Russia invites Ukrainian President to important event; Iran enriches uranium beyond permitted level

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report showing that Tehran breached the nuclear deal and increased its enriched uranium stockpile. According to the report, Iran's uranium hexafluoride (UF6) stockpile reached 357.39 kg, much higher than the 300 kg limit under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed by the country with world powers in 2015. The level of uranium enrichment also increased to 4.5% from 3.67% in the deal. However, Iran's heavy water reserves are still maintained at 125.5 tons, still below the 130-ton threshold in the JCPOA.

Iran's Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said in mid-June that the country had quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium and would soon possess more than 300 kg of nuclear material. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on July 1 that Tehran had "crossed the planned 300 kg threshold." This is considered a "barrier-breaking" action because the JCPOA stipulates that Iran can only store no more than 300 kg of UF6, equivalent to 202.8 kg of low-enriched uranium, until 2030.

German Chancellor to return to lecture hall after term

The German chancellor made the remarks at the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management on August 31. “All the universities that have given me an honorary doctorate will hear from me again when I am no longer chancellor of Germany,” Merkel said. The HHL presented Merkel, a former physicist, with the honorary degree at an event attended by Christine Lagarde, the candidate to become the next head of the European Central Bank. “I will be back and not for such a short time as today. I will be here for a long time,” Merkel said to cheers from the crowd.

Her coalition faces a loss of support to the far right in elections in two eastern German states on September 1, potentially causing further tensions within the coalition. Ms Merkel stepped down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) last year after painful election losses, saying this would be her last term.

North Korea: Hopes of resuming talks with the US increasingly remote

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. Photo: AFP

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said on August 31 that hopes for talks with the United States were becoming increasingly remote following recent remarks by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. According to her, Pompeo's recent comments made it more difficult to resume working-level nuclear talks between the two countries.

Earlier, on August 27, in a speech to US veterans, Secretary of State Pompeo said that North Korea's "playful attitude" could not be ignored and that the US had attracted global support for the process of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

UK economy not ready for "hard" Brexit

People shop for food at a market in Dewsbury, England. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

According to the British Financial Times, with the British Parliament in recess, a “hard Brexit”, that is, Britain leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal, is now the most likely possibility at the end of October, and the country’s economy is not ready for that scenario. The UK’s economic output fell by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2019. The latest indicators of poor sentiment are also a sign that the UK economy may be hit much harder by Brexit than the rest of Europe.

A Bank of England study this week estimated that the UK has lost 3% of its national income in the three years since the vote to leave the EU. Uncertainty over Brexit has stifled business investment growth in the four years since Parliament passed the law requiring the referendum.