Excluded Headlines: Private energy companies in Syria, possible Gaza "ceasefire" amidst aid used as a weapon, more sanctions on Sudan...
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:
US, Qatari, and Turkish companies grab energy deals in Syria - Syria’s transitional government has signed a US$7 billion energy agreement for power plants in four provinces with a range of private regional and US firms. Source.
Colombia on strike for labour reform - Yesterday and today, unions, student and social organisations, and political parties went on strike in support of a referendum promoted by the president for labour reform that decreases working hours and promotes more stability. The protests follow the senate having voted against the changes. Source, source.
Gaza; possible temporary “ceasefire” - According to the US, Israel has agreed to a ceasefire, while at the time of writing, Hamas said the deal does not meet any of its demands, including halting the war, withdrawing troops, or allowing the free distribution of aid, but is under discussion nevertheless. In the terms of the deal, published by The Times of Israel just a few hours ago, Israeli hostages and Palestinian ones (“prisoners”) would be released, Israeli aerial activity would cease for 10-12 hours a day, and the IDF would be deployed in parts of Gaza. Source, source, source.
Gaza; aid used as a weapon - The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new organisation backed by the US and Israel, distributed aid in just four points, guarded by armed private security contractors working for a US company. Previously, the UN operated around 400 distribution points for the 2 million people in Gaza. None of the new distribution points are in northern Gaza, forcing people to walk tens of kilometres in extreme heat, and also prompting them to leave the north, which Israel wants to claim. Having starved people for the past few months by blocking aid, such conditions have provoked desperation and chaos. Further, a lack of water and electricity or gas to cook makes it close to impossible to use the tiny amounts of aid (such as dry lentils and rice) distributed to a few people. Israeli occupation forces killed ten starving people and injured 62 more over two days while they gathered in Rafah to receive aid. Source, source, source, source.
US imposes new sanctions on Sudan - Despite severely struggling as the civil war in the country enters its third year, the US announced new sanctions on Sudan, allegedly because it used chemical weapons. Following the announcement, prices surged in the country and the parallel currency market went into chaos. Meanwhile, a cholera outbreak in Khartoum has left at least 70 people dead in just two days, and at least seven Sudanese refugees, fleeing the war, were found dead in the Libyan desert. Source, source, source, source.
Israel building settlements in the West Bank - Israel plans to build 22 more illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Further, Israeli occupation forces have been carrying out a military assault on Tulkarm, in the West Bank for the past three to four months, and have so far displaced over 25,000 people and used machinery to destroy or damage 3,000 homes. Source, source.
Useful reads
'This Is Bad': Haiti Reportedly Hired Erik Prince to Help Kill Gang Members
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Trump’s New Gaza "Ceasefire" Proposal
Two years after leaving, I returned to a Khartoum I barely recognised
‘We Are Witnessing Ecocide in West Papua, One of the World’s Richest Biodiversity Centres’
Our People are Starving (South Africa)
Ecuador: Rights of Nature on Paper — The Case of Sarayaku
At least 10,000 killed in two years in north, central Nigeria: Amnesty
Coping with trauma in Lebanon, when the war never really ends
Sustam: PKK has evolved from a resistance group into a global people’s movement