INDJIJA, Serbia — Hundreds of striking students marched through the Serbian countryside Friday as they took their anti-graft protest toward the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to blockade three bridges over the River Danube this weekend. 

The bridge blockade planned for Saturday will mark three months since a huge concrete construction at the railway station collapsed in Novi said on Nov. 1, leaving 15 people dead. 

What started two months ago as a protest against suspected corruption in construction contracts has developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country’s powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic. 

Meanwhile in Belgrade, a driver rammed a car into a silent protest Friday, injuring two women who work as doctors at a nearby psychiatric institution. Media reports say both hit the pavement with their heads and are being examined. 

The incident, the third of its kind in weeks, happened in downtown Belgrade during 15 minutes of silence observed daily throughout Serbia at around noon when the canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad. 

Pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked the protesters, many of them students, twice ramming cars into demonstrations. Two people were seriously injured in the previous attacks. 

Along the way to Novi Sad on Friday, the students were greeted by cheering citizens who honked their car horns or came out of their homes to offer food and drinks. 

When they reached the town of Indjija on Thursday, roughly halfway along their 80-kilometer route, the students were welcomed with fireworks and cheers from residents. 

Although most of them spent the night out in the open in a soccer field, the freezing temperatures did not dampen their desire for major changes in the corruption-ridden Balkan state. 

Nevena Vecerinac, a student, said she hoped the protesters’ demands that include the punishment of all those responsible for the rail station tragedy will be fulfilled. 

“We will make it to Novi Sad,” she said. “Yesterday’s walk was easy. It’s cold now, but we can make it. We all have the same goal.” 

“We need support from all people. With this energy and mood, I hope we can do it, otherwise there will be no brighter future,” said Luka Arsenovic, another student marcher. 

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies. Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations. 

Monthslong demonstrations have already forced the resignation of Serbia’s prime minister Milos Vucevic this week, along with various concessions from authorities which were ignored by the protesters who say that is not enough. 

Vucic and other officials have shifted from accusing the students of working with foreign powers to oust him, to offering concessions or issuing veiled threats. 

The strength and determination of the protesters have caught many by surprise in a country where hundreds of thousands of young people have emigrated, looking for opportunities elsewhere. 
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ATHENS — Three Greek opposition parties vowed Friday to challenge the country’s center-right government with a censure motion over its handling of a deadly rail disaster nearly two years ago.

The pledge was prompted by mounting public anger over delays in the inquiry and allegations of a cover-up that the government strongly denies.

Fifty-seven people were killed — including college students returning from a holiday — when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train on Feb. 28, 2023, near Tempe in northern Greece.

On Sunday, relatives of those killed led protests in dozens of cities, directed at the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Apart from rallies held in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities, protests were also organized by Greek communities in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and other European cities.

Sokratis Famellos, leader of the left-wing Syriza party, said outside parliament that he sided with two other opposition parties, Pasok and the New Left, to seek a no-confidence vote.

“A joint initiative by progressive parties for a censure motion is necessary today. The evidence is there, and society demands accountability,” Famellos said Friday.

Although a censure motion is unlikely to pose a direct threat to the government, it could help forge bonds in Greece’s fractured opposition. Lawmakers from the three parties confirmed they were involved in discussions to agree on the timing of the motion.

Investigations have faced delays, with critics accusing authorities of obstructing justice. While some railway officials have been charged, no senior political figures have been held accountable, further intensifying public scrutiny.

Speaking to ministers at a Cabinet meeting, Mitsotakis vowed to overcome the “turbulence” facing the government.

“This difficult week comes to a close under the shadow of the Tempe tragedy,” he said in a televised address. “We are now entering the final stage of investigations into this deeply painful national trauma.”

The controversy overshadowed an ongoing parliamentary process to elect a new president. A government-backed candidate, Constantine Tassoulas, failed to win the cross-party support needed to secure the presidency in a second round of voting in parliament Friday.

The 65-year-old former speaker of the assembly is expected to win in later rounds scheduled next month when the threshold is lowered.
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KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia launched a barrage of drones on Ukraine in an overnight attack on Friday, injuring four people and damaging a hospital and a grain warehouse in the southern Odesa region, officials said.

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 59 of 102 Russian drones, the air force said. It said that 37 drones were “lost,” referring to the use of electronic warfare to redirect them.

