The world last week - featured news

(Baonghean.vn) - Russia held a military parade to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany; France had its youngest president-elect in history; Mr. Moon Jae-in was elected president of South Korea; Trump suddenly fired the FBI director;... are notable international news of the past week.

1. Russia held a military parade to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

Parade on Red Square.

At exactly 10:00 a.m. on May 9 (Moscow time), or 2:00 p.m. the same day (Vietnam time), Russia solemnly held a military parade to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the Soviet people's victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War.

Participating in this year's parade were more than 10,000 officers and soldiers from all branches and services of the Russian Armed Forces, 114 armored tank units and 72 military aircraft and helicopters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attended the parade, congratulated Russian veterans and soldiers on Victory Day, saying: "We must remember that victory was achieved at the cost of lives. No power has been, is and will be able to conquer our people. The freedom of Europe and the whole world was achieved thanks to our ancestors."

2. France has the youngest elected president in history

Emmanuel Macron, 39, is the leader of the En Marche party.

Mr. Macron won a resounding victory with 66.06% of the vote. Thus, he will take over the Élysée Palace from President François Hollande when he is not yet 40 years old and will become the youngest president in French history after officially taking office on May 14.

Mr. Macron considers himself a centrist, neither left nor right, and has never been a member of the two traditional parties, the Socialists and the Republicans. The president-elect served as Minister of the Economy from 2014 to 2016, before resigning to officially announce his candidacy for the Élysée Palace in November 2016.

3. Mr. Moon Jae-in was elected President of South Korea

South Korean President-elect Moon Jae In. Photo: Yonhap.

Moon's five-year presidential term began at 8:09 a.m. local time on May 10 when the National Election Commission confirmed his victory in the May 9 election.

A written certificate confirming Moon's victory was also sent and received by his representative, Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back. In fact, Moon's presidential term had already begun before the inauguration ceremony took place.

According to the vote count results announced by the National Election Commission of Korea, Mr. Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party won 13,423,800 votes, equivalent to 41.8% of the vote. Moon's inauguration ceremony is scheduled to take place on the afternoon of May 10 at the National Assembly building. Mr. Moon is the 19th President of Korea.

4. Trump suddenly fired the FBI director

Mr. James Comey, who was recently fired as FBI director. Photo: AP

On May 9, US President Donald Trump suddenly decided to fire the director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Mr. James Comey.

The decision to fire James Comey, the head of the agency tasked with investigating ties between Mr. Trump's election campaign and Russia, has shocked Washington.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: "The president has accepted the recommendation of the attorney general and deputy attorney general regarding the removal of the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Also according to the White House announcement, the search for a candidate to replace Mr. James Comey has begun 'immediately'.

5. Trump meets with Russian foreign minister

Mr. Trump and Mr. Lavrov met for the first time in Washington. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry.

On May 10, one day after firing FBI Director James Comey, US President Donald Trump had an official meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Washington.

The US president said he had a "very productive" conversation with the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. When asked if the firing of FBI director James Comey affected the meeting, Mr. Trump denied it.

This is the highest-level diplomatic contact between President Trump and Russia, in the context of Russia-US relations having experienced many tensions since last month. It is not common for a US president to receive a foreign diplomat at the White House.

6. North Korea launches ballistic missiles

A North Korean missile test launch. Photo: AFP.

On the morning of May 14, North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew about 700km. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that the North Korean missile was launched from Kusong City, North Poyongan Province, in the northwest of the country. However, according to Yonhap news agency, the above official did not reveal other details such as what type of missile it was. Currently, the South Korean and US militaries are analyzing information related to the missile launch.

North Korea's missile launch came as US, Japanese and two European troops were gathering on a US island in the Pacific for exercises, aimed at sending a message to Pyongyang.

Less than a month ago, on April 29, North Korea also launched a missile.

7. Ransomware is raging in 99 countries

The attack tools are suspected to have been stolen from the US National Security Agency. Photo: RT

Reuters reported on May 13 that computers at thousands of locations were infected with ransomware, locking users' data unless they paid the attackers between $300 and $600 in Bitcoin.

Researchers at security software maker Avast said they had detected 57,000 infected computers in 99 countries, with users in Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan among the top targets.

Expert Jakub Kroustek, from Avast, said the malware was identified by the attackers as WannaCry and affirmed: "This is a very large attack."

Meanwhile, the NSA claims to have information about computers infected with ransomware in several countries around the world, saying, "We have detected over 75,000 ransomware infections in 99 countries."

Peace

(Synthetic)