News archive of March 2020

Today, Bulgarians are celebrating Baba Marta (Grandma March) holiday, which is observed each year on March 1.

On this day, people greet each other with "Happy Baba Marta" and exchange adornments called "martenitsi" (named after the month of March).

German airline Lufthansa cuts its short and medium haul flights by one quarter over the next few weeks against the backdrop of the coronavirus epidemic, according to a press release.

The migrants trying to breach Greece's land border may have failed, but, with the help of improving weather, arrivals on the islands are accelerating.

Sources have told Kathimerini that, from 7 to 11 a.m. Sunday, more than 400 migrants have arrived on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos.

The Turkish military launched Operation Spring Shield in Idlib in response to the Assad regime attack on Feb. 27, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on March 1.

The defense minister noted that the only goal of the operation is self-defense against the Assad regime soldiers and units that attack Turkish troops in the area.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Ankara sought for the United States to send Patriot missiles to Turkey for back-up in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

In the first parliamentary election since the murder two years ago of journalist Jan Kuciak, the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLANO) party took almost 25 per cent of the vote, compared with 18.5 per cent for SMER-SD.

It was SMER-SD's first loss in a general election since 2006 and its worst showing at the ballot box since 2002.

Dozens of people pushed aside police barriers on Feb. 29 in Cyprus to protest the closing of a crossing point in the medieval core of the ethnically divided island nation's capital.

Protesters chanted and raised placards opposing the closure of the Nicosia crossing point, which the Greek Cypriot government said it ordered to help prevent the possible spread of the new coronavirus.

The second month of 2020 saw numerous environmental disasters that impaired climate change and vice versa, including Storm Ciara across Europe, swarms of locusts in East Africa, deadly avalanches in Turkey, and a volcanic eruption in Japan.

Here is a look at the global environmental disasters during the previous month.

Feb. 3:

Leaders in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas rolled out bans on big gatherings and stricter travel restrictions as cases of the new coronavirus spread around the world.

Liverpool's 44-game unbeaten run in the English Premier League was ended on Feb. 29 by Watford at the Vicarage Road.

The teams were unable to break a scoreless deadlock in the first half but in the second half, Senegalese winger Ismaila Sarr was key, scoring two goals against the league leaders.

English forward Troy Deeney was the other goal maker in the 3-0 win.