This week's biggest stories from the global south: Cholera devastates Sudan, Singapore wine investment scam, cat caught smuggling drugs
We bring you a compilation of this week's biggest stories across all topics within the Global South.
Kenyan health sector faces $350m budget crisis, threatening HIV services
Kenya’s health sector is faced with a severe $355 million budget deficit that threatens to disrupt critical services, including HIV and tuberculosis treatment, vaccine procurement, and the employment of thousands of healthcare workers under the country’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) initiative. Read more here.
Trump confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa with false claims of white genocide
U.S. President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 21, with explosive false claims of white genocide and land seizures during a tense White House meeting that was reminiscent of his February ambush of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Read more here.
Cholera devastates Sudan’s capital amid conflict, power outages, and water scarcity
Sudan’s Ministry of Health has reported a rise in cholera cases in the capital region, particularly in Karrari locality (Omdurman) and Jabal Awliya, south of Khartoum amid ongoing water crises and weakened public health infrastructure. Read more here.
Asia
China to give $500 million to WHO in next 5 years, official says
China will give an additional $500 million to the World Health Organisation over five years, an official told the World Health Assembly on May 20, as the U.N. agency seeks extra funding to offset the expected loss of its top donor, the United States. Read more here.
Singapore wine investment scam: Man jailed for siphoning $12.7 million
A Singaporean businessman, Eldric Ko, was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison for orchestrating a fraudulent wine investment scheme that defrauded over 200 investors of S$17 million (approximately US$12.67 million) between 2008 and 2011. Read more here.
Bangladesh's Yunus could quit over lack of reform progress, student leader says
Bangladesh's de-facto prime minister has threatened to step down if political parties cannot agree on reforms that citizens await with growing impatience, a top student leader has said, deepening uncertainty in the wake of deadly protests last year. Read more here.
Latin America
Cat caught smuggling drugs into Costa Rica prison
Prison guards in Costa Rica have captured a cat used to smuggle drugs into a jail, in an incident that has shocked and amused the public.The black-and-white cat was spotted near the Pococí Penitentiary, moving suspiciously close to the barbed wire fence. When officers stopped the animal, they found marijuana, heroin and rolling papers strapped to its body with tape. Read more here.
How Brazil dismantled a Russian 'spy factory' training deep cover operatives
A Russian spy operation based in Brazil has been exposed, leading to the dismantling of a network involved in training new intelligence recruits. Nine operatives were uncovered living in Brazil under false identities, according to a recent investigation by the New York Times. Read more here.
Brazil hopes to be officially free of bird flu in 28 days
Brazil began a 28-day bird flu observation period on May 22, which it hopes will show the country's chicken farms are free of the disease after local authorities said a farm where its first outbreak was detected had been fully disinfected. The outbreak in the world's largest chicken exporter, detected in the town of Montenegro in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, triggered trade bans from multiple countries. Read more here.
