 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. Amazon workers in Chicago in the United States mobilized against imposition of mega-cycle ships. Biden administration restores USA to UN relief agency for Palestine. People block Iraqi oil refinery amid continued protests for job opportunities. India witnesses consecutive records surges in COVID-19 cases as states warn of vaccine shortages. And Saudi terror court sentences Red Crescent aid worker to 20 years in prison. For our first tour, we go to the United States, where Amazon workers in the city of Chicago are mobilizing for fair working conditions. A group of workers at the Gage Park distribution center staged a walkout on April 7. Wednesday's action followed a week after workers from the McKinley Park DCH1 facility also held a demonstration. UNRES grew after Amazon announced in January that it would be closing down the facility. As per a statement, all workers would be transferred to new facilities. They would also be mandated to work the so-called mega-cycle shifts four days in a row. These are overnight shifts that started at 1.20 AM and ended at 11.50 AM. Workers were reportedly only given two weeks to accept the changes to lose their jobs. Workers at the DCH1 facility have come together to form the Amazonian's United Chicago Land Group. Similar groups also exist in other cities, however they are not affiliated to any formalized recognized unions. Workers have put forward a series of demands. These include accommodation for those who can only work a part of the mega-cycle shift. These are especially needed for parents and caretakers who may need to be home by certain times. Workers have also demanded a $2 per hour increase in wages and a full 20-minute paid breaks. They have also asked for paid rights to and from work because of the unavailability of public transit after midnight. The efforts in Chicago are taking place alongside struggles by Amazon workers within the U.S. and other countries. The counting of ballots is also underway in Bessemer City, Alabama, where Amazon workers are deciding if they want to unionize. These efforts have survived various intimidation and union-bustic tactics by the company. Continuing with the U.S., the Biden administration has announced that it will resume its aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced on April 7 that the U.S. will provide $150 million in humanitarian assistance. The UNRWA provides services to around 5.7 million Palestinian refugees. A lot of them are descendants of people who were forced to flee their homes during the violent 1948 exodus on Nakma. The UNRWA has operations in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan. It provides services including education and healthcare. Blinken has also announced $75 million in economic and development assistance for the occupied West Bank and Gaza. $10 million have also been year marked for peace-building efforts through the U.S. Agency for International Development to U.S. aid. The Biden administration also provided $15 million as pandemic aid to Palestinians last month. According to U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the funds were meant for healthcare and food assistance. Donald Trump had stopped all aid to Palestine and severed diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority in 2018. While the Biden administration has resumed aid to Palestine, some key Trump-Pera policies continue to be in place. This includes Trump's decision to shift the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognize it as Israel's capital. The administration has also not opposed the U.S.-procured normalization deals between Israel and countries including the UAE and Morocco. In our next story, protests for job opportunities continued in southern Iraq on April 7th. As reported by Iraq Oil Report, people blocked the entrance of the Nazaria oil field. Hundreds of people have continued to gather at the gates of the refinery in the Dikhar province. The protests have led to fewer shortages in the area. The Nazaria facility, which usually produces around 30,000 barrels per day, has been unable to operate during this time. Thousands of university graduates, workers and teachers have been gathering for protests in the country. Three oil facilities were also shut down last week as people gathered to protest against a new federal budget. As reported by Andhrao Agency, the budget does not include provisions to guarantee job opportunities. It reportedly only included giving permanent contracts to around 8,600 workers in the electricity ministry. According to the Planning Ministry, Iraq is facing severe unemployment of 27% and poverty rate of 25%. The oil which Dikhar province has witnessed a series of protests against the lack of services, non-payment of salaries and unemployment. Protests held in February were also met with a violent crackdown. According to reports, five protesters were killed and 175 were injured. We now go to India which recorded 126,000 new COVID-19 cases over 24 hours as of the morning of April 8th. This has been the highest single day peak in the country so far. This also marks the second consecutive day of infections over 100,000 this week. The situation in the state of Maharashtra is particularly severe. The state recorded a record of 59,907 cases in one day. As per reports, it has contributed more than 65% of all active cases in India. The state government announced on April 7th that there was a shortage of vaccines with current supply sufficient for only three days. As reported by the Indian Express, vaccinations were halted completely in three districts because of no supplies. The central government later announced on April 8th that it would send 170,000 doses to the state. Maharashtra is also facing a shortage of hospital beds. As of Thursday, the municipal corporation of Pune stated that there were no ICU beds with ventilators left. The government in the state of Odisha has also announced that its vaccine supplies will only last for three days. In the meantime, states including Uttar Pradesh have imposed night curfews across several districts. The entire state of Punjab has also been placed under night curfew following an increase in both cases and deaths. India has delivered over 80 million doses of vaccines and is vaccinating anywhere between 2.5 to 4 million people a day. However, with the current surge, India is among the worst-hit countries in the world along with the US and Brazil. And for our final story, we go to Saudi Arabia where a Red Crescent aid worker was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison. A specialized criminal court announced a verdict against 37-year-old Abdul Rahman Al-Sadan on April 5th. He was detained for years without any charges before his trial last month. Here is a video feature on the circumstances of his detention and sentencing. A Saudi terror court sentenced a former Red Crescent employee, Abdul Rahman Al-Sadan to 20 years in prison and a two-decade travel ban. He is believed to have been convicted for operating an anonymous Twitter account critical of the Saudi regime. Abdul Rahman Al-Sadan was arrested in March 2018 from Red Crescent's Riyadh office without a warrant. His trial was finally announced last month and in less than a month, the sentence was pronounced. According to Middle East, the exact grounds for Abdul Rahman's conviction have not been revealed. His trial is believed to be related to the anonymous Twitter account from which he used to comment on human rights issues in Saudi Arabia. He was also critical of the policies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Human rights groups and activists called the trial of Abdul Rahman a sham and demanded his immediate release. The news of his conviction was announced by his sister, Areej Al-Sadan, on her Twitter account on Monday. In February, Areej had reported that Saudi officials had failed to charge him with anything and he would be released soon. However, on March 10th, she said that Abdul Rahman will face a secret trial in the same court where Lujain al-Hatlul was tried. Lujain, a woman's rights activist, was sentenced to jail for nearly six years but part of her sentence was suspended and she was released eventually. Saudi Arabia has one of the worst records in freedom of speech and expression. People use anonymous Twitter accounts in the country to express their disapproval of government policies due to the fear of persecution. According to reports, the data related to thousands of such anonymous users was handed over to the Saudi government by two Twitter employees in 2015. A massive crackdown was launched by the state against the account holders following this. That'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.