 Hello, you're watching The 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. UK court approves Assange's extradition. Sri Lankan police fatally shoot protester. Argentina to re-establish ties with Venezuela. And Philippines poll body rejects case against Marcos Jr. In our first story, a court in the United Kingdom has formally approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. The order was issued by Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring on April 20. The ultimate decision to approve the extradition now lies with Home Secretary Priti Patel. Assange's legal team will have until May 18 to make submissions against his extradition. The WikiLeaks founder attended Wednesday's hearing via video conference from the Belmarsh prison. Scores of supporters gathered outside the Westminster Magistrates Court as the proceedings took place. In March, the United Kingdom Supreme Court refused to hear Assange's appeal against his extradition. He was seeking to challenge a high court decision from December, which had approved the extradition based on so-called assurances given by the United States. These were related to the conditions of his imprisonment given the state of his mental health. While the Supreme Court did not side with Assange, his team still has other opportunities to stop the extradition. This includes appeals based on other issues of law which were raised at first instance but have not been subjected to appeal. Assange's supporter, including his wife and lawyer Stella Assange, have highlighted the brazenly political nature of the persecution. There was even a CIA plot to which considered assassination and rendition attempts against him. That was made public in 2021. Julian Assange is facing 18 charges in the United States including 17 counts under the infamous Espionage Act. WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of leaked documents. They exposed the severe abuses committed by the US military during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We now move on to Sri Lanka where protests escalated across the country on April 20th as thousands of people took to the streets. Outrage grew after police opened fire at the unarmed protesters in the southwestern region of Rambukana on Tuesday. One person was killed and at least 13 others were wounded in the violence. Protests broke out after Sri Lanka's main petrol retailer increased the prices by 65%. Tens of thousands of people staged gatherings around the country including blockades in Rambukana. Police claimed that protesters had blocked a key railway line and removed the battery of a fuel-drought bowser. Police fired tear gas into crowds followed by live ammunition. 15 police personnel were reportedly also injured in the area. A curfew has been imposed in Rambukana. Protests continued in several areas on Wednesday with people using vehicles to block roads. People have also been holding a sit-in outside the presidential secretariat in Colombo for the past 13 days. Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst economic crisis with the government unable to pay for food and fuel imports. It also announced a pre-emptive default on all its foreign debt totaling $51 billion last week. Key interest rates have been doubled and the currency has been rapidly depreciated. Amid growing calls for its resignation, President Gautabaaya Rajpaksha, government has approached the IMF. Talks with the fund began in the US this week. The organization has asked the government to restructure its foreign debt before a bailout plan is finalised. We now take a look at Argentina, which has declared its intentions to re-establish diplomatic ties with Venezuela. President Alberto Fernandez made the announcement on April 18 in a press conference with his Ecuadorian counterpart Guillermo Lasso. Fernandez added that it was time to help Caracas face its economic and political crisis through dialogue and conciliation. Argentina severed relations with Venezuela in 2017 under right-wing President Mauricio Macre. He also made Argentina a member of the Lima Group, the bloc who was formed in 2017 to intensify pressure against President Nicolás Maduro. It was backed by the United States, the European Union, and the Organization of American States. The Lima Group supported unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela and the illegal self-proclamation of Juan Guaidó as the interim president. Progressive President Fernandez withdrew Argentina from the bloc in March 2021. The country is currently the pro-tempor president of the community of Latin American and Caribbean states. As such, Fernandez has urged other countries in the region to resume ties with Venezuela. Speaking on Monday, Ecuadorian President Lasso stated that he would analyze the idea and was not ready to make a decision. The right-wing leader has been a critic of the Bolivarian Republic. Meanwhile, as reported by Telesore, Fernandez highlighted the advances made by Venezuela's constitutional authorities and progress in the electoral process. He also welcomed the joint work between the Maduro administration and the United Nations human rights body. And finally, the Philippines Commission on Elections, or the Comelec, has dismissed the last disqualification case against Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. He will now continue his bid for the presidential elections scheduled for May 9. He is the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. His rule was marked by severe rights abuses, including mass arrests, torture and killings of suspected communists. Marcos Jr.'s presidential bid has been condemned as a disregard of this violence. The Comelec has so far dismissed five cases, seeking to bar him from next month's election. Petitioners have argued that Marcos Jr. is ineligible to contest based on a 1995 case. At the time, he was convicted of failing to file his tax returns when he was vice-governor and governor of Ilocos Norte. His argument was rejected by the Comelec's First Division on April 20. As reported by Raffler, the panel said that it was not convinced that Marcos Jr. had committed a crime involving moral turpitude. It added that non-filing of returns did not constitute tax evasion. As reported by Raffler, two arguments related to Marcos Jr.'s convictions under a tax court and the related jail sentence were also dismissed. Meanwhile, three other petitions are also due for review at the unbanked level. The matter cannot proceed to the Supreme Court unless a ruling is issued at this level. Marcos Jr. has supported the policies of far-right President Rodrigo Duterte and is contesting the election with his daughter Sara Duterte. According to recent polls, he holds a significant lead over other major candidates. And that's all for today's episode. For more stories, visit our website at www.peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching.