"The borders of Greece are the external borders of Europe. We will protect them... do not attempt to enter Greece illegally – you will be turned back."

Greece's prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, made his views clear today, after Turkey said it would no longer stop migrants coming from Syria and elsewhere to Europe. As an EU border state, Greece has closed its border and activated the European Union's support mechanism. You can catch up with the very latest on this developing story on our website.

Another leading story today is the start of EU-UK trade negotiations, which will decide the trading relationships between the bloc and the former member. To find out how the outcome may affect UK businesses, Juliet Mann visited a factory that produces meringues... You can watch her report below. 

Also in the UK, the Bank of England has said it will work with international partners to ensure businesses are not too badly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The government today say it expects the virus to spread across the nation. The Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve are key allies in the disease control. 

Another country hit hard by the novel coronavirus is South Korea, with Hyundai Motors, one of its key companies, revealing today that February was its worst month for sales in a decade. 

And finally, Luxembourgers will no longer have to pay for public transport. That's because the government has decided to make buses, trains and trams free in an effort to cut congestion. But what about other commuters across Europe? Our graphic today takes a look at how monthly fares compare in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. It can be found at the bottom of today's briefing. 

Happy reading,

Patrick Atack

Digital businesses correspondent 
 

French wine makers have complained U.S. president Donald Trump's new tariffs on their produce has forced price rises, as they attempt to pass on the 25 percent levy to consumers. Meanwhile, Latin American wines have recently been booming as the U.S. market turns away from the traditional "old world" wine regions.  

Jack Welch, former CEO of U.S. energy giant General Electric, has died aged 84. He took the reins of the firm in 1981 and before his retirement in 2001 had grown GE's market value from $12 billion to $410 billion. 

Chinese tech gaint Huawei has been testing a new dedicated search app that will fill the gap left by the missing Google program on its devices. According to the company's report, Huawei Search provides functions such as instant search, and it is being tested in-house before its public release. 

The Bank of England, the UK's central bank, said it will work with international counterparts such as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan to "take necessary steps" to limit the spread of COVID-19. Experts said they expect the bank to cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.5 percent from 0.75 percent, perhaps ahead of its scheduled announcement. 

Roberto Gualtieri, the Italian finance minister, said the country would introduce a $4 billion package to assist its economy during the COVID-19 outbreak. He added that tax credits and tax cuts could also be used to limit the financial impact of the virus. 

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has announced it would put four companies into probation for their greenhouse gas emissions and even completely exclude them if the polluters fail to take corrective measures. The Norwegian central bank, which manages the fund, is expected to make announcements in that regard, soon.

The eurozone's factory manufacturing woes eased slightly last month, despite the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey. IHS Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 49.2 in February from January's 47.9, defying a preliminary estimate of 49.1 and chalking up its highest reading in a year. However, the index, which shows the prevailing direction of economic trends in the manufacturing sector, has now remained below the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion for 13 consecutive months.

Hyundai Motors reported its lowest monthly global sales in a decade in February as the coronavirus outbreak took a toll on sales. The South Korean automobile producer sold 275,044 vehicles for the month, 13 percent below the 315,820 vehicles delivered to customers a year earlier. Hyundai, with affiliate Kia Motors, is the world's fifth biggest car manufacturer by output.

Germany's Deutsche Bank has been pulled up by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority for anti-money laundering and compliance controls. The regulators warned that the bank risks losing access to the UK market after withdrawal from the European Union. In an emailed statement, Deutsche Bank said: "Risk and controls are an area of ongoing focus for all financial institutions. We continue to invest heavily in these areas."

Warner Music Group and Cole Haan ditched plans to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs) after the S&P 500 Index lost close to 12 percent of its value last week due to the impact of COVID-19 on global financial markets, according to sources.

Currency provider Travelex is bracing for a $32 million hit to its first-quarter earnings after a ransomware attack in December 2019. The company said all its customer-facing systems had been restored and the cyber-attack will have no impact on trading in the upcoming quarters. The news of the attack was disclosed in early January. 

OPPO officially announced the launch date of its new smartwatch series. The company will unveil its first smartwatch worldwide on 6 March. The official poster for the timepiece revealed a hyperboloid flexible screen design. 

Juliet Mann visited a UK meringue factory to ask how the Brexit trade deal talks might affect its international business. 

To understand the aims of the EU-UK trade talks, and its likely outcomes, Rajneesh Narula of the University of Reading joined CGTN Europe in the studio today. 

There's so much uncertainty about how these negotiations are going to go. Tariffs, regulation, whether we are going to see alignment or not with the EU. What's your take?

I think there's a lot of posturing. And both sides have been playing this. I mean, it may look like the UK has been especially good at posturing, but the EU side is also doing the same.

I think that it's a matter of wording now. The EU wants regulatory alignment, but I think what will be agreed on is that the UK will use alignment as a reference point. If the term is coming in, they'll be using it as a reference point.

They will not be aligned, but they will be using it as a reference point. So, this will lead eventually to some kind of agreement where they agree to disagree. It looks like there's no alignment, but there actually is alignment.

We've got two sets of talks going on at the same time. The European Union on the one hand with a preferred trading partner, perhaps the U.S. on the other hand. Can we expect progress on either?

The U.S. has made it very clear that they don't want alignment with the EU. They don't want the UK to have an alignment. They would rather have the UK align with the U.S. So, they are interested in sabotaging the EU-UK talks.

Of course, the thing is that there are certain red lines like health and safety, like climate change on the side of the British. On the other side, they've got the issue of the tech tax, which has been talked about. So they're not really going to come to an agreement, either side.

So, coming back to the EU negotiation, what offers are on the table? The Canada-style deal, the Norway-style deal. What's the latest on that?

A Canada-style agreement just covers manufacturing. So I'm sure they'll be happy to agree to this. The problem is that they want to have an a la carte menu.

They would like to have multiple agreements, which will essentially lead to a soft Brexit rather than actually having a soft Brexit. So, it looks like they didn't have a soft Brexit, but they actually did. And that's the name of the game: how can you pull this off in 11 months? This is a big challenge.
 

In many cities, high public transport costs are often an unavoidable part of daily life, but that's no longer the case for people in Luxembourg, which has become the first country in the world to abolish rail, bus and tram fares nationwide. It's part of a wider plan to reduce congestion.

But how do other European commuters fare? We took a look at some of the most expensive monthly travel passes in European cities.