It seems that every article titled “5 Things to Know” is going to start with an “And, we’re back! from another long hiatus”. We here have been busy and so have you. However, we are working on trying to deliver you news summaries every week! Speaking on news summaries, there is definitely a boom of politics going on in our world to do. New leaders are elected here and there and tensions are built between existing leaders. Need to know more? That’s what we here at 5 Things to Know are for!

1) French Elections

France has recently elected a new president, and the EU is letting out a big sigh of relief. Emmanuel Macron, 39, centrist socialist, was elected as France’s new president, winning 66% of the votes against far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen. This means that France will take drastic steps to invest in renewable energy and that France will not be leaving the EU. This is a celebration for the EU as it means a halt in the populist nationalistic wave that has overtaken politics the past two years, and it means progress as usual, with France being its second most powerful economy, and France being the 6th most powerful economy in the world.

2) Afghanistan 

The Pentagon is considering to send additional troops to Afghanistan in order to fend off the Taliban, and to prepare more options for President Trump.  The objective of the strategy is to broaden the options and recommendations in approaching Afghanistan, which will be delivered to the president within the next week. “We want to maintain that partnership with Afghanistan and we want to ensure that Afghanistan reaches its potential, so that’s the objective of the strategy,” says Theresa Whelan, assistant of secretary of defence for special operations.

3) South Korea

South Korea has elected a new president after the impeachment and ousting of former president Park Geun-hye, and he wishes to reverse the country’s policy on North Korea. Moon Jae-in was elected South Korea’s new president on Tuesday and wishes for the economic integration and cooperation with its neighbour, North Korea. “I am confident to lead the diplomatic efforts involving multiple parties, which will lead to the complete abandonment of the North Korean nuclear program, and bring the relationship between South and North to peace, economic cooperation and mutual prosperity,” he stated during a presidential debate on April 25.

4) Comey Firing 

FBI Director James Comey was fired by President Trump because of the way he and the team have been dealing with the Hillary Clinton email probe. The Democrats viewed that his reasons; the FBI treating Clinton unfairly during the election, could not be justified as he didn’t have him fired at the start of his presidency. They state that the investigations of the FBI about connections of Russia to his current presidency were getting “too close for comfort”, which is why he was fired.

5) Tensions with North Korea

In an announcement this week, officials in North Korea have stated that there has been an operation within their nation to create a biological weapon to assassinate their leader, Kim Jong Un. South Korea states that their government knew nothing about it, and the Pentagon Spokesman states that he is familiar with the news, but declines that they have anything to do with it. There have been tensions previously these past two weeks between America and North Korea, where four Americans were detained.