 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you major news developments from around the world. Our headlines, protests held across the Philippines as President Duterte completes five years in power. Indian farmers convene parallel parliament in New Delhi, a struggle completes eight months. US President Joe Biden's signs deal with Iraqi Prime Minister Khadimi to end US combat missions in the country. And in our final story, we take a look at the Delta variant of COVID-19 and the need for sustainable pandemic response. In our first story, two activists were reportedly shot and killed by police in the Philippines on July 26. Right's group Defend Bikol stopped the attack's network, stated that they had been spray-painting a slogan on a bridge. Police later claimed that the activists had fired on the patrolling officers. The incomplete slogan read, Ours Duterte, and was part of a series of protest actions across the Philippines on Monday. The day marked Duterte's final state-of-the-nation address. Thousands of people gathered to denounce the human rights violations and killings in the country. Right's group Karapatan has documented 25 massacres under the Duterte administration. Of these, 36% were farmers fighting for land. Been in July 2016 and June 2021, 414 people were victims of extrajudicial killings under the supposed counter-insurgency operations. At least 1,090 human rights defenders had been jailed as of March 2021. The Philippines currently has 715 political prisoners, 489 of whom were arrested under Duterte. Indigenous people and peace consultants have also been targeted in violent threats by the police in the military. Killings in these cases are justified by the police who claimed that the people either fired back or were resisting arrest. These incidents exist on top of widespread killings during the country's drug war. The Philippines Human Rights Commission had stated back in 2018 that estimated 27,000 people had been killed. Former ICC chief prosecutor Fatah Ben-Sauda had requested authorization for a formal inquiry into this period. Duterte, however, reiterated threats to kill drug dealers during his formal address on Monday. Meanwhile, as reported by Rappler, over 2,700 protesters gathered in Metro Manila denounced the rights abuses in the mishandling of the pandemic. Protests were also held in regions including the Bicol region, Bacalot, Citi, Kalibo and Cebu. We now go to India, which has now marked over 8 months of the historic farmer struggle. Thousands of farmers are continuing their sit-in after first arriving at the three borders of Delhi in November 2020. In the latest phase of their protest, 200 farmers are holding a daily sit-in demonstration of the Jantar Mantar monument. Called the Kisan Sansar, the Kisan of the Farmers Parliament, the action is taking place just as Indian lawmakers convene for the monsoon session of the parliament. Farmers have remained steadfast in their demand for a complete repeal of three farm laws imposed by the government in 2020. Calling them a death warrant, they argue that these laws will boost corporate interest agriculture. They have also demanded a guaranteed minimum support price for their produce. Farmers are now holding daily discussions on the laws amid heavy police presence and paramilitary forces as well. 200 women farmers also held a special session on July 26 to highlight their role in agriculture. The sit-in was moderated by the Communist Party of India, Marxist leader Subhashni Ali. Protesters demanded that the government take back the Essential Commodities Amendment Act. The sit-in protests have also focused on state-regulated agricultural markets or MUNDIs. The new laws have introduced private traders in the market claiming that this will eliminate the middlemen. However, not only will this lead to a lack of oversight, it will also erode the MUND economy, which employs people as laborers, etc. Critics say. The Farmers Parliament will now continue throughout the monsoon session of the parliament. In our next story, the US has signed a deal to close its combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021. US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadimi signed the agreement in July 26. However, this has not been a complete withdrawal of the 2,500 troops currently deployed in the country. Biden stated during a press conference that the US will be available to train, assist and help to deal with the Islamic State. This does mean that the country will end its combat mission in Iraq after over 18 years. The US-led military coalition invaded Iraq in 2003 under the guise that the Saddam Hussein government owned weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were never found and the US continued its invasion till 2011, when a majority of the troops were pulled out. However, soldiers were redeployed in 2014 with the growing threat of the Islamic State. With the withdrawal of the IS from Iraq and neighboring countries, demand for the removal of foreign troops has increased. Popular opposition grew after the assassination of Iraqi Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iranian General Qasim Soleimani. The Iraqi parliament had then passed a resolution to ensure that all foreign troops would leave the country. Anti-imperialist activists and opposition members have denounced the latest deal as a betrayal of the popular demand, saying that it does not go far enough. Some have also claimed that it is an attempt by Qadimi to boost his popularity before the upcoming elections. Iraq had witnessed a series of protests earlier this year against unemployment, lack of services, etc. And in our final story, we look at the Delta variant of COVID-19. Just as countries in the west are opening up, this variant is driving the surge in countries like Indonesia. It is characterized by a higher rate of transmissibility. It is important to note that COVID-19 vaccines have so far proven effective against severe infections. However, some evidence is now showing that the Delta variant can infect even fully vaccinated people. Public Health England stated that out of those hospitalized with the variant, 22.8% had been fully vaccinated. Experts are now calling for the continuation of measures such as social distancing and masking. Here is Dr. Satyajit Rath to talk more about this issue. We have been pointing out that because the Delta variant has been selected for better transmissibility, that a virus can transmit better, certainly allows it to spread from person to person more efficiently. But it also allows it to spread from cell to cell more easily in the same body. And as a result, all the parameters that you are pointing out that it spreads more quickly. Therefore, larger amounts of virus progeny are generated more quickly. And even that the proportion of seriously ill people also is likely to increase a little bit from 10% to 12%, 13%, 14%, something like that. All of these are explicable by that property. So all of those are speculations that are beginning to be supported by the evidence now as you point out. And therefore, the so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions, in other words, masks and physical distancing, remain important. The crucial issue is that over sustained durations, livelihoods, particularly for marginalized communities, need to be protected while providing physical distancing and masking, particularly providing efficient masking, which we have not been doing. We've simply been using one, two layer fabric masks. All of this, it is upon the state and the governance and administration to come up with sustainable policies for. And the good news unequivocally is that the mRNA vaccines, the adenoviral vaccines are all protecting very well against even the so-called Delta variant, as far as hospitalization, serious illness and death are concerned. So 90, 95 plus percent protection is being seen against these, if some claims are to be believed. Certainly, despite the fact that 50% of the population, of the adult population in the United Kingdom, in Britain and in the US, is vaccinated, 95 plus percent of hospitalized seriously ill and or dying patients of COVID-19 are the unvaccinated. Oh, absolutely. And let's keep in mind that when we are talking about the percentage vaccinated in the United Kingdom or in the United States, we are saying, oh, 50% are vaccinated. That doesn't mean that 50% of the residents of every street are vaccinated. What it means is that there are communities where pretty much everybody is, all adults are vaccinated and there are communities where hardly any adults are vaccinated. And as a result, inequity is sharpening in the measurement of COVID vaccination. And as a result of that, in unvaccinated communities, the virus is beginning to run rampant. That's all we have time for today. We will act tomorrow with more news from around the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.