Europe

MAKHACHKALA, February 6. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has exposed a two-member terrorist cell in the Dagestan region, the FSB said in a statement on Saturday.

"On February 5, FSB officers in the Republic of Dagestan carried out an operation together with the regional Interior Ministry, exposing an underground terrorist cell consisting of two members. The two were detained, an improvised explosive device, firearms and ammunition were seized from them," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 16,627 to 3,951,233 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday.

According to data from the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate is 0.42%.

The rate is the lowest in the Tuva region (0.1%), the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, the Jewish autonomous region, the Magadan region, Ingushetia and Khakassia (0.2%).

MADRID, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Madrid health authorities on Friday confirmed the first case of the Brazilian variant of COVID-19 in the region, three days after Spain restricted air travel with Brazil and South Africa to curb the spread of virulent new strains.

A 44-year-old man who arrived at Madrid’s airport on Jan 29 tested positive for the coronavirus and subsequent lab tests confirmed he had caught the new strain, the regional government of Madrid said in a statement.

GENEVA, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 355,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection were registered worldwide in the past day, with the overall number of such cases exceeding 104.37 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily bulletin.

As of Feb 5, as many as 104,370,550 novel coronavirus cases and 2,2271,180 coronavirus-associated deaths were registered across the globe. The number of confirmed cases grew by 355,041 in the past 24 hours and the number of fatalities increased by 10,422.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s League leader Matteo Salvini said the right-wing party would decide next week whether to back a government led by Mario Draghi but common ground had emerged in discussions on Saturday.

“Unlike others we don’t think just saying no gets you anywhere ... the best interest of the country must come before any personal or party interest,” Salvini told reporters after meeting the former European Central Bank chief.

BERLIN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that Germany's attitude towards the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is, for the present, "unaffected" by Russia's treatment of its opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

At a press conference after an online meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Merkel reiterated that the stance of the German government on the gas line project has not been changed.

MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Wuhan's Huanan seafood market may have made it possible for the novel coronavirus to spread, but it does not mean the virus originated there, a Russian expert has said.

"There is no evidence that the virus originated there" but "hypothetically, there are all conditions for the spread of the virus there," Vladimir Dedkov, a member of the World Health Organization's (WHO) expert team, was quoted as saying by Sputnik on Thursday.

06 Feb 2021; MEMO: Senior Hamas leaders have met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Presidential Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov to discuss political developments, Hamas disclosed on Thursday.

In a statement posted on Hamas's official website, the Palestinian movement announced that the delegation comprised members of Hamas Political Bureau Dr Mousa Abu Marzouq and Zaher Jabarin, as well as Hamas's representative in Moscow.

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/: Russia and the EU view the US’s illegitimate unilateral sanctions against Cuba negatively, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during the press conference in the wake of his talks EU High Representative on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Friday.

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/: Russian airspace control systems detected over 30 reconnaissance planes and eight unmanned aerial vehicles near the country’s borders in the past week, the Krasnaya Zvezda (or Red Star) newspaper reported on Friday.

"As many as 33 reconnaissance planes and eight reconnaissance drones conducted flights near Russia’s borders and were tracked by radar," the newspaper said.

According to Krasnaya Zvezda, a fighter jet of the air defense quick reaction alert forces was scrambled to prevent border violations.