Europe

ROME, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy reported 41 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, its highest single-day total to date, bringing the number of fatalities in Europe’s most affected country to 148.

The number of cases also jumped by a new high of 769, reaching 3,858 over the past two weeks.

The latest figures mean Italy has the second-most deaths behind China, where the new virus was first detected at the end of last year.

All of Italy’s 22 regions have now been affected, with the data showing the virus had reached the Aosta Valley on the French border.

MOSCOW, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Turkey agreed Thursday on a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, a development that could ease escalating conflicts and facilitate a peace process in the war-torn country.

The agreement was reached after a six-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Kremlin.

The ceasefire becomes effective on Friday, according to the protocol read after the talks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

ROME, March 5 (Xinhua) -- President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday urged Italians to trust the country's capacity to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, and to face the emergency with "harmony and unity of purpose."

"With no imprudence but also with no alarmism, we can and we should have confidence in the abilities and resources we have at our disposal," Mattarella said in a video message published on the presidential website, and later broadcast by national TV networks.

05 Mar 2020; MEMO: Greece will transfer migrants who arrived on its territory illegally after March 1 to the northern city of Serres and plans to deport back to their own countries, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said late on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: The next launch of a Glonass-M navigation satellite is scheduled for March 16, the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company (the producer of Glonass satellites) announced on Thursday.

"The Glonass-M satellite is scheduled to be orbited on March 16 with the help of a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket," the company said in a video uploaded to YouTube.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russian intelligence services seek to identify and located the author of the fake "bomb" threats to planes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, adding that Kremlin counts on that the perpetrators would be found and properly punished.

"The intelligence services work on these people, and this work cannot be disclosed to public," he said. "Let’s hope that sooner or later [the threats’ author] would be found and punished."

ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 5. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) busted an international terrorist organization’s clandestine cell in Rostov-on-Don in the country’s south, the FSB’s regional branch reported on Thursday.

"The FSB’s branch for the Rostov Region busted, with the coordinating role of the FSB’s central office, a clandestine cell of an international terrorist organization that was active in Rostov-on-Don. The suspects were detained at one of the apartments of a multi-storey residential building in the Temernik neighborhood," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia hopes that those responsible for murdering Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov will be punished, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We are keeping a close eye on this case and want to be sure that the masterminds behind the murder and the perpetrators will be found and punished in accordance with the law," he said.

5 March 2020; AFP: British regional airline Flybe crashed into bankruptcy Thursday after the deadly coronavirus proved to be the final nail in its coffin.

The biggest operator of UK domestic flights said it has sunk into administration -- a last-ditch process aimed at salvaging at least some of the company.

And with the carrier long blighted by fierce competition, volatile fuels costs and a weak pound linked to the uncertainty over Brexit, Flybe's announcement to ground all flights now places some 2,000 jobs at risk.

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar fell on Thursday amid expectations of the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further, after slashing them by 50 basis points this week in an emergency move to shield the economy from the effects of coronavirus.

The Fed had mentioned the epidemic 48 times in its latest Beige Book report, suggesting policymakers were highly concerned about the economic damage of the disease.

“The reports in the Beige Book are likely to have been important for the Fed’s inter-meeting rate cut,” said Olle Holmgren, chief strategist at SEB.