The U.K. could see up to 50,000 coronavirus cases per day by mid-October if current growth continues, top scientific advisers warned in a televised address from Downing Street on Monday.
The big picture: The U.K. has upgraded its coronavirus alert level from three to four as infections appear to be "high or rising exponentially." Meanwhile, recent European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) data shows that over half of all European Union countries are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a New York City police officer with acting as an illegal agent of China and feeding information on ethnic Tibetans in New York City to the Chinese consulate, court documents show.
The big picture: China's Communist Party has for years responded with heavy-handed tactics against Tibetan calls for independence.
Yoshihide Suga will represent Japan at this week's UN General Assembly just days after replacing the country's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
By the numbers: Suga, 71, may find Abe's longevity hard to match. Japan had 17 prime ministers in the 14 years before Abe took office.
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday that would impose sanctions on any person or entity that contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran or is engaged in providing training and financial support related to those weapons.
Why it matters: The executive order is the first step by the Trump administration to put teeth into its claim that international sanctions on Iran were restored over the weekend, one month after the U.S. initiated the "snapback" process under a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Economic tension between the U.S. and China continues to escalate but is shifting in focus — away from the tit-for-tat trade war and toward a more direct confrontation over the future of technology at the heart of the conflict between the world's two largest economies.
Why it matters: The battle between the U.S. and China was always about tech supremacy and the direct confrontation could result in an accelerated splintering of global supply chains and a significant reduction of international commerce.
U.S., Emirati and Sudanese officials will hold a decisive meeting in Abu Dhabi on Monday on a possible normalization agreement between Sudan and Israel, Sudanese sources told me.
Why it matters: If the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates accommodate Sudan’s requests for economic aid, an announcement on a normalization agreement with Israel similar to the ones struck with the UAE and Bahrain could be made within days, sources briefed on the process tell me.
People in England will be fined up to £10,000 (about $12,917) if they're caught not following requests to self-isolate beginning on Sept. 28, according to the BBC.
The state of play: The fine will start at £1,000 and could rise up to £10,000 for repeat offenders, and for the worst offenses. The new fines "could risk a backlash from sections of the public and some Conservative MPs," according to the Independent.
The U.S. has no authority to reimpose sanctions lifted in accordance with the Iran nuclear agreement after President Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, France, Germany and the United Kingdom wrote in a joint statement Sunday.
Why it matters: The U.S. announced it will reimpose sanctions and an arms embargo against Iran as part of the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic Republic, which it has accused of financing terrorism and other destabilizing activities across the Middle East.
