Europe

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: The United States seeks to provide new capabilities to its nuclear forces, which increases the possibility of their use, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.

6 March 2020; AFP: Two decades ago, Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan, staying with locals along the way. Now he is deploying the same approach to his bid to become mayor of London.

The former Conservative minister and ex-diplomat is criss-crossing the British capital on foot -- and asking Londoners permission to stay on their sofas to better understand their lives.

"All change begins with getting your feet on the ground," he told AFP while on one of his walks through Highgate, a leafy suburb in north London.

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron urged citizens to avoid visiting their relatives in retirement homes as far as possible to prevent exposing them to possible coronavirus infection.

“We must avoid visiting our elderly relatives as much as possible,” Macron said on Friday during a visit to a retirement home in Paris.

ZAGREB (Reuters) - The European Union pleaded on Friday for migrants in Turkey not to go to the Greek border or try to breach it, saying the frontier was closed and that any encouragement to do by Turkish authorities was a game that had to stop.

Greek security forces have used tear gas and water cannon to deter tens of thousands of migrants trying to cross the border from Turkey after Ankara said last week it would no longer abide by a 2016 deal with the EU to keep them.

BRUSSELS/ANKARA (Reuters) - The European Union is scrambling for a new agreement with Turkey to prevent migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond flooding into the EU. But there is little sign so far that Ankara is ready to accept the terms Brussels is offering.

Since Turkey announced on Feb. 28 that it would no longer abide by a 2016 deal to keep refugees on its territory, accusing the EU of falling short on commitments of financial support, some 35,000 migrants have massed on the border with Greece where they have been thrust back by Greek forces.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny lodged a complaint against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights on Friday to contest a money-laundering investigation he says authorities have opened to thwart his political activities.

Russian investigators opened the case against Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation last August after he called on people to attend rallies that grew into Moscow’s biggest sustained protest movement in years before fizzling out.

LONDON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Business districts around the world began to empty and stock markets tumbled on Friday as the number of coronavirus infections neared 100,000 and the economic damage wrought by the outbreak intensified.

An increasing number of people faced a new reality as many were asked to stay home from work, schools were closed, large gatherings and events were cancelled, stores cleared of staples like toiletries and water, and face masks became a common sight.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped more than 4% on Friday on concerns that OPEC might not go ahead with steeper cuts to oil output to bolster prices after Reuters reported that Russia rejected the proposal.

Brent and WTI crude futures tumbled by nearly 6% on the news, with the close to $3 drop taking Brent crude to its lowest since July 2017 while WTI was at its weakest since December 2018.

By 1345 GMT Brent crude was down $2.27, or 4.5%, at $47.72 a barrel. U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down $2.24, or 4.9%, at $43.66.

MOSCOW/ANKARA/DAMASCUS, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A ceasefire in northern Syria agreed between Russia and Turkey came into force on Friday, aiming to halt intense fighting that has sparked a humanitarian disaster and raised fears of their armies clashing.

The deal struck between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes after an escalation of violence in Idlib, the northwestern province of Syria where Ankara is battling Moscow-backed government forces.

GENEVA, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World health officials have warned that countries are not taking the coronavirus crisis seriously enough, as outbreaks surged across Europe and in the United States where medical workers sounded warnings over a “disturbing” lack of hospital preparedness.

Global markets tumbled again over concerns about the impact on the economy and as countries took more drastic steps to prevent contagion of a disease that has killed over 3,300 people and infected nearly 100,000 in some 85 nations.