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.

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.

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."

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

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Hyundai Merchant Marine is pushing forward with a plan to attract an investment of up to 1 trillion won from BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm. According to investment banking industry and shipping industry sources on August 20, the company is currently in talks with BlackRock to bring in an investment of 600 billion won to 1 trillion won. The investment will be made in the form of BlackRock taking part in a capital increase by Hyundai. Once the deal is successful, the equi...

Samsung Electronics said on August 20 that its Samsung Pay service has surpassed the 10-trillion-won milestone in payment volume within two years since launch. Introduced in August 2015, Samsung Pay exceeded the 1-trillion-won level in August last year. Since that time on, the service volume quadrupled for one year's time. An official with Samsung Electronics said, "The volume of out online transactions has taken off since last year, accounting for 30 percent of the total online transactions....

The household debt balance has rapidly increased to approach 1,400 trillion won (US$1.24 trillion) as of the end of June this year. It is estimated the balance may have surpassed the 1,400-trillion-won level by mid-August. As the amount of household debt reaches 90 percent of the gross domestic products (1,637 trillion won at the end of last year), economists began warning the high debt level may pose an obstacle to further growth.According to the Bank of Korea on August 23, the balance of house...

This year's tourism balance of payments is estimated to surpass US$15 billion. This is up more than 40 percent of $10.8 billion recorded in 2007 in the wake of the global financial crisis. According to the Bank of Korea, the tourism balance of payments in the month of June this year was a deficit of $1.39 billion. The cumulative deficit for the first six months of the year has been $7.74 billion, the second all-time highest after the second half of 2007. Last year, the tourism spending by K...

Despite the record-high results, the R&D investment level of the nation's petrochemical industry is still miserably low. According to industry sources on August 28, the amount of R&D investment of Lotte Chemical, which achieved a record-high sales revenue of 7,849.4 billion won in the first half, fell short of 44.5 billion won. This is only 0.57 percent of the total sales. Even last year when the company posted the highest operating profit (2,547.8 billion won) among all petrochemical...

SK Engineering & Construction has won a large-scale petrochemical plant project in Thailand. The company said on August 29 that it clinched a deal worth US$210 million to build polyol plant within the Hemaraj industrial zone in Thailand's Rayong. This followed news that the company signed a $1.6-billion project to modernize an oil refinery in Iran earlier this month. The plant, located 150 kilometers southeast of Thailand's capital Bangkok, is commissioned jointly by PTT Global Chemical, ...

Central bank governors of three East Asian countries including China, Japan, and Korea will get together and discuss issues such as debt and macroeconomic soundness. But the issue of the Korea-China currency swap deal which will expire on October 10 won't be one of the official agendas in the meeting. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will meet in Incheon's Songdo for two days on September 13-14 in th...

The youth unemployment rate has hit a record-high level in August since the Asian financial crisis. As for the number of net job increase, it fell to a low of 54 months. Even though the government is doing everything it can to create jobs, jobs-related figures won't budge. According to a report "August 2017 Employment Trend" published by the National Statistical Office on September 13, the jobless ratio of those aged between 15 and 29 was 9.4 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from a year ago. ...

The Daesan petrochemical industrial zone in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, will transform into an advanced chemical industrial complex. The nation's major petrochemical companies may invest up to 10 trillion won in this area. On September 14, S-Oil, Lotte Chemical, Hanwha Total, South Chungcheong provincial government, and Seosan city gathered in Lotte World Tower and signed a memorandum to create a Daesan specialized industrial complex. Currently the area is home to large petrochemical ...

Private-sector power generators are complaining mightily about the government's pressure on them to switch coal-fired power plants they are building into ones based on liquefied natural gas. That's largely because the government is mum about the sunk cost and other costs to retrofit the plants estimated to be as high as 2.6 trillion won. According to private-sector power generation industry sources on September 17, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy requested to POSCO Energy, SK Gas,...

The approval rating of the Moon Jae-in government has hit a low of 67.1 percent largely due to North Korea nuclear issues. The rating has fallen for three consecutive weeks. As for the approval rating of the ruling Minjoo Party has declined for four weeks in a row to 49.3 percent. Pollster Realmeter said on September 18 that a survey commissioned by CBS-TV revealed that the ratio of those who thought positively about the way the current government has performed was 67.1 percent, down by 2.0 p...

Beachgoing is not just for the summer. Nothing is romantic than walking on the beach with a loved one. What about the beach in the autumn? Walking on the beach on a cool breeze and sitting in a café with an ocean view may be something you don't want to miss.   If you long for a place where you can see the autumn sea and uninhabited islands, all you need to do is take the Airport Train from Seoul station or Gimpo Airport station. Within one hour, it will take you to Yeongjo...

December to April is bonus season. According to the latest annual report from the Office for National Statistics, bonuses for UK staff have reached a record £19 billion, a rise of £2.5 billion since last year. The forthcoming months will...

In a somewhat timely judgment, bearing in mind the May bank holidays, the Court of Session (the Scottish Court of Appeal) has clarified that it is not necessarily unlawful for an employer to not provide alternative leave days for part-time workers w...

If you have not yet responded to the Eversheds survey as to the likely impact of the changes to agency worker rights upon your business and would like to do so by 13 June, please click here.   Main body The topics of equal rights for age...

VAT treatment of vouchers provided to employees under salary sacrifice You will no doubt have been made aware of the recent CJEU (formerly European Court of Justice) ruling in AstraZeneca. The case involved AstraZeneca and the retail vouchers that ...

Introduction The Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011 (“the Bill”) was published on Friday 16 December 2011. The Bill is intended to give effect to an EU Directive (Directive 2008/104/EC) on...

Russia registered more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases for the sixth day in a row -- an indication the spread of the virus inside the country remains serious despite a stringent lockdown-- as the Communist party leader called for the release of non-violent criminals from prison .

A 97-year-old Russian World War II veteran has been inspired by the fund-raising efforts of Captain Tom Moore. She says she can't walk around a garden to gather donations like the 100-year-old British veteran did, but she is posting war stories online every day to raise money for the families of Russian medics who have died fighting COVID-19.

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 275,000 with almost 4 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.

Thousands of people jammed the center of the Belarusian capital to watch soldiers and military units march as part of celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, celebrations that took place despite serious concerns about the coronavirus.

Thousands of people came out on May 9 to watch soldiers, military vehicles, and aircraft on display in central Minsk as part of celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany 75 years ago. The televised event took place despite concerns about the coronavirus. While most other former Soviet republics, including Russia, canceled their Victory Day parades due to spiking infection and death rates, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has downplayed the pandemic as a "psychosis." In a speech during the event, he said the country “had no other choice” but to go ahead with the celebrations as thousands of war victims were watching, adding that none of today’s hardships can compare to the horrors the country endured during the war.

By RNZ The cost of mandatory quarantine on both sides of the Tasman means a New Zealander living in Brisbane will not be reunited with his dying mother in Auckland.A close friend of the man - both of whom RNZ has agreed not...