US President Orders More Sanctions on Iran; UK Government Considers Lawsuit Delaying Brexit

UK government considers suing over Brexit delay law

Photo: THX/TTXVN

The British government is considering taking the law that forces London to seek a delay to Brexit to the Supreme Court, according to lawyer Jo Maugham, who helped Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government win a case against the decision to delay the parliamentary session. The lawyer said she had heard from multiple sources that the government wanted to take the law to the Supreme Court.

Prime Minister Johnson’s government is currently rushing to find an agreement with the EU to push Brexit forward as planned on October 31. However, the possibility of the two sides reaching an agreement at the EU summit on October 17-18 is very low.

US President Donald Trump orders increased sanctions on Iran

US President Donald Trump. Photo: THX/ VNA

US President Donald Trump said on September 18 that he had ordered Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “significantly increase sanctions” on Iran. The order came amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, especially after drone attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which some US officials blamed on Iran.

Previously, in an official note sent to the US through the Swiss Embassy, ​​the mission representing US interests in Tehran, Iran reaffirmed that it was not behind the above attacks, and warned that it would immediately respond to any US move against Iran.

North Korean and Japanese officials discuss normalizing relations

North Korean Ambassador Song Il-ho. Photo: Getty Images

Kyodo reported that on September 18, Song Il-ho, the North Korean ambassador in charge of normalizing relations with Japan, held talks with the Japanese delegation in Pyongyang, in the context that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his desire to meet leader Kim Jong-un unconditionally. The content of the exchange between Mr. Song Il-ho and the Japanese delegation led by Mr. Shingo Kanemaru is not yet clear.

Mr. Shingo Kanemaru has been visiting North Korea since September 14 with officials of Yamanashi province.

Indian government announces complete ban on e-cigarettes

A person smokes an electronic cigarette in Washington, DC, USA. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

On September 18, the Indian government announced a ban on the import, sale, production and distribution of e-cigarettes. The decision comes at a time when many countries around the world are increasingly concerned about the harmful health effects of e-cigarettes, which have been hailed as less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

Speaking to reporters, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the decision was based on the impact that e-cigarettes have on teenagers - the "regular" customers of this product.

Facebook is about to make big changes to prevent extremist posts?

Illustration photo: AFP

Facebook has announced a series of changes to curb hate speech and extremism on the social network, expanding its definition of terrorist organizations and planning to deploy artificial intelligence to detect and block live videos of mass shootings. The social media company is also expanding a program that redirects users who search for extremist content to pages run by organizations that help eliminate hate speech.

The announcement comes a day before a congressional hearing on how Facebook, Google and Twitter handle violent content. US lawmakers are expected to question social media executives about how they handle posts from extremists.