Europe

12 Mar 2020; MEMO: The first trial of suspected members of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s intelligence services for crimes against humanity, including torturing and killing opposition activists, will start next month, a German court said on Tuesday.

According to the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), it will be the first-ever legal proceedings in the world over state-sponsored torture in Syria.

12 Mar 2020; MEMO: The Greek authorities have been discovered to be secretly detaining refugees and migrants in a black site where they beat them, steal their belongings and deport them back to Turkey without trial.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has seized the largest weapons arsenal from a group of underground arms makers that included residents of Moscow and three Russian regions, the FSB’s press office told TASS on Thursday.

"The FSB acting jointly with the Interior Ministry of Russia foiled the criminal activity of residents of Moscow, the Moscow, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk Regions complicit in the illegal trade in firearms, including weapons upgraded from civil to combat guns," the press office said.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: The euro on the Moscow Exchange grew by 2.3% to 84.02 rubles, as of 11:09 Moscow time.

The last time the euro exceeded the 84-ruble mark in February 2016.

At the same time, the price of futures contract for Brent crude oil with May delivery on the London’s ICE declined by 3.6% to $34.5 per barrel.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that in Soviet times he was occasionally cheated by vendors, but always chose not to make a scene.

"Well, of course," he said in reply to a question while being interviewed for the TASS project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin". He added, though, that he preferred "not to lock horns", so the swindlers usually got away with it.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: The structure of the small business sector in Russia is changing gradually and becoming ever more high-tech-oriented, Russian President Vladimir Putin told TASS in an interview for the project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin".

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Foreign tour operators and tourists have canceled nearly all trips to Russia from March to May amid the novel coronavirus threat, with the losses estimated at 500 million rubles ($6.8 mln), the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) has reported.

"According to ATOR’s analytical service, the total value of cancelled applications for the period from March to May 2020 now is at least 500 mln rubles," the statement said.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: The former head of the oil company Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was a fraudster whose entourage was involved in contract killings, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

"Khodorkovsky is a fraudster. His people were involved not just in fraudulent transactions, but in murders," Putin told TASS in an interview for the project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin".

ROME, March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 827 in the the country in just over two weeks.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the latest wave of restrictions in a dramatic appeal to the nation that came with the country of 60 million battling its biggest crisis in generations.

12 March 2020; AFP: Greta Thunberg has urged climate campaigners to avoid mass protests as the new coronavirus spreads, but said her "Fridays for Future" movement would organise online strikes instead.

The Swedish activist warned her followers it was vital they listened to the advice of health experts who have advised people to avoid large public gatherings to slow down the spread of the virus which has infected more than 125,000 people worldwide.