Europe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said ahead of talks with President Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey must move refugees and migrants away from the Greek border.

“Finding a solution to this situation will require relieving the pressure that is put on the border,” von der Leyen told a news conference on Monday.

She said ensuring the right to asylum, support for both Turkey and Greece, as well as moving people - especially minors - stranded on the Greek islands to mainland Europe were immediately needed too.

ROME, March 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of people to have died from the coronavirus in Italy has shot up by 133 in a day to 366, officials say.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to consider calling off this week’s plenary session of the EU assembly due to the coronavirus outbreak, two officials said.

The parliament had been due to sit in Strasbourg, France, for the plenary but last week it was decided that the members of the assembly should meet in Brussels to avoid unnecessary travel.

The EU officials said the meeting at 2:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) would consider whether the assembly should have a stripped-down agenda or postpone the entire plenary session.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s senior royals will come together on Monday for what is expected to be the last family gathering before Prince Harry and his wife Meghan set off on a new career path.

The Commonwealth Service at London’s Westminster Abbey is an annual event that this year brings together Harry and Meghan with Queen Elizabeth, his elder brother William and wife Kate, and father Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, for the first time in public since the couple thrashed out an exit deal from their royal roles in January.

LONDON (Reuters) - British stocks had the biggest intraday fall since 2008 and benchmark bond yields turned negative for the first time on Monday on investor fears that the coronavirus outbreak could stall the global economy.

As the worries about the coronavirus outbreak hammered markets, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was preparing to chair an emergency meeting at which more stringent measures to tackle the outbreak will be considered.

ROME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- A total of 6,387 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy since the epidemic first broke out here over two weeks ago, the Civil Protection Department said Sunday.

In addition, 366 people have died and 622 recovered, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters at a televised press conference.

This was up from 5,061 cases, 589 recoveries and 233 deaths announced in an official tally on Saturday evening.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The families of people killed when a missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 set out 298 white chairs outside the Russian Embassy on Sunday in a silent protest against Moscow’s lack of cooperation in the investigation into the downing of the passenger jet.

The chairs — laid out in rows like seats in an airplane — represented the victims who died when a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russia separatist rebels shot down the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight on July 17, 2014, killing everybody on board.

MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/: The Russian Foreign Ministry has corrected the Turkish-language channel Yol TV for its incorrect interpretation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s words to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ministry wrote on its Twitter account on Saturday.

The Turkish channel posted footage on a social networking site showing Lavrov and Erdogan at the March 5 talks in Moscow. The caption says that the Russian foreign minister allegedly said, "I love you Tayyip."

LONDON, March 8. /TASS/: UK Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jets were scrambled on Saturday on an interception mission after Russian aircraft approached British airspace, the RAF press service reported.

"RAF Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon aircraft launched today from Lossiemouth and Coningsby [air force bases]," according to a statement posted on the RAF official page on Twitter.

"This was a routine response to Russian aircraft approaching UK air space and was coordinated with several other NATO allies," the statement added.

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/: Russia has altered its schedule of diplomatic contacts over the novel coronavirus spread, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Rossiya-24 television channel on Sunday.

Countries are cancelling bilateral visits and changing their schedules of diplomatic contacts due to the virus spread, she noted.

"We are now working with this map of international events, adjusting, in particular, the Russian side’s schedule of diplomatic contacts," the spokeswoman said.