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☆ Hungary blocks next tranche of EU off-budget military support for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUDAPEST, May 16 (Reuters) - Hungary did not approve the disbursement of the next tranche of military support for Ukraine provided under the EU's European Peace Facility (EPF), a government spokesman's office said on Tuesday. The EPF, created in 2021, is an off-budget instrument aimed at enhancing the EU's ability to prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security. The EU has provided a total of about 3.6 billion euros for military support for Ukraine so far under the EPF. Hungary, which is member of the EU and also NATO, has refused to provide any military equipment to its neighbour Ukraine, which was invaded by Russian forces in February 2022. Hungary has also repeatedly criticised EU sanctions against Russia, which all 27 EU countries must also unanimously approve, but eventually supported all the agreed measures so far.

BRUSSELS, May 12 (Reuters) - Turkey's elections on Sunday are a key moment not just for the country itself but also for its European neighbours. Its internationally recognised government, composed of Greek Cypriots, is an EU member, while the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state is recognised only by Ankara. However, EU officials see little sign that Kilicdaroglu would change much on Cyprus. EU leaders designated Turkey as a candidate to join the bloc in 2004 but the talks ground to a halt years ago. There is already a lot of European money that has made its way to Turkey," said a European diplomat.

☆ Serbians surrender over 3,000 pieces of weapons after mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The amnesty was launched on Monday after a 13 year-old schoolboy with two handguns allegedly killed eight pupils and a security guard. He is now in custody and undergoing a psychological evaluation but cannot be held criminally responsible due to his young age. Last Thursday, a man brandishing an assault rifle and a pistol killed eight and wounded 14 people in two villages in central Serbia. Vucic said people so far surrendered over 3,000 pieces of weaponry, without specifying what kind. In previous gun amnesties launched over past two decades, people handed over banned military-grade arms, hunting weapons, handguns, and also barrels, locking mechanisms and other parts.

☆ Russia's version of NATO is crumbling, with even some of its closest allies frustrated by Putin's failing war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

CSTO, Russia's equivalent of NATO, was never a powerhouse, but relations have become more strained. And Frankopan said that countries had likely stopped trusting Russia's military abilities. Marin also said that CSTO members don't seem interested in taking big risks to protect the alliance's future. AP Photo/Felipe Dana, FileRussia a 'toxic partner'According to Frankopan, regional backlash to Russia's invasion of Ukraine could be happening for multiple reasons, including ideological objections to Russia's brutal tactics. Marin said the Ukraine invasion had made Russia a "rather toxic partner" to most of its post-Soviet neighbours.

[1/5] People attend a protest "Serbia against violence" in reaction to recent mass shootings that have shaken the country, in Belgrade, Serbia, May 8, 2023. Crowds in numbers not seen in the Balkan country for years, solemnly marched through the city centre behind a banner reading "Serbia Against Violence". Opposition parties and some rights groups accuse President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of autocracy, oppressing media freedoms, violence against political opponents, cronyism, corruption, and ties with organised crime. In response to the shootings, Serbia's police on Monday started a one-month amnesty for surrendering illegal weapons. In addition to existing gun laws, Vucic announced police checks of registered gun owners.

☆ Serbia's education minister resigns over school shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BELGRADE, May 7 (Reuters) - Serbia's Education Minister Branko Ruzic resigned on Sunday over last week's shooting at an elementary school in which eight children and a security guard were killed, amid public anger over that and another mass shooting just a day later. The country is in shock and mourning over the two shootings: the school massacre in the capital on Wednesday and a rampage outside the city on Thursday in which eight people died. The suspects in both cases - respectively a 13-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man - are in custody. Opposition parties, who blame Prime Minister Ana Brnabic's government for failing to prevent the two rampages, have called on supporters to join an anti-government march on Monday evening in Belgrade. Serbia has an entrenched gun culture, especially in rural areas, but its gun control laws were fairly strict even before the latest shootings.

☆ Serbian man confesses to killing eight in shooting rampage, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a statement seen by Reuters, the prosecutors said a man identified only as U.B. A girl shot in the head in a school shooting in Serbia in which eight pupils and a guard were killed is still in critical condition, RTS state TV reported on Saturday. Burials were being held on Saturday for four of the pupils and the guard killed in the school shooting and five young men killed in the second rampage. Following the shootings, the government introduced a set of measures aimed at preventing violence in schools and reducing the number of weapons held by civilians. The suspect in the school shooting is a 13-year-old boy who police said surrendered on Wednesday after taking two of his father's handguns to carry out the shooting.

[1/6] People pay tribute following a school mass shooting, after a boy opened fire on others, killing fellow students and staff in Belgrade, Serbia, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio BronicBELGRADE, May 4 (Reuters) - Two pupils wounded in Serbia's first mass school shooting were in critical condition on Thursday, health officials said, as the country prepared for three days of national mourning. A teacher and six pupils were wounded. Milika Asanin, director of the University hospital, said that the condition of a severely wounded boy treated there had improved, but was still considered critical, the Tanjug news agency reported. The remaining children and the teacher treated in the two hospitals were in stable condition, both Ducic and Asanin said.

