 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. Horrific surge in migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, Palestinian face brutal violence in Israeli prisons, United States finally authorizes aid to Afghanistan and John Donner workers on strike in the United States. In our first story, 164 people were killed after two separate migrant boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea in the past week. The first incident took place on December 17th in which 102 people died after their wooden boat capsized. The second took place on December 18th when the Libyan coast guard retrieved the bodies of at least 62 people. A third boat carrying 210 people was intercepted the same day. According to the International Organization of Migration or the IOM, around 1500 migrants have drowned and died so far in 2021. There has been an increase in migrant crossings from Libya which serves as a major transit point from Africa and West Asia to Europe. This surge has also been fueled by an increasingly brutal crackdown on migrants by Libyan authorities. The IOM has estimated that 31,500 people were intercepted and forced back to Libya in 2021. This has almost tripled the number of migrants detained in 2020. Once captured, people are sent to militia and detention centers where widespread abuse has been documented. Dozens of people are feared dead after another shipwreck was reported of the Greek islands of Folligandros on December 21st. Greece has remained one of the first destinations of people trying to seek asylum in Europe. However, arrivals to the continent have reduced drastically owing to border forces and pushbacks. The European Union's border agency Frontex has also been found aiding the Libyan coast guard. Israel reportedly shut down all prison sections holding Palestinians affiliated with Hamas on December 22nd. Rides groups Adamir also reported that section 12 of the Nafa prison had been closed. Prison officials transferred 80 prisoners outside their cells and beat them severely in the freezing cold. Several people have been hospitalized or sent to solitary confinement. This followed an incident where a Palestinian prisoner injured an Israeli prison guard. Palestinians across Israeli prisons had been protesting for days. The actions were undertaken in solidarity with female Palestinian prisoners who were brutally assaulted in the Dhamon prison. Between December 14th and 15th, Israeli forces beat female prisoners and forcibly removed their hijabs or headscarves. They were also prevented from showering for three days and the electricity was cut off to their cells which were also tear-gassed. The violence began after the women began resisting collective penalties imposed upon them including restrictions on family visits. Three women, Monak Adan, Shorukh Dawayat and Mara Bakir were removed from their prison cells and shifted to solitary confinement. Bakir serves as a prisoner's representative. Their confinement sparked protests by the Palestinian prisoners movement and rights groups. Three fellow prisoners also launched a hunger strike in support of the three women on December 21st. Finally, on Wednesday, Palestinian outlets including Wafa News reported that the three women had been released from solitary confinement and returned to their cells. The United States has finally issued authorization to allow aid into Afghanistan. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control or OFAC issued three licenses on December 22nd. U.S. officials, international agencies like the United Nations and the NGOs will now be able to conduct official business with the Taliban and Haqqani network. The decision followed shortly after the UN Security Council approved a resolution to allow aid into Afghanistan earlier on Wednesday. It permits the payment of funds and other financial assets or resources and goods and services needed for the timely delivery of assistance. The U.S. froze $9.5 billion of Afghan reserves after the Taliban took over in August. The World Bank and the IMF reportedly froze another $1.5 billion in foreign funds under U.S. pressure. This pushed Afghanistan's economy into collapse after decades of making it dependent on such funding. Nearly 23 million people in the country are at risk of facing life-threatening levels of food insecurity this winter. Out of this, 8.7 million people are nearing famine. The wheat harvest will also be significantly lower as 73% of Afghanistan's provinces are undergoing a severe drought. Hundreds of people marched to the now defunct U.S. embassy in Kabul on December 21, demanding the immediate release of frozen Afghan reserves. And finally, we go to the United States where workers at the John Donner Deserts plant in Santa Fe have been on strike for over 50 days. 175 bakery workers organized by the BCTG have walked out on November 3. The strike was called to protest mandatory overtime, low wages and a punitive point system which gave workers only three days of sick leave per year. The action is being led by mostly Latina migrant women who are being forced to work up to 15 hours a day. This is a violation of their contract which stipulates 8 hours workdays. Moreover, strikers told Moe Perfect Union that their production quota had reached 13 cakes per minute for a worker. Workers say the number of cakes on the ice cream line has gone up to 34 to 43 per minute. They have also stated that there has been instances where the company gave points when people went for cancer treatments or for taking off time for medical reasons. If workers exceeded 7 points over a period of 12 months, they lose their jobs. On top of the brutal schedule, workers are only earning between $16 to $18 an hour. The BCTGM is demanding a dollar per hour wage increase. Workers have also demanded better retirement benefits. Last week, the striking workers overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer by John Donner. Among other issues, the deal only offered a 50 cents an hour wage increase. That's all for today's episode. For more such stories, visit our website at www.peepersdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching. Thank you very much.