Excluded Headlines: Amazon fires, Lebanon in darkness, oil spill fallout in the Philippines...
Stay up to date on the Global South news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlook, with author and journalist, Tamara Pearson.
In this week’s Global South news:
Over 42,000 forest fires in the Amazon so far this year - Severe drought is an aggravating factor, and smoke has engulfed Porto Velho city for days. The figure is the highest number of fires since 2008. The government has deployed 1,500 firefighters to the area. Source, source, source.
Lebanon goes dark after power production units shut down - Lebanon has largely run out of fuel and so its utility company had to announce a nationwide outage, including airports, ports, water treatment stations, and drinking water pumps. There have been increasing outages in Lebanon over the past few years as the government has struggled to provide foreign currency for fuel imports. Source, source.
Low-lying Pacific island nations face a threat of annihilation from rising sea levels - UN secretary-general António Guterres warned in Samoa that islands in the region face rising sea levels, cyclones, ocean heatwaves, and other dangers driven by the climate crisis. Source.
Coastal residents struggle after oil spill disaster near Manila, Philippines - Nearly a month after oil spills in Cavite and Bataan provinces, over 50,000 fishers are struggling to survive following a health-motivated ban on fishing. An oil tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel sank on July 25 off Bataan, then another tanker with 55,000 litres of diesel capsized, and a third tanker was abandoned. That all took place in relation to Typhoon Carina, and resulted in an oil spill covering 84 square kilometres, impacting half of Manila Bay. Source.
4,000 Indigenous representatives travel to Bogota - Given the violence they are experiencing in Cauca, Colombia, the representatives have gone to the capital to ask for dialogue with the government. Some 10 land defenders have been killed in the region and the representatives also want their own education, health, and judicial systems to be strengthened. Source.
Mozambique spends US$704 million on post cyclone reconstruction - So far, the government has only spent just over half the necessary money needed for construction after Cyclone Idai hit in 2019 and caused severe flooding in the region and at least 1,593 deaths. The government has rebuilt schools, homes, roads, bridges, and electricity lines. Source.
Mass shooting in Nigeria - Armed men killed at least 13 farmers during an attack in north-central Nigeria. An official said the killings likely occurred because the farmers allegedly provided information to authorities about the armed men. There are battles over water and land in the region. Source.
Useful reads:
500 days of war in Sudan: Why has the world forgotten its largest humanitarian crisis?
I have been forcibly displaced 12 times by Israel’s war in Gaza - first hand account
Birds Abandon the Sky of Syria: “Timid” Initiatives to Save Them
Drought is devastating southern Africa’s crops: why it’s happening and what can be learned
The Politics of Water Under Occupation
Global Wealth Tax Could Raise $2.1 Trillion Annually for Climate Action and More
How US Big Tech monopolies colonized the world: Welcome to neo-feudalism
The economics behind the fall of autocracy in Bangladesh
Why is Washington Sanctioning Former Haitian President Martelly Now?
Uganda Ponders Lessons From Deadly Garbage Landslide