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Oil prices see biggest January loss in 30 years Crude oil prices slid a painful 15% in January - the biggest January slide since 1991- as the coronavirus claims the death of more than 200 souls and counting. After a couple weeks of continued slippage, the price of the Brent and WTI benchmarks were trading down 0.98 percent and 0.73 percent on the day, respectively, at 9:51am as the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency. Also on rt.com Feast in time of plague? Trump official says China coronavirus is good for US economy While the WHO did not recommend any travel restrictions to China, the US State Department recommended no travel to China, and airlines have stopped flying to China, inc...

Merkel’s coalition shoots down opposition bid to halt Germany’s ‘killer robots’ development Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition have blocked legislation aimed at preventing Germany from creating fully autonomous weapons systems, after opposition lawmakers pushed for a moratorium. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), backed by their allies, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), defeated a motion brought by the Greens in the Bundestag on Friday which called for renewed efforts to bring about a global ban on weapons with no human input – colloquially referred to as “killer robots.” In a separate motion – also defeated by Merkel’s parliamentary majority – the opposition left had demanded that Germany itself end all developme...

Apple closes all stores in China over mounting coronavirus worries The iPhone maker has temporarily shut down all its retail stores and offices across mainland China till February 10 as part of preemptive measures amid the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus. The measure came into force on Saturday, but some stores were still open on that day, according to the company's website. Starting on Sunday all the shops will be closed until midnight February 9. However, online store in China remains open. Also on rt.com McDonald's shuts down restaurants in five Chinese cities as coronavirus spreads Some stores were already closed since earlier this week, including the ones in the cities of Qingdao, Fuzhou and Nanjing...

Stephen King quits Facebook over 'flood of false information,' but is Twitter more 'truth-loving' for him? Stephen King has announced that he is shutting down his Facebook account, purportedly because the platform is awash with disinformation. The social media giant has come under fire for its unwillingness to police political ads. The famed horror writer said that his departure was motivated by the "flood of false information that's allowed in its political advertising," as well as a lack of confidence in the company's ability to protect its users' privacy. The good news is that you can still follow him on Twitter, he wrote in a Twitter post. I'm quitting Facebook. Not comfortable with the flood of false information that's allowed in i...

Airbus with 110 on board skids off runway in western Iran amid heavy snowfall (VIDEO) A packed Airbus A319, operated by Iran’s flag carrier, failed to land safely at Kermanshah Airport, ending up in the middle of a snow-covered field off the runway. Authorities blame the incident on a faulty landing gear. First footage appears to show passengers exiting Airbus 319 that skidded off runaway in western city of #Kermanshah. No casualties reported.#Iran pic.twitter.com/OSCgmadKi3— Press TV (@PressTV) February 1, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js The Iran Air plane departed Tehran's Mehrabad Airport earlier on Saturday, carrying 102 passengers and eight crew, according to Mehr news agency, citing a Civil Aviation Organizatio...

Air India rescue flight returns home with Wuhan evacuees, 6 held back in China with coronavirus-like symptoms A specially equipped Air India flight has arrived back home with 324 Indians previously stranded in the Chinese city of Wuhan – the epicenter of a fast-moving viral outbreak – but six were barred from boarding due to high fevers. “Indian citizens return safely to our motherland. We are extremely grateful to [the Chinese Foreign Ministry] and the local authorities in #Hubei for their help and support,” the Indian Embassy in China said in a tweet. Indian citizens return safely to our motherland. We are extremely grateful to @MFA_China and the local authorities in #Hubei for their help and support.@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar https://t...

‘If I opened the door, he would've killed us’: 15yo says she helped 20+ kids survive India hostage horror by hiding in basement A teen, who together with two dozen other children, was held hostage by an Indian man in an 9-hour long standoff with police, said that her quick thinking helped to dodge certain death in the hands of a convicted killer. The 15-year-old girl was the eldest of some 25 kids that were taken captive by convicted murderer Subhash Batham, in a village in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. The horrific case that sent shockwaves across India ended with the man being shot dead by police and his wife, allegedly an accomplice in the grim enterprise, stoned to death by an angry crowd. The children, some as young as 6 months of age, were lured ...

Indian court AGAIN postpones hanging for 4 men convicted in 2012 gang rape & murder case that inspired Netflix series The execution of four Indians convicted in the heinous 2012 ‘Nirbhaya’ gang rape case has been delayed yet again at the last minute – this time indefinitely – after a court agreed to entertain another mercy plea. Though the date of the men's hanging had been set for February 1 after a previous appeal, the day was pushed back once again following a fresh plea, filed on Friday by convict Vinay Sharma – just one day after the hangman arrived at the Tihar prison in Delhi in preparation for the execution. Even if rejected, the appeal buys the convicted men another two weeks, after which the process could be repeated with further appea...

One puff to blow it all? Canadian Navy sacks two ship commanders after 2nd officer disables smoke alarm to light up A Canadian Navy officer’s career may have just gone up in smoke after he disabled a fire alarm aboard a frigate in order to have a puff, with the sailor removed from his post just months before his ship’s next foreign deployment. The sudden reshuffling on the HMCS Calgary took place as its crew prepares to set sail to the Asia-Pacific in April, seeing both its commander, Jonathan Kouwenberg, and Lieutenant Commander John Forbes dropped from the ship’s roster in the space of a week. In Forbes’ case, the ship’s executive officer was sacked after he switched off a smoke detector in the Calgary’s wardroom, smoking tobacco and encouraging s...

‘This could be a disaster’: Ken Livingstone downbeat on ‘pretty grim’ prospect of Johnson’s EU trade talks Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has said he believes there’s a “very real chance” of the UK crashing out of the EU without any trade deal in place as Boris Johnson has just 11 months to lock down an agreement. Speaking to RT UK as Britain officially withdrew from the bloc on Friday, the politician and former Labour MP put the dissatisfaction that led Britons’ to vote to leave the EU down to wider economic problems created by decades of bad British governments, rather than issues with the EU itself. Livingston believes many people voted ‘Leave’ out of anger, saying: “We’ve lost so many good jobs, you can’t get decent housing any more, and...