 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you major news developments from around the world. Our headlines. US imposes new unilateral sanctions on Syria, targeting major economic sectors. 34 million workers have lost their jobs in Latin America, says ILO. Opinion poll shows overwhelming support in Chile for constitutional reforms. European Union to sue UK over bill to override Northern Irish classes of Brexit deal. And US ambassadors comment spark concerns of interference in Portugal. Now first story on Wednesday, the US announced fresh unilateral sanctions on war-ravaged Syria. The US Treasury Department in a state statement said that the sanctions have been placed on 13 Syrian entities and six individuals. The main entities which are listed for sanctions are Syrian companies working in the telecommunication, tourism and technology sectors. The sanctions also target individuals including the governor of the Syrian Central Bank, Haasim Yunus Karful, and the head of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, Hussam Mohamed Luka among others. US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin tried to justify the unilateral sanctions as an attempt to force the Bashar al-Assad-led Syrian government to come to the UN-led negotiations. The negotiations are to be held on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 aimed at ending the decade-long war in the country. Wednesday sanctions follow the previous set of financial sanctions imposed on Syria in June this year under the so-called Caesar Act of the US Congress. These sanctions have prompted pharma companies supplying several essential drugs to withdraw their license causing major shortages in Syria. Similar to previous sanctions imposed by the US and the EU, the current round of specific sanctions are unilateral and not recognized by the UN. According to UNSC Resolution 2254, peace can be achieved in Syria only through a political process and peaceful negotiations among all the parties in the country. The current round of sanctions are expected to further complicate the economic situation in the country which is already battered by a decade-long war in the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In our next story, according to the latest report by the International Labour Organization released on Wednesday, around 34 million workers lost their jobs in nine countries across Latin America. These nine countries constitute 80% of the total economically active population in the region. Though some of the job losses are temporary in nature and are expected to revive once the effects of the lockdown are over, going back to pre-COVID-19 situations is expected to take a long time. The report also highlighted the fact that in terms of the loss of working hours in the first three quarters, Latin America and the Caribbean tops other regions of the world with almost 21% contraction, that is double the world average of 11.7%. The report titled Labour Overview on Times of COVID-19, Impact on the Labour Market and Income in Latin America and the Caribbean, is based on data collected from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay. According to the report, in the first three quarters of 2020, the labour income decreased by over 19%. The report says that the worst quarter was the second one when the total was more than 33.5% of all the workers lost. The average unemployment rate for these nine countries in the second quarter was 11.5%, which is 2% higher than the previous quarter. According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented economic contraction in the region, as per the International Monetary Fund, the economy of the region is expected to contract around 10% this year. In our next story, according to a study by active research poll store, over 80% of Chilean voters approved constitutional reforms. Chileans were asked if they would vote in favour of reforming the constitution in the October 25th, plebiscite. According to a survey, 83% of electors would approve it, 13.4% would reject it and 3.6% of voters are still indecisive. Over 40% of surveyed considered it very dangerous to go to voting because of the pandemic, while 34% said it would not be harmful and 22.4% said there was no risk of contagion. The study also estimates that about 53.1% of the Chilean people would vote in the October elections. This corresponds to about 8 million people. In this event, 66.8% of those interviewed are in favour of creating a constitutional convention in which all members would be elected by a popular vote. In contrast, 28.1% of the people agree with a mixed constitutional convention which would be made up in equal parts by members of the current Congress and those who elected directly by the people. The survey also unveiled that less than 50% of Chileans watched the advertisements related to the plebiscite. Of that group, 57% of people considered the approved campaign to be more trustworthy. The Chilean referendum rescheduled from April 26th to October 25th due to the COVID-19 pandemic could open the way for substantial modifications to the political and economic model created by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The referendum was announced following massive protests last year and this year against the policies of President Sebastian Pinera. We now move to news from Brexit. Following Boris Johnson's failure to respond to Brussels' demand to drop legislation that would override the withdrawal agreement and break international law, the EU has launched legal action against the UK. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leiland announced that the UK had been put on formal notice over the internal market bill tabled by the Prime Minister last month. The internal market bill would give British ministers legal powers to override two elements of the Northern Ireland protocol. Early this month, Johnson was facing backlash from the EU and from within his own ruling Conservative Party after his government said it is ready to break its commitments to the EU over the Irish border. Speaking in Brussels, Ursula von der Leiland said that the EU had invited UK to remove the problematic parts of the draft internal market bill by the end of September and that by its very nature to breach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the withdrawal agreement. She also added that it will be in full contradiction of the Northern Ireland protocol. The Commission's letter is a start of a lengthy process that will ultimately end the European Court of Justice. And finally, early this week, the left block in Portugal expressed strong objection to the remarks made by the US Ambassador in Lisbon, George Glass, in an interview to a local newspaper. The statements by the ambassador were made in the backdrop of the ongoing trade war between the US and China. He suggested that Portugal must now choose between its allies Glass described the country as a battlefield between Washington and Beijing. He further revealed in response to a question that a delegation of the US Treasury Department was in Portugal to work with regulators to prevent Chinese companies from gaining greater access to the Portuguese market. Portugal is currently one of the major recipients of Chinese investment in Europe. The left block in Portugal called it manifest interference in the internal affairs of the Portuguese state and termed it totally unacceptable. The Portuguese Communist Party also registered a strong protest against the statements. Following widespread protests and condemnation over the ambassador's statements, socialist party and government in Portugal responded saying that the decision-making process in the country is under the government and will not be impacted by US pressure. That's all we have time for today. We will be back tomorrow with more news from around the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.