what happened last week in Asia, Africa and the Americas

Hey, this is Sham, your very own news curator. You are receiving the free version of what happened last week today. If you're missing the rest of the issue, like you-want-to-sing-it-a-Céline Dion-song-level of 'I miss you so much, rest of Sham's newsletter', you can become a monthly or a yearly VIP Member here, and I'll send you the rest of it.

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what happened last week

Bad

China: Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack aged 68. He was the country’s second-highest-ranking official until his retirement in March, serving two terms alongside leader Xi Jinping. (SCMP)

DRC: More than 4 million people were displaced within Congo because of conflict in 2022, the most in Africa and second in the world only to Ukraine, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. Of nearly 100,000 people who arrived at displacement sites near the eastern city of Goma in July, nearly 60% were women and girls, according to the International Organization for Migration. Sexual violence by armed men against displaced women is on the rise in eastern Congo. (AP) Recently, M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, October 26, launched a new offensive north of the provincial capital Goma. The United Nations says the offensive has displaced almost 200,000 people since October 1. (Le Monde)

Sudan: Sudan's health ministry reports over 100 deaths from cholera and dengue fever outbreaks since August, with conflict exacerbating healthcare challenges and leading to 70% of hospitals in war-affected areas becoming non-operational. (AFP via The Straits Times) In the same week, the Rapid Support Forces captured Nyala and the rest of South Darfur, marking a strategic victory for the RSF. (BBC) Sudan is undergoing one of "the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history," a United Nations official said last week. The war between the government and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has been going on for six months now: 9,000 people are believed to have died and 5.6 million are displaced. (ABC)

We'll see

Myanmar: Various armed groups across Myanmar, including the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Arakan Army, and local defense groups, launched an offensive in northern Shan State and capture several towns and junta outposts. (The Irrawaddy) In the same week, Myanmar police arrested 95 individuals in Yangon during a crackdown on online scams which have targeted Chinese citizens and those of other Southeast Asian nations. (AFP via Prothom Alo)

El Salvador: Incumbent Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele officially registers his 2024 re-election campaign with the Supreme Electoral Court. (Reuters)

Malaysia: Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of Johor was selected as Malaysia's 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong by the nation's royalty, set to be inaugurated following the end of the current king's term on 31 January 2024. (AFP via Dawn)

Good

Ethiopia: The Ethiopian-born scientist Gebisa Ejeta was awarded the National Medal of Science, the United States’ top scientific honor, for his contribution to plant genetics. "When I went to school away from home, invariably I was hungry," he once told the BBC. "Recalling grade school, I can count the number of days where I had breakfast." (BBC)

Costa Rica: Costa Rica remains among the top 5 nations ranked for Internet Freedom according to the political advocacy nonprofit Freedom House. The country fell one place as the report highlighted president Rodrigo Chaves’ use of internet trolls during his 2022 election campaign. (Delfino)

Guatemala: A Guatemalan appeals court overturned a six-year prison sentence handed down in June to José Ruben Zamora, the founder of one of the country's top newspapers. He had been found guilty of money laundering. Many press freedom groups denounced this trial. His legal ordeal is not yet over, but this is good news for now. (CNN Español)

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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 the Americas. 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.

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