 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? As protests intensify in Thailand, government declares emergency. Criticism raised over the G-26 month extension for debt payment. Members of the Wetsuit and Tribe occupy Pipeline Drill Site, reignite protests in Canada. Union member killed as he tries to free police fire on striking workers in South Africa. In our first story, as protests continue to intensify in Thailand after the arrest of 21 activists and demonstrators earlier this week, the government has imposed a state of emergency on Thursday. The state of emergency will effectively ban mass gatherings in public places. The anti-government protests, which began as a student-led movement against the country's laws which prohibit the criticizing of the monarchy, had seen thousands of people participate in sit-ins across the capital Bangkok over the past few months. On Tuesday, on the eve of a planned demonstration of the city's democracy monument, 21 activists were preemptively arrested when they arrived to prepare for it. The demonstration on Wednesday was meant to coincide with the passing of a royal motor kid that was scheduled to pass the monument. The news of the arrest led to hundreds occupying the monument by early morning on Wednesday blocking the police. Protesters also held a march across the capital with thousands of them camping outside the office of Prime Minister Prair Chanwacha. The government has deployed the national police along with paramilitary forces to subdue the protests. Among those arrested on Tuesday, were student activists and long-time advocate of monarchy reforms, popularly known as Pai Daudin, and the popular singer known as Ami from the band Burbottom Blues. Tuesday's arrests were made at the democracy monument by the border patrol police, a paramilitary force under the national police for border security and counter-engence urgency. The police arrested demonstrators would arrive at the monument in anticipation of the demonstrations that were planned for Wednesday. The ongoing protests in Thailand have been calling for constitutional reforms including limiting the powers of the monarchy, a return to democracy and the dismantling of the civic military government under Prair Chanwacha, besides other socioeconomic rights. In our next story on Wednesday, various anti-dead groups and activists expressed their disappointment over the G20 announcement of a mere six-month extension in debt payments suspension for the poorest countries. The decision after a virtual meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank officials was made on Wednesday. The decision to extend the debt payment suspension was taken to enable the debtor countries to use their resources to focus on the health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The G20 and the World Bank jointly initiated the debt service suspension initiative to ensure that debtors, mostly the poor countries, amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown in April this year would be benefited. It had suspended the debt payment until the end of the year. According to the announcement on Wednesday, now the countries can avoid repaying their external debt till June 2021. So far, 43 out of the 73 countries have used the facility. The G20 claimed that the new extension would relieve the US$14 billion to poorer countries. They can use the money to focus on health care and a stimulus package for their domestic recovery. However, critics have pointed out the severe conditionalities in obtaining the debt suspension as a reason for most of the poor countries not using this facility yet. Several international aid groups, such as CIVICUS, however, have expressed a disappointment as well over the decision to extend the debt repayment by just 6 months. They have been demanding the extension for at least a year. They have been arguing that many countries are forced to spend more on debt repayment than on health and other life-saving services and they should not be forced to part with their resources at this critical juncture. More significantly, several other groups, such as the Asian People's Movement on Debt and Development, Oxfam GB, and the Tricontinental, which is the Institute of Social Research, have called for the complete cancellation of all external debt. Earlier, a group of intellectuals and political leaders from across the world, including Dilma Rousseff, the former president of Brazil, and Thomas Isaac, the current finance minister of Kerala, had signed a statement in July, arguing that external debt, to quote, had ballooned over the past several decades and had created a trap, leaving most developing countries in an unsustainable financial situation. In our next story, women from the Vetsueten tribe in British Columbia, Canada, have begun an occupation at the drill site of the controversial coastal gasoline pipeline. The occupation of the drill site began on October 13th, with women indigenous activists performing ceremonies and rituals in the area. This has sparked another round of a standoff between the pipeline company, that is TC Energy, that owns the coastal gasoline project in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The occupation of the drill site came in response to the news of coastal gasoline officials resuming their construction activities on the disputed land. The land is claimed by the Vetsueten traditional chiefs as unseeded land. The construction will begin with drilling under the headwaters of Vetsinqua, a major source of freshwater supply for the members of the Vetsueten clans, who live on the indigenous controlled land. Protesters have argued that the drilling will affect this freshwater source and pollute the river. TC Energy nevertheless is armed with a court injunction that lets it continue with the construction for the pipeline. The company has argued that it has secured consent from the majority of the elected ban council of the Vetsueten tribe. But traditional chiefs and the supporters have argued that the council does not hold the power to delegate the use of land. The construction of the occupation is said to restart a new phase of confrontation between indigenous activists and TC Energy that has been raging on for nearly two years. According to the activists, pipeline officials have already called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a federal police force to evacuate the occupation. Protesters have agreed to evacuate most of the campsites that they had set up on the pipeline planned earlier this year while maintaining a bare minimum presence. This was done to reduce both the risk of COVID-19 outbreak within the community. In the meanwhile, traditional chiefs had also initiated parallel negotiations with the authorities over the land status and also held meetings with TC Energy. The provincial government of British Columbia and the federal government of Canada signed a historic memorandum of understanding in May this year to begin negotiations over the pipeline construction. The memorandum followed more than a month of countrywide protests in support of the Vetsueten protesters. It was signed by the Canadian government to preemptively work out an arrangement that will avoid future conflicts in the area. In our next story on Tuesday, a member of the General Industrial Workers Union of South Africa, that is Jiu-Sah, was killed after the police fired rubber bullets on striking workers of South Africa's largest dairy company, that is Clover Industries. Kilsen Manaka was hit by a car as he fled for safety from the bullets and died of skull injuries. Two other workers who were with him have been arrested. As many as 2,000 of the total 6,000 workers employed by Clover Industries across South Africa have downed tools since Tuesday. They are demanding a pay rise of 16% and an end to outsourcing through labour brokers. According to Jiu-Sah, Deputy General Secretary Charles Fahala, the workers were not even protesting when the police opened fire on Tuesday. Instead, they were returning home from a demonstration at the company's depot in Clayville. The arrested workers are expected to be produced in court on October 15. In the meantime, according to Fahala, the strike action and the accompanying demonstrations at different plans will continue until the management heats their demands. He also added that they are asking the republic to support them by boycotting all Clover products. Workers at Clover Industries have been demanding a 16% raise in the minimum wage at the company from the current RANS 5,500 which is around US$330 to RANS 8,000 which is US$480. In May, Jiu-Sah had temporarily shut down the Blomfontein plant alleging violation of safety protocols by the management which led to increasingly positive cases of the plant and exposure of other workers to COVID-19. Now, Clover claims that additional costs incurred on the workplace safety due to the pandemic is one of the reasons the company is not in a position to accept the 16% hike demand. The other key demand of the workers is ending the practice of hiring workers through labour brokers. The company has refused to engage with this demand as well. As for Fahala, an estimated 40% of Clover's total employees are hired through labour brokers. Even though these workers perform the same workers' direct employees, to quote him, they receive no benefits, no provident funds, and no pension. Workers hired through labour brokers do not have fixed hours per week. According to the general secretary, the management rotates the workers in a manner that their weekly work hours fall just short of the 45 hours. This prevents them from technically qualifying as permanent employees of the company. Should Clover persist in its refusal to engage with workers and address the demands, the workers intend to intensify their actions and start a sit-in protest at the company's head office in Rudeput. That is all we have time for today. We will be back tomorrow with more news from across the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.