Main News of May 8

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Although North Korea has apparently withdrawn its Musudan mid-range missiles from their launch site, several Scud and Rodong missiles are still deployed on the east coast and seem to be on the highest alert, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo daily cited a Defense Ministry source as saying

* Internet access was restored in Syria after the country had been cut off from the worldwide web for almost 24 hours, the SANA state-controlled news agency reported

* The Armenian government allocated €112,000 ($145,226) to the Ministry of Justice to pay damages and legal fees to 17 conscientious objectors in compliance with a 2012 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, the government press service said

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the international US-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) for doing too little to eradicate heroin production in the Central Asian state

* Russia’s influential Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov stepped down

* Moscow police apprehended a murder suspect with alleged mafia connections evening who had escaped from the Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention facility on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said

BUSINESS

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on ombudsmen for the protection of business people's rights in Russia