Europe

SEVASTOPOL, March 17. /TASS/: Russia has held drills on combating sabotage threats at the Syrian port of Tartus, the Black Sea Fleet said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, anti-sabotage units "carried out a planned exercise to practice ways to detect and detain the simulated enemy’s subversive group."

During the drills, the crew of a Grachonok anti-sabotage boat detected an identified speed boat, which gave no response to requests and kept moving, ignoring demands to stop for inspection.

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: Current non-system opposition leaders in Russia are quite marginalized and do not display unification capability, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Tuesday, answering a question regarding whom of non-system opposition does Kremlin consider significant politicians.

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that any attempts to destabilize society must be foiled. Speaking at an extended meeting of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office Board, the head of state raised the issue of fighting extremism and terrorism.

"It is essential to continue to foil any actions aimed at destabilizing the situation in society, at violating traditional spiritual and moral values, provoking interethnic and interreligious discord," the president stated.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The trial in the Netherlands of four men accused of murder over the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 will continue behind closed doors later this month due to the coronavirus outbreak, the court said on Tuesday.

Pre-trial hearings in the case against three Russians and one Ukrainian began in Amsterdam last week. Prosecutors allege that the defendants helped to arrange the Russian missile system used to shoot down the civilian aircraft, killing all onboard. Of the 298 victims, most were Dutch.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced nationwide shutdowns on Monday to contain the coronavirus spread, called for government restrictions on food exports and for aid talks with overseas donors to support the economy.

In a special video address, he urged restaurants, shopping malls, cafes and gyms to close from March 17, a shutdown of domestic flights and rail and bus services between cities, and a state of emergency to be declared in two regions.

LONDON (Reuters) - World share markets and oil prices struggled on Tuesday after coronavirus panic caused Wall Street’s worst one-day rout since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

In Europe, early 1.5.% to 3% gains in London, Frankfurt and Paris were quickly wiped out as airline and travel stocks.SXTP suffered a 6.5% drubbing.

The dollar recouped some lost ground against the safe-haven Japanese yen. Oil gave up attempted gains after Brent’s drop below $30 a barrel on Monday.

PARIS, March 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of deaths around the world linked to the new coronavirus has topped 7,000, after Italy announced a new surge in fatalities

A total of 7,007 people have died, with a 175,536 infections recorded globally.

China has the highest number of fatalities at 3,213, followed by Italy with 2,158 deaths and almost 28,000 cases.

Since 1700 GMT on Sunday there were 587 new deaths reported and 11,597 new cases globally.

PARIS, March 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France deployed 100,000 police and gendarmerie forces Tuesday to control people’s movements because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the country’s interior minister.

Christophe Castaner said those who do not respect the new rules, would be fined up to 135 euros ($151).

President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that movement would be limited for 15 days, starting midday Tuesday.

As of late Monday, France reported 6,633 infections and 148 dead, an increase of 21 deaths and 1,210 new cases from the virus known as COVID-19.

LONDON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Houses of Parliament were closed to visitors and tourists on Monday because of the coronavirus outbreak.

A limited shutdown will continue until further notice and will affect thousands of sightseers and overseas visitors who want to see Britain's parliament in action.

Officials at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in London said steps taken will allow the Parliament to continue to fulfil its constitutional duties.

Overseas travel restrictions have also been introduced in order to preserve the operation of the Parliament.

PARIS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus situation in France is "deteriorating very fast," the country's director-general of health said Monday.

"The number of cases double every three days," Jerome Salomon told national radio broadcaster France Inter, saying the outbreak in the country is "very worrying."

The total number of confirmed cases in France as of Monday reached 5,923, with 126 confirmed deaths, according to the World Health Organization.