South Korea and China resume defense dialogue, Japanese university receives bomb threat

Putin takes office as President with solid support from Russian voters

Mr. Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and read the oath of office. Photo:Reuters.

At 12:00 (Moscow time, 16:00 Hanoi time) on May 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin was officially inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation for the new term 2018-2024, which is also his 4th term. The ceremony was solemnly held at the Kremlin in Moscow.

Speaking immediately after taking the oath of office, the head of Russia declared that upon assuming the office of President, he was aware of his enormous responsibility to the people and the country of Russia. He called his duty and the meaning of his life to do everything for the peace and prosperous future of Russia.

South Korea and China resume defense dialogue

South Korean soldiers in a drill. Illustrative photo. Source: Yonhap/VNA

On May 7, South Korea and China held their first working-level defense dialogue in more than two years to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula, regional issues and bilateral cooperation.

The two sides discussed the results of the April 27 inter-Korean summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and plans for bilateral defense exchanges and cooperation, a statement from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said.

This is the first working-level defense dialogue between South Korea and China since January 2016 after similar meetings were canceled due to bilateral diplomatic tensions related to the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea.

Czech Republic confirms it does not produce Novichok nerve agent

Experts from the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at the scene of the poisoning. Photo:AFP.

On May 7, the Czech Republic's acting Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced that the country has never produced, developed or stored any version of the nerve agent Novichok - the substance suspected of being used to poison a former Russian spy and his son in the UK in early March 2018.

The above statement was made by Prime Minister Babis after he had a working session with the leaders of the Civil Intelligence Agency and the Military Intelligence Agency on the morning of May 7.

He said the meeting clarified differences in the two intelligence agencies' reports that had caused public misunderstandings about the chemical being produced in the Czech Republic in the past.

Czech President Milos Zeman said last week that the Czech Republic had produced and tested small quantities of Novichok, but then destroyed them immediately. President Zeman said he based his conclusions on a report by the military intelligence agency, while another report by the civilian intelligence agency did not give the same result.

The Czech government said the chemical that the media called the nerve agent Novichok that once existed in the Czech Republic was actually A230, not A234 - the type of poison used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK.

Japanese university closed due to bomb threat

Aoyama Gakuin University campus, Japan. Photo:Nikken Sekkei.

An online bomb threat forced Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan, to close on May 7,Japan TimesThe threatening message said that "a bomb has been placed inside the school and will lead to the death of many people after the Golden Week holidays."

Aoyama Gakuin University said it decided to close for safety reasons and is working closely with police to investigate the incident.

Argentina fines Chinese fishing boat $400,000 for illegal fishing

Argentine authorities have fined the Chinese fishing vessel Jing Yuan 626 9 million pesos (about 400,000 USD) for illegal fishing in the South American country's exclusive economic zone.

The Jing Yuan 626 fishing boat was discovered illegally fishing in Argentine waters on February 21, but ignored warnings from the Argentine border guards and escaped into international waters with the help of several other fishing boats flying the Chinese flag. The Argentine border guards have identified the vessel's registration number and requested judicial authorities to intervene to handle the violation.

Argentina’s resource-rich waters are a common site of similar violations. Two years ago, a Chinese fishing vessel was sunk after it deliberately collided with an Argentine coast guard vessel to escape being caught fishing illegally.

Türkiye to launch new military operation on Syrian border

Turkish soldiers at the Syrian border. Photo:AFP.

President Erdogan announced that the military campaign in Syria will only be stopped when all terrorist forces at the border are destroyed. "We will not give up our efforts to destroy terrorist organizations. In the coming time, Türkiye will conduct a new campaign after the two campaigns 'Euphrates Shield' and 'Olive Branch' to clear the border area,"Reutersquoted Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's statement during the announcement of the election platform in Istanbul.

Americans still prefer Facebook after user information leak scandal

Illustrative photo. Source: EPA/VNA

Despite the wave of calls to boycott Facebook following the information leak scandal, Facebook users in the US still place their loyalty on the largest social network on the planet.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that three-quarters of Facebook accounts in the US remained active or even more active after the scandal.

According to a survey conducted from April 26-30, half of Facebook users in the US said they spent the same amount of time on the social network compared to before, while a quarter of users said they were more active. Only a quarter of Facebook accounts in the US reduced their usage, stopped accessing or deleted their accounts.

These results, along with many other indicators, show that Facebook has so far not been affected by the scandal except for the public relations issue. Previously, Facebook also said that as of March 31, the number of monthly active accounts in the US and Canada had increased to 241 million, up from 239 million on December 31, a similar increase compared to recent years.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said Facebook was lucky that the leaked information was clearly only used for political ads and that no one was harmed as a result of the leak.

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