 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup with People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the major developments from across the globe. Let's take a look at today's headlines. Israel to hold fresh parliamentary elections after unity government fails to pass budget. UN expert writes letter to President Donald Trump seeking pardon for Julian Assange. Sudan and Ethiopia hold border talks after dispute. US COVID-19 relief. A case of too little too late. Israel is set to hold fresh elections after its parliament, the Knesset, was officially dissolved at midnight on the 7th 22nd. This was after the unity government failed to pass a 2020 state budget by the legally established deadline. A bill extending the deadline had earlier been voted down by a majority of 49 to 47. The unity government is composed of the right-wing liquid party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the centrist pure and white party led by Benny Gantz. Both parties formed a three-year coalition after the April 2020 elections. The agreement put in place a power-sharing mechanism whereby Netanyahu would hold office till November 2021 followed by a scheduled handover to Gantz. However tensions have remained within the unity government, both leaders disagreed over having a joint budget for 2020 and 2021 and have now blamed each other for triggering the parliamentary crisis. Israel will now hold its fourth election in two years in March 2021. Recent polls have indicated that support for the blue and white party has dwindled. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to face serious challenges. He is standing trial on charges of corruption hearings for which will resume in February 2021. Straight protests are being held against his administration as it struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Netanyahu is also facing a political challenge from a former liquid party MP, Gideon Tsar. Tsar is expected to form an alliance with other right-wing parties who challenge the liquid party in the upcoming election. A United Nations expert has appealed outgoing US President Donald Trump to pardon Julian Assange. The plea was made in an open letter by Niels Melzer on December 22. Melzer is a special rapporteur on torture and other cruel inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment at the UN Office of Human Rights. Assange is being held at a high-security prison in Belbarsh in the UK. Melzer has stated that Assange's health has deteriorated to a point where his life is now in danger. He also suffers from a respiratory condition which has made him extremely vulnerable to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in his prison block. Melzer has also previously appealed for Assange's release citing symptoms of psychological torture. The letter further asserts that the WikiLeaks founder did not publish information that had been hacked, stolen or otherwise falsified. Melzer maintains that Assange acted in public interest by fighting secrecy and corruption throughout the world. An international coalition of social movements has also implored the UK government to release Assange after almost 10 years of unjust confinement. Assange is currently awaiting a court decision over his extradition to the United States. If extradited, he is going to face criminal prosecution for the publication of secret government documents on the WikiLeaks platform in 2010. A conviction in his case would carry a sentence of up to 175 years in prison. Sudan and Ethiopia have initiated talks to demarcate their shared 1600 km border. Talks are being held following a cross-border attack on Sudanese Army patrol by Ethiopian forces on December 15. The attack left four dead and wounded 20 others. The meeting will be held in Sudan's capital city Khartoum on December 22 and 23. Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeike Mekonen has met with the Sudanese delegation led by Omar Maniz who is the minister in charge of the cabinet. Sudanese soldiers were reportedly attacked in Al Tayur which is located in the contested Al-Fashqa border region. Mekonen has stated that Sudanese forces looted the produce of the farmers in this region and invadalized their camps which also resulted in civilian deaths. Clashes along the border have reportedly occurred on two other occasions since December 15. The decision to hold talks was announced by the Sudanese and Ethiopian Prime Ministers on December 20. Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Mekonen has called for a reactivation of existing mechanisms to reach an amicable solution. For a final story today, we turn to the United States where the Congress has approved a $900 billion pandemic relief package. The relief bill has been heavily criticized for only allotting $600 per person for pandemic relief. Meanwhile, major allocations have been made towards defence and foreign expenditures. President Donald Trump has also announced that he will refuse to sign the bill if the stimulus amount has not increased. Here is a video feature of the most contentious aspects of the bill. The U.S. Congress has finally passed the COVID-19 relief package. But this package is too little and too late for the millions of people who have been plunged into poverty because of the pandemic. In March, the CARES Act had been passed which provided $1,200 in relief to individuals affected by the pandemic. The next aid is coming now in December, nine months later, $1,200 for nine months. And the current relief package which is being hailed as a major victory by the Democrats cuts this amount in half. The package offers $600 to affected individuals. What is $600 good for? $600 is one-third of the average monthly rent across the U.S. The pandemic relief package amounts to $892 billion in spending. In comparison, a grand total of $6 trillion in aid and stimulus has been given out to big corporate entities this year alone. Let's also take a look at the other things the U.S. Congress considers important to spend money on in these times. The relief package is part of a $1.4 trillion spending bill. This bill includes $500 million for Israeli cooperative programs. These programs are meant for boosting Israeli defense systems which basically means they are meant for furthering the Israeli apartheid regime. The bill also sets aside $33 million for Venezuela's democracy programs. Perhaps the more apt name for that would be Venezuela's coup programs. It also includes $1.4 billion for President Donald Trump's Southern Water Wall. All of these are far more pressing issues for the U.S. Congress than saving lives during this health and economic crisis. $25 billion of the relief package is for the rental aid plan. According to the Democrats, these funds will be targeted to families impacted by COVID that are struggling to make the rent and may have past due rent compounding on itself. These families will be able to utilize this assistance for past due rent, future rent payments as well as to pay utility and energy bills and prevent shutoffs. That seems like a lot for $25 billion to do. According to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, unpaid rental and utility debt is going to add up to $70 billion by January. The spending bill also includes a moratorium on folk closures and evictions until January 31. This is just a month's extension of the current moratorium that expired on the 21st. Over 20 million people were estimated to be facing evictions if the moratorium had not been extended. This number is very unlikely to go down in one month. Many have also pointed out that the real need is for rent cancellation as the accumulated rent is going to be impossible to pay for those in need of some relief. The bill also provides meager amounts for survival checks, unemployment benefits and food aid. The Democrats are saying that such relief measures are going to be easier to pass once Joe Biden gets phoned in next month. This claim is hard to believe as they will continue to face the same Republican majority in the Senate that was ready to let the stimulus checks and other aid expire. The COVID crisis is continuing to worsen in the US. It remains the worst affected country in the world. Who knows how long the US Congress expects $600 to tide over their country's people in this crisis. Thank you for watching.