Veselin Milic, head of Belgrade police, said the attacker had two guns and two petrol bombs and had planned everything carefully. Wednesday's shooting happened at Vladislav Ribnikar, an elementary school in Vracar, a central Belgrade district. But then I saw the security guard falling to the ground," she said, adding that she then ran away. [1/5] People react after a 14-year-old boy opened fire on other students and security guards at a school in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, May 3, 2023. (The boy) ... first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly," Milosevic, who had rushed to the school, told broadcaster N1.

☆ The President, the Soccer Hooligans and an Underworld ‘House of Horrors’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Robert F. Worth | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

direction, and he chose not to.” Serwer speculated that Vucic has concluded the reforms required to join the E.U. The notion that Serbia can “balance” the West against Russia is largely a mirage, Bassuener said. One afternoon in Belgrade, I spent an hour talking to Boris Tadic, who served as Serbia’s president from 2004 until 2012, when he lost to Vucic’s party. Vucic, he said, had “helped put criminals in power” with the belief that he could control them. “What is the final outcome of your power if you’re going to destroy the foundations of society with hooligans and criminals?” he asked.

BELGRADE, May 3 (Reuters) - A 14-year-old boy shot his teacher in a Belgrade classroom on Wednesday morning before opening fire on other students and security guards, killing at least one person and wounding five, police and witnesses said. Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the pupils at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school, said his daughter was in the classroom when the shooting began. (The boy) ...first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly," Milosevic told broadcaster N1. Police said a security guard was killed and five students were wounded, and that a seventh-grade student had been arrested. Later I heard three shots," a girl who attends a high school adjacent to Vladislav Ribnikar told state TV RTS.

BELGRADE, May 3 (Reuters) - Serbia, where a schoolboy opened fire on his classmates on Wednesday, has an entrenched gun culture, especially in rural areas, but also strict gun control laws. Tens of thousands of illegal firearms have since been handed over or registered in amnesties. People over the age 18 may own firearms only with a permit issued after a thorough background check with police. Gun owners are also required to pass a training course and a questionnaire about gun legislation. In the deadliest shooting in Serbia since the 1990s, Ljubisa Bogdanovic killed 14 people in the central village of Velika Ivanca in 2013 before committing suicide.

☆ One case of Crimean-Congo fever detected in Senegal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DAKAR, April 30 (Reuters) - Senegal's health ministry confirmed a case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in a hospital on the outskirts of the capital Dakar, it said in a statement. The case was detected on April 21 in the Dalal Jamm hospital in Guediawaye, the health ministry said in the statement released late on Saturday. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest recent outbreak was detected in Mauritania in 2003, with 35 cases and six deaths. South Africa had 17 cases and five deaths in 2011. Reporting by Diadie Ba and Edward McAllister;Editing by Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Carlyle has a secret weapon for training its top leaders: a four-star Navy Admiral who led thousands of sailors into battle and captured cocaine-filled cartel submarines
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

James Stavridis, a retired Navy Admiral, is leading a new leadership program for Carlyle partners. Now, he's leading a new training course for the firm's partners called the Admiral Leadership Program. James Stavridis, a retired four-star Admiral, served in the Navy for 37 years before joining Carlyle in 2018. Inside Carlyle's first training program for partnersAbout 15 partners at Carlyle, from ESG to credit and tech, are participating in the Navy admiral's leadership program. Anna Tye, a partner on Carlyle's technology investing team, is also part of the leadership program.

☆ The F-35 is becoming the most popular fighter jet among NATO militaries — with one 'baffling' exception
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Romania is the latest NATO member to say it will buy the F-35 stealth fighter jet. To some in the West, Turkey's decision to choose the S-400 over the F-35 just does not compute. As one of the original partners in the US-led F-35 program, Turkey should have been among the first to get the cutting-edge stealth fighter. The F-35/S-400 controversy illustrates Turkey's position as the odd man in NATO since it joined in 1952. Putin and Erdogan inspect a Russian Su-57 fighter jet at the MAKS air show in Russia in August 2019.

The voice on the other end asked Roscoe if he would serve as an eleventh-hour mediator in the massive defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News. “I said yes,” Roscoe told CNN on Wednesday, recalling advice his father gave him at the age of 16 about accepting work assignments while on vacation. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters/Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesIn the lead up to the last-second deal, attorneys for both Fox News and Dominion were fully expecting a trial. Last week, Dominion had notified Fox News that one of its first witnesses would be Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old Fox Corporation chairman, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. “Presence in the courtroom often tends to crystalize the focus of the risks and benefits of litigation,” Roscoe told CNN.

