Europe

GENEVA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder has welcomed a declaration by G20 members on Monday committing to a human-centered future of work policy priorities.

"The G20 clearly recognizes the urgency of addressing the multitude of challenges we face in this rapidly changing world of work. The commitment to adopting human-centered policies for the promotion of decent work is key," said Ryder in a statement released here.

LONDON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday night outside 10 Downing Street that there are no circumstances in which he will ask the European Union (EU) to delay his country's departure from the bloc.

In a defiant message, he said he wanted "everybody to know we are leaving on 31 October, no ifs or buts."

Despite frenzied media speculation that Johnson would announce calling or threatening to call a snap general election, Johnson said he did not want an election.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shot down the notion that he wanted an early election to secure Brexit, insisting Monday that it wasn’t the way to get a deal done.

Johnson decried parliamentary action set for Tuesday that is meant to delay Britain’s departure from the European Union, arguing that it would “chop the legs” out of the U.K. position. He spoke moments after lawmakers posted a copy of the proposed bill on Twitter, making clear that they would press the government to seek a delay if there’s no deal.

KIEV, September 2. /TASS/: There is no progress on the prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine so far, attorney of several detained Russians in Ukraine Valentin Rybin informed TASS.

"All detained persons in Ukraine remain where they are. There has been no movement," he said.

According to the attorney, the decree of the Ukrainian president on pardoning the detained under the exchange deal has not been signed yet. Rybin was also unable to confirm the earlier media reports claiming that the exchange would take place on September 3.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Moscow would like to have Tehran’s opinion of the international community’s efforts for preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the Iranian nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his opening remarks at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow on Monday.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Moscow and Tehran have agreed to keep working together to protect trading and economic projects with Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a joint news conference following talks with Iran’s visiting Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow on Monday.

"We have agreed to exert more joint efforts to expand the protection of trading and economic projects with Iran to ensure independence from dollar settlements," Lavrov said.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: The measures taken by the Ministry of Economic Development to bolster Russia's economic growth will not bring results at the drop of a hat, but may take some time, as the ongoing processes have "a lot of inertia", Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin said in an interview with TASS.

"Let me remind you that last year, economic growth amounted to more than 2%. Prior to that, in 2017, it was 1.8%. It is clear that this is not much," Oreshkin said.

TBILISI, September 2. /TASS/: Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced Monday that he is officially resigning.

"It was a great honor, and a massive responsibility at the same time, for me to serve to protect the interests of our country as the prime minister of Georgia. I have been and will always be a member of the Georgian Dream (ruling political party - TASS) and a devoted soldier of our country," he said in a Facebook statement.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: The latest missile tests in the United States indicate that Washington has no intention of getting back to compliance with the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an audience of students and teachers at the MGIMO university and the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy on the occasion of the beginning of a new academic year.

He said Washington had already ruined that treaty on a far-fetched pretext.

2 Sep 2019; MEMO: Two Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of raping a 19-year-old German teen on the Greek island of Crete.

The two Israelis – a 29-year-old and 35-year-old man who have not been named – were arrested yesterday in Hersonissos, a popular tourist resort on the Greek island of Crete, after the German teen filed a complaint to local police.