This week's biggest stories from the global south: Kenya protest, Bolivia wildfires, Thailand legalises same-sex

Africa

Tensions rise in Tanzania as police crackdown on opposition protests over alleged killings

Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, faced a heavy crackdown on Monday, September 23, as riot police were deployed across key areas of Dar es Salaam to prevent planned protests. Read more here.

DR Congo artist uses religious symbolism to condemn prison conditions

A 28-year-old Congolese artist, Niamba Malafi is using religious symbolism and art to denounce the harsh realities of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s prison system. In a dramatic performance with his crew, Malafi carried a heavy wooden cross on his shoulders, to symbolise the burden inmates endure at Makala, the country’s largest prison. Read more here.

Activists keep Kenya’s protest revolution alive on public buses, slums

A street poet and two activists are keeping the spirit of recent protests alive in Nairobi through a civic movement on public buses and discussions in local slums. They use spoken word and community organising to engage residents, in a bid to promote accountability and participation in Kenya’s political process. Read more here.

Latin America

Bolivia wildfires set to blaze past record as forests burn

Wildfires in Bolivia are now running on a track to set an all-time record, the latest satellite data show, with fire hot spots to date overtaking the rate in the same period during major blazes in 2010 as the wider South American region burns. Read more here.

Researchers uncover remains of Ice Age mastodons in Peru

The fossilised remains of three mastodons from the Ice Age have been uncovered in the Peruvian Andes, raising questions as to how the behemoths arrived in the area. Excavations starting in 2019 uncovered the behemoths, believed to be between 11,000 and 12,000 years old, in the valley of the town of Chambara, about 300 km (186 miles) east of Lima. Read more here.

More migrants arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands despite rising death tolls

More migrants are trooping into Spain’s Canary Islands using boats. Despite the many deaths recorded from these migrant journeys, people within several sub-Saharan African countries keep moving from their countries seeking greener pastures. AFP reports that a boat carrying migrants capsized off Spain's Canary Islands on September 27, killing at least nine people and leaving 48 missing. Read more here.

Asia

Ex-Singapore minister pleads guilty to corruption charges

Former Singaporean Transport Minister, S. Iswaran has pleaded guilty to bribery charges in a graft trial. The trial was the first of a political office holder in over four decades. The minister who helped bring Formula 1 to the city-state was hit with 35 charges related to corruption widely cited as one of the least corrupt in the world. Read more here.

Disabled Indian artisans find creative means of tackling waste pollution

In India, one of the world's top plastic polluters, a group of artisans is tackling the waste problem through creative upcycling. At a workshop north of New Delhi, 28-year-old Ram Babu, an amputee, transforms discarded cigarette packets into papier-mâché candles. Babu, who lost his leg in a 2005 train accident, credits his father and the Society for Child Development for helping him find a new purpose. Read more here.

Thailand becomes the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage

Thailand has become the first Southeast Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage after King Maha Vajiralongkorn granted royal assent to the law on September 24. Set to take effect in 120 days, the first marriage is expected to be recorded in January 2025. The legislation allows for gender-neutral marriage terms in place of “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives” and includes adoption and inheritance rights for same-sex couples. Read more here.