☆ Major drug busts suggest Russia is becoming a hub for cocaine heading to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Yago Rosado | Insight Crime | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The bust follows another in St. Petersburg last month and other major seizures in recent years. Police operations indicate that Ecuador is, so far, the main source country for cocaine arriving to Russia by container ship. InSight Crime analysisThe Oktyabrskaya Hotel across from the Moskovsky railway station in St. Petersburg in May 2020. St. Petersburg is the only major maritime port of entry for cocaine into the country, she added. Erdinc said that Russia played a "significant" role as a transit country for cocaine that arrives to Turkey and is then moved to other European markets.

The chart showed that Serbia declined to provide training to Ukrainian forces, but had committed to sending lethal aid or had supplied it already. It also said Serbia had the political will and military ability to provide weapons to Ukraine in the future. The Pentagon also did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about the document's reference to Serbia and has previously declined to comment on any of the leaked documents. Vucic's government has professed neutrality in the Ukraine war, despite the country's deep historic, economic and cultural ties with Russia. "We didn't export any weapons or ammunition to Russia or Ukraine," he said during a March 5 visit to Qatar.

The sanctions, imposed by the Treasury and State departments in concert with Britain, hit entities and individuals across over 20 countries and jurisdictions, including facilitators of sanctions evasion, the State Department said in a statement. Separately, the Treasury said it imposed sanctions on Russian financial facilitators and sanctions evaders around the world, including Turkey, United Arab Emirates and China-based people and companies. The Treasury also targeted King-Pai Technology HK Co, Ltd, which it said is a China-based supplier for multiple entities in Russia's military-industrial complex. Washington has not yet imposed sanctions on Rosatom itself. "It will always be a race between sanctions enforcement and sanctions evaders.

BELGRADE, April 7 (Reuters) - Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo will not participate in local elections due to be held later this month - a move likely to aggravate current disagreements over Pristina's rule. The elections for municipal bodies were postponed in December 2022 after Serbs blocked roads and border crossings. Representatives of Serbs from northern Kosovo, including the Belgrade-backed Serbian List party, want to see an association of Kosovo Serb municipalities set up before they take part in the vote. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has repeatedly called on Serbs to participate in the local vote. Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Fatos Bytyci in Kosovo; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ I took a 6-month 'sabbatical' after months of cheap living while traveling. The best thing about the digital-nomad lifestyle is having options.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

She worked for two years in a remote job, while living in Greece, Portugal, Germany, and Argentina. I quit my job with no planI quit my job in July 2019 with nothing lined up. I got a remote job as the head of marketing for a recruitment-tech startup. I had savings from working in my marketing job. I quit my remote job in August 2021 and left Madeira.

[1/4] A taxi waits for pedestrians at a street crossing under a pre-election billboard of candidate Jakov Milatovic in Podgorica, Montenegro, March 30, 2023. Montenegro, whose economy relies on tourism generated by its scenic mountains and seaside, ditched a state union with much larger Serbia in 2006 and declared independence. A row between lawmakers and Djukanovic over his refusal to name a new prime minister deepened the political paralysis. "I am here to lead Montenegro to success because for too long we have been led by the unsuccessful," Milatovic told a campaign rally. After the invasion of Ukraine last year, Montenegro signed up to EU sanctions against Russia.

☆ Russia says use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine would harm population, land for decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 24 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine would harm Ukrainian troops, the wider population and negatively affect the country's agriculture sector for decades or even centuries. Russia has reacted furiously to plans outlined by Britain earlier this week to send shells containing depleted uranium to Ukraine. Countries such as the United States and Britain say depleted uranium is a good tool for destroying a modern tank. Russia's defence ministry on Friday disputed those claims and said the use of depleted uranium shells, compared to Tungsten-based ammunition, "has no significant advantage" on the battlefield. Russia is also known to produce uranium weapons along with around 20 other countries, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons.

Depleted uranium is a dense by-product left over when uranium is enriched for use in nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. The United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Pakistan produce uranium weapons, which are not classified as nuclear weapons, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium - even depleted uranium - is dangerous: it depresses renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers. "It's worth making sure everyone understands that just because the word uranium is in the title of depleted uranium munitions, they are not nuclear munitions, they are purely conventional munitions," Cleverly said. A spokesperson from Britain's defence ministry said: "The British Army has used depleted uranium in its armour piercing shells for decades."

[1/6] Milo Djukanovic, President of Montenegro and a candidate from the Democratic Party of Socialists, visits a polling station during the presidential elections in Podgorica, Montenegro, March 19, 2023. Milatovic described his result as a victory of "a beautiful, better, just ... and European Montenegro." Djukanovic has served as president or prime minister for 33 years. "We are content with this level of support, it is a good foundation ... that will carry us to the victory in the run-off," Djukanovic said. A victory in the run-off would bolster the chances of his DPS party in the parliamentary vote.

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