By Benyamin Poghosyan, PhD, Executive Director, Political Science Association of Armenia

On 14-15 May 2017, 29 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Erdogan, gathered in Beijing for the international forum of the "Belt and Road" initiative. The Forum was the biggest event since the launch of the 'One belt one Road' initiative put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. China invited countries and regions to jointly build the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with at least five routes of economic cooperation. READ MORE

• May 22, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump called on Arab leaders to do their share to fight "Islamist extremism" on Sunday in a speech that put the burden on the region to combat militant groups while urging unity among religions.

• May 21, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump called on Arab leaders to do their share to fight "Islamist extremism" on Sunday in a speech that put the burden on the region to combat militant groups while urging unity among religions.

• May 21, 2017

The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said on Sunday he was confident an agreement between Athens and its creditors could be found at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday in Brussels.

• May 21, 2017

China invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and six cabinet colleagues to its "new Silk Road" summit this month, even offering to rename a flagship Pakistani project running through disputed territory to persuade them to attend, a top official in Modi's ruling group and diplomats said.

• May 21, 2017

Southeast Asian nations and China should start with a "gentleman's agreement" on the busy South China Sea waterway because no mechanism exists to legally enforce any deal, the Philippine foreign minister said on Friday.

• May 19, 2017

A new ferry between isolated North Korea and Russia docked for the first time at the Pacific port of Vladivostok on Thursday, in spite of U.S. calls for countries to curtail relations with Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.

• May 18, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump was hit on Friday by embarrassing leaks that a senior adviser was a "person of interest" in a probe of possible collusion with Russia during last year's election campaign and that Trump had boasted to Russian officials of firing the man heading the investigation.

• May 18, 2017