North Korea, Senegal, Colombia
Today's three stories you should know
North Korea
Kim Jong Un has praised North Korean soldiers fighting alongside the Russian army who killed themselves to evade capture by Ukrainian forces, confirming the extreme tactic for the first time. Pyongyang has sent an estimated 14,000 troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine’s Kursk region and, according to Western, Ukrainian and South Korean officials, they have suffered heavy losses, with as many as 6,000 killed. Intelligence reports and testimonies from defectors have indicated the North Koreans resort to self-detonation when capture is imminent. “Their self-sacrifice expecting no compensation, and the devotion expecting no reward ... This [is] the definition of the height of loyalty of our army,” Kim said at the unveiling of a memorial to soldiers killed in Ukraine.
More from BBC here.
The Gulf has transformed from a bustling economic hub to the front line of a major war. Semafor Gulf is here to help you make sense of it. Editor Mohammed Sergie and his team across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Riyadh will connect you with what’s happening on the ground. Subscribe for free.
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Senegal
HIV patients in Senegal have stopped visiting clinics and are going without vital drugs after a wave of arrests targeting members of the LGBTQ community, according to health officials and government data seen by Reuters. Senegal, where homosexuality is illegal, last month doubled the maximum prison term for same-sex relations to 10 years. At least 86 people have been arrested in a crackdown that began in early February, local rights groups have said. Senegal is one of only four countries in West and Central Africa where new HIV infections have risen in recent years, according to UNAIDS. "I don't dare leave the house anymore, so I'm literally holed up inside. I double-lock all the doors and windows just to avoid being found," one queer community health worker said.
More from Reuters here.
Colombia
A fierce row is ongoing in Colombia over what to do about a population of 200 hippos, an invasive species there, that are the offspring of animals smuggled into the country in the 1980s by late drug lord Pablo Escobar for his private zoo. The population is believed to have grown from a handful that escaped from Escobar’s sprawling compound. The environment ministry says the hippo population will exceed 500 by 2030 without intervention, and a plan to euthanise 80 of them has been approved. But animal rights activists, and business owners who make money from tourists coming to see the animals, are up in arms. Plans to relocate the hippos to other countries have failed to gain traction.
More from AP here.