Serbia votes in historic election as students seek to end Vucic’s long grip on power

By Mina PEJAKOVIC AFP | Posted by TOE Voting was under way in Serbia on Sunday in what is set to be its most fiercely contested parliamentary election in more than 14 years, as a student-led movement seeks to oust the party of veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic. The snap vote is the culmination of nearly two years of student-led protests sparked by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on corruption. The disaster triggered some of Serbia’s largest protests since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. The Students’ List, a selection of candidates backed by the largely leaderless movement, now poses the biggest challenge to Vucic’s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has dominated politics throughout its tenure. – High turnout – Eighteen electoral lists are vying for seats in Serbia’s 250-member parliament, but polls suggest ...

Trump says U.S. will ‘do something on Greenland whether they like it or not’

The U.S. needs to own Greenland to prevent Russia or China from occupying it in the ​future, President Donald Trump said on Friday.

“We are going ‌to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not. Because if we ‌don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” Trump told reporters at the White House while meeting with oil company executives.

Trump ⁠said the U.S. must ‌acquire Greenland, even though it already has a military presence on the island under a 1951 agreement, because ‍such deals are not enough to guarantee Greenland’s defense. The island of 57,000 people is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“You defend ownership. You ​don’t defend leases. And we’ll have to defend Greenland. If ‌we don’t do it, China or Russia will,” Trump said.

Trump and White House officials have been discussing various plans to bring Greenland under U.S. control, including potential use of the U.S. military and lump sum payments to Greenlanders as part of a bid to convince ⁠them to secede from Denmark and potentially ​join the U.S.

Leaders in Copenhagen and throughout ​Europe have reacted with disdain in recent days to comments by Trump and other White House officials asserting ‍their right to Greenland. ⁠The U.S. and Denmark are NATO allies bound by a mutual defense agreement.

On Tuesday, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Britain ⁠and Denmark issued a joint statement, saying only Greenland and Denmark can decide matters ‌regarding their relations.

Source: Reuters and Agencies



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/5t23IUb

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