 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you major news developments from around the world. Our headlines, teachers in Haiti announced strike to protest increasing gang violence, COVID-19 cases soared in India amid shortages of oxygen and ICU beds, Syrian parliament announced presidential elections to be held in May, and protests in the US following fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, which is our video section. In our first story, teachers in Haiti are called for a strike from April 19 to 23. These are members of a group of fundamental teachers for renovated education through new and solidarity actions or referents. The call for the strike has been issued to protest against armed gang violence in the country. This follows reports of the murder of a teacher who was on his way to work near the capital Port-au-Prince. At least a dozen people including Catholic clergymen and nuns were also abducted on April 11. References demanded that the government put adequate security measures in place. The strike action starting Monday will affect classes in national schools. Haiti has been witnessing a surge of gang-related kidnappings, extortion rackets and killings. An integrated office in the country recorded 234 reported cases of kidnapping in 2020. It also noted a 20% increase in reported killings. UNICEF reported that there had been an increase in women and children over victims of violence attributed to gangs. Between September 2020 and February 2021, the numbers increased from 45 to 73. According to the Haitian Brigade for the Protection of Miners, at least 31 children were abducted between 2020 and 2021. Other forms of attack have also included rape and murder. At least 13 people were killed in Belar between March 31 and April 1. According to local reports, the attacks were carried out by the G9 and Spitfire gangs in the attempt to take over the neighborhood. As reported by the Haitian Times, residents stated that police forces did not report to the scene. Activists have also claimed that the government has ordered police forces not to respond to such threats. Protests have been taking place across Haiti for the past several months and response to moves by the president Joanal Moyes to unconstitutionally extend his mandate in office. People across all sectors in the country have demanded his immediate resignation and the introduction of a transitional government to address the pressing political institutional crisis in the country and to take measures to address violence and insecurity. We now go to India, which recorded over 273,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the span of 24 hours. The Health Ministry also reported over 1,600 deaths as of the morning of April 19. Ten states including Delhi and Maharashtra have accounted for over 78% of the new cases. The national COVID recovery rate has also dropped to 86%. India has been witnessing consistent record surges during the second wave. Doctors have also stated that this wave is characterized by greater transferability of the virus. There is also a higher requirement for oxygen in the country. As cases grow, several hospitals have reported severe shortages of oxygen supplies and ICU beds. A news organization's scroll has revealed that several oxygen generation plants commissioned by the government have not been set up. The government had floated tenders for the plants in October 2020. The Health Ministry announced on April 18 that 33 of the 162 plants had been installed. While the case fatality rate is reduced to 1.19%, crematoriums and symmetries in the country have been overwhelmed. Several states have been urging the central government to increase vaccine and oxygen supplies. In the meantime, the government's life insurance scheme for front-line healthcare workers has also been cancelled. The Health Ministry has stated that it is in talks with another insurance company for new dispensations. Only 287 claims have been processed under the existing scheme as of March 24. There is no official data on the number of frontline workers who have died due to COVID-19. However, the Indian Medical Association has estimated that 747 doctors have died so far. In our next story, Syria's parliament has announced that presidential elections will be held on May 26. Speaker Hamouda Sabha announced the opening of nominations on April 18. The process will continue to April 28. Incumbent President Bashar al-Assad won the election held in 2014 with over 88% of the votes. Assad's Bach party also won the majority in the parliamentary elections held in 2020. The United States and its allies have called for a boycott of the elections. They have stated that the elections are in violation of Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council. The resolution calls for a political solution to the war in Syria and was passed in 2015. It stated that fresh elections should be held in accordance to a new constitution and under UN supervision within 18 months. Syrian rebel groups have also rejected the elections as being legitimate. The internationally backed rebels have been at war with the Syrian government since 2011. The decade-long conflict is a destroyed civilian infrastructure including the country's healthcare system. Over 400,000 people have been killed and nearly half of the population has been displaced. The conditions in the country have also worsened due to wide-ranging sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. The UN had warned late last year that these sanctions were hampering reconstruction efforts in Syria. The country is also witnessing a severe economic crisis including sharp devaluation of the currency. The UN has estimated that more than 60% of the population cannot access enough food with 13 million people being dependent on it. And in our final video section, we go to the U.S. where fresh protests have broken out following the police shooting of a child. 13-year-old Adam Toledo is fatally shot by an officer in the city of Chicago on March 29th. Body Camp footage released last week shows Toledo standing with his arms raised in the air before he was shot. Here is a video feature of the circumstances of his death and the protests that followed. So we're here recognizing that what happened to Dante Wright, what happened to Adam Toledo is not disconnected from the 400-plus year undeclared war that has been going on against Black people. In the PSO we have a slogan that goes, stop the war on Black America. Can you all say, stop the war on Black America? Stop the war. On Black America. Stop the war. For the rich and powerful, for the police. And then there's the America for the Black, the Puerto Rican, the Mexican-American, the working class, the poor and colonized people, the oppressed people, right? So we're now fighting for justice within their system. We're fighting for justice which means a new system, right? So it's all we have time for today. We'll be back tomorrow with more news from around the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.