Serbia’s capital braces for a major anti-government rally as tensions mount

People seat in front of Serbian parliament building near students and former paramilitary fighters loyal to President Aleksandar Vucic camp outside the presidency building prior to a major anti-corruption rally in downtown Belgrade, Mar. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 15 March 2025
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Serbia’s capital braces for a major anti-government rally as tensions mount

  • A deafening sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed throughout the Serbian capital, on high alert since the rally was announced
  • It was probably the biggest anti-government rally ever held in the Balkan country

BELGRADE: Tens of thousands rallied on Saturday in downtown Belgrade against populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government, the latest in a series of anti-corruption protests that have shaken his 13-year firm grip on power.
A deafening sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed throughout the Serbian capital, on high alert since the rally was announced, as people headed toward several agreed-on protest venues. Some carried banners that read, “He’s Finished!” Others chanted: “Pump it Up,” a slogan adopted during the four months of student-led protests.
It was probably the biggest anti-government rally ever held in the Balkan country.
”I expect that this will shake his authority and that Vucic will realize that people are no longer for him,” Milenko Kovacevic, a protester, said.
Reflecting mounting tensions, police said they arrested a man who rammed his car into protesters in a Belgrade suburb, injuring three people.
Ahead of the demonstration, Vucic repeatedly warned of alleged plans for unrest while threatening arrests and harsh sentences for any incidents.
In an apparent effort to prevent people from attending the rally, Belgrade city transport was canceled Saturday while huge columns of cars jammed the roads leading into the capital. The transport company said the cancelation was made “for security reasons.”
On Friday evening, tens of thousands of people staged a joyous welcome for the students who have been marching or cycling for days from across Serbia toward Belgrade for the main rally on Saturday afternoon. From early morning, people started assembling in various parts of the city, preparing to march toward the center.
Fueling fears of clashes, Vucic’s supporters have been camping in central Belgrade in front of his headquarters. The crowd included ex-members of a dreaded paramilitary unit involved in the assassination in 2003 of Serbia’s first democratic Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, as well as soccer hooligans who are known for causing violence.
Private N1 television on Saturday broadcast footage of dozens of young men with baseball caps going into the pro-Vucic camp.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told state RTS broadcaster that 13 people have been detained overnight but that no major incidents were reported on Friday. He said police detained six opposition activists for allegedly plotting to stage a coup and stir unrest on Saturday.
Protesting students have led the nationwide anti-graft movement, which started after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station and killed 15 people in Serbia’s north on Nov. 1.
Many in Serbia blamed the crash on rampant government corruption, negligence and disrespect of construction safety regulations.
Vucic has been claiming that Western intelligence services were behind almost daily student-led protests with an aim to oust him from power.
Students have struck a chord among the citizens who are disillusioned with politicians and have lost faith in the state institutions. Previous student-led rallies in other Serbian cities have been peaceful while drawing huge crowds.


Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct

Updated 8 sec ago
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Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct

  • The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process

President Donald Trump’s administration moved on Tuesday to make it easier to fire federal employees for misconduct, the latest step in a broader effort to overhaul the civil service and shrink the federal bureaucracy.
The US Office of Personnel Management published a proposed rule that would allow the office, which acts as the federal government’s human resources department, to direct other agencies to fire employees for conduct such as tax evasion, leaking sensitive information and refusing to testify in other workers’ disciplinary cases.
The rule would extend OPM’s existing power to designate job applicants as unsuitable for federal employment, to current federal employees, a change it said was necessary to hold government workers accountable to the public.
Federal workers have for decades been covered by an array of job protections, including the ability to contest firings by engaging in a lengthy administrative process.
The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process. If OPM determines that removal of an employee is required, an agency would have five days to terminate them.
“Illogically, the government has far greater ability to bar someone from federal employment who has committed a serious crime or misconduct in the past than it does to remove someone who engages in the exact same behavior as a federal employee,” OPM said in the proposal.
The publication of the proposal kicked off a 30-day public comment period.
Since Trump’s second term began in January, the administration has moved aggressively to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including directing mass firings and layoffs and implementing changes to the civil service. Many of those policies have been met with court challenges and some have been temporarily blocked by judges.
OPM, which is closely linked to the White House, has played a key role in those efforts by attempting to give Trump more direct control of the federal workforce.
Many unions, Democrats and advocacy groups have said Trump’s various policies violate complex federal civil service and labor laws meant to regulate government employment and ensure that federal workers are insulated from political influence.
OPM on Tuesday said the policies agencies have followed for decades rely on overly cumbersome and restrictive procedures that protect misconduct.
“This arbitrary state of affairs seriously impairs the efficiency, effectiveness, and public perception of the Federal service,” the agency said.


Spain cancels contract for missiles built by Israeli subsidiary

Updated 03 June 2025
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Spain cancels contract for missiles built by Israeli subsidiary

MADRID: Spain has canceled a deal for anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Madrid by a subsidiary of an Israeli company, in a bid to move away from Israeli military technology, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

The decision will affect the license for 168 SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of 285 million euros ($325 million). The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a Madrid-based subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, according to local press.

“The goal is clear ... a total disconnection from Israeli technology,” government spokesperson Pilar Alegria said, adding the government is studying “the effects of the cancelation.”

Israel’s Defense Ministry referred questions on the decision to Rafael, which said it wasn’t aware of the cancelation. Pap Tecnos, located on the outskirts of Madrid, did not comment.

Spain approved the deal on Oct. 3, 2023, four days before an insurgent assault led by Hamas on southern Israel that sparked a devastating war in Gaza. 

Authorities argued at the time that the systems used by the Spanish forces were obsolete and should be replaced with up-to-date versions like those used by allied armies.

Spain’s leftist government says it stopped exporting arms to Israel as of Oct. 2, 2023, but there were reports that some shipments slipped through.

The US late last year opened an investigation into whether NATO ally Spain denied port entry to at least three cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Israel.

Spain formally recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024 in a coordinated effort with Norway and Ireland. 

A month later, Spain became the first European country to ask the top UN court, the International Court of Justice, permission to join a case mounted by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza. 


Macron to visit Meloni after rivalry creates tension on Ukraine, trade

Updated 03 June 2025
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Macron to visit Meloni after rivalry creates tension on Ukraine, trade

  • Macron is a fervent pro-European who has had a long rapport with Donald Trump
  • Meloni is a nationalist with a strong transatlantic tilt who seems more ideologically aligned with the US president

PARIS/ROME: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, seeking to improve relations amid tensions between the two European leaders over Ukraine, trade and relations with the United States.

Macron is a fervent pro-European who has had a long rapport with Donald Trump, while Meloni is a nationalist with a strong transatlantic tilt who seems more ideologically aligned with the US president. They have advocated different — even competing — approaches to the new Trump era.

Meloni, whose country has a large trade surplus with the US, has sought to keep Europe aligned with the US, using the slogan “Make the West great again” in a meeting with Trump in Washington in April. Macron has pushed for the EU to take a more independent approach.

On the Russian war in Ukraine, Meloni has been skeptical about Macron’s “coalition of the willing” and a Franco-British plan put forward earlier this year to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement. Sending troops would be deeply unpopular in Italy.

Hostility flared publicly in recent weeks, with officials close to Macron and Meloni privately or openly criticizing their respective initiatives over Ukraine or trade.

Meloni was criticized in Italy for not traveling to Kyiv with Macron and the German, British and Polish leaders on May 10 and then for missing a call with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit in Albania a few days later.

After Meloni explained her absence by saying the meetings were about sending troops to Ukraine, her government was furious that Macron said publicly that the meetings were about a ceasefire and seemed to equate her justification with “Russian disinformation.”

French and Italian officials said Macron had taken the initiative to hold Tuesday’s meeting and sought to play down talk of a rift, saying the meeting and a working dinner would be an opportunity for Macron to show “respect” and “friendship.”

“The president is available to all of our European partners, whatever the political persuasion may be,” an Elysee official told reporters.

The Elysee said the two would discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, the Mercosur trade deal and US tariffs, as well as industrial cooperation between the two countries, including Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis, which appointed a new Italian chief executive last month.

Italian officials said the meeting was meant to “lay the foundations for a further strengthening of relations” and added that talks would also address the situation in the Middle East and Libya.

Both Italy and France are worried Russia might boost its presence in eastern Libya, to keep a foothold in the Mediterranean after Moscow’s ally President Bashar Assad was ousted in Syria in December.

“This Macron-Meloni meeting isn’t about rekindling Franco-Italian friendship. It’s about necessity, not nostalgia,” said Francesco Galietti of Rome-based consultancy Policy Sonar, saying the two capitals should find common ground on Libya “fast.”


French prosecutors treating Tunisian’s murder as suspected terrorism

Updated 03 June 2025
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French prosecutors treating Tunisian’s murder as suspected terrorism

  • Hichem Miraoui was shot 5 times by his white neighbor last week, in what police believe was a racist killing
  • It follows mounting concerns over hate crimes against Muslims in the country

LONDON: Prosecutors in France investigating the murder of a Tunisian man are treating the case as a suspected racist attack, The Times reported on Tuesday.

Hichem Miraoui, a 46-year-old hairdresser who had lived in France for 14 years, was shot five times on Saturday by his white neighbor, a 53-year-old named as Christophe B.

The involvement of counterterrorism prosecutors instead of criminal prosecutors in the alleged far-right killing is a first in France.

It follows mounting concerns over hate crimes against Muslims in the country after Malian man Aboubakar Cisse, 22, was stabbed to death outside a mosque in April.

In last week’s killing in the southern town of Puget-sur-Argens, a 25-year-old Turkish man was also shot but survived. The killer fled the scene by car but his partner alerted police, who arrested him.

Christophe B, a sports shooting enthusiast who carried gun permits, had earlier posted videos on social media declaring that he planned to kill foreigners.

He urged his compatriots to do the same, and in one video praised the late founder of France’s National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described the killing of Miraoui as a “racist act.” However, the minister was previously criticized for what anti-racism groups described as an inadequate response to Cisse’s murder.

Counterterrorism authorities were also questioned for failing to treat the Malian national’s killing as terrorism, with the investigation into the case being carried out by criminal prosecutors.

Retailleau on Tuesday visited the Tunisian Embassy in Paris to express solidarity with the community.

The Tunisian diaspora in France numbers more than 1 million people. More than 6 million Muslims reside in the country, about 10 percent of the population.

“Racism in France and elsewhere is a poison, and we see clearly that it is a poison which kills. Every racist act is an anti-French act,” Retailleau said.

Official government data shows that racist, xenophobic and anti-religious crimes rose by 11 percent in the country last year.

However, such crimes in France are also “vastly underreported” because “victims often don’t trust the police or the authorities,” said Jean-Marie Burguburu, chairman of the National Consultative Human Rights Commission.


Police probe missing Briton case in Malaysia

Updated 03 June 2025
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Police probe missing Briton case in Malaysia

  • Johnson-Doyle was last seen on May 27 in the bustling Bangsar district
  • Police have asked for the public “not to speculate” about Johnson-Doyle’s disappearance

KUALA LUMPUR: The disappearance of a British man last week in Malaysia’s capital is being investigated from “all angles,” police said Tuesday.

A missing person’s report was filed, identifying the man as 25-year-old Jordan Johnson-Doyle, Kuala Lumpur police said.

Johnson-Doyle was last seen on May 27 in the bustling Bangsar district, known for its nightlife, trendy bars and cafes, according to local media reports.

“A detailed investigation, from all angles, is underway,” Brickfields district police chief Ku Mashariman Ku Mahmood told AFP.

“Those with any information are urged to contact their nearest police station,” Ku Mashariman added in a statement.

Johnson-Doyle’s mother Leanne Burnett, 44, told the Free Malaysia Today news website that her husband had traveled to Kuala Lumpur, adding “we are distraught and pray that he’s well somewhere.”

She said his family was “seeking the help of anyone who saw him at his last-known location to come forward and inform the police.”

Burnett said she was traveling to Malaysia with another son to help with the search.

Police have asked for the public “not to speculate” about Johnson-Doyle’s disappearance.

The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur confirmed Tuesday that it would assist Johnson-Doyle’s family without naming them.

“We are supporting the family of a British man reported missing in Malaysia,” it said in a statement.

Local reports said Johnson-Doyle, a software engineer, was on a solo backpacking tour around Southeast Asia when he disappeared.