Europe

MOSCOW (AP) — Western sanctions have hit Russian banks, wealthy individuals and technology imports. But after a year of far-reaching restrictions aimed at degrading Moscow’s war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn’t look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine.

There’s no mass unemployment, no plunging currency, no lines in front of failing banks. The assortment at the supermarket is little changed, with international brands still available or local substitutes taking their place.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 11,985 over the past day to 22,423,093, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

A day earlier, 12,241 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 758 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 52.4% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients increased in ten regions, while in 71 regions the figure decreased. The situation remained unchanged in four regions. A day earlier, 1,594 people were rushed to hospitals.

LUGANSK, March 12. /TASS/: Three civilians were killed and nine more, including children, were wounded in the city of Perevalks in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops, Vitaly Mikhailov, head of the Perevalsk district administration, said on Sunday.

"According to preliminary data, the shelling attack left three civilians dead. Six people were wounded and taken to a hospital, three of them are minors. Three more sought medical assistance in the outpatient department. In other words, three were killed and nine were wounded," he told TASS.

CHISINAU, March 12. /TASS/: Clashes between the police and participants in a thousand-strong protest rally took place in central Chisinau on Sunday, according to a TASS correspondent.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Two Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters, seven HIMARS and Uragan rockets and one drone were downed by Russian air defense systems in the course of the special military operation during the past day, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday.

MOSSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has slammed her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba’s statement that Moscow is reluctant to negotiate the crisis settlement with Kiev as a "colossal lie".

GENEVA, March 12 (Reuters) - Discovering the origins of COVID-19 is a moral imperative and all hypotheses must be explored, the head of the World Health Organization said, in the clearest indication yet that the U.N. body remains committed to finding how the virus arose.

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday the British government was working to find a solution to limit the potential hit to companies resulting from the failure of U.S. lender Silicon Valley Bank and its UK subsidiary.

Sunak said he understood "the anxiety and the concerns customers of the bank have", in comments made to reporters flying with him to the United States. He and the government were "making sure we can work to find a solution that secures people's operational liquidity and cash-flow needs", he said.

ST. PETERSBURG, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Foreign tourists may have a chance to apply for an electronic visa to enter Russia and receive a payment card in 2023, Tatyana Sharshavitskaya, head of the Russian Department of Tourism Development of the Ministry of Economic Development, said on Saturday.

PARIS, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The French Senate on Saturday approved the country's pension reform plan, despite the hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets to protest a significant policy change that could define President Emmanuel Macron's second five-year term.

The upper house of the French Parliament adopted the bill by 195 votes to 112, whose headline measure is lifting the retirement age by two years to 64.