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 [...]

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to spark an unprecedented fall in global trade as well as an economic crisis rivaling the Great Depression, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has warned. “We confront what may well be the deepest economic downturn of our lifetimes,” the organization’s Director General Roberto Azevedo said in a grim forecast. [...]

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 [...]

The US has counted more than 2,000 Covid-19 fatalities in the space of 24 hours, smashing all previous daily death tolls worldwide as the US outbreak shows little sign of abating, according to Johns Hopkins University. On Friday, 2,108 new deaths were reported in the US, data gathered by Johns Hopkins shows, putting the US’ total at over 18,600, just shy of Italy’s death toll, the overall lead [...]

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 US, ‘the greatest country in the world,’ just can’t admit that China succeeded in dealing with the Covid-19 threat while America has failed. Instead of learning from China, it’s suffering the world’s worst epidemic disaster. The US, ‘the greatest country in the world,’ just can’t admit that China succeeded in dealing with the Covid-19 threat while America has failed. Instead of [...]

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 government has revealed its contempt for human compassion and global solidarity by refusing to lift draconian sanctions on Iran and Venezuela during the Covid-19 crisis, director Oliver Stone has argued. Iran has suffered immensely from the virus, Stone noted in an op-ed published by the New York Daily News, but due to US sanctions the Islamic Republic is “reportedly the only c [...]

The US Treasury Department has slapped fresh sanctions on Iran, accusing several Iranian firms of aiding terrorism. Meanwhile, Tehran and the UN have called for the easing of sanctions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Treasury sanctioned 15 individuals and five companies on Thursday, accusing them of supporting and acting “on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force,” conside [...]

The United States has set a new record for its daily mortality count, reporting just shy of 2,000 new deaths in the span of a single day, as fatalities in New York – the country’s top hotspot – and beyond continue to mount. While stats in recent days appeared to show deaths leveling off, the latest figures gathered by Johns Hopkins University indicate that Tuesday was the deadliest day yet i [...]