SEOUL -- South Korea's defense ministry said Monday that no decision had been made yet over the joint annual military exercise with the United States this summer.

Boo Seung-chan, defense ministry spokesman, told an online press briefing that nothing was finalized yet over how, when and on which scale the annual South Korea-U.S. command post exercise would be conducted, saying it would be decided by the authorities of South Korea and the United States.(South Korea-US-Military exercise)

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PHNOM PENH -- Three Cambodian dogs had been successfully trained to sniff out COVID-19, Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) Heng Ratana said on Monday.

The dogs had been trained with scent samples, known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), of 48 COVID-19 patients from the technical team of the University of Health Sciences, and all of the samples had been examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cell culture techniques to ensure safety, he said.(Cambodia-Dogs-COVID-19)

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PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia on Monday confirmed a daily record of 560 COVID-19 infections including 169 imported cases, pushing the national total caseload to 78,474 so far, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.

Twenty-two more fatalities had been registered, bringing the overall death toll to 1,442, the ministry said, adding that 763 other patients had recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 71,517.(Cambodia-COVID-19-Record)

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SYDNEY -- U.S. Payment company Square has acquired the Australian-owned Afterpay for a whopping 39 billion Australian dollars (about 29 billion U.S. dollars), sending shockwaves through Australia's share market on Monday.

The U.S. financial and digital payment services provider was co-founded in 2009 by billionaire and CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey as a response to traditional finance institutions, while Afterpay was founded in 2014 by Australian tech entrepreneurs Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen.(Australia-US-Afterpay)

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WELLINGTON -- New Zealand on Monday decided to allow seasonal workers to arrive quarantine free from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the decision at a press conference that seasonal workers will be allowed to travel to New Zealand from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu without going through the 14-day managed isolation and quarantine.(New Zealand-Pacific countries-Travel)