by Motasem A Dalloul

1 May 2020; MEMO: On 6 March, the OPEC+ cartel failed to agree on a cut in oil production in the light of reduced demand due to the coronavirus pandemic affecting almost every country in the world. All of this came in the middle of a global financial crisis. Saudi Arabia proposed the cut, and OPEC members accepted it, but Russia, which is OPEC’s “+”, spearheaded the call to reject it.

by Xinhua writer Wang Lei

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- More than a century ago, then U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the phrase "bully pulpit" when inviting journalists to the White House to share his thoughts on public policy.

The term has been commonly used to describe a prominent position of authority that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. As the world's sole superpower, the United States has with little doubt an unparalleled power to sway or shape global public opinions for its own purposes.

By Kunal Patil

Mumbai, Apr 28 (PTI) As a photojournalist waiting to capture some of the most crucial happenings around me, nothing could have prepared me for a week as a COVID-19 patient. While the viral outbreak engulfed Maharashtra and Mumbai, in particular, I continued documenting these unprecedented times, but a phone call on April 20 changed my life forever.

by Asa Winstanley

29 April 2020; MEMO: Israel is about to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank, making the territory formally part of the Zionist state according to Israeli law. The millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank will continue to be denied the vote and even the most basic of human rights by the despotic Israeli regime.

by Yvonne Ridley

When it comes to Palestinians and peace in the Middle East, world leaders and Western journalists have taken their eye off the ball due to the coronavirus pandemic. The increasingly bizarre views of US President Donald Trump and his disastrous handling of Covid-19 have gripped everyone’s attention.

by Yvonne Ridley

Syrians Anwar Raslan and Eyad Al-Gharib are not very nice men, apparently, and we are about to find out, in horrifying detail, exactly why. Every torturer who has ever carried out his nauseating job on behalf of tyrannical regimes around the world should be focusing on the historic trial in Germany where these two officials in the regime of Bashar Al-Assad are on trial charged with numerous counts of torture.

by Ramzy Baroud

23 April 2020; MEMO: The prophecies are here and it is a foregone conclusion: the post-coronavirus world will look fundamentally different from anything that we have seen or experienced, at least since the end of World War II.

by Elif Selin Calik

The people of Greece and Turkey argue over many things. Food, for example; both claim “baklava” as their own, and prepare it in their own way. It would have been better for all concerned if this was the most serious of their disagreements, but it isn’t.

by Mohammad Ayesh

22 April 2020; MEMO: Oil prices have hit zero. Yes, oil was “sold” this week with producers only asking buyers to pay for transporting it to its final destination. This is the worst collapse in oil markets in history; it is unprecedented for oil to lose 94 per cent of its value in just one day.

by Thembisa Fakude

18 April 2020; MEMO: When Saudi Arabia approached members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its affiliates recently to cut oil production in an attempt to cushion the impact of the falling oil prices as a result of Covid-19, Russia rejected the proposal.

by Nasim Ahmed

18 April 2020; MEMO: Calls for China to be held to account for the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19 have the potential to push Washington and Beijing into a new Cold War. If this happens, the Middle East will find itself at the centre of events that are likely to shape the region for years to come, if not decades.

By STEVE PEOPLES

Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that it would be “irresponsible” for his loyalists not to support Joe Biden, warning that progressives who “sit on their hands” in the months ahead would simply enable President Donald Trump’s reelection.

And lest there be any question, the 78-year-old Vermont senator confirmed that “it’s probably a very fair assumption” that he would not run for president again. He added, with a laugh: “One can’t predict the future.”