Excluded Headlines: 4-day work week for Chile, rich people causing water crises...
Stay up to date on the global news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlooks, with journalist and author, Tamara Pearson.
This week in the under-covered and downplayed news about the Global South:
Chile gets 4-day work week - Chile’s congress passed a four-day work week and 40 hours, as well as increased overtime wages. The work week was previously 45 hours, while the 4x3 system will be allowed rather than enforced. The law will come into force on May 1, and employers will have five years to gradually transition. Many countries in Latin America have 6-day, 48-hour weeks. Source, source.
Public Colombian company to produce vaccines after 20 years - Global South countries often depend on importing vaccines from other countries with greater access to technology, but now the Colombian government has announced it will start producing its own vaccines by 2025. Source.
Ghana approves life-changing malaria vaccine - While other malaria vaccines have been found to be only moderately affective, Ghana is the first country to give the go ahead to a vaccine scientists say is highly effective. Malaria kills about 620,000 people each year. Source.
Yemen war could finally be drawing to a close - After nearly 9 years, a Saudi delegation and Omani negotiators have arrived in Sanaa with the aim of resolving the war. Still, the Saudis, via the Yemen government, control around 55% of Yemen, including oil and gas fields. Source, source, source.
Rich people and elites in South Africa and other countries are a main cause of water crises - A recent study has found that urban water shortages are not caused by population growth but instead excess water use by minority elites. In Cape Town, wealthy households use drinking water for swimming pools, while others go with out. Households in another region of South Africa have gone without water for three months now. Source, source, source.
Peruvian Indigenous communities reject the privatisation of lithium - Interestingly, just months after a coup against a left-leaning president in Peru, the new Peruvian government plans to grant lithium exploration permits to Macusani Yellowcake, subsidiary of Canada’s American Lithium Corp. “We can’t allow our natural resources to continue to be given away,” said Rubén Apaza Añamuro, an Indigenous council spokesperson. Source.
Argentinians protest the IMF - On Wednesday, people in Buenos Aires demanded that any agreements with the IMF be broken and external debt not be paid. Activists from various movements and organisations argued that the IMF debt, paid in US dollars, only hurt the people of the country, who earn local currency, and their access to health, education, and decent wages. There was also a demand for a universal wage, in order to end poverty. Elsewhere around the country, there were also marches, strikes, and road blocks. Brazil’s president Lula spoke out against the IMF debt as well, saying that it is suffocating the country, along with record inflation levels. Source, source, source.
So far 2023 has been a deadly year for refugees - The number of people fleeing to Europe via the Mediterranean has been five times higher so far this year than last year. The International Organisation for Migration also said this year has been the deadliest year since 2017. Some 441 deaths have been documented from January to March, but the real figure is likely higher. A lot of people are fleeing extreme inflation and increased poverty levels in northern Africa, as well as conflict in Eastern Africa and the Middle East. Source, source.