A brawl broke out in the Armenian parliament on May 8. Edmon Marukian, chairman of the opposition Bright Armenia party, had just finished his speech when he was approached and slapped by Sasun Mikaelian, a member of the ruling My Step Alliance. Soon, dozens of lawmakers were fighting.

As Russia prepared for scaled-down Victory Day ceremonies, coronavirus infections rose fast and Moscow's mayor suggested the real numbers may be much higher than the official count.

On March 4, Pakistan national Muhammad Gulzar was shot and killed at the Greek-Turkish border. Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the bullet came from a Greek firearm. An investigation into the tragedy at the edge of Europe.

After the Allies defeated Germany and ended World War II in Europe in summer 1945, peace finally prevailed on the Continent. The Germans were beaten, desperate and ashamed, but also ready to get back to normal life following the trauma. By DER SPIEGEL Staff

In the global jostling amid the coronavirus crisis, Beijing is extending its influence while U.S. President Donald Trump continues to squander America's leadership role. The pandemic could mark the beginning of a new Chinese era.

The corona crisis is changing the global economy. Production security is growing more important than efficiency. Here is what that might look like.

The World Health Organization is the most important authority in the global battle against the coronavirus. But doubts about the WHO’s leadership are growing, and not just in Washington. Is Director General Tedros up to the task?

On Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and a number of world leaders are launching a massive fundraising endeavor to raise money for tests, medicines and a vaccine for the coronavirus. Only one major country is missing in the effort.

A growing number of people in Germany are resisting lockdown measures imposed to contain the coronavirus. The rift between those who support the measures and those who are critical of them is growing.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, the pharmaceutical company Gilead pulled remdesivir out of its storeroom. The drug, which had proved to be ineffective against other illnesses, could have a future in the battle against COVID-19. But it's likely not a "game changer."

The first coronavirus infection in the United States was confirmed in Seattle 100 days ago. A team of DER SPIEGEL reporters has documented what has happened since, following a dozen people as they struggle to come to terms with the health catastrophe.

Alcohol consumption is a problem in many African countries. In the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, off Africa's western coast, many residents don't want to hear about, fearing it could damage the country's international image as burgeoning travel destination.

The number of coronavirus cases is slowly sinking in Italy, but the country is now facing the next phase of a serious crisis: how to kickstart an economy that has been at a standstill for weeks.

International aid workers are having a tremendously difficult time doing their jobs due to all the travel bans around the world and other quarantine measures. In the face of the coronavirus, however, they are needed more than ever before.

Germany’s strict limitations on contact between people haven't conquered the virus - they have merely bought the country more time. Epidemiologists believe a second wave will come.

In an interview, medical historian Frank Snowden discusses how the coronavirus pandemic mirrors past outbreaks and argues that we must quickly apply the lessons learned today in preparation for the next disease.

Pathologists are eager to quickly conduct autopsies on as many COVID-19 victims as possible. They aim to determine who is at greatest risk from the virus and what damage it causes inside the body. Initial results are already available.

Iceland has the coronavirus pandemic better under control than most other countries. In an interview, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir explains the next important steps for her country.

Even before the arrival of COVID-19, humanity found itself stuck in several crises at once. The current shock delivered by the coronavirus could accelerate a paradigm shift that was already underway. It may result in a better and more sustainable world.

Each year, thousands of South Africans die from the consequences of coal-fired power generation. The respiratory disease COVID-19 is exacerbating the country's health crisis.

Everything will be different after the COVID-19 pandemic. But how? Who will emerge as a winner amid all the changes sweeping the globe? Six economists, diplomats and pollsters share their prognoses for the post-coronavirus future.

Donald Tusk, the head of the European People's Party and the former president of the European Council, says the coronavirus crisis could spell the end for the EU. He urges Germany to show more solidarity with weaker countries and hopes to prevent Hungary from becoming a dictatorship.

