Europe

LONDON, May 16 (Xinhua): Chinese company Huawei launched its 5G smartphone here on Thursday, as mobile network operators are preparing to switch on 5G network in parts of Britain.

The HUAWEI Mate 20 X (5G) is the latest Huawei smartphone that introduces consumers to 5G with a premium experience comprising high-speed connectivity, flagship performance, large display, reliable battery life and more.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Russian scientists have proposed that Russia should start building astrophysical observatories on the Moon in the late 2020s and the early 2030s, Scientific Head of the Space Research Institute within Russia’s Academy of Sciences Lev Zelyony told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Most Russians are not afraid of losing jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), while one in two feels robots’ assistance in performing duties at work, as follows from a survey by the analytical center Bitrix24, the IT company 1S Bitrix told TASS.

The survey is based on an opinion poll of 1,300 Russian companies held on April 16-18. Taking part in the survey were companies in the IT segment, sales, marketing and PR, education, finance, e-commerce, logistics and others - most of them small and medium businesses.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Russia’s two-time Olympic gymnastics Champion Maria Filatova has been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame (IGHOF), the press service of the US-based IGHOF announced in a statement on Thursday.

"Five gymnastics legends will be honored at the 23rd annual International Gymnastics Hall of Fame (IGHOF) ceremony on Saturday, May 18, 2019, at the Petroleum Club in Oklahoma City," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and French Special Envoy for Libya Frederic Desagneaux have discussed the situation in Libya during a meeting on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed.

"During a detailed discussion, [the diplomats] have touched upon the current situation in Libya with special attention paid to the importance of putting an end to armed confrontation and establishing a stable inter-Libyan national dialogue in the interest of ending the prolonged crisis in the country," the ministry noted.

BERLIN, May 16. /TASS/: The trilateral consultations between Russia, the European Union (EU) and Ukraine on gas transit are delayed due to political uncertainty in Ukraine, Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said on Thursday, adding that the Russian and EU sides are ready for the talks and the exact date will depend on the Ukrainian side.

"The date of Russian-EU-Ukrainian trilateral consultations on gas transit is delayed due to political uncertainty in Ukraine. It will depend on Ukraine’s decision. Russia and the European Commission are ready for the talks," he said.

16 May 2019; DW: Inhabitants of Fürstenfeldbruck, a refugee processing center near Munich, told DW of overcrowding, filth and bureaucratic limbo, leading to at least one suicide attempt. Bavarian officials say conditions are adequate.

Asylum-seekers at one of Germany's refugee processing centers are spending months living in what they claim are inhumane conditions, struggling to get access to adequate health care while in bureaucratic limbo as they wait for their applications to be processed.

YEKATERINBURG, May 16. /TASS/: As many as 96 people have been detained since the beginning of authorized protests in downtown Yekaterinburg, where St. Catherine’s Cathedral is planned to be rebuilt, the regional branch of the Russian Interior Ministry said on Thursday. A source in the city’s Verkh-Isetsky District Court told TASS that 21 of them had been arrested.

16 May 2019; DW: Regulators in the European Union have levied a hefty fine on Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Japan's MUFG over collusion in currency trading.

The European Commission on Thursday fined five major banks €1.07 billion ($1.2 billion) for collusion in the foregin currency market.

The fines would normally have been 10% higher, but was reduced after the banks admitted their involvement.

16 May 2019; DW: Populism, Russian election-meddling, Chinese economic power: the list of challenges facing the EU is long, says the German chancellor. In a wide-ranging interview, she set out what Europe needs to do to survive.

The European Union urgently and "without a doubt, needs to reposition itself in a changing world," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.