Outstanding international events of the week

(Baonghean.vn) - The continued deterioration of US-Russia relations, Superstorm Matthew, and the appointment of a new Secretary-General at the United Nations… were the focus of the past week. Let's take a look back at the outstanding events of the past week with Baonghean.vn.

1. Russia-US relations continue to deteriorate.

On October 3rd, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending the nuclear agreement with the United States, reached in 2000. Two days later, Russia further suspended an agreement with the US on cooperation in nuclear research and clean energy. On the US side, also on October 3rd, the Washington administration suspended bilateral talks on peace in Syria. Analysts and observers believe this could be a difficult period for the two countries due to ongoing disputes in the Ukrainian conflict and the Syrian crisis.

2. Announcing the 2016 Nobel Prizes in the fields of physics, chemistry, and peace.

On October 4th, three British scientists, David Thouless, Durican Haldane, and Michael Kosterlitz, won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their theoretical research on exotic states of matter. Meanwhile, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists: Jean-Piere Sauvage of France, J. Fraser Stoddart of the UK, and Bernard L. Ferringa of the Netherlands. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts to build peace with the FARC rebel group. (Photo: President Santos)

3. Hurricane Matthew caused significant damage to Caribbean countries.

According to preliminary estimates, Hurricane Matthew, when it swept through Haiti, killed more than 877 people and caused extensive destruction, submerging many people's properties in floodwaters. After devastating Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas, the storm is continuing its rampage along the eastern coast of the United States, forcing at least 3 million Americans to evacuate.

4. Yet another NSA data breach has occurred.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Harold Thomas Martin, 51, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, responsible for most of the NSA's most sensitive cyber operations that Edward Snowden worked on, has been arrested for stealing highly classified "source code" developed by the National Intelligence Service (NSA) to hack the computer systems of other governments. The documents allegedly stolen by him are "critical to national security... Among these classified documents are six that were obtained from sensitive intelligence sources and created by a government agency in 2014." Martin is currently facing a sentence of 10 years in prison for theft of government property and one year for deleting classified documents.

5. The United Nations has a new Secretary-General.

With the support of 13 out of 15 Security Council member states and no vetoes, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres will become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, succeeding Ban Ki-Moon, on January 1, 2017. Not only is he considered a "tireless advocate for refugees" during his decade as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Guterres is also the first head of government to become UN Secretary-General – a position typically reserved for former foreign ministers.

6. The two US Vice Presidential candidates face off for the first time.

On October 4th, the two candidates, Tim Kaine of the Democratic Party and Mike Pence of the Republican Party, raced to the finish line in the first debate between the two vice presidential candidates. Although the debate between the two vice presidential candidates was more heated than expected, taking place at the most crucial stage of the final race for the White House, analysts believe it is unlikely to significantly impact the outcome of the "final match" on November 8th.

Chu Thanh

(Synthetic)