 Hello and welcome to today's episode of the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the top stories from around the world. Let's take a look at today's headlines. 15 civilians killed in Indian Army firing in Nagaland. Sri Lankan man lynched by mob in Pakistan. HGN migrants face insecurity in Dominican Republic. And the global arms trade records growth despite pandemic. In our first story, we go to the Indian state of Nagaland where at least 15 civilians were killed by security forces in the Mon district. On December 4th, the 21 para-special forces of the Indian Army opened fire on a pickup van carrying coal miners. 6 people on board were killed and 2 others were injured. There were members of the Konyak tribe and were from the Uting village. The army claimed that the unit mistook the miners for militants during a counter-insurgency operation. A police report on the firing noted that a police assistant guide was not present with the forces at the time. Protests broke out in the district shortly after the firing on Saturday. 7 other civilians were shot and killed by security forces. Internet services were also shut down and restrictions on public gatherings were imposed in the Mon district on Saturday. The next day, hundreds of people set fire to a camp of the Assam Rifles paramilitary force. The officers of the Konyak Union were also vandalized. As reported by the wire, two more civilians succumbed to the injuries and died on Sunday. A shutdown was also called by the Eastern Naga People's Organization in Bonn on December 6th. The Naga Students' Federation and other organizations also called a six-hour shutdown in all areas inhabited by the Naga people in the region. The Eastern Naga People's Organization, which represented six tribes, has also withdrawn from the government's Hornbill Festival in protest. The killings over the weekend have also re-intensified calls for the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Nagalat. The law gives the military expanded powers and immunity to the military in areas classified as disturbed. In our next story, 131 people have been arrested in relation to the brutal lynching of a Sri Lankan man in Pakistan. 48-year-old Priyanta Kumara managed a Rajkum government factory in the Sialkot industrial area. On December 3rd, a huge mob gathered outside the facility accusing Kumara of blasphemy. The crowd was mostly people associated with the extremist Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan Party. They accused Kumara of allegedly tearing and throwing a poster which had Quranic verses printed on it. Kumara was brutally beaten before being dragged out on the road. His body was then set on fire. According to Pakistani police, over 800 people have been booked under terror-related charges so far. Priyanta Kumara's body was flown to Colombo on December 6th. His family has demanded justice and asked for a full investigation into the killing. Several protests against the lynching were also held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Blasphemy is already a heavily punished crime in Pakistan, with some cases carrying a mandatory death sentence. However, there has been an increase in extrajudicial murders and lynchings over alleged blasphemy. According to Al Jazeera, at least 80 people have been killed in such violence since 1990. The increase in extremist violence has also accompanied the rise of groups like the TLP Party. The group was recently unbanned and delisted from Pakistan's terror watch list following violent protests. The Dominican Republic has deported over 31,000 people to Haiti in 2021. According to the Associated Press, more than 12,000 people were forced to leave in the last three months alone. An estimated 500,000 Haitian people live in the Dominican Republic, most of whom are undocumented. Migrants work in the informal sector, including construction and especially in the sugarcane industry. However, the Dominican government has launched a series of actions to restrict immigration. It has justified its actions by pointing to violence by armed gangs in Haiti and illegal activities at the border. Hundreds of thousands of people have been required to register their whereabouts with the Dominican government. President Luis Abineda has also suspended student visa programs for Haitians. The Interior Ministry has also announced a review of the immigration status of around 220,000 foreign nationals, most of whom are Haitians. Outrage grew in November following reports that dozens of pregnant women had been deported to Haiti by the Dominican Republic. According to Haitian news reports, undocumented migrants in the Dominican Republic are unable to access public medical services except in cases of emergencies. The precarious situation of Haitians in the country is also a result of changes in citizenship laws. In 2013, the constitutional court ruled that only those people born in the Dominican Republic to Dominican parents or legal residents would be considered citizens. The decision was then retroactively applied to all those born between 1929 and 2010. While another citizenship law was introduced, many people lacked the documentation required to qualify. And for our final story, we look at a report on the global arms trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. The world's top 100 arms manufacturers made a total of $531 billion in sales in 2020 alone. While the world economy contracted by 3.1% in 2020, the global arms trade grew by 1.3%. These findings are part of the latest report on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or CIPRI. 41 US companies alone accounted for 54% or $285 billion of the total sales. They were followed by the 26 European companies which constituted a share of 21% or $109 billion. Among them were six UK companies which recorded the highest growth rate ever of 6.2%. At the same time, the UK economy contracted by 9.9% in 2020. Three Israeli companies made a total sale of over $10 billion. The report also included three Indian arms companies which recorded a 1.7% increase in sales. This was due to increased purchasing by the Indian government even as the economy contracted by 7% in 2020. Chinese companies constituted just over 13% of the global trade last year. Meanwhile, French companies recorded a 7.7% decline in sales and the Russia share of companies also reduced to 5%. And that's all for today. For more such stories, visit our website at www.peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you.