Europe

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/: Russia’s partial suspension of flights to the EU due to the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a wave of bankruptcies among Russian tour operators, Irina Tyurina, a spokesperson for the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST), told TASS on Friday.

SOFIA, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Bulgarian parliament voted unanimously to declare a state of emergency until April 13 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Bulgaria had 23 confirmed cases, including one fatality, according to the Health Ministry.

The state of emergency will allow for travel bans to and from countries with large coronavirus outbreaks, the closing of schools and universities, and permit police to intervene when imposed isolation of infected people is not observed.

ATHENS, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU says it will pay €2,000 each to migrants in overcrowded camps on the Greek islands willing to go back to their home countries.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson announced the scheme in Athens. It was agreed with the Greek government.

She said it was temporary – open for one month only – and only for migrants who arrived before Jan 1.

She said 5,000 migrants would be eligible for the “voluntary return”.

LIEGE, Belgium, Mar 14 (NNN-XINHUA) – A plane carrying Chinese medical supplies for Europe, to assist its battle against the COVID-19 landed in Liege, Belgium on Friday night.

The supplies were donated by two charities — Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation and comprise half a million face masks, which will be sent to Italy.

The two charities are donating in total two million masks and other crucial supplies, such as test kits.

ATHENS, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Katerina Sakellaropoulou was sworn in on Friday as the President of the Hellenic Republic. She is the first female head of state in the history of the modern Greek state.

The 63-year-old former top judge took the oath of office at the Greek parliament during a ceremony broadcast live on national broadcaster ERT.

Inside the parliament were only about 100 political leaders, MPs, high-ranking officials and other guests, instead of 1,000 attendees in such a ceremony usually.

LONDON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The British government on Friday postponed the local and mayoral elections in England slated for May 7 for one year, as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country reached 798.

"We will bring forward legislation to postpone local, mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner elections until May next year," said a government spokesperson.

The postponement came after England polling watchdog recommended delaying the local elections to "mitigate" the impact of coronavirus.

GENEVA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Europe has now become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China, the chief of World Health Organization (WHO) said here Friday.

More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted at a daily briefing.

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/: Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have apprehended seven members of an organized crime group and stopped operation of three laboratories that forged papers of illegal migrants, FSB press service for the Moscow Region told TASS.

According to the press service, the organized crime group’s annual income exceeded 10 million rubles.

KOSTROMA, March 13. /TASS/: The possibility of concluding a new OPEC+ deal was not discussed on March 12 at a meeting of Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak with oil companies, he said on Friday. He added that he does not see conditions for a new agreement at the moment due to the actions of OPEC partners.

"We did not discuss this. We do not see conditions for such proposals (on a new agreement - TASS). We do not see conditions forming. You see how OPEC participants behave, therefore, movement is hardly possible against this background," Novak said.

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his South Ossetian counterpart Anatoly Bibilov on Friday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"South Ossetian President Bibilov will be in Moscow with a working visit. A meeting between the two presidents will take place," Peskov said.