Russian drones caused damage in the northeastern Sumy region, the Odesa region in the south and the central Cherkasy Region.

Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, said that four civilians, including a doctor, were injured in drone attacks targeting the city of Chornomorsk.

The strikes also partially disrupted electricity supplies in the city and damaged the city’s hospital, an administrative building, a grain warehouse, a residential house, and several trucks, he said on the Telegram app.

Regional officials in the central Cherkasy region said that drone debris damaged an apartment building in the region.

Meanwhile, an oil refinery in Russia’s southern Volgograd region caught fire after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack, but the blaze has now been put out, the regional governor said on Friday.

Andrei Bocharov, the governor, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that Russian air defenses had repelled an attack on his region by eight drones.

“As a result of falling debris from one of the drones, a fire broke out on the territory of an oil refinery, which was promptly extinguished. One injured refinery worker was hospitalized,” he said.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said on Telegram that the Volgograd oil refinery, which he described as one of Russia’s largest, had been struck.

SHOT, a Russian news outlet with contacts in the security services, said four Ukrainian drones had been destroyed over a second refinery in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow.

Ukraine has carried out frequent air attacks on Russian refineries, oil depots and industrial sites to cripple key infrastructure underpinning Russia’s war effort.

This week it claimed to have struck and set on fire a Lukoil refinery, Russia’s fourth largest, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow.

Sources at Lukoil denied that the NORSI refinery was hit, and said production was not affected. Petrochemical company Sibur said there had been a drone strike and fire at its nearby plant.

Russia is currently feeding more crude oil through its refineries in the hope of boosting fuel exports after new U.S. sanctions on Russian tankers and traders made exports of unprocessed crude more difficult, sources told Reuters this week.

A Ukrainian drone attack last week forced a refinery in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, to suspend operations. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday that 49 Ukrainian drones had been downed over the country overnight, including 25 in the southern Rostov region and eight in the Volgograd region.

Drones had also been detected and destroyed in the Kursk, Yaroslavl, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Krasnodar regions, it said. 
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white house — Arms control advocates are hoping U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh words of support for denuclearization will lead to talks with Russia and China on arms reduction.

U.S. negotiations with the Russians and Chinese on denuclearization and eventual agreements are “very possible,” according to Trump, who addressed the World Economic Forum a week ago in Davos, Switzerland.

“Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear [weapons], and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about because you don’t want to hear,” he said. “It’s too depressing.”

Trump noted that in his first term, he discussed the topic with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along,” according to Trump. “President Putin really liked the idea of cutting back on nuclear [armaments], and I think the rest of the world — we would have gotten them to follow.”

Just months before leaving office, former U.S. President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Peru where both agreed that decisions regarding the use of nuclear weapons should remain under human control. That consensus was seen as a positive step after the Chinese, four months previously, suspended nuclear arms control talks with Washington to protest American arms sales to Taiwan.

The horror of nuclear attacks first became evident to many in the world through magazines in the West, which printed photographs of the radiation-burned survivors of the U.S. atomic attack on two Japanese cities in 1945 to end World War II. In subsequent years during the Cold War, U.S. government films captured the destructive force of test detonations in the Nevada desert, eventually prompting public demonstrations to “ban the bomb” and diplomacy to reduce or eliminate all nuclear weapons.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1987 with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) between the United States and the Soviet Union. It entered into full force the following year. By 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been dismantled. That was the first time the two nuclear superpowers achieved a reduction of such weapons rather than just limiting their growth.

Over the years, the Americans and the Russians lost their monopoly on nuclear weapons. Nine countries presently have nuclear arsenals, although Israel has never acknowledged possession of such weaponry.

The United States and Russia each have more than 5,000 nuclear warheads — 90% of the world’s total. The combined global force of all countries’ nuclear weapons could destroy the world many times over, according to arms control advocates.

The current New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed in 2010 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, set limits on the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems, while including on-site inspection and exchanges of data for verification.

The treaty expires in early February 2026, which adds urgency to Trump’s call for talks with Russia and China, according to Xiaodon Liang, senior analyst for nuclear weapons policy and disarmament at the Arms Control Association.

“And because of that, this issue has to be at the top of the agenda, and having a signal that the president is concerned about this issue and thinking about it is very positive,” Liang told VOA.

