 You are watching the International Daily Roundup with People's Stress Patch, where we bring you some of the major news developments from across the globe. Today's headlines, Thousands Observe General Strike Against Neoliberal Policies in Uruguay Rights Group Reveals Custodial Torture of Tamil Detainees in Sri Lanka At least three killed in protests over economic conditions in southern Yemen. Renewed calls to shut down Riker's Island Jail as conditions worsened. Thousands of people across Uruguay observed a general strike on September 15th. The mass action was organised by the PITC&T Union under the slogan, May the most unhappy be the most privileged. Students, rural workers, health workers, trade unions and community kitchen organisers gathered in different areas. The strike was against cuts to private and public sector wages at the privatisation of state-owned companies. According to the union, the loss in real wages has been equivalent to 18 days' worth of work. Banks and schools remained closed in Montevideo as people marched to the legislative palace on Wednesday. Protesters raised slogans against growing hunger and unemployment. Around 700 community kitchens are operating across Uruguay, having fed over 50,000 people at one point. A study by Universidad de la República found that 60% of these kitchens did not receive any state funding. Between March and July 2021, 4th of private sector workers filed for unemployment benefits. A major demand of the strike was also the repeal of 135 articles of the urgent consideration law, which is a neoliberal and anti-worker legislation. It will impact health, education, housing and employment. 15 people from the ethnic Tamil community have testified to custodial torture by Sri Lankan authorities, detaining stated that they were beaten, sexually assaulted and suffocated over a period of two years. Their accounts are part of a new report published by the International Truth and Justice Project. None of the detainees had been formally charged with a crime at the time of their detention, the 25-year-long civil war between the liberation tigers of Tamil Elam and Sri Lankan forces ended in 2009. Since then, at least 78 Tamils have remained in prison without charges. The 15 detainees cited in the report had taken part in events commemorating those killed in the war. Others had volunteered for Tamil political parties or received funds on behalf of people under surveillance. A minister also threatened to kill two Tamil prisoners in a Colombo jail on September 12th following public outrages he resigned on September 15th. Sri Lankan president, Gautaba Raja Paksha, has placed at least 28 retired military and intelligence officers in administrative posts. Some of them have been named in UN reports for alleged war crimes. At least three people were killed during protests in Southern Yemen between September 14th and 15th, thousands of people took to the streets against growing poverty and lack of basic public necessities. Security forces opened fire on protesters killing at least two people in Aden and one person in Hadramath. Protests were also reported in the Shabua and Abyan provinces. These areas are controlled by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis who control the North. The coalition itself is seeing infighting between the Hadi government and the separatist Southern transition council. The STC has called for more protests against what it's calling the occupation of the government. The conflict has disrupted public services with widespread power outages and water shortages. The Yemeni rival Diyal has fallen to 1,030 against a dollar in the black market in coalition-controlled areas. Meanwhile, the six-year-long war on Yemen has already left over 70% of Yemen's population dependent on AIDS. Renewed protests were held in the US on September 15th to demand the closing of the Rikers Island jail located in New York. The facility is known for its brutal and inhumane conditions. It holds 6,000 detainees. Most of whom are still awaiting trial. At least 10 people in prison at Rikers have died in the past year. At least five of them committed suicide. People have been forced into unhygienic and overcrowded cells. They do not have proper access to water, food and sanitation facilities. What we witnessed was really nothing we could have possibly prepared ourselves for. There were about a dozen men that we saw packed into small cells with no beds. They're being deprived of food, water, showers and medical attention. I met one transgender woman who had been misgendered and assigned to male housing and abused. Another individual with HIV hadn't received his medicine in over a week and was housed with other men who contracted COVID-19. I met a man who admitted he began cutting himself just so that he had open wounds that would get him to medics and maybe he'd actually be given the medicine to treat his mental illness. Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez Rojas and I even witnessed the man try to take his own life before our very eyes. He had tied a blanket at the top of the bars and made a noose and stepped up as he put the noose around his own neck and jumped. Luckily, it didn't work. But there are images, sounds and smells we're likely never going to forget. The conditions have worsened under the pandemic with at least three recorded deaths. The Gothamist reported that the positivity rate in New York City jails as Monday was 5.32%. The rate for the rest of the city was under 3%. Lawmakers are calling on Governor Cathy Ho-chul to sign the Lessons More Act. This would mean that around 400 people awaiting hearings for parole violations could be released. Meanwhile, activists have continued to push for the complete shutdown of the jail. And that is all we have for this episode of The International Daily Roundup. For more on these stories visit our website, peoplecisphage.org. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching.