 Hello and welcome to another episode of the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the top stories from around the world. In today's headlines, South Africa holds key local elections amid rising unemployment and poverty. Thousands of protesters demand repeal of Thailand's royal defamation laws. Top 26 conference begins after G20 summit fails to outline concrete climate action and Venezuela vaccinate 67% of the population against COVID-19. In our first story, around 26 million people were registered to vote in South Africa's local elections on November 1. Polls opened across the country's 257 municipalities with 60,000 candidates contesting. Out of this, 1,700 are independent. Monday's election was held against the backdrop of a rising socioeconomic crisis in South Africa. The ruling African National Congress is facing a decline in support with analysts predicting that its vote share could fall below 50%. The ANC has been in power for 27 years since the end of apartheid in 1994. Its vote share fell to 54% in 2016 and it lost in three major cities including Pretoria and Johannesburg. While the party did gain support in 2019 with the election of President Cyril Ramaphosa, his administration has been involved in corruption scandals. Meanwhile, South Africa's unemployment rate has reached 34.4%. Poverty levels have also worsened since 2015. A study by Ipsos at the end of 2020 found that 40% of all South Africans were affected by hunger. Other issues include a lack of access to clean water and sanitation, electricity and infrastructure. The impact of years of neoliberal policies and the COVID-19 pandemic was seen during the food riots in July. Protests which were initially sparked by the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma turned into mass unrest against hunger and poverty. At least 354 people were killed in the riots. Monday's election took place amid tight security with the deployment of around 10,000 troops. In our next story, we go to Thailand which witnessed renewed protests for democratic reforms on October 31. Thousands took to the streets of Bangkok to demand limits to the power of Monarchy. They also called for a repeal of section 112 or the royal defamation laws. The measure criminalizes all actions deemed an insult to the Monarchy and carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. Sunday's protest was organized by the Ratsadon group. Activists demanded that all political prisoners charged under section 112 be released. On October 27, a petition against section 112 was submitted to the parliament. A mass signature campaign against it was also held during Sunday's protest. The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights has stated that at least 1,458 people have been charged during the protest between July 2020 and September 2021. 223 out of them are children under the age of 18. The indictments include less majesty, sedition and the violation of the emergency decree. Student activists filed a lawsuit against emergency decree order 15 in a civil court on October 29. They named Prime Minister Prayod Chanuja and the commander-in-chief of the military. The case argued that the decree which bans public gatherings had been used to target and limit the freedom of expression and assembly. It also stated that the police had gone beyond legal protocol to stop protests including the use of shipping containers and razor wires to block roads. In our next story, the United Nations Climate Change Conference or the COP26 was convened in Glasgow, Scotland on October 31. Meeting has been considered the world's last best chance to address the climate crisis. COP26 is taking place on the heels of the G20 summit held between October 30 and 21. There had been a push to get world leaders to commit to major steps to reduce emissions. However, the summit ended without concrete agreements. While the G20 have pledged to stop funding coal-powered projects in poor countries, they have not set a timeline. G20 leaders also agreed to halt the global temperature rise at 1.5 degree Celsius. However, they have made way commitments to reach carbon neutrality by or around mid-century. Under current national commitments, global temperatures are on track to rise by a catastrophic 2.7 degree Celsius by the end of the century. The resulting extreme climate events could displace 216 million people worldwide by 2050. Rich countries have also consistently failed to meet the $100 billion a year pledge for the climate financing. The COP26 conference will continue until November 12. According to the United Nations, over 100 heads of state are expected to participate in the meeting on Monday. And for our final story, we go to Venezuela, which has achieved a key milestone in the COVID-19 vaccinations. The socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro has announced that 67% of the population has been inoculated. The vaccination in nine states, including Caracas, has exceeded the 70% goal set by the state. Vice President Delcey Rodriguez has stated that the country is on track to reach 95% immunization by the end of 2021. Venezuela has been able to achieve this goal despite crushing sanctions imposed by the United States. These measures and over-compliance by third parties have delayed crucial vaccine shipments for months. Venezuela's access to $5 billion in the IMF Special Drawing Rights was also blocked last month. The first batch of vaccine doses via the COVAX Initiative reached Venezuela only in September. A second shipment of 2.5 million doses reached the country early October. Venezuela's vaccination efforts have also been aided by the Russian Sputnik V, the Chinese Sinopharm and the Cuban Abdullah vaccine. That's all for today's episode of the Daily Roundup. We will be back with more stories tomorrow. Also visit our website on www.peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.