Since a formal, comprehensive agreement could take years to negotiate — possibly spanning beyond the four years of the second Trump presidency — Liang suggests the U.S. president consider an “executive agreement” with Putin, an informal consensus or a series of unilateral steps to continue adhering to the numbers in New START for an indefinite period.

“That would be a stabilizing factor in this important bilateral relationship,” Liang added.

There are analysts who advocate a more aggressive tactic.

Trump should consider ordering a resumption of nuclear testing to demonstrate to America’s adversaries that the U.S. arsenal of weapons of mass destruction remains viable and as an act of resolve, writes Robert Peters, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank seen as having a dominant influence on Trump administration policies.

Peters also suggests that Trump might want to withdraw from the 1963 Test Ban Treaty made with Moscow and “conduct an above-ground test either at the Nevada National Security Site or in the Pacific Ocean over open water, where nuclear fallout can be minimized” to stave escalatory moves by an adversary to the United States.

The Heritage Foundation did not respond to multiple requests from VOA to interview Peters.

Moscow is not known to have conducted any sort of test causing a nuclear chain reaction, known as criticality, since 1990. Two years later, the United States announced it would no longer test nuclear weapons, although subcritical simulations continue. The other nuclear nations have followed suit except North Korea, which last triggered a nuclear test explosion in 2017.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday moved up the hands of its “Doomsday Clock” by one second to 89 seconds to midnight, meant to signify the peril from weapons of mass destruction and other existential threats.

“We set the clock closer to midnight because we do not see positive progress on the global challenges we face, including nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advances in disruptive technology,” said Daniel Holz, a physics professor at the University of Chicago, just after the hands of this year’s clock were unveiled at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

While the Doomsday Clock is merely symbolic, Liang at the Arms Control Association sees it as an annual important ritual highlighting the risks to Americans and everyone else posed by the world’s nuclear arsenals.

“It is a good tool for bringing this to more people’s attention, and you can’t blame Americans for having so many other issues on their plate. And having this [clock] as a reminder, I think, is an effective communications tool,” Liang said.

At the Doomsday Clock ceremony, VOA asked former Colombian President and Nobel laureate Juan Manuel Santos what he viewed as the biggest hurdle to Trump, Putin and Xi making progress on denuclearization.

“The biggest challenge, in my view, is for them to understand that they should sit down and talk about how the three of them can take decisions to save their own countries and the whole world,” he said.

Liang compared the situation to U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s call to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which led Washington and Moscow to pull back from the brink of nuclear war.

That resolution turned the hands of the Doomsday Clock the following year back to 12 minutes to midnight in recognition of the Americans, Soviets and British banning nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in space and under water.

It has been several years since the United States engaged in any denuclearization negotiations. Those working-level talks in 2019 in Sweden between the first Trump administration and North Korean officials did not yield any agreement, with Pyongyang’s chief negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, telling reporters that the Americans had raised expectations with promises of flexibility but would not “give up their old viewpoint and attitude.”

The State Department spokesperson at the time, Morgan Ortagus, said in a statement the two countries could not be expected to “overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula in the course of a single Saturday,” but such weighty issues “require a strong commitment by both countries. The United States has that commitment.”
…

Arms control advocates are hoping U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh words of support for denuclearization will lead to talks with Russia and China about nuclear arms reduction. VOA’s chief national correspondent, Steve Herman, reports from the White House in Washington.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned an early Thursday morning Russian drone strike that killed at least nine people as a “terrible tragedy.”

The drone, which struck an apartment building in the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, also injured 13 people, according to regional authorities.

“This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime. It is very important that the world does not stop putting pressure on Russia for this terror,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Police said the search-and-rescue operation had concluded after 19 hours.

Three elderly couples were among those killed, and an 8-year-old child was among those wounded. The child’s mother was killed in the attack.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin claims to be ready for negotiations, but this is what he actually does,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media.

Russia launched 81 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian military said Thursday. The attacks damaged businesses and homes around the country, according to the military.

In the southern region of Odesa, the attack damaged a grain warehouse and a hospital, according to the governor.

Meanwhile, James Anderson, a British man who was captured while fighting on the Ukrainian side in Russia’s Kursk region, will face terrorism and mercenary charges, Russian state investigators said Thursday.

Russia announced in November that it had captured Anderson.

Also, the review and 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign aid means Ukrainian aid groups that rely on U.S. funding are being forced to cut services.