Managing Director of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) Bashorun Askia Ogieh has urged all Muslim faithful to show more love and compassion in this holy month of […]

-Blank NEWS Online ( NIGERIA): The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has called on Nigerians to use the holy month of Ramadan to pray for the divine intervention […]

Nigeria (Blank NEWS Online) –:  The people of Ugborodo Community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have said that they are satisfied with the current  location […]

Nigeria (Blank NEWS Online) –:  In addition to the actions taken so far by the Delta State Government to address the menace of flood in Asaba, the state capital, further […]

After 50 days in mandatory lockdown, Argentina's President Alberto Fernández announced on Friday that the quarantine will be extended until May 24th.

Argentina will keep pushing for talks with creditors even as a deadline for its US$ 65 billion debt restructuring proposal passed on Friday with little sign it had the support needed from international bondholders to unlock a comprehensive deal. Apparently on averaged less than 20% of bondholders accepted Argentina's conditions

The governor of Sao Paulo, the Brazilian state at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America, said on Friday he was extending stay-at-home measures until May 31, ignoring opposition from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazil's Real firmed for the first time this week, bouncing from last session's all-time lows, while most other Latin American currencies also strengthened on Friday on signs of easing tensions between the United States and China.

The COVID-19 lockdown wiped out 20.5 million jobs in the United States in April, destroying nearly all the positions created in the prior decade in the world's largest economy, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of the year, according to data released on Friday, a worrying trend after the devastation caused by record fires last year.

Auto production in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America's top producers, plunged by an unprecedented 99% in April as a result of the coronavirus crisis, with the two countries building a total of just 5,569 vehicles.

Falkland Islands schools in Stanley are making final preparations for reopening on Monday, May 11. Camp Education, an integral part of the schooling system also re-opens on the same day.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a newspaper interview on Saturday there was a growing risk of a hard Brexit in the midst of the coronavirus crisis as negotiations between Britain and the European Union so far on the future trade relationship had yielded hardly any progress.

The biggest threat to Brazil's ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.

By Andrew Mason, Sang-Hyop Lee, and Donghyun Park HONOLULU (8 May 2020)—Elderly populations in Asia are expanding more quickly than other age groups. Low fertility rates result in fewer children and eventually fewer working-age adults, while elderly populations are living longer.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Rebecca Strating HONOLULU (24 April 2020)—Many argue that China’s increasingly aggressive posture in the South China Sea is an attempt to unilaterally alter the US-led regional order, which includes an emphasis on freedom of navigation. In response, the US has stressed the importance of support from “like-minded” states—including Japan and South Korea—in defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and elsewhere. This characterization, however, disguises important differences in attitudes and behavior that could hinder joint efforts to push back against China.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Lora Saalman HONOLULU (14 April 2020)—Artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly important component of weapons systems, with both positive and negative implications for nuclear deterrence. Integration of AI into military platforms has the potential to allow weaker nuclear-armed states to reset the imbalance of power, but at the same time it exacerbates fears that stronger states may further solidify their dominance and engage in more provocative actions.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Boy Lüthje HONOLULU (6 April 2020)—The development of electric and self-driving vehicles is bringing on a massive restructuring of the global automotive industry. Emerging forms of new and shared mobility undermine the very model of private car ownership that has underpinned the automotive industry since the days of Henry Ford.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By James H. Spencer, Sumeet Saksena, and Jefferson Fox HONOLULU (1 April 2020)—The current COVID-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, underscores what the public health community has warned about for more than two decades—the risk of viral diseases capable of spreading from animal to human hosts. The first outbreaks of “bird flu” (highly pathogenic avian influenza―HPAI, subtype H5N1) raised similar concerns 20 years ago―concerns that have persisted with the outbreak of SARS in 2002–2004 and COVID-19 today. New outbreaks of avian influenza are also still occurring in poultry and humans, primarily in Asia but also in other parts of the world.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By East-West Center HONOLULU (March 27, 2020)—Population aging is affecting countries all across Asia. This ongoing demographic transition will leave many of the region’s economies increasingly dependent on an aging, and eventually a shrinking, workforce. Economists disagree, however, on whether population aging will necessarily lead to a slowdown in economic growth.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

