Mr. Putin won overwhelmingly, re-elected President, President Trump will "go into the dustbin of history"

1.Mr. Putin won overwhelmingly, re-elected President of Russia

Russian President Putin at a polling station in Moscow. Photo: AP

At the end of the election day on March 18, the Russian people chose a new president for the country, the current President Putin.

• Starting at 8:00 a.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m., the 2018 Russian presidential election was completed. As of 11:35 p.m., according to preliminary data released by the Russian Central Election Commission, based on the results of more than 50% of the votes counted, incumbent President Vladimir Putin was leading with 75% of the supporters.

  In second place was Pavel Grudinin of the Communist Party of Russia with 13.23%, in third place was Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia with 6.30% and in fourth place was Ksenia Sobchak of the Civic Initiative Party with 1.43%. The remaining four candidates received less than 1%.

  It can be seen that this result is quite consistent with the pre-election poll data of the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (VSIOM), when current President Putin always received support of about 70%.

  Thus, the Russian people have chosen for themselves a new President to continue leading the country for the next 6 years, that is the current President Putin.

  2. Former CIA director predicts Trump will "go into the dustbin of history"
  

Mr. John Brennan, former CIA director, spoke out strongly in response to Mr. Trump - Photo: AFP

The Attorney General signed the decision to fire him, but Mr. Trump was the top leader and happily praised the decision that the world called "heartless". The former CIA director reacted harshly.

Many opinions have appeared after President Donald Trump tweeted praising Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to fire someone.The strongest "sarcastic" opinion belonged to Mr. John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under Mr. Barack Obama.

"When the full extent of your condition, your ideological violence, and your political manipulation is known, you will take your rightful place among the disgraced demagogues in the dustbin of history," John Brennan wrote on Twitter on March 17.

The former CIA chief continued to criticize: "You can make Andy McCabe (the recently fired former FBI chief) a scapegoat, but you will not destroy America... America will win against you."

3. Mr. Li Keqiang re-elected as Prime Minister of China

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Photo: Xinhua.

On March 18, 2,970 delegates of the 13th National People's Congress of China voted at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, unanimously electing Li Keqiang as Chinese Prime Minister for a second five-year term, with 2,964 votes in favor and two votes against.

Mr. Li, 62, is from Anhui, China. He has a master's degree in law and a doctorate in economics. He was re-elected to the Politburo Standing Committee at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October last year.

Also at today's session of China's parliament, Minister of Supervision Yang Xiaodu was elected as the head of the National Supervisory Commission, a newly created body for Chinese President Xi Jinping to push forward the fight against corruption. Minister of Justice Zhang Jun was chosen as the Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Mr. Zhou Qiang continued to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court.

4.North Korean official arrives in Finland to seek talks with US

Mr. Cho Kang Il at Beijing airport. Photo: Reuters.

Reuters reported that Choi Kang Il, deputy director general for North American affairs at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, was on his way to Finland with plans to attend an informal dialogue with the US and South Korea.

This is part of a series of contacts between former US officials and current North Korean officials, aimed at reducing tensions surrounding North Korea's nuclear program.

According to South Korean diplomatic sources, Mr. Choe will meet with several former US diplomats, including former US ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens, and some security experts from Seoul.

However, Mr. Choi refused to comment on the above information when appearing at Beijing International Airport on March 18 before boarding a plane to Helsinki, Finland.

5."Ready to welcome Trump - Kim Jong-un dialogue in Vietnam"

The meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim is expected to take place in May but the location has not been revealed. Photo: AFP.

Responding to a question from SBS Australia about the possibility that Vietnam could be chosen as the venue for the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said Vietnam is ready to welcome this possibility.

“If they choose Hanoi or any place in Vietnam, we welcome them. We have diplomatic relations with both countries,” the Deputy Prime Minister said in an interview in Sydney, Australia, on March 18.

He said Vietnam welcomed any reconciliation moves between the two countries. “We all want peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Any step that helps that, we welcome. We welcome direct dialogue between the leaders of North Korea and the United States.”

6. Hackers attack servers on Russian presidential election day 2018

CEC President Ella Pamfilova. Photo: AFP/VNA

Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) said a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which overloaded servers and prevented users from accessing websites or online accounts, occurred on the day of the Russian presidential election on March 18, targeting the commission's website from IP addresses in 15 countries.

Speaking to the press, CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova announced that CEC had repelled a DDoS attack on its website in the early morning of March 18 (Moscow time). The attack sources were identified in 15 countries.
Security for the Russian presidential election has been stepped up with the participation of all functional forces. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said it had deployed 115,000 personnel and nearly 19,000 pieces of equipment to ensure security for all election areas across the country.

7.Syrian government gains control of 70% of Eastern Ghouta territory

People evacuated from Eastern Ghouta with the help of the Syrian government army. Photo: Middle East Eye.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source from the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that more than 20,000 people left Eastern Ghouta, Syria on March 18.

Earlier the same day, Russia's RIA news agency cited a source from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria - an agency run by the Russian Ministry of Defense - as saying that more than 5,000 people had just left Eastern Ghouta. On March 17, more than 10,000 civilians in Eastern Ghouta reached safe positions controlled by government troops.

The Syrian army announced that it had recaptured from opposition rebels more than 70% of the territory in the Eastern Ghouta region located on the outskirts of Damascus. So far, humanitarian organizations, especially the Russian Reconciliation Center, have only been able to evacuate a limited number of people from the dangerous area.