Sudan, Madagascar, Cuba.

Today's three stories you should know.

Sudan

At least 23 people have died of starvation in Sudan’s besieged city of el-Fasher this month, a medical group said, warning of a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. The Sudan Doctors Network said that children and five pregnant women were among the dead. El-Fasher, the last stronghold of government forces in the Darfur region, has been encircled by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia for more than a year. Fighting between the military and the RSF, a former ally, erupted in April 2023. Since then, at least 40,000 people have been killed and 12 million forced from their homes, according to the UN. At least 24 million people are acutely food insecure, its food agency says.

More from AP here.

Madagascar

Police in Madagascar fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the capital Antananarivo as anger over power cuts and water shortages boiled over. Demonstrators barricaded roads with burning tires, set fire to cable car stations and looted shops and banks. The unrest followed days of frustration over power cuts that often last more than 12 hours. Madagascar struggles with widespread poverty and many of the protesters blame President Andry Rajoelina for not improving the situation since being re-elected in 2023.

More from Al Jazeera here.

Cuba

Assata Shakur, a U.S. fugitive and Black liberation activist, has died in Cuba, where she had lived under asylum for decades. The 78-year-old’s death was announced by Cuba’s foreign ministry and confirmed by her daughter. Shakur’s presence in Havana was long a bone of contention between Cuba and the U.S. with successive American presidents, including Donald Trump, demanding her return. Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), and two others got into a gunfight with New Jersey police after a traffic stop in 1973 during which a police officer and one of Shakur’s companions were killed. The BLA broke her out of prison in 1979 and she surfaced in Cuba in 1984. Shakur, the first woman in history to appear on the FBI’s “most wanted terrorists” list, always protested her conviction for murder and said she was shot with her hands raised.

More from Democracy Now! here.