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 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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

US military intelligence tried to raise the alarm about the coronavirus epidemic in China when it was still embryonic in November, inside sources claim – raising questions of what they knew and who ignored, or squashed the report. Not only had the coronavirus epidemic begun spiraling out of control in Wuhan by November 2019, but military analysts were already warning it “could be a cataclysmic [...]

The US has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. According to John Hopkins University, over 419, 000 people have contracted the disease in the United States. World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged US President Donald Trump to stop politicizing the coronavirus pandemic. [...]

The OPCW has issued its first report explicitly blaming Syria’s government for chemical attacks on civilians, pointing to three incidents in 2017 and saying there’re “reasonable grounds” to believe the air force was responsible. “Attacks of such a strategic nature would have only taken place on the basis of orders from the higher authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic military command,� [...]

The United States currently leads the global charts for the number of coronavirus cases recorded around the world, with more than 189,000 infected patients, according to Johns Hopkins University data. These numbers stand in contrast to Donald Trump’s late February promise that there would soon be almost “zero” coronavirus cases in the US. United States President Donald Trump admitte [...]

A military cargo plane carrying medical supplies to help the US combat the coronavirus outbreak has taken off from an airbase in Russia, after President Trump accepted an offer of assistance from Vladimir Putin. “The plane with masks and medical equipment on board left for the United States,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a brief statement early on Wednesday. [...]

Venezuela’s prosecutors have summoned Juan Guaido over his role in the “attempted coup d’etat,” as well as in alleged assassination attempts. Guaido is the main figure in US-backed efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro. The move was announced by Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Tuesday in a televised speech. The official described Guaido as “one of the main perpetrators” of a [...]

A cargo plane loaded with medical supplies and protection equipment may depart for the US by the end of Tuesday, the Kremlin said, after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The issue of protective gear was raised during the Monday phone talks, with Putin asking if the US needed help and Trump accepting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told repo [...]

President Donald Trump last week hinted that the US would wade into the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia at the appropriate time, saying low gasoline prices were good for American consumers despite hurting the industry. US President Donald Trump was quite happy with Saudi Arabia’s plans to oust Russia from certain oil markets by hiking oil production, Politico reports citin [...]

The US Senate and the White House have reached an agreement on a $2 trillion relief plan to buffer the economy as fears of a deep global recession continue to mount amid the coronavirus outbreak. RT’s Boom Bust is joined by Todd Horwitz of Bubba Trading to discuss the measure and its impact on financial markets. Horwitz says that the stock markets’ positive reaction looks like a short [...]

US President Donald Trump used to complain about the high oil prices that came as a result of the OPEC+ agreement, which saw many oil-exporting countries cut crude production. Now, however, is unhappy with the anomalously low price of black gold that is threatening to kill the American shale oil industry. Commenting on the ongoing oil price free fall, US President Donald Trump accused Russia and S [...]

Iran’s New Year celebration of Nowruz finds it weathering a perfect storm of US sanctions, low oil prices and Covid-19. The resulting humanitarian crisis may make it even more resilient, as Iranians rally around their government. Iran is facing an existential crisis, brought on by a combination of economic, political and social emergencies which, when combined, threaten to bring the nation to it [...]

The scrapping by the Philippines of a military partnership with the US occurs with rather embarrassing timing for Washington, as it seeks to rally its allies to adopt America’s hostile line towards China. Evidently, the Southeast Asian nation has decided it doesn’t need Washington’s presumed military ‘protection’ and is confident it can conduct normal relations with China and neighboring [...]

Plummeting oil prices have sparked another round of predictions about the economic collapse of Russia – this time from US President Donald Trump, who sounded a lot like his predecessor Barack Obama on the subject. The price of crude oil has crashed to $20 this week, due to a one-two punch of Saudi Arabia flooding the market with record output and a sharp drop in global demand owing to the corona [...]

China is pulling the press credentials of US journalists from outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post whose passes expire in 2020, in the latest move of an ongoing tit-for-tat with America over media access. [...]

The president is pushing to get a Covid-19 vaccine before the election. It doesn’t work like that. It’s understandable that during a White House meeting on Monday with pharmaceutical executives and public health officials, President Donald Trump pressed them to develop and deploy a vaccine to Covid-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus) as quickly as possible. Beyond the obvious publ [...]