March 19, Monday, 2018 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradhan and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto

  1. The top national security advisers of Japan, the United States and South Korea have agreed to keep applying maximum pressure on North Korea until it takes irreversible and verifiable steps toward denuclearization.
  2. Russian President Vladimir Putin has secured a historical landslide victory, by winning more than 76 percent of the votes, while some opposition forces are protesting the election was leaked.
  3. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the country’s forces have taken control of the central part of Afrin, a Kurdish stronghold in northwestern Syria.