The public has been urged not to panic as a record 27 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed and drastic new measures were introduced to slow the spread of the virus.

Panic over the Covid-19 fallout gripped global stock markets yesterday in the worst sell-off since the financial crisis a decade ago, while oil prices slumped in their worst drop since the Gulf War almost 30 years ago.

If there is one country you don’t want to be compared with right now it’s Italy.

Irish economic growth will grind to a halt and unemployment will creep above 5% this year under Italy-style quarantines to control the Covid-19 outbreak here, the Economic and Social Research Institute has projected in new forecasts.

Ryanair has announced further cuts to their flights to/from and within Italy due to the continued spread of coronavirus.

Italy’s education minister says a final decision on the nationwide closure of schools has not yet been confirmed following reports in the media the measure had been approved to limit the spread of Covid-19.

A second case of coronavirus (Covid-19) was

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Irish tourism is facing more uncertainty after the US issued warnings about travel to parts of Italy and the French authorities closed the Louvre Museum in Paris over concerns for its staff catching the coronavirus from the hundreds of people streaming through its doors.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).

Ireland v Italy Six Nations match in doubt amid global outbreak

The National Public Health Emergency Team is to immediately ramp up warning campaigns about the spread of coronavirus at ports, airports, schools, and public offices.

People should be “pragmatic” about their holiday bookings because of coronavirus, the Irish Travel Agents Association has urged.

Dublin man Vincent Healy, who has been living in the Italian region of Lombardy for 10 years, has told of how he and his family have stocked up and are planning to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Restrictions on public gatherings and sporting events put in place by the Italian authorities apply in the Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto regions.

Ireland and other EU countries have been told to be on alert for possible cases of the coronavirus.

Despite suffering a heavy defeat to Six Nations holders England at Castle Park, Doncaster, captain Ciara Griffin insists the Ireland women’s team are closing the gap to the Red Roses.

This week Leslie Williams recommends two juicy reds and three northern whites

The current crisis in Catalonia is just one of a number of separatist issues being looked on with disfavour and alarm in Europe’s corridors of power, writes John Lloyd    

The presidents of Italy's wealthy northern regions of Veneto and Lombardy have claimed victory in autonomy referendums that seek to grab additional powers and tax revenue from Rome.

Italian police have arrested the fugitive boss of a powerful 'Ndrangheta clan who ran illegal operations from the southern Calabria region north to Lombardy.

In my last column of 2015 I was going to go focus on the wine highlights of the year but in fact there have been far more landmarks in the spirit world here in Ireland.

Pope Francis said yesterday that the mistreatment of migrants who are escaping war and injustice “makes one cry”, as he visited the northern Italian city of Turin, stopping to pray before the shroud that some Christians believe is Jesus’ burial cloth.

Heartened by recent election successes by an anti-immigrant party, Italian politicians based in the north vowed yesterday not to shelter any more migrants saved at sea, even as hundreds more were being rescued in the Mediterranean from smugglers’ boats in distress.

Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly has paid tribute to Dan Martin for the manner in which he bounced back from a dreadful run of luck this year to win one of cycling’s biggest one-day races.

IT IS market day in Desenzano on the southern shore of Lake Garda. Along the waterfront, vendors hawk their wares: clothes, jewellery, handbags and pottery beckon to passersby.

Italy's crucial elections appear to be heading toward deadlock, according to initial results.

WITH the eurozone close to the cliff’s edge, elected politicians are giving way to the technocrats, or else being forced to kowtow to them.

ITALIAN prosecutors have said Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with an under-age Moroccan teenager 13 times.

AT first glance, there could be no more difficult a start to life in the Magners League than what lies ahead for Aironi on Saturday.

THOUSANDS of Italian police took part in a huge operation against a powerful crime syndicate yesterday, arresting 300 people including top bosses and seizing millions in property.

Thousands of Italian police took part in a huge operation against a powerful crime syndicate today, arresting 300 people including top bosses and seizing millions in property.

Some 300 people were arrested today as Italian police carried out a major crackdown on a powerful crime gang in a pre-dawn swoop, news reports said.

ITALIAN police arrested 24 people yesterday, most of them Chinese, on charges of laundering about €2.7 billion from tax evasion, counterfeiting, prostitution and stolen goods.

PREMIER Silvio Berlusconi faces a significant test in regional voting to be held across Italy tomorrow and on Monday — and danger is all around him.

A Libyan man set off a bomb while trying to enter an army barracks in Milan today, seriously injuring himself and lightly wounding the guard who stopped him, Italian law enforcement officials said.

Senior Irish MEPs tonight said they were confident top European officials would sign-off on a multi-million euro handout to support laid-off Dell employees.

IRISH travel company Sunway is offering a special overseas wedding package, embracing the excitement of the world’s gambling capital, Las Vegas, and the sedate, romantic Hawaiian island of Oahu.

A EUROPE-WIDE sweep disrupted an Islamic cell that was recruiting potential suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, Italian police said yesterday, announcing the arrests of 20 terrorism suspects.

For a brief moment the world held its breath today - fearing a repeat of the September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington had been launched on Milan, Italy’s financial capital.