Europe

3 May 2019; DW: Scandinavian airline SAS announced late on Thursday that management had reached a deal with pilot unions to end a weeklong strike that forced some 4,000 flights to be canceled and stranded over 380,000 passengers.

"I can with relief inform our customers and our staff that we now can put this conflict behind us. We have tonight signed a new collective agreement with our four pilot unions," said CEO Rickard Gustafson.

3 May 2019; DW: Jamal Khashoggi, Daphne Caruana Galizia, Jan Kuciak: Their murders are among the most serious attacks on press freedom and a symptom of a deep-rooted problem, says Christophe Deloire of Reporters Without Borders.

Almost one person in two in the world does not have access to freely reported news and information. As Europeans, we can count ourselves lucky that we enjoy "this freedom that allows us to verify respect for all the other freedoms." 

3 May 2019; DW: Voters in England appeared to have punished both UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party and the Labour opposition, as local council election results emerged on Friday.

Both parties, which pledged to carry out Brexit in their 2017 election manifestos, appeared to have suffered badly, with almost half of council results declared.

2 May 2019; DW: The number of members belonging to Germany's two main churches will drop by half by 2060, putting severe financial strain on the religious institutions, according to a study published Thursday.

The main reasons for declining membership in the German Catholic and Protestant churches include adults leaving the church, fewer baptisms and an aging population, researchers at the University of Freiburg said.

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/: The exact date of the visit by Foreign Minister in Libya’s Government of National Accord Mohamed Taher Siala to Moscow depends on the situation around Tripoli and has not been set yet, a diplomatic source informed TASS on Friday.

"We are waiting for him, but the exact date depends on him and on the situation in the country," the source said.

Russian Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov earlier said that Siala could visit Moscow soon.

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/: Almost 37,000 members of Russia’s National Guard will maintain public order and security across the country during the May 9 celebrations dedicated to Victory Day, the National Guard’s press service informed TASS on Friday.

"A total of 37,000 personnel will maintain public order throughout the country. In Moscow, 5,000 National Guard members will be involved in efforts to maintain public safety," the press service said.

MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the law on providing a stable operation of the Russian Internet (Runet) in case it is disconnected from the global infrastructure of the World Wide Web. The document was published on Wednesday on the official web portal of legal information.

VIENNA, May 2. /TASS/: Moscow decided to simplify the procudere of obtaining Russian citizenship for Donbass residents because the Ukrainian authorities are depriving them of their legal rights, Russia's Deputy Envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Dmitry Balakin said on Thursday.

Balakin said Russia regrets to see how Kiev deprived Donbass residents of almost all their legal rights and excluded them from political and social-economic processes in Ukraine, thus making them de facto disenfranchised people on the territory of their own country.

DONETSK, May 2. /TASS/: Over 1,000 Ukrainian army's servicemen have been killed or injured since the start of the military operation in Donbass under Sergey Nayev's command, head of the people's militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Eduard Basurin said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/: /TASS/. Forestry workers have extinguished 148 forest fires on the territory of over 44 hectares over the last 24 hours, the press service of the Aerial Forest Protection Service said on Friday.

"According to regional forestry departments, on 2 May 2019, 148 forest fires were extinguished on the area of 44,328 hectares. On 3 May 2019, 68 forest fires are active on the Russian territory on the area of 21,087 hectares. Firefighting efforts are underway," the press service said.