WORLD NEWS May 21: The last gunmen of Azov battalion surrender

Vehicles carrying Ukrainian soldiers fighting at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol left this city on the afternoon of May 20. The Kiev authorities had previously ordered units in Mariupol to “stop defending the city” – Photo: REUTERS

* The last 531 Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have surrendered May 20, according to the notice of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The event put an end to the most dramatic and longest siege since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.

“The area of ​​the Azovstal metallurgical plant has been completely liberated,” the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed, and released a video of Ukrainian soldiers surrendering. According to the ministry, a total of 2,439 Ukrainian troops have surrendered in the past few days. The Ukrainian side did not immediately confirm those numbers.

Hours before the Russian announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the last Ukrainian soldiers still holding guns in Azovstal to leave to save their lives.

* At dawn on May 21, Gazprom Export – a subsidiary in charge of energy exports of Russia’s Gazprom Group – confirmed Russia will stop supplying gas to Finland from May 21 because the country has not paid for gas in April in rubles as requested by Russia.

Previously, the Finnish side announced that Russia would stop supplying gas to this country from May 21. The move comes just days after Finland applied to join NATO.

Gazprom Export stated that it will defend all its interests in the arbitration proceedings initiated by Finland.

*”Finland and Sweden are valuable additions to NATO.” is the message of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 20.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman also said the British prime minister had asked the Turkish leader to sit down with his Swedish, Finnish and NATO counterparts to address any concerns ahead of the NATO summit in London. Madrid (Spain) next month. In this regard, the UK stands ready to assist.

* Asian and European stocks rebound in the trading session on May 20 after China cut interest rates.

According to the announcement of the Central Bank of China, the basic interest rate for the 5-year loan will be reduced from 4.6% to 4.45%. This move contrasts with the US Federal Reserve (FED) and the Bank of England, which are raising interest rates to curb rising consumer prices.

Things were not so positive in the US stock market. The main indexes of Wall Street stocks have turned down sharply after recovering in the early session on May 20.

Ending the early trading session on May 20 (local time, ie the end of May 21 in Vietnam time), the Nasdaq technology index lost 2.4% while the Dow Jones lost 1.3%; The S&P 500 fell 1.8%.

New French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna – Photo: AFP

* French President Emmanuel Macron embarks on a cabinet reshuffle right before the National Assembly elections next month, the event is likened to the third round of elections in France after two rounds of presidential elections.

The first two changes are in the foreign and defense ministries. France’s ambassador to London, Catherine Colonna, has been chosen as foreign minister, making her the second female foreign minister in modern French history.

Mr. Sebastien Lecornu, former minister in charge of overseas territories, was promoted as defense minister. Both positions are significant and play an important role for Paris in the context of fast and complicated developments in regional and world security.

* On May 20, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin confirmed Russia has just established a special agency dedicated to the reconstruction of “liberated” regions in Ukraine, including the Donbass area bordering Russia.

The first thing the agency will do is to focus on restoring destroyed roads and homes, and then on economic recovery. According to Mr. Khusnullin, this special agency will mobilize all relevant ministries and agencies and will implement the plan on a weekly and monthly basis.

* In the opposite direction, group G7 announced that it will support nearly 20 billion USD for Ukraine in the reconstruction of the country. The group of countries including the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada also pledged to provide enough money for Ukraine to rebuild the country.

On the same day, May 20, European Union (EU) leaders also agreed to meet on May 30 to discuss setting up a fund to help rebuild Ukraine when the conflict ends.

* North Korea recorded 219,030 new cases of “fever” and 1 new death from COVID-19 from 6 pm on 19 to 18 pm on May 20, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 21. This is the ninth day since Pyongyang confirmed that COVID-19 had appeared in the country and caused an outbreak.

According to KCNA, the total number of “fever” cases nationwide is more than 2.46 million, but of which more than 1.76 million have recovered and about 692,480 are being treated.

A photo released by North Korea on May 20 shows a medical worker spraying disinfectant at a zoo in Pyongyang – Photo: AFP

* Director of the WHO Office for Europe Hans Kluge warned monkey pox will spread rapidly this summer in Europe due to parties and festivals across the region.

The disease caused by this virus has appeared in many European countries and is increasing rapidly, prompting WHO to hold an emergency meeting on May 20. However, health officials believe this is not a pandemic because the infection rate of the virus is not as fast as that of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19.

The disease causes pustules but rarely causes death, mainly in African countries, according to Reuters news agency.

According to WHO, there is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, but data shows that vaccines used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85% effective against monkeypox.

* May 20, billionaire Elon Musk went to Brazil to promote the Internet satellite project (Starlink) helps schools in the Amazon rainforest and the Brazilian government to monitor the rainforest.

According to Brazilian media, Mr. Elon Musk will have a meeting with President Jair Bolsonaro in the city of Porto Feliz. “I’m very excited for the upcoming meeting in Brazil to implement the Starlink program for 19,000 schools that are not yet connected to the Internet in mountainous areas and to monitor the environmental situation in the Amazon forest,” Musk wrote. on Twitter.

* According to the newspaper The Guardian of Britain, two MPs from the United Russia Party ruling in Russia has proposed to increase the age for enlistment to solve the operator shortage, using highly precise and complex weapon systems.

These two proposed to raise the maximum age that can be served in the Russian army to 40-45 years old. The current age range is between 18-40 for Russian citizens and 18-30 for foreigners.

According to The Guardianraising the age of service is a sign that Russia is looking to increase the number of people for the army after the difficulties in Ukraine.

* OLDFormer US President Donald Trump has paid a fine of 110,000 USD for failing to respond to subpoenas in a civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices, a spokesman for the New York state attorney general confirmed May 20.

Judge Arthur Engoron decided to fine the former president $10,000 per day until the fine is paid, saying he despised the court. Accumulation stopped last week after Mr. Trump sent documents showing he had cooperated with the investigation.