hungry now.) Of course, I added the song to this newsletter's Spotify playlist, 'Go Global Weekly'.
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It's June! It's Pride Month!
Some people (mostly Conservatives) are calling for boycotts of companies that have expressed support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Do they know this former U.S. President Donald Trump 2020 Pride merchandise exists?
"Show your support for the LGBT community and the 45th President with this exclusive Make America Great Again Pride T-shirt," this listing read.
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That's it from me. I'm going to go to the movies now.
For the maps, say thanks to Wikimedia Commons.
Map 1: John Doe / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Map 2: John Doe / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Map 3: John Doe / CC-BY-SA-4.0
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Hey, I'm Sham, the person behind this newsletter. Since 2014, I email a bunch of strangers once a week, curating news headlines from Asia, Africa and Latin America. I work under the assumption that, here in the West (I live in Berlin, Germany), we don't read or know much about the global majority, aka the rest of the world.
My goal is to help you burst your Western-centric bubble.
If you want to know more about me, visit my website or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.
Questions or feedback? Just reply to this email. I intend to write back.
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