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The US strike in eastern Syria on Friday shows the new US administration under Joe Biden, for all its stated willingness to amend its predecessor's foreign policy woes, has no intention of changing the US policy in the Middle East. This is certainly not good news for either the region or the world at large. In what was intended, and widely perceived to be a strike with limited scope and time frame, the United States struck the positions of Iran-backed militia groups in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour near the Iraqi border, killing 22 fighters. The US claimed it was responding to the recent rocket attacks launched by the militia groups on US forces in the region. But the strike serves multiple purposes, not least sending the message that the US is willing to again flex its military muscles to advance its interests in international settings. Being locked in a proxy war in Syria, the US throwing its weight behind the rebels which are in a defensive position against the ... » Learn More about US military action not a good omen: China Daily editorial

DUBAI/MOSCOW: OPEC and its allies in will decide on Thursday whether to freeze oil output or raise it slightly from April as a recent price rally is clouded by concern over the fragility of economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. The market has been expecting the OPEC+ group of producers to ease supply cuts by about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from April. OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia has also been expected to partially or fully end its voluntary production cut of an additional 1 million bpd. But three OPEC+ sources said on Wednesday that some key members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had suggested that output across the OPEC+ group should be kept unchanged. It was not immediately clear whether Saudi Arabia would end its voluntary cuts or extend them, they said. Russia has been insisting on raising output to avoid prices spiking any further and lending support to shale oil output from the United States , which is not ... » Learn More about OPEC+ debates whether to raise or freeze oil output as price recovers