 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup with People's Just Patch where we bring you some of the top stories from across the globe. Let's take a look at today's headlines. Extradition trial concludes a chance to remain in prison until verdict. Trump administration to cut refugee admissions under the guise of COVID-19. Iraqis take to the streets to mark one year of anti-government protests. Zimbabwe government threatens to replace tracking teachers. Massive protests by health workers across Germany. On Thursday, the extradition trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange came to a close. The trial ends after nearly four weeks of testimonies from nearly three dozen expert witnesses. The testimony has covered a range of aspects of the case from Assange's mental health to the political nature of the charges he will be facing in the US and the possibility of torture and mild treatment he is likely to face if extradited. The defense will have four weeks to submit their closing arguments to the court. The prosecution will have two weeks after that to respond to the defense and submit their closing arguments. Judge Vanessa Barreczar is set to deliver the verdict on January 4th, 2021 until January. Assange will remain in the Belmarsh prison because he was denied pain. The final two days of the trial involved a marathon run of testimonials submitted by the defense team. On the final day of trial, the presiding judge refused to accept some of the testimonies over prosecutions, objections and the defense had run out of time. The submissions that were rejected by the court included those that would have dealt with current superseding charges against Assange based on which the extradition process is ongoing. The rejection of the statements was despite the fact that the trial ended a day earlier than the original schedule and the defense was only submitting testimonies that were already agreed by both parties to be up for submission. Among the testimonies submitted in the last two days, there were several anonymous statements from employees of UC Global, the company that is accused of spying on Assange on behalf of the US government during his time in the Ecuadorian embassy. The anonymous testimonies revealed discussions between US intelligence officials and employees of UC Global on the possibility of kidnapping or even poisoning Assange. Outside the old Bailey courthouse, where the trial took place, Assange's family, colleagues and supporters held a small celebration commemorating the 14th anniversary of Piccaleague's domain registration and also delivered short and final statements to those assembled. In an announcement made by the US Department of State on Wednesday, the administration is expected to allow not more than 15,000 refugees into the country in 2021. The new cap on the number of refugees admitted will be 3,000 less than the 18,000 mark set for the current year. The reason given for such a measure is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The government justified the move as an attempt to supposedly prioritize safety and well-being of Americans, especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement was made late in the night and just less than an hour before the deadline to notify the US Congress of the proposed changes. While the changes are supposed to be cleared by the Congress, it is seldom ever challenged by the legislature. The new admission bar will be the lowest in US history because of the repeated annual cuts since the beginning of the Donald Trump administration. This year alone, the US admitted only around 10,800 refugees until March before freezing all refugee admissions because of the pandemic. The latest move also comes hours after an election rally by Trump who is seeking re-election in November this year. Trump flashed out at his opponent Joe Biden's campaign promise to gradually increase annual refugee admissions to over 125,000. Trump claimed that Biden and the Democrats want to flood the country with refugees at the cost of US citizens. The move to cut down on refugee admissions is in line with the overall policy of the administration to curb immigration. Since Trump took over presidency in 2016, the administration has heightened betting for asylum seekers, expanded punitive measures against undocumented migrants, built new detention facilities that have separated migrant families and used COVID-19 to freeze a range of these hours and refuse admission programs. On Thursday, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to mark the anniversary of last year's anti-government protests. The protesters reiterated their demand of putting an end to widespread political and economic corruption, better employment opportunities and reforms in the country's political system. The protesters vowed to revive the protests which went on for months before they were stopped due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent imposition of lockdowns. They also denounced the massive state repression including the killing of over 600 of the protesters by the security forces in those protests. Thursday's protests were held in several southern cities in Iraq, including the capital Baghdad, Basra and Najaf. Protesters tied portraits of all the people who were allegedly killed or went missing during the protests. The demanded punishment for all those responsible for the killings and freedom and safety to protest. Last year's protests forced the government led by Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi to resign. After months of political uncertainty, his successor Mustafa Al-Kadimi was appointed in May this year. Kadimi promised investigation into the deaths of protesters in strong action against corruption. His government also announced early elections for the Iraqi parliament in June next year. The last elections were held in 2018. Protesters have also been demanding an end to the political quota or Muhassasa system in Iraq, which is seen as the root cause of nepotism and corruption in the country. The Muhassasa guarantees a proportional representation of all major ethnic groups in the country and fixes crucial government posts according to the sects. As per the Iraqi constitution, the Prime Minister of the country can only be a Shia, the president occurred, and the speaker of the parliament, a Sunni. The system was introduced in the country by the American-led Occupational Administration, forced on the 2003 invasion. The protesters also opposed all kinds of foreign interventions in the country. Some protesters issued an ultimatum to the government to take effective measures by 25th October or be ready to face a national strike. Expressing its support and solidarity with the protesters, the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party issued a statement on the 26th of September. The statement stated that the party glorifies the martyrs of the October uprising. Despite the government's threats of replacing them, teachers in Zimbabwe's public schools are continuing their strike, which began on Monday. The striking teachers are demanding a restoration of their salaries, which on average have reduced from an equivalent of $550 to a mere $30-35 over the last two years. At this wage, unions claim teachers are incapacitated because they cannot afford the cost of travel. Tapsen Sabanza, Secretary-General of Zimbabwe Teachers' Association, told People's Dispatch that their teachers are willing to work, but don't have the means to go there to work and subsist. However, despite being given the prior notice by the unions, the government decided to go ahead with the reopening of schools on Monday. Students had to be turned back because there were no teachers available. 98% of Zimbabwe's 136,000 teachers are currently on strike. According to reports, the Unemployed Teachers' Association has declared its unwillingness to let its members be used by the government as a reserve force to break the strike. The association instead demands employment so as to start filling the shortage of 90,000 teachers in the public education system. The Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe has called for a meeting between the government and the United Front of Teachers' Unions over the salary cuts. On Wednesday, healthcare workers from various hospitals across Germany went on a warning strike on the call of the Worthy Trade Union. In Berlin, 300 employees from hospitals and geriatric care facilities held a demonstration at the conference of health ministers demanding better working conditions and higher wages. The protesters in Berlin organized a photo demonstration as well by raising 30 banners with photos of 12,500 clinic employees across Germany printed on it. Worthy is demanding an increase in salaries by 4.8% for federal and local employees. They are also demanding an increase in training pay and a maximum of a 45-hour week for emergency service staff. Workers in other sectors are also holding warning strikes, demanding fair contracts, increased wages and safer work conditions as part of a week-long action called by the union. Sylvia Buehler, who is responsible for the health system in the Worthy Federal Board, stated that even in the corona pandemic, healthcare workers are making their demands visible and acting together. With the first nationwide photo demonstration, we have found a creative way to take the protest to the streets in a corona manner. Dialink has expressed solidarity with the health workers for tests in Germany. Party leader Bornrexinger has stated that the hospitals urgently need more nurses. These need to be paid higher and working conditions considerably need to be improved. There has been a spike in COVID-19 cases across Europe these days as of now in Germany there are around 27,353 active cases and 9,581 people have died due to COVID-19. And this is all we have for this episode of the International Daily Roundup. For more such stories and videos visit our website peoplesnisfiles.org. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching.