Europe

BRUSSELS, May 6 (Xinhua): The recent discord over intensified sanctions against Cuba is putting relations between the United States and its allies including the European Union (EU) and Canada under strain.

Washington made the decision to activate the full weight of the Helms-Burton Act against Cuba last week, which authorizes U.S. nationals to file lawsuits over properties nationalized or confiscated by Cuba's government.

6 May 2019; AFP: The pilot of a Russian passenger plane that erupted in a ball of fire on the runway of Moscow's busiest airport, killing 41 people, said lightning led to the emergency landing.

Investigators were on Monday working to understand the causes of the blaze after the Sukhoi Superjet-100 had to return to Sheremetyevo airport shortly after take-off Sunday evening.

6 May 2019; DW: The Spanish separatist has scuppered a ban on contesting the European elections. A court ruled he still has a fundamental right to contest the election even though he has fled the country and faces arrest if he returns.

Carles Puigdemont, the exiled former president of the Spanish state of Catalonia who fled to Belgium after a failed secession bid, has been cleared to run in the European elections, a court ruled on Sunday.

6 May 2019; DW: The eight-member Arctic Council is looking at ways to deal with global warming and access to mineral wealth. The thawing of ice has some countries scrambling over the earth's untapped resources.

Top diplomats from the United States, Russia and other member nations of the Arctic Council are meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland on Monday to discuss policies pertaining to the polar region.

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/: Russian voyager and survivalist Fyodor Konyukhov, who is now on a solo round-the-world rowboat voyage, has set a world record, being the first to cross the 55th parallel south in the Southern, or Antarctic, Ocean, Konyukhov’s eldest son Oskar, the organizer of the journey, told TASS on Sunday citing his father’s diary.

MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/: Maksim Moiseev, a flight attendant on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane that burst into flames at Sheremetyevo airport, died trying to open a door in the tail of the plane that was ravaged by fire to save the passengers, a source in the aviation circles told TASS.

PARIS (AP) — French telecom giant Orange and seven former or current managers are going on trial accused of moral harassment over a wave of employee suicides a decade ago.

France’s main phone and internet company saw 19 suicides, 12 suicide attempts and eight cases of serious depression among employees from 2007-2010. The company, then called France Telecom, was undergoing job cuts and restructuring.

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/: Russia’s government has revised the list of substances prohibited for use in sports in line with a similar list approved by the global anti-doping body for 2019. A respective decree has been released on the website of the cabinet of ministers on Sunday.

5 May 2019; DW: In the first rally since First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted another vote on Scottish independence, tens of thousands of people marched in support in Glasgow. The rally was twice the size of the one last year.

Organized under the "All Under One Banner" (AUOB) slogan, tens of thousands turned out with Scottish flags in Glasgow on Saturday.

5 May 2019; DW: North Macedonian voters are choosing a new president in a poll that could make life more difficult for the ruling Social Democrats. The entire election will need to be re-run if not enough people turn out to vote.

North Macedonian voters returned to the ballot box on Sunday to vote in a presidential run-off election.