UKRAINE VOWS TO FIGHT TO THE END IN MARIUPOL AS ULTIMATUM EXPIRES

Ukraine on Sunday vowed to fight to the end in Mariupol after a Russian ultimatum expired for remaining forces to surrender in the Black Sea port city where Moscow is pushing for a major strategic victory.

"The city still has not fallen," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said hours after Moscow's deadline had passed for fighters holed up and surrounded in a sprawling fortress-like steelworks to surrender.

"There's still our military forces, our soldiers. So they will fight to the end," he told ABC's "This Week".

Moscow has shifted its military focus to gaining control of the eastern Donbas region and forging a land corridor to already-annexed Crimea.

Russia's defence ministry said there were up to 400 mercenaries inside the encircled Azovstal steel plant, calling on Ukrainian forces inside to "lay down their arms and surrender in order to save their lives".

Moscow claims Kyiv has ordered fighters of the nationalist Azov battalion to "shoot on the spot" anyone wanting to surrender.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said if Russian forces killed the remaining troops defending the city, it would end the peace talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already said the talks are at a "dead end".

Shmyhal said Ukraine wanted a diplomatic solution but would fight to the end if necessary. "We will not surrender."

While several large cities are under siege, he said, not one — with the exception of Kherson in the south — had fallen, and more than 900 towns and cities had been liberated.

The southern city of Mykolaiv and nearby areas came under heavy Russian rocket fire, its governor Vitaliy Kim told the BBC. Ukrainian forces there have blocked Russian attempts to advance on the port city of Odesa.

More people returned to Ukraine from Poland than those who have left, for the first time since the war began. Nearly 22,000 people crossed into Ukraine on Saturday, as 19,200 left, figures from the Polish border service showed

Another Russian general has been killed in combat - deputy commander of the 8th Army Maj Gen Vladimir Frolov. In late March, Western officials said Russia had lost seven generals in the war so far. Russia has not confirmed that figure

Russian and Belarusian lorries are queuing to return home via the Polish-Belarusian border after an EU deadline banning them from its territory passed.

ZELENSKY SAYS INVITED MACRON TO SEE EVIDENCE OF ‘GENOCIDE’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has invited his French counterpart to visit Ukraine to see for himself evidence that Russian forces have committed "genocide," a term President Emmanuel Macron has avoided.

"I talked to him yesterday," Zelensky told CNN in an interview recorded on Friday but broadcast on Sunday.

"I just told him I want him to understand that this is not war, but nothing other than genocide. I invited him to come when he will have the opportunity. He'll come and see, and I'm sure he will understand."

Zelensky said he also thought US President Joe Biden would come at some point, though White House officials have said there are no plans to do so.

The Ukrainian leader said he believed Macron was shying away from using the term "genocide" -- a term Biden has now used regarding the war in Ukraine -- because he thinks it would hurt the chances for diplomatic engagement with Russia.

TOLL IN ‘PAK STRIKES’ RISES TO 47, SAYS AF

The death toll from Pakistani military air strikes in the eastern Afghanistan provinces of Khost and Kunar has jumped to at least 47. “Forty-one civilians, mainly women and kids, were killed and 22 others were wounded in air strikes by Pakistani forcesin Khost ,” Shabir Ahmad Osmani, director of information and culture in Khost said. Najibullah, an official with the ministry for promotion of virtue and prevention of vice in Khost said the toll in the province was 48.

DO NOT SHELTER MILITANTS, PAK. WARNS KABUL

Pakistan fired off a sharp warning on Sunday to Afghanistan’s hard-line religious rulers to stop sheltering homegrown Pakistani Taliban militants who have staged increasingly deadly attacks against the country’s military.

The warning followed Afghan reports that Pakistani aircraft on late Friday carried out bombing raids in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost and Kunar provinces, killing civilians.

“Terrorists are using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan,” said the Foreign Ministry statement that was unusually harsh in its language.

Since Taliban takeover, Islamabad has led the way in pressing the world to engage with the religiously driven Afghan government.

SRI LANKAN DELEGATION HEADS TO U.S. TO SEEK $4-BN IMF PACKAGE

A Sri Lankan government delegation is headed to the U.S. on Sunday to engage with the IMF to secure a $4 billion package as it desperately tries to salvage the country’s beleaguered economy currently reeling under a severe forex crisis.

The delegation led by newly-appointed Finance Minister Ali Sabry will hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between April 19 and April 24.

Mr. Sabry has said that Sri Lanka is seeking a bailout package of $4 billion from the IMF, having earlier resisted calls to seek a facility from the global lender.

