 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 the headlines. Chile finalizes draft for a new constitution to be put through referendum. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics report on Nagba anniversary. U.S. lifts some restrictions on Cuba keeps most others intact. Somalia electing former leader to presidency once again. Chile's National Constituent Assembly over the weekend finalized the draft of a new constitution replacing the existing constitution following a national referendum. The finalized draft was agreed upon after 10 months of intense negotiations and 103 plenary sanctions of constitutional convention. If approved by a majority, the new draft constitution will replace the current neoliberal free market favoring constitution put into effect since 1980 by the dictatorial right-wing regime of General Augusto Pinochet. The referendum to approve or disapprove the new draft constitution will be held on September 4, in which all citizens aged 18 and above must vote. President of the gender-equal 155-member assembly Maria Elisa Quinteros will formally present the draft at a ceremony in the port city of Antofagasta on Monday, May 16. The new draft will now also be reviewed by the Harmonization, transitory and preamble commissions before being put up for referendum. The new draft constitution enshrines a number of new rights and freedoms such as free higher education, universal access to healthcare, reproductive rights, pensions, indigenous and water rights. It also includes clauses for advancing gender equality, protecting the environment, directing the state to combat climate change besides also codifying compensation for historical land dispossession of indigenous peoples. According to reports, it will be only the second constitution in the world after Ecuador's to constitutionally recognize the rights of nature, just one among a plethora of environmental friendly rights stipulated in the new draft. Among its political and systematic changes, it abolishes the Senate with a unicameral chamber of regions and allows for immediate presidential re-election. The draft constitution is a result of countrywide protests over chronic economic equality in October 2019 in which 36 protesters were killed and hundreds of others injured in the ensuing government crackdown. These protests forced then-president Sebastian Pinera to announce a plebiscite giving Chileans the option to re-write the country's constitution. The 1980 constitution put in place by General Pinochet was overwhelmingly voted out by 80% of Chileans paving the way for the new constitution. The number of Palestinian refugees worldwide has reached 6.4 million. According to the UN figures, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said in a report on Sunday, May 15. The report, which was released on the 74th anniversary of the 1948 Nagba, which means catastrophe, describes the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians massacred, displaced, expelled and ethnically cleansed during the establishment of the State of Israel. According to UNRWA estimates, almost 29% of the refugees live in 58 camps built across countries in West Asia as well as in the occupied Palestinian territories of West Bank and Gaza. This number however does not include those refugees displaced and expelled for the period ranging from 1949 to the 1967 Six Day War as well as many of the unregistered refugees around the world. Other statistics mentioned in the report include the number of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons since 1967, which has surpassed 1 million. It states that as of April 2022, there are currently 4,450 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 160 children and 32 women. It further noted that 650 Palestinians are currently being held in illegal administrative detention, 570 prisoners are serving life sentences and 700 prisoners held are ill and suffering from a range of health conditions. The report also sheds lights on the precarious situation in Gaza which has been under a blockade by Israel since 2007. It notes that 66% of the population in Gaza are refugees living in one of the world's most densely populated regions with a population density of 5,855 individuals per square kilometer. It also documents the devastating economic effects of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, noting that the unemployment rate stands at 47% for the whole population and at 69% for those aged 15 to 24 years. Moving on, US President Joe Biden has lifted a number of restrictions on Cuba put in place during the previous administration of President Donald Trump after a government review. However, a vast majority of the other key sanctions and restrictions continued to be in effect, including no individual people-to-people travel, the Cuba restricted list, a US State Department list of Cuban companies with which Americans abhorred from doing business. President Biden had also imposed fresh sanctions on Cuba about a year ago, citing alleged government crackdowns on anti-government protests. The restrictions done away with on Monday include increased consular services and visa processing, reinstating the Cuba family reunification program, lifting of the US$1000 cap on family remittances, expanding authorized travel to Havana and other locations, and reinstating group travel for research among others. Reports, however, say that the easing of the restrictions fell short of the lifting of sanctions and restrictions that were enacted during the presidency of former President Barack Obama. In response to the easing of the restrictions, Cuban government officials called on the moves positive but of very limited scope. The Cuban foreign ministry in a statement said that these announcements in no way modify the blockade or the main measure of economic siege adopted by Trump. Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez in a tweet further stated that the decision does not change the embargo, the fraudulent inclusion of Cuba on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, nor most of the coercive maximum pressure measured by Trump that still affect the Cuban people. Notably, the easing of the restrictions also come in the wake of the tensions arising over the summit of the Americas. Several regional leaders including Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have announced that they will boycott the summit hosted by the US this year if leaders from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are not invited. Cuba's foreign minister has also recently said that there is no justification for excluding Cuba or any other country from the event. And finally, Somalia elected a new president on Sunday, May 15th following a long overdue election held up by years of terrorism and militancy. Former president Hassan Sheikh Mohammed defeated incumbent president Muhammad Abdullahi Muhammad in the election by more than 165 votes in his favor. The election started out with 36 candidates contesting in the first round out of which four proceeded to the second round. Since no candidate won two-thirds of the 328 ballots, a third round of voting commenced in which a simple majority was enough for Mahmoud to emerge as the winner. The voting by secret balloting by the members of the upper and lower houses of the legislature reportedly took place in a tent in an airport hangar amid heightened security provided by African Union peacekeepers. 66-year-old Mahmoud is the leader of the Union for Peace and Development Party which enjoys the majority in both houses of parliament. Following his win, he was quoted as saying that we have to move ahead. We do not need grudges, no avenging. He also spoke about the outgoing president who had sat together with Mahmoud while the ballots were being counted, saying it is indeed commendable that the president is here standing by my side. Following the conclusion of the election, the United Nations welcomed the news and praised the country for successfully holding a free and fair election and the peaceful transfer of power. The incoming president had previously served as president from 2012 to 2017 and was well known for his work in the fields of education and civic development including for his role as one of founders of Mogadishu's Seema University. He is a member of the Havya clan, one of Somalia's largest. Reports predict an extremely tough road ahead for him with the country experiencing widespread extremism and terrorism, particularly terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shaban group. The country is also suffering from an alarming humanitarian situation with the UN and emergency aid workers warning against the breakout of a country-wide famine, reminiscent of the 2011 famine which killed 260,000 Somalis. And that's all for today's episode. For more such stories, visit our website peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.