Europe

Lviv, Mar 21 (AP) Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in the besieged strategic port city of Mariupol lay down arms Monday and raise white flags in exchange for safe passage out.

Russia has been barraging the encircled southern city on the Sea of Azov, hitting an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before offering to open two corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, according to Ukrainian officials.

KIEV, March 20. /TASS/: Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to resume online talks on March 21, the Ukrainiskaya Pravda media outlet reported on Sunday.

"An online meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations is planned for March 21," it said, citing high-ranking sources.

It also cited David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People ruling party’s parliamentary faction, as saying that the talks continue every day. "And today is no exception. At the level of expert groups," he said.

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 31,035 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infected to 17,582,692, the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

The increase in new cases totaled 0.18% in relative terms.

Some 2,551 patients were taken to hospital in the past 24 hours.

Recoveries

As many as 74,675 coronavirus patients recovered in Russia over the past day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 16,209,942, the crisis center told reporters.

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/: Russia’s forces are completing the defeat of the Donbass nationalist battalion and have advanced 12 more kilometers in the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday.

"Russian army units are completing the defeat of the Donbass nationalist battalion. During the day, Russian troops advance 12 kilometers to reach Nikolskoye and jointly with units of the Donetsk People’s Republic blocked the settlement of Sladkoye from three sides," he said.

PARIS, March 20. /TASS/: The French authorities have frozen the funds of the Bank of Russia worth 22 bln euro, as well as accounts and property of individuals sanctioned by western countries, France’s Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said in live broadcast of the RTL radio station on Sunday.

BUDAPEST, Mar 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Trade unions and civilians organised yesterday, a large demonstration at the Kossuth square, in front of Parliament in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, demanding higher wages and the right to strike.

The square was reportedly filled with more than 10,000 teachers and students, many dressed in plaid shirts, which have become a symbol of teachers over the last years.

The demonstrators were holding signs such as “We continue to teach, despite meager salaries,” “There is no future without teachers,” and “Who is going to teach tomorrow?”

MADRID, March 20 (Reuters) - Morocco's ambassador to Spain will return to Madrid after Spain clarified that it supported Rabat's autonomy proposal for Western Sahara, a Spanish government source said on Sunday.

Ambassador Karima Benyaich was recalled to Morocco in May 2021 in protest after Madrid admitted a Western Sahara independence leader for medical treatment using Algerian documents. Morocco said it was not informed in advance.

PARIS, March 20 (Reuters) - A Paris taxi driver whose Tesla Model 3 crashed in December, killing one person, has filed a legal complaint against the U.S. carmaker, his lawyer said on Sunday.

The French government said in the days after the accident that Tesla (TSLA.O) had told it that there was no immediate indication of a technical fault. 

Sarah Saldmann said her client had on Friday filed a criminal complaint with public prosecutors in Versailles alleging that Tesla had "put the lives of others in danger".

BUDAPEST/WARSAW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian fighter jets were alerted to intercept a civilian plane late Saturday night following information that the plane was carrying a bomb, the defence ministry said in a statement Sunday morning.

"The Hungarian Army's Gripens were alerted on March 19 at night because of a civilian Airbus A321 aircraft," the ministry said, adding that the plane was en route from Georgia to Poland.

"The plane was flying in Romanian airspace when it signaled a bomb threat to civilian air traffic control," the statement added.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Sunday the siege of the port city of Mariupol would go down in history for what he said were war crimes committed by Russian troops.

“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation.

Russian forces have pushed deeper into the besieged and battered city, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help.