Europe

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. The West is doing its utmost to conceal information about the real situation in Crimea from the rest of the world because it is afraid that the peninsula will be recognized as Russia’s territory, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page on Sunday.

MONACO, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prince Albert II, head of state of the Principality of Monaco, here Sunday on strengthening China-Monaco relations.

Xi was paying a state visit to Monaco, the first by a Chinese president to the European country.

Noting the affinity between the two peoples, Xi said that since China and Monaco established diplomatic relations more than 20 years ago, the two sides have always treated each other as equals with sincerity and friendship.

BELGRADE, March 23. /TASS/. Another rally, during which protesters demanded the resignation of President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic ended without major incidents on Saturday evening, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russia’s Aerospace Force has twice scrambled the on-duty Su-27 fighter jets over the past 24 hours to intercept US Air Force (USAF) B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers operating in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Russia’s National Defense Control Center said on Saturday.

"Two US aircraft had been detected by the Russian airspace monitoring system at a considerable distance from the state border of the Russian Federation and then were taken to escort," the statement says.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday replaced Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati as archbishop of Santiago, Chile, after he was placed under criminal investigation in the country’s spiraling church sex abuse and cover-up scandal.

Francis accepted Ezzati’s resignation and named a temporary replacement to govern Chile’s most important archdiocese: the Spanish-born Capuchin friar and current bishop of Copiapo, Chile, Monsignor Celestino Aos Braco.

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Theresa May faces growing pressure from within her own party either to resign or to set a date for stepping down as a way to build support for her Brexit agreement with the European Union, British media reported Sunday.

Senior Conservative Party figures were urging May to recognize her weakened political position and leave the prime minister’s post. However, there was no indication from Downing Street a resignation was near.

24 Mar 2019; DW: Isabelle Darras donned her yellow security jacket once again on Saturday, joining friends to march across the French capital on a sunny afternoon. 

"People give the yellow vests a very negative image," said Darras, a music professor, as she scanned the crowd slowly moving down the Boulevard Saint Michel, in Paris' Latin Quarter. "But look at this — it's peaceful."

23 Mar 2019; DW: An operation to airlift 1,300 passengers and crew from a cruise ship adrift off the coast of Norway is underway, Norwegian emergency services said on Saturday afternoon.

The Viking Sky cruise ship sent an SOS message due to "engine problems in bad weather" in an area of water is known to be treacherous; several ships have sunk in the past.

What we know so far

OSLO, March 24 (Xinhua) -- A cruise ship that got into trouble in a storm off Norway's western coast Saturday with about 1,300 people onboard has restarted three of its four engines and will be towed to port, emergency services said Sunday.

"Three of the four engines are now working, which means the boat can now make way on its own," emergency services spokesman Per Fjeld said.

PARIS, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, France and China are expecting high-level visits and other important events this year, making 2019 a "good" and "productive" year for bilateral cooperation, former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has told Xinhua.