Europe

CODOGNO, Italy (AP) — Italy scrambled Sunday to check the spread of Europe’s first major outbreak of the new viral disease amid rapidly rising numbers of infections and a third death, calling off the popular Venice Carnival, scrapping major league soccer matches in the stricken area and shuttering theaters, including Milan’s legendary La Scala.

23 Feb 2020; MEMO: Pope Francis on Sunday warned against “inequitable solutions” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying they would only be a prelude to new crises, in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace proposal, reports Reuters.

Francis made his comments in the southern Italian port city of Bari, where he travelled to conclude a meeting of bishops from all countries in the Mediterranean basin.

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/: Russia will put the problem of non-issuance of US visas for delegates to UN events in New York City point-blank, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said in an interview with TASS.

He described the situation when the country hosting the United Nations headquarters denied visas to delegates from UN member nations as "absolutely outrageous."

"The United Nations has a special committee on relations with the host country. It has already held a meeting and will meet again, and we will put this problem point-blank," Vershinin stressed.

BELGRADE, February 22. /TASS/: The first batch of the Russian Pantsyr-S1 surface-to-air missile/gun systems has arrived in Serbia, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said on Saturday.

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/: Ukraine’s anti-Russian police strips it of the competitive edge it might have should it opt to cooperate with Russia, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, said on Saturday.

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/: The United States’ allegations about Russia’s indulging in misinformation campaign concerning the novel coronavirus origin are a deliberate fake, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Saturday.

"It is a deliberate fake," she said, commenting on media reports that the US Department of State thinks that Russia is behind proliferation of misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak.

MOSCOW, February 23. /TASS/: The deconfliction mechanism between Russia and the United States in Syria has proven to be effective and the sides have the understanding on coordinating their steps, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Channel One.

Codogno (Italy), Feb 23 (AP) A dozen towns in northern Italy effectively went into lockdown Saturday after the deaths of two people infected with the new virus from China and a growing cluster of cases with no direct links to the origin of the outbreak abroad.

The secondary contagions prompted local authorities in the Lombardy and Veneto regions to close schools, businesses and restaurants and to cancel sporting events and Masses.

MOSCOW, February 23. /TASS/: The Russian army and navy will be equipped with cutting-edge weapons, including laser and hypersonic systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"We will be doing our utmost so that our army and navy can become more and more advanced, which means strengthening capabilities of the strategic forces, channeling cutting-edge hardware to all types of forces, including laser, hypersonic systems and high-precision systems," Putin said at the State Kremlin Palace at a gala concert marking Defender of the Motherland Day.

MOSCOW, February 23. /TASS/: Ankara has not yet fulfilled the terms of the Syria accords that were reached more than a year ago in Sochi, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"In this case, we can clearly say that the conditions of the Sochi accords that stated that Turkey would have to ensure demarcation, withdrawal of heavy weapons and so on, which were signed by the two presidents more than a year ago, have not yet been fulfilled," he said.