A close look at the evidence suggests that China has not been engaged in “debt-trap diplomacy” in the Pacific, at least not so far. Nonetheless, if future Chinese lending continues on a business-as-usual basis, serious problems of debt sustainability will arise, and concerns about quality and corruption are valid. By Jonathan Pryke HONOLULU (March 2, 2020)—In an atmosphere of heightened geostrategic competition, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has raised questions about the risk of debt problems in less-developed countries. Such risks are especially worrying for the small and fragile economies of the Pacific.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Marcus Noland HONOLULU (November 19, 2019)—Rising diplomatic tensions between South Korea and Japan are putting American security interests at risk. Yet the United States government appears detached, unable to facilitate a rapprochement between its two allies. This is a critical moment because a South Korea-Japan intelligence-sharing agreement, aimed at North Korea, is due to lapse on 22 November this year.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Abby G. Frazier and Laura Brewington HONOLULU (November 11, 2019)—Of all the earth’s environments, alpine regions are arguably the most vulnerable to climate change. This is especially true for alpine areas on islands. Island ecosystems are also particularly vulnerable to damage from human activity and the invasion of alien species due to their isolated and limited land areas.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Anu Anwar HONOLULU (November 1, 2019)—Originally announced by Chairman Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to bolster China’s connectivity with the world. While the name Belt and Road Initiative implies two routes—a maritime road through the Indian Ocean and a land belt across Central Asia—in reality, BRI projects encompass multiple, interconnected global networks. The BRI combines old and new projects, covers an extended geographic region, and includes efforts to strengthen infrastructure development, investment, and cultural ties.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By East-West Center HONOLULU (October 4, 2019)—President Donald Trump first laid out a vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” at the November 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam. From the start, statements describing the emerging US Indo-Pacific strategy have recognized the central role of Southeast Asia. The US approach to the Indo-Pacific focuses on three vital areas: enhancing shared prosperity, championing good governance and civil society, and ensuring a peaceful and secure regional order. Two recent visitors to the East-West Center described the potential role of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the US Indo-Pacific strategy and spelled out several steps that the United States needs to take to strengthen US-ASEAN...

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Charles E. Morrison and Mark Nuttall HONOLULU (September 27, 2019)—In the summer of 2019, Greenland received considerable media attention for two developments: Its large ice sheet saw record rates of surface melt with potentially devastating impacts on the oceans, and Donald Trump suggested that the United States should look into buying the island from Denmark. Both illustrate key features of the changing Arctic—the amplified impact of climate change and concerns over the return of geostrategic competition after a post-Cold War period of international circumpolar cooperation.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Tim Brown and Wiwat Peerapatanapokin HONOLULU (September 17, 2019)—In 2018, roughly 6 million people were living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific, and 310,000 were newly infected, according to UNAIDS estimates. Despite these troubling numbers, financial support for the fight against AIDS is stagnant, and international resources for HIV programs in the region are declining. Given the continued HIV infection levels and limited funds for halting the epidemic, it is more important than ever for prevention efforts to achieve maximum impact with the resources available. This means that programs need to target the key populations most at risk of contracting HIV. In Asia, these key populations are female sex workers and their clients, people who inject drugs, and men who have sex with men....

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Sherry P. Broder HONOLULU (August 28, 2019)—Since the 1950s when plastics were first produced, more than 150 million tons of plastic debris have accumulated in the world’s oceans. Marine plastic litter includes large items, such as nets, floats, and other fishing debris, plus tiny microplastic particles that are pervasive and practically invisible to the naked eye—but equally harmful. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that more than 35 percent of all the primary plastics that end up in the oceans are microplastics and that most of these tiny particles originate from textiles. Ingestion of plastic particles by fish, bivalves, and other seafood is particularly concerning for humans, in part because little is known about the pesticides that are...

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.