Excluded Headlines: Egypt sells whole town, Ecuador decriminalises euthanasia, Argentina protesters' victory ...
And various important elections this week! Stay up to date on the global news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlook, with author and journalist, Tamara Pearson.
In this week’s Global South news:
Argentinian protests defeat austerity law, but intimidation follows - After last week’s national strike and days of mobilizations, people have defeated far-right president Milei’s anti-worker Omnibus Bill, with the congress voting against it. In response, Milei has been using social networks to post intimidating, threatening, and insulting messages against those he is calling “traitors.” Source, source, source.
Bukele wins El Salvador elections - Bukele is very popular in his country, and declared he won the elections quite quickly on social media on Sunday, though there still aren’t any final results. Source.
No clear winner in Costa Rica elections - Costa Rica also held elections on Sunday, with a participation rate of 33%, and no presidential candidates obtaining enough votes to avoid a runoff in April. Source.
123 people have died in Chile fires - The fires hit the central region of the country, in and around Valparaiso. Many locals blame corporate interests like real estate and mining for the intentional fires. Also former right-wing president Sebastian Piñera died in a helicopter crash. Source, source.
Blasts in Pakistan as country votes - Two explosions near electoral candidates' offices in Balochistan killed 26 people and wounded many more on Wednesday, as the country votes today. At the time of writing, results were just coming in and former PM Shehbaz Sharif had won his constituency. Source, source.
Egypt sells whole town - In need of foreign currency to alleviate currency problems, the Egyptian government has sold a whole Mediterranean town to UAE investors for US$22 billion. Source.
At one year since earthquake in Turkiye/Syria that killed 55,000, rebuilding is slow - Buildings and roads were damaged and some 700,000 people left homeless. Despite President Erdogan’s promise that newly built houses would be provided to those people, critics say the conditions are still very bad, with many victims living in container cities and tents. Agriculture accounting for 20% of the country’s total was devastated in the earthquake. A month later, workers began to repair water pipelines and now 80% have been repaired. Source, source.
Security forces kill protestors in Haiti - On Tuesday, protesters in Haiti had given the US-backed prime minister until the next day to leave office. But security forces fired tear gas and bullets on protesters, dispersing them and killing six, while injuring many more. Further protests were called for today. Source,
Kenya to deploy troops to Haiti in a week - Despite the country’s High Court ruling against the move, the Kenyan government will deploy security forces to Haiti in a week. Some Kenyans have vowed to protest and stand by their Haitian “brothers and sisters”, arguing that their government is selling the country’s foreign policy to the highest bidder, namely the US. Source.
Ecuador decriminalises euthanasia - The country’s Constitutional Court ruled that euthanasia was no longer illegal yesterday. Doctors will now no longer be punished for providing a humane death to consenting patients who have serious and incurable physical illnesses or afflictions. Source.
Israeli PM rejects ceasefire, orders offensive against Rafah - Most Palestinians are living in Rafah, near the southern border of Gaza, and attacks would be devastating. The PM said he won’t end the war on Gaza until his country achieves “total victory.” Israel also launched missile attacks on Homs and surrounding areas in Syria on Wednesday morning, killing scores of civilians and destroying significant civilian infrastructure. Source, source, source.
Senegal election deferred - On February 3, President Sall announced an indefinite suspension of the presidential election due on February 25. Two days later, after opposition deputies were forcibly removed from parliament by security forces, the chamber voted to push the polls to December 15. More than 200 opposition politicians and protesters have been arrested since the announcement. Source. source.