In January 2020 members of the Iraqi parliament said the country was mulling the purchase of advanced Russian S-400 missile systems amid concerns that Washington might stop supporting Iraq and providing it with modern air defence armaments. The Parliamentary Security and Defence Committee of Iraq submitted a detailed study requesting the purchase of Russian long-range, surface-to-air S-400 missile [...]

The novel coronavirus may have first passed to humans somewhere in southern China months before the outbreak in the city of Wuhan, a new study found, cutting against widely held theories about the origins of the pandemic. Mapping a “network” of coronavirus genomes and tracing mutations over time, a team of researchers led by a Cambridge University geneticist determined the first Covid-19 infec [...]

Donald Trump’s claim that he received a positive letter from Kim Jong Un is false, Pyongyang has said, urging the US president to refrain from using his relations with the North Korean leader for “selfish purposes.” During his briefing on Saturday, Trump boasted that he had “recently” received a written message from Kim. “It was a nice note. I think we’re doing fine,” he said, insi [...]

Peru is being “cautious” in not disclosing the flight path of a plane loaded with Covid-19 testing kits, its disease response chief has said, with the US accused of “confiscating” supplies meant for other nations. Pilar Mazzetti, who leads Peru’s operational center for Covid-19 response, told Reuters that a plane carrying masks and 300,000 testing kits is due to arrive in the country fro [...]

An earlier ABC News report stated that US intelligence officials had warned the military and White House about the spread of a coronavirus outbreak in China as far back as late November 2019, with the Pentagon denying the "product/assessment" existed. US intelligence agencies warned Israel of the threat of a coronavirus outbreak in China as far back as in November 2019, Israeli Channel 12 [...]

Russian Helicopters and their Mexican partner – the Craft Avia Center announced plans to form a partnership to market the Ansat multi-purpose helicopter in Mexico several years back, with the Mexican side opening a service center earlier this year. The global economic slowdown and coronavirus pandemic has not held Mexico back from taking delivery of its first Ansat helicopter, Jose de V [...]

Wearing face masks will become a “revolutionary” new norm of life the world needs to get accustomed to, just like it did when learning of cholera in the 19th century and of HIV in the 20th, a WHO coronavirus expert predicted. “Some form of facial protection, I'm sure, is going to become the norm,” not least to give people a sense of reassurance, World Health Organization (WHO) special [...]

The coronavirus epidemic had scarcely arrived on US shores when the Trump administration declared “war” on it, in the grand tradition of the ‘War on Cancer’ or the ‘War on Drugs’. But these invisible wars don't end well. President Donald Trump declared war on the “invisible enemy” – Covid-19 – last month, pivoting on a dime from downplaying the pandemic to doing his best Church [...]

Having bragged repeatedly of America’s energy independence, President Trump must confront the harsh realities of a global oil market no longer able to sustain inefficient US oil producers as he prepares to negotiate with the G20. The global economy struggles to adapt to the one-two punch of reduced oil demand brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Saudi Arabian price war, which h [...]

The initial human volunteers have been selected to test a Russian vaccine against the deadly new coronavirus in trials set to begin in late June. The project's chief developer is leading by example by taking his place among them. Work on the biological preparation began in February at the Vector Institute, Russia’s leading virology and biotechnology research center. It's based in Novosibirsk, th [...]

Since Saturday, 2,186 more people in Russia have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the nationwide total to 15,770, according to the emergency team in charge of managing the country's response to the deadly infection. The fresh figure drastically ups the curve, as only 1,667 new cases were recorded across the country the day before. [...]

The US, which is now leading the world in the number of coronavirus deaths, has added another 1,920 to its grim count in the last 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University reports. Earlier on Saturday, the US replaced Italy at the top of the coronavirus death toll chart, surpassing 20,000. Saturday’s nationwide death toll is slightly lower than the one reported the day before. On Friday, the US bec [...]

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied oil exporters led by Russia are reportedly set to hold an urgent meeting on Sunday to clinch a last-minute agreement to save the oil market from further tumbling. The virtual meeting is scheduled for 4pm GMT, the Azerbaijan Energy Ministry confirmed to Russian media. The same time frame was reported earlier by Bloomberg. [...]

While the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on global trade, cargo volume between Russia and its biggest trading partner, China, is growing, according to the Russian consul general in Harbin, Vladimir Oschepkov. “According to our estimates, the volume of cargo transportation between our countries is gradually increasing,” the diplomat told RIA Novosti. [...]

Saudi Arabia, a major strategic ally of the US, has been at the centre of an oil output cut dispute with Russia that unleashed a price war and sent already-volatile crude prices to their 18-year lows. American senators from oil-producing states reproached the Saudi ambassador in a heated phone call and threatened to rethink diplomatic relations with the kingdom, according to their accounts of the [...]

BERGAMO, Italy - Russian military personnel and Italian military nuclear, biological and chemical experts have jointly disinfected nursing homes in three settlements in Italy's Lombardy region, the Russian Defence Ministry announced on Saturday. "Russian military experts, together with the military personnel of the radiation, chemical and biological protection unit of the Italian armed forces disi [...]

Coronavirus has taken lives of more than 100,000 people around the world so far, penetrating into almost every corner of our planet. However, some parts of the world have managed to prevent the active spread of the virus with the help of strict quarantine measures. On 11 April, there was no active cases of coronavirus recorded in Greenland, an autonomous territory under the Danish crown which Dona [...]

Three antiviral drugs that can be used to treat COVID-19 were developed in Russia in conjunction with scholars from the Russian Academy of Sciences; the academy's vice president and head of the biomedical sciences unit Vladimir Chekhonin said. The leading academician stated that the antiviral drug triazavirin was created several years ago at the Institute of Organic Synthesis at the Urals branch o [...]

Lina Rubino, vice-secretary general of the Italian Supreme Court, has thanked doctors from Russia and other countries for their help in combating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in a video message shown at the virtual edition of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. “We, Italians, are already experiencing international solidarity. As you may know, Italy is currently enjoying the help of R [...]

Michigan residents and local businesses are furious over a new rule, purportedly aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus, which bars them from buying and selling seeds – now deemed a “non-essential” item. Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced in a public address that “essential” businesses such as grocery stores will be restricted in what they are allowed to offer to their customers. [...]

Despite the impact Covid-19 has had on the global economy, the US is seeking more funding to counter and confront China in the Pacific, as well as enhancing its military preparedness for scenarios involving nuclear warfare. The coronavirus outbreak has impacted the global economy in a unique and unprecedented fashion unseen since World War II. Around 63 percent of Japanese businesses have projecte [...]

In less than a month 17 million Americans have applied for unemployment, while the Federal Reserve has focused on bailing out board rooms, billionaires, bankers and builders. Let them all fail. Last week I wrote about Wall Street corruption and fraud in the $6 trillion “rescue package”. CEOs depleted assets, took home record pay and bonuses and then, months later, came hat in hand begging for [...]