 Hello, you're watching the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, and we bring you major news developments from around the world, our headlines. New York City Taxi drivers go on hunger strike against crushing permit debt. Pakistani man cleared for release after 19 years of wrongful detention in the US. Israel designates six Palestinian rights groups as terrorist organizations, and teachers go on strike for improved salaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In our first wordy, we go to the US where taxi drivers in New York City have launched a hunger strike. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance or NYTWA has already been protesting outside the city hall for over 35 days. They are demanding debt relief for the crushing loans they have had to take to buy taxi permits or medallions. On an average, drivers owe $550,000 in loans to purchase a permit which costs up to $100,000. Some have paid up to $1 million. The union has argued that these loans disproportionately targeted immigrants of color. A 2019 New York Times report revealed massive debt traps which forced drivers to forfeit their legal rights. Over 900 drivers were filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the city government made $855 million in revenue of medallion sales. The emergence of app-based rights services such as Uber also led to a decline in earnings for yellow taxi drivers. The value of medallions has plunged to around $75,000. Nine people have committed suicide due to the crisis since 2017. The NYTWA has also denounced the city's current relief program as a banker bailout. The government has proposed $20,000 grants to restructured debts. The plan will allow lenders to extract up to $2,000 in monthly payments. The NYTWA is demanding that loan debts be capped at $145,000. Monthly loan payments should also be limited to $800 a month, they ask. Continuing with the U.S. of Pakistani Rohingya, a man has been cleared for release after being wrongfully detained for 19 years. Ahmad Rabbani was captured and sold to U.S. officials in 2002 after he was reportedly mistaken for an Al-Qaeda leader. He was then detained at Kabul's Kobal prison, which is also called the Dark Prison. Officials soon realized that they had captured the wrong person. However, Rabbani was tortured at CIA Black Sites in Afghanistan for 545 days. He was then sent to Guantanamo Bay, where he spent the next 17 years without charge or trial. The 2014 U.S. Senate report on torture also established the misidentification and torture of Rabbani. However, he remained in detention and spent years on hunger strike. He was finally cleared for release by six U.S. intelligence agencies in October 22. This followed just two days after the U.S. court ruled that the detention of Asadullah Gul was illegal. An Afghan man, Gul was tortured and detained in Guantanamo for 14 years without charge or trial. A petition of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf by the group Reprieve in 2016. He is the first person in over 10 years to win a habeas corpus petition in the U.S. court. We now go to Israel, which has designated six Palestinian civil society and rights groups as terrorist organizations. They have been accused of operating on the behalf of the left-wing popular front for the liberation of Palestine. Among the six are prisoner advocacy group Adhameer and Al-Hak, which also works for the United Nations. Others include the defense for children in international Palestine. The offices of the organization were previously also rated in July. Several computers, hard drives and client files of child detainees in Israeli military courts were seized. The latest terrorist designation will open up other Palestinian groups to similar attacks. It will effectively ban their activities, authorize the closure of their offices and the arrest of their staff. It will also prohibit funding and support. Also included in the list is the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and the Bisan Center for Research and Development. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees has also been outlawed. The group's office was raided and ordered closed for six months by Israeli forces in July. The office of the Health Work Committees was also raided and closed in June. Its director Shatawadeh continues to be in arbitrary detention at the Damun prison. And for our final story, we look at an ongoing strike by teachers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The protest action has especially impacted public schools in several areas including the capital of Kinshasa. Teachers walked out on October 4th, which marked the first day of the school year. Their demanding improved salaries is agreed upon by the government when free education was introduced in 2019. Other issues raised are related to bonus pay and the retirement age. Unions including the Catholic Teacher's Union and SYECO are taking part in the action. During the military negotiations, the government offered a salary increase of 20,000 Congolese francs or 10 US dollars for teachers in urban areas. For teachers in rural areas, the offer was 20 dollars. However, the unions are demanding a minimum increase of 50 dollars. Meanwhile, the Minister of Primary, Secondary and Technical Education removed some of the striking teachers from the payroll. Hundreds of students stormed the Congolese parliament on October 21st. Raising the slogan we want to study, they demanded a solution to end the teacher's strike. That's all we have time for today. We'll be back on Monday with more news from around the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.