Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow is pursuing normalization of relations with Washington and called on the US to also take responsibility in these efforts. (Source: Press TV) In the context that the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden will take place in a week in Geneva, Switzerland, Deputy Minister Ryabkov said: “This is really an important event in the world. international agenda. We hope this event will answer many questions.” The Russian diplomat said that he did not know after this contact whether a sustainable trend towards solving problems and normalizing relations could be guaranteed, but Russia would pursue this. . This is the crux of all the tasks Russia is trying to solve today, Ryabkov said, calling on the Biden administration to be “as responsible and capable as Moscow” to achieve it. this. The Russian Deputy Minister said that at the current stage of development of international relations, time passes faster than what the two countries have done, referring to the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START). The Russian diplomat said that, despite just renewing the Treaty, “the US midterm elections are approaching and the countdown to the 5-year extension of New START is happening very quickly”, so need not waste time and focus on achieving a certain new modern paradigm of arms control. “We need not only to find a solution to the question of whether there is an opportunity to de-escalate tensions, but also to the problem of a new ‘security equation’ in relations between the two countries. Russia is also ready for this.” (according to TASS)

Insider Instagram representatives apologized when the system suggested these keywords to people recovering from eating disorders. Cristina Criddle, a spokesperson for the app, told BBC indicates that the above error is now fixed. Having struggled with an eating disorder, Victoria Spence said that the keyword Instagram suggested could hurt newcomers. “To help people discover what they’re interested in, we’ve rolled out a new way to search on Instagram by suggesting keywords as they move to the search bar. Those suggestions, as well as ourselves. search results, limited to common interests, “a Facebook spokesperson – which owns Instagram – said in a statement to Insider . “Losing weight” should not be one of the keywords to suggest, this person added. “We’ve taken steps to prevent these terms from appearing. We apologize for causing any confusion.” Instagram says it doesn’t allow content that encourages eating disorders to appear and deletes posts as soon as it detects them. Users are allowed to talk about recovery from the disorder, but the hashtags associated with it begin with #thinspo , #proana and #anabuddy blocked. The social network also said that posts promoting super speed weight loss products were also banned. According to Dr. Bryony Bamford, Clinical Director at The London Center for Eating Disorders and Body Image, the damage happened when a user saw a keyword on Instagram. “Many people with eating disorders or recovery may be affected by useless messages they see on social media. Diet or weight loss keywords can trigger awareness of the disorder. “After recovery is a time when they are extremely vulnerable, exposure to the above factors has the risk of causing the disease again,” she said. How Instagram recommends search keywords to users. Victoria Spence, an influencer once suffering from an eating disorder, regularly shares articles about her recovery. Spence says she doesn’t believe Instagram promoting diet content is an algorithmic mistake. “Instagram is a platform to advertise, and the diet food industry is a multibillion-pound giant. The problem with content promotion revolves around ‘appetite suppression’ and ‘planning.’ Weight loss ‘on a platform with a large number of young users shows that they are normalizing diets and celebrating weight loss methods’. Spence argues that Instagram needs to improve the algorithm for diet posts to be pushed down. “The question is whether they really care about users or value profit more as businesses,” she said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“Such an act of aggression will be strongly opposed. The response to the sanctions will be inevitable … The responsibility for what is happening completely belongs to the US “- Ms. Zakharova said in a press conference.

According to Ms. Zakharova, US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to have a “difficult” conversation with the US side.

“We have repeatedly warned the United States about the consequences of their hostile actions, which represents the degree of confrontation between the two countries” – said Ms. Zakharova – “Such a (political) process. do not serve the people’s interests of the two leading nuclear powers, which are historically responsible for the fate of the world.

“In a phone call with the Russian President, Mr. Joe Biden expressed interest in the normalization of Russia-US relations. However, the actions of his administration showed the opposite “- the spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

Earlier, the United States imposed anti-Russia sanctions and expelled 10 diplomats in response to accusations of Moscow’s election meddling and cyber activities.

US President Joe Biden said he is ready to take further action if Moscow continues to “interfere in our democracy” but at the same time still hopes to improve relations with Russia.

Nikkei Asia newspaper quoted sources as saying that this employee was called “Mr. Y” in the Japanese intelligence community. He once told contacts in Tokyo that he was ill. Some government sources say Japan and North Korea have lost a “behind-the-scenes negotiation channel”.

Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic relations, and efforts to normalize relations have become strained because of the past abductions of Japanese citizens and Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a meeting with key officials in Pyongyang. Photo: KCNA

According to sources, “Mr. Y” is known to be a subordinate of “Mr. X” – a senior North Korean security official who paved the way for a first-ever bilateral summit. was held in 2002 between the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Along with “Mr. X”, this liaison officer took part in negotiations regarding Mr. Koizumi’s 2002 visit to North Korea. He is also in charge of negotiating a 2014 bilateral agreement signed in Stockholm on negotiating principles aimed at addressing kidnapping in the past.

In 2014, he informed Japan that two men missing in the late 1970s were still living in North Korea. These two, Minoru Tanaka, went missing at the age of 28 after boarding a plane to Vienna at Narita Airport, and Tatsumitsu Kaneda working at the same ramen shop as Tanaka. Meanwhile, Pyongyang has repeatedly stated that Tanaka has never entered North Korea.

Japan officially lists 17 people kidnapped by North Korea, of which five were repatriated after the landmark 2002 summit in which leader Kim Jong-il admitted North Korea kidnapped. Japanese citizenship.

“Mr. Y” also acts as the mediator for a secret meeting in Mongolia in 2014 between Mr. Shigeru Yokota and Ms. Sakie Yokota, 85, the parents of the kidnapping victim Megumi Yokota and her niece. Megumi Kim Eun-gyong.

Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped in 1977 at the age of 13, was on her way home from school. She has become the symbol of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea.

Along with the families of the other kidnapped people, Sakie Yokota met with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last week to call for the early repatriation of their loved ones ahead of scheduled talks between the prime minister and US President Joe Biden. took place on April 16 in Washington.

The unidentified employee, the sources said, succeeded “Mr. X” about 10 years ago, and entered into negotiations with Japan in a third country such as China and Mongolia.

Fluent in Japanese, he communicated with Japanese officials on his anti-eavesdropping cell phone. He is believed to have had a disease related to the brain or circulatory system, but may have been fired amid negotiations between Japan and North Korea stalled.

Prime Minister Suga, who served as a kidnapping minister under his predecessor Shinzo Abe, said after taking office last September that he was ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong Il’s son without prerequisites.

But now, Mr. Suga is struggling to find a new negotiating channel when Pyongyang closes its border to the COVID-19 pandemic prevention.

What appears to be the only door of opportunity now closed after North Korea decided not to participate in the Tokyo Olympics this summer, also citing the need to prevent viral infections.

President Suga’s office declined to comment.

Mr. Song Il-ho is the Korean Ambassador in charge of negotiating the normalization of relations with Japan. However, the Japanese government source said he was not one of the secret negotiators with more decision-making power.