The visit is taking place days after the Finance Ministry on Tuesday announced that it is suspending repayments of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowing, pending the completion of a loan restructuring programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sri Lanka had to meet $7 billion of debt payments this year.

CLASHES AT AL-AQSA MOSQUE LEAVE 17 PALESTINIANS INJURED

Israeli police on Sunday entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City to secure the way for Jewish visitors to the flashpoint holy site, fueling clashes that left 17 Palestinians wounded, according to Palestinian medical workers.

The unrest happened just two days after clashes with Palestinians at the same site.

The hilltop compound housing the mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam, while it is the holiest place for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

This year the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Christian holy week culminating in Easter Sunday and the week-long Jewish Passover are all occurring at the same time.

Israeli police accused Palestinians of “defiling and desecrating” a holy site, while Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to divide the sensitive holy site. “What happened in Al-Aqsa mosque is a dangerous escalation, the repercussions of which are to be borne by the Israeli government alone,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The police said they entered the compound to facilitate the routine visit of Jews to the holy site. They said Palestinians had stockpiled stones and set up barriers in anticipation of violence.

Palestinians reported brief clashes with Israeli police just outside the mosque compound, while police said Palestinians had thrown stones at buses outside the Old City.

SHANGHAI: CHINA REPORTS THREE DEAD IN LATEST COVID OUTBREAK

China has reported the deaths of three people from Covid in Shanghai for the first time since the financial hub entered lockdown in late March.

A release from the city's health commission said the three people were aged between 89 and 91, had several comorbidities, and were unvaccinated.

Until now, China said no-one had died of Covid in the city - a claim that has increasingly come into question.

Officials also said the city recorded 22,248 cases on Monday.

Monday's deaths were the first Covid-linked fatalities to be officially acknowledged by Chinese authorities since March.

UNREST IN SWEDEN OVER PLANNED QURAN BURNINGS

Clashes have taken place for a fourth day in several Swedish cities, sparked by the apparent burning of a Quran by a far-right, anti-immigrant group.

Local media said three people were injured in the eastern city of Norrköping on Sunday when police fired warning shots at rioters.

Several vehicles were set on fire and at least 17 people were arrested.

On Saturday, vehicles including a bus were set on fire in the southern city of Malmo during a far-right rally.

Earlier, the governments of Iran and Iraq summoned Swedish envoys to protest about the burning.

Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan, who leads the Stram Kurs, or Hard Line, movement said he had burned Islam's most sacred text and would repeat the action.

At least 16 police officers were reported to have been injured and several police vehicles destroyed in unrest on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in places where the far-right group planned events, including in the suburbs of Stockholm and in the cities of Linköping and Norrköping.

Paludan had threatened to hold another rally in Norrköping on Sunday, prompting counter-demonstrators to gather there, Deutsche Welle reported.

Local police said in a statement that they fired warning shots after coming under attack and three people were apparently hit by ricochets.

MYANMAR JUNTA RELEASES PRISONERS

Myanmar’s military government on Sunday began releasing more than 1,600 prisoners to mark the traditional New Year holiday, but they didn’t include any political detainees despite the country’s ruling general vowing to bring peace this year.

This year’s holiday celebrations, carried out over several days, were muted as opponents of military rule called for a boycott of government-supported activities.

State-run MRTV television reported that the head of Myanmar’s military council, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, had pardoned 1,619 prisoners, including 42 foreigners who will be deported.

NEPAL MULLS 2-DAY GOVERNMENT HOLIDAY TO CURTAIL FUEL CONSUMPTION

Kathmandu : The Nepal government is considering to declare a two-day holiday in public sector offices this month to reduce fuel consumption, as the country battles a foreign exchange crisis and the price of petroleum products sky-rockets.

The Central Bank of Nepal and Nepal Oil Corporation advised the government to give two days government holiday, Cabinet sources said. The Russia-Ukraine war has resulted in a major spike in global oil prices as Russian oil is under sanction. Other major oil producers Iran and Venezuela are also facing curbs in selling petroleum. Tourism-dependent Nepal is experiencing a slump in its foreign reserves after the Covid pandemic brought international travel to a halt.

The advise to the government sees significant savings for Nepal Oil Corporation which is selling fuel at subsidised rates and suffering huge losses at the present global rates, officials said. Government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said the government has so far not taken any decision in this regard. The proposal has come up but it is under consideration, he said. To deal with the crisis, the government has urged Nepalese nationals living abroad to open dollar accounts in banks in the country and make investments. Nepal has also tightened imports of expensive cars, gold and other luxury goods to maintain its falling reserves.