Zelenskyy said U.S. military assistance to Ukraine was not affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid, but the Ukrainian president still expressed concern about the funding pause.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Azerbaijan and Turkey are stepping up efforts to secure a land corridor between their countries through Armenia. Until now, Iran, a key ally of Armenia, has backed Yerevan’s opposition to what is known as the Zangezur corridor. With Iran weakened in the region, Ankara and Baku see an opportunity to secure a key strategic goal. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Brussels, Belgium — The EU promised Thursday an “action plan” to help the bloc’s beleaguered auto sector, as it held talks with industry leaders who have sounded the alarm over emissions fines and Chinese competition. 

The European Union is under pressure to help a sector that employs 13 million people and accounts for about seven percent of the bloc’s GDP, as it seeks to revamp the continent’s lagging competitiveness. 

“The European automotive industry is at a pivotal moment, and we acknowledge the challenges it faces. That is why we are acting swiftly to address them,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said, promising an “action plan” by early March.  

Chaired by the European Commission president, the so-called “strategic dialogue” brought together carmakers, suppliers, civil society groups and trade unions. 

Representatives of 22 industry “players” including Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes and Renault, were in attendance, the commission said. 

The get-together comes as the commission embarks on a pro-business shift, with firms complaining its focus on climate and business ethics has resulted in excessive regulations. 

On Wednesday, it unveiled a blueprint to revamp the bloc’s economic model, amid worries that low productivity, high energy prices, weak investments and other ills are leaving the EU behind the United States and China. 

The car industry has been plunged into crisis by high manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles (EV) and increased competition from China. 

Announcements of possible job cuts have multiplied. Volkswagen plans to axe 35,000 positions across its German locations by 2030. 

Emissions fines 

Carmakers have been calling for “flexibility” on the steep emission fines they could face in 2025 — something the bloc’s new growth blueprint said should be in the cards. 

“Penalizing immediately the industry, financially, is not a good idea, because the industry is in trouble and… has to restructure itself, which will cost a lot of money,” Patrick Koller, CEO of French parts producer Forvia, said ahead of the meeting. 

“When you look back, we have heavy industries which disappeared from Europe completely, because of lack of competitiveness.”  

To combat climate change, the EU introduced a set of emission-reduction targets that should lead to the sale of fossil-fuel-burning cars, being phased out by 2035. 

About 16 percent of the planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) gas released into the atmosphere in Europe comes from cars’ exhaust pipes, the EU says. 

As of this year, carmakers have to lower the average CO2 emitted by all newly sold vehicles by 15 percent from 2021 levels, or pay a penalty — with tougher cuts further down the road, according to advocacy group Transport & Environment. 

The idea is to incentivize firms to increase the share of EVs, hybrids and small vehicles they sell compared to, for instance, diesel-guzzling SUVs.  

But some manufacturers complain that is proving harder than expected as consumers have yet to warm to EVs, which have higher upfront costs and lack an established used-vehicle market. 

“We want to stick to the objective… but we can smoothen the way,” von der Leyen said on Wednesday.  

Critics say lifting the fines would unfairly penalize producers who have invested to comply and remove a key incentive to speed up electric transitions.  

Sales and tariffs

EV sales slid 1.3 percent in Europe last year, accounting for 13.6 percent of all sales, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), an industry group. 

A senior EU official said incentives for businesses to buy electric are an option.  

“Company fleets” account for more than half of new cars purchased in Europe, the official said.  

The 27-nation bloc could also seek to improve a patchy charging network, modernize grids to allow for faster charging, bring down energy costs, cut regulations and loosen China’s grip on battery production, analysts say. 

Meanwhile, the market share of Chinese electric cars has ballooned in the EU, to reach 14 percent in the second quarter of 2024.  

Brussels has imposed extra import tariffs on China-made electric vehicles of up to 35.3 percent after concluding Beijing’s state support was unfairly undercutting European automakers. 

The move was opposed by Germany and other EU members, and it is the object of a lawsuit by BMW, Tesla and several Chinese automakers.             
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GENEVA — The U.N. human rights chief appealed on Thursday for $500 million in funding for 2025 to support its work, such as investigating human rights abuses around the world from Syria to Sudan, warning that lives hang in the balance.

The U.N. human rights office has been grappling with chronic funding shortages that some worry could be exacerbated by cuts to U.S. foreign aid by President Donald Trump. The annual appeal is for funds beyond the allocated U.N. funds from member states’ fees, which make up just a fraction of the office’s needs.

“In 2025, we expect no let-up in major challenges to human rights,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told member states in a speech at the U.N. in Geneva.

“I am very concerned that if we do not reach our funding targets in 2025, we will leave people … to struggle and possibly fail, without adequate support,” he said.

He said any shortfall would mean more people remain in illegal detention; that governments are allowed to continue with discriminatory policies; violations may go undocumented; and human rights defenders could lose protection.

“In short, lives are at stake,” Turk said.

The human rights office gets about 5% of the regular U.N. budget, but the majority of its funding comes voluntarily in response to its annual appeal announced on Thursday.

Western states give the most, with the United States donating $35 million last year or about 15% of the total received in 2024, followed by the European Commission, U.N. data showed. Still, the office received only about half of the $500 million it sought last year.  
…

The Russian lawmaker attributed to Trump a quote from a deepfake video created by Ukrainian bloggers and shared on the Telegram messaging platform.
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Russian disinformation narratives about illicit organ harvesting and biological experiments in Ukraine have no basis in fact. Russia intentionally distorts Ukrainian law intended to support vital medical procedures.
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Nuuk, Greenland — The road south from Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, runs out at the tip of a blizzard-scoured peninsula stretching into the Labrador Sea. Icebergs drift beyond the sea ice toward the open ocean, carved off the glacier some 100 kilometers away at the head of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord.

Locals call this spot “the edge of the world.”

For local Inuit artist and researcher Vivi Vold, it is a place of spiritual power, somewhere she comes to connect with nature – intrinsic to her Greenlandic identity. 

“It reminds me that I am Inuk, that I am Greenlandic… when I am in doubt and want to reconnect with myself and my Greenlandic identity, I find solace in nature,” Vold told VOA.

In her work, Vold researches Inuit “ways of knowing” and how they differ from Western concepts.

“I sense that there is more pride now than earlier. The pride has always been there, but it seems like now there is more acceptance of it. Everything I do as a researcher is about the land and the nature; hunting, the climate, and the way we think,” she said.

Greenlandic pride

A resurgence in indigenous pride can be felt across Greenlandic society. The eyes of the world are on this Arctic island, thanks largely to U.S. President Donald Trump.  

In Greenlandic politics and media, in the pubs and coffee bars, and on social media, the conversation is about the island’s future. There is excitement – but also trepidation.

President Trump has repeatedly said that America needs to take control of Greenland from Denmark for, in his words, “international security.”

“I do believe Greenland, we’ll get, because it really has to do with freedom of the world… And you know what, the people don’t like the way they’ve been treated by Denmark. They don’t like the way they’ve been treated by Denmark and they do like us,” Trump told reporters Saturday on Air Force One.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, attempted to build European solidarity in the face of the challenge posed by Trump’s comments Tuesday, visiting Berlin, Paris and NATO headquarters in Brussels in the space of a single day. Local media reported that France offered to send troops to Greenland in a show of unity with Copenhagen, but the offer was turned down.

A poll released on Wednesday, commissioned by the Danish Berlingske newspaper and the Sermitsiaq newspaper in Greenland, suggested that 85% of Greenlanders do not want to be part of the United States, with 6% in favor and 9% undecided.

However, almost half of respondents said they saw an opportunity with Trump’s interest in Greenland, with the other half seeing it as a threat.

The poll did not ask respondents whether they wanted to break ties with Denmark and become independent. A 2019 survey suggested that more than two-thirds of the Greenlanders want independence at some point in the future.

Danish colonization

A statue of the Norwegian-Danish missionary Hans Egede stands over the capital Nuuk. Greenlanders have lived under varying degrees of Danish rule ever since he landed here in 1721.

In recent years, the statue has been daubed with graffiti calling for its removal and for Greenland’s independence from Denmark. Nevertheless, in a 2020 poll, 62% of Greenlanders voted to keep the statue in place.

Greenland’s government is now largely autonomous and pushing for full independence. Under the terms of an agreement with Denmark, the territory has a right to hold a referendum on the issue.

“Things are changing in the world. We don’t know yet. But we need to have that discussion in Greenland without the outside world requiring us to give an answer to the end goal,” said Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for resources, business, justice and gender equality.

“We need to be able to discuss amongst ourselