Officials argue that social distancing rules and the pressure brought by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may be contributing to the rise in the number of suicides among US military service members. US military suicide rates have increased by at least 20% this year, in comparison to the same period last year, with Defence Department officials considering the COVID-19 pandemic a potentia [...]

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a top-level conference on joint global development of a Covid-19 vaccine. He also offered UN staff a dose of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for free. The UN General Assembly, held in a coronavirus-appropriate virtual format, kicked off on Tuesday. Putin delivered a speech during its morning session, largely focusing o [...]

Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine against Covid-19, has been under relentless attacks by Western corporate media. Instead of rallying behind a potentially life-saving shot, some are willing to put the whole of humanity at stake. Above all, there are two essential principles that regulate the survival of mankind. One is the ontogenetic, related to the survival of the individual, the other is the phylo [...]

The World Health Organization expects Europe to see a rise in the daily number of Covid-19 deaths in October and November, the head of the body's European branch told AFP. Cases in Europe have risen sharply in recent weeks, especially in Spain and France. More than 51,000 new cases were reported on Friday alone in the 55 countries monitored by WHO Europe, which is more than the highest peak in Ap [...]

The EU has a stated goal of promoting prosperity and stability in the Middle East and North Africa. However, its efforts to secure Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements with its southern neighbours have so far had limited success. Luigi Scazzieri writes that with Covid-19 likely to generate a significant economic fallout in the region, it is time for the EU to make a more ambitious offer. [...]

Nearly 130 Austrians have been stunned to receive $1,200 cheques signed by none other than US President Donald Trump. Washington’s sudden generosity appears to be a result of a mistake in its Covid-19 relief package system. Citizens of the small Alpine nation, located thousands of miles away from America, were baffled by the envelopes containing what was described as economic relief money from t [...]

The world's first anti-COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V was registered in Russia on 11 August, following several rounds of clinical trials and has now been made available to the public across the country. More than a dozen countries have now expressed interest in obtaining the vaccine. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funded the development of Sputnik V, announced on Wednesday [...]

The Phase 3 trial of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca has been paused, reportedly due to a suspected ‘serious adverse reaction’ by one of the participants in the UK. AstraZeneca only said that its “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data,” according to a statement by a company spokesperson on Tue [...]

As soon as Russia’s 'Sputnik V' coronavirus vaccine arrives in Venezuela for clinical trials, it may be used to immunize around 14,400 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election, the country’s president said on Tuesday. A batch of the world's first registered Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in the Latin American nation later this month, Nicolas Maduro stated in a televised address. He [...]

Since the launch on August 11 of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Gamaleya Center scientists, Russia has seen immense interest and expressions of hope from many countries and has received requests for 1 billion doses of the vaccine. However, it has also faced criticism and questions from some Western countries and companies, especially those developing their own vaccines—oft [...]

The first batch of Russia’s pioneering coronavirus formula Sputnik V has been approved for public use and has already been placed into circulation, the Ministry of Health in Moscow has announced. The world's first Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, “has undergone necessary quality tests” and “has entered civilian circulat [...]

Russia has unveiled a device said to be capable of detecting and analyzing airborne pathogens like bacteria, toxins and viruses – including Covid-19. It alerts of potential danger within seconds, and then pinpoints its source. Dubbed “Detector Bio,” the device was showcased by the KMZ factory – best known as the manufacturer of Zenit cameras – during the military-industrial forum ‘Army [...]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he will be the first person in the country to take Russia’s recently announced Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine when it arrives.“I am pleased that Russia will be the first country in the world to vaccinate its population,” Maduro said in a televised address on Sunday. [...]

The emergence of the first vaccine against the coronavirus infection has sparked interest across the globe, as the drug promises not only an end to COVID-19-related deaths, but also a path to restoring a country's economy. After almost half a year of the battle against the coronavirus, a real ray of hope has appeared with the announcement of the first COVID-19 vaccine being registered in [...]

Production disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak could cost the global economy twice as much as a hypothetical global military conflict, according to figures cited in a recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute. In a report headlined ‘Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains’, the analysts of US-based consulting firm McKinsey evaluated various risks of a manuf [...]

Amid the ongoing pandemic multiple nations and regions are re-introducing restrictive measures and halting travel to affected areas. The number of cases is spiking dramatically in Latin America, India, and the US. At the moment, the United States remains the worst-hit country with over 5 million confirmed cases and at least 163,000 deceased, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil o [...]

Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday morning that Russia has registered the world's first vaccine against coronavirus. He says the dose is effective in forming immunity against the deadly pathogen which has spread globally. As far as I know, a vaccine against the coronavirus infection has been registered this morning (in Russia) for the first time in the world,” the President told members of th [...]

On Oct. 24, 2019—45 days before the world’s first suspected case of COVID-19 was announced—a new “scorecard” was published called the Global Health Security Index. The scorecard ranked countries on how prepared they were to tackle a serious outbreak, based on a range of measures, including how quickly a country was likely to respond and how well its health care system would “treat the [...]

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the pharmaceutical group ChemRar have started exporting the drug Avifavir against COVID-19, Belarus has already received it, and deliveries to Kazakhstan are expected to start soon, RDIF said on Thursday. "In June, the medication was delivered to 35 regions across Russia and to the Republic of Belarus. Avifavir will soon be delivered to the Re [...]

One of the only countries in Europe not to institute strict lockdown measures amid the coronavirus crisis, Belarus has so far managed to keep virus-related fatalities impressively low. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has taken a shot at the world’s elites, accusing them of taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to put “trillions of dollars in their pockets” while the [...]

A Florida Senator spectacularly claimed he’s got intelligence proving China is obstructing the West’s search for a Covid-19 cure – He shouldn’t be shy to let the world see the “evidence,” Beijing’s diplomats swiftly quipped. Rick Scott, who sits on the Senate’s Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, pulled no punches when talking China on the BBC on Sunday. Apart from bei [...]

The head of Wuhan’s virology institute has debunked the evolving US ‘Wuhan virus’ theory, saying Covid-19 couldn’t have artificially leaked. She said her lab didn’t have the first virus samples until as late as the end of 2019. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) director Wang Yanyi described the theory – that Covid-19 was a creature of her laboratory – as “pure fabrication.” She e [...]