 Hello and welcome to the International Lady Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you major news developments from across the world, our headlines. California regulatory body rules that Uber and Lyft drivers are to be declared as employees. Alba meeting reaffirms commitment for joint efforts against the pandemic. Israeli Supreme Court strikes down legislation that legalized illegal settlements in Palestine. Now, first story in a major victory for gig economy workers, California's transport regulatory body ruled that drivers working in the right hailing services like Uber and Lyft are to be deemed as employees. The ruling came as part of an order by the California Public Utilities Commission dated June 9th, which is published on Wednesday. It draws from the recently passed legislation by the state, AB5. The 18-page order, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, states that all drivers who are working in water classified as transportation networking companies or TNCs are presumed to be employees. AB5 was passed by the Californian state legislature in September 2019 and came into effect on January 1st, 2020. The legislation was passed to implement a 2018 judgment by the California state Supreme Court. The law puts in practice what is called the ABC test. This was first outlined in a 2004 Massachusetts Supreme Court judgment to distinguish between a contractor and an employee. App-based right hailing companies have insisted that the drivers are contractors. This helps them avoid labor regulations. They have lobbied against legislation that might change the status quo, arguing that it will affect their profitability. In the meanwhile, trade unions and workers' movements for fighting for the ABC test and other labor protections for gig economy workers hailed the AB5 as a model legislation for the rest of the country. Currently, there is a lawsuit by Lyft drivers at a federal court arguing in favor of deeming gig workers as employees of their respective companies. Our next segment is an update from the protests in the US. We bring you a short feature from our friends at Breakthrough News on the impact of the protests in the country that are demanding justice for George Floyd and an inter-systemic racism. Do watch and subscribe to Breakthrough News, an independent media organization in the US, which brings to you the struggles and demands of the working class and people's movement. In our next story, the member countries of the Alba TCP held a high-level virtual conference to address the post-pandemic economic situation on June 10th. The meeting was called by the Bolivar Republic of Venezuela, which is a founding member of the regional integration body. The main objective of the multilateral meeting was to determine the economic weaknesses and strengths of the member countries once the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been overcome. The conference was also aimed at forming joint strategies to face the regional and global economic challenges in the post-pandemic phase. The heads of state and prime ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica, Canada, Nicaragua, St. Kitts and Nevis sent Vincent's ingredients to part in the meeting. During the conference, the regional bloc reaffirmed their commitment to work together to fight the pandemic and support each other in revitalizing their economies. The member countries rejected the economic sanctions imposed by the US against Venezuela and Cuba and reiterated their commitment to continue demanding an end to them. They expressed their absolute solidarity with Cuba in the face of US aggression. The Alba TCP was formed on December 14, 2004 as a result of the strategic vision of commander Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez in order to form a platform for the integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries. The alliance was also to counter the free trade area of the Americas, FTAA, which is promoted by the United States to impose its economic domination in the region. And finally, the Israeli Supreme Court in Wednesday struck down a 2017 law that retroactively legalized illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. The Judea and Samaria regulation law legalized close to 4,000 illegal settlements built on encroached privately owned Palestinian lands in the West Bank. The Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the law in 2017 following an appeal against it. Deciding on the appeal, eight of the nine judges of the bench voted to repeal the law deeming it unconstitutional. The Chief Justice wrote in the panel's ruling that the law unequally infringes on the property rights of Palestinian residents while giving preference to the proprietary interests of Israeli settlers. Following the striking down of the 2017 law, Palestinian landowners will be able to file lawsuits in Israeli courts to recover their property and expel Israeli settlers. The ruling is also considered important in a time when Israel is planning to go ahead with the annexation of the decision to annex all illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as the Jordan Valley. All of these illegal settlements on privately owned lands were undertaken with the full support of the Israeli government and military. In several cases, empty portions of Palestinian land in the West Bank were occupied by extremist Israeli Jewish settlers without approval from the government as well. This was despite the fact that the Palestinians who owned these lands could produce documents as far back as the Ottoman era as proof of ownership. That's all we have in this episode of the International Daily Roundup. We'll be back tomorrow with more news from around the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch. We'll see you next time. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace.