WORLD

In the coming days, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong may become the most recent South Korean corporate titan to be granted a presidential pardon, potentially releasing him to take over for his late father as the company's CEO and deal with challenges it faces, such as the global semiconductor shortage.

Prior to South Korea's annual Liberation Day celebration on August 15, when amnesties are customarily granted, President Yoon Suk-yeol might make the change. According to Yonhap News Agency, the Justice Ministry started a meeting on pardons on Tuesday. Following the discussions, the justice minister will produce a list of candidates for Yoon to accept and have his cabinet confirm.

Russia has suffered as many as 80,000 casualties in its war against Ukraine and lost thousands of armored vehicles, according to a senior defense official.

Roughly 70,000 to 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded during the first five and a half months of the war, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said during a press briefing Monday, adding that the figure is "pretty remarkable considering that the Russians have achieved none of Vladimir Putin's objectives at the beginning of the war."

Russia attempted to seize the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early in its invasion, which began in late February, but repeated setbacks coupled with tough Ukrainian resistance saw Russia redirect its focus to eastern Ukraine, where the two sides are now locked in a grinding artillery battle.

Putin listed in his speech the areas that he considers untouchable and from which NATO must move away: "Our Arctic zone, the waters of the Black, Okhotsk and Bering seas, and the Baltic and Kuril straits "We will guarantee their defense firmly and by all means.”

The technological novelty introduced by this missile is its ability to exceed up to nine times the speed of sound. That is to say, this projectile would be able to strike down a target in a very short period of time.

Elon Musk, in his confidentially filed countersuit in Delaware court, relied on Twitter's litigation in India to counter the social media giant's claim of breach of their merger agreement by Musk.

Musk has claimed that Twitter failed to disclose its litigation with and the investigation by the Indian government. According to Musk, Twitter initiated risky litigation against the Indian government—thereby placing Twitter's third largest market at risk.

Musk has claimed that Twitter's decision to challenge the Indian government's decisions is a departure from the ordinary course as it has in the past followed obligations imposed by governments, including going as far as blocking pro-Ukrainian accounts for the Russian government.

North Korea on Friday (August 5, 2022) said all of its fever patients have recovered, marking the end of its first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, but challenges linger with economic hardships deepening and an unvaccinated population exposed to future resurgences, analysts said.

While state media said the "anti-epidemic situation ... has entered a definite phase of stability", rather than boasting of victory, North Korea said it would "redouble efforts to maintain perfection in the execution of state anti-epidemic policies".

The reclusive country has never confirmed how many people caught COVID-19, apparently lacking testing supplies. But it said around 4.77 million fever patients have fully recovered and 74 died since late April. It has reported no new fever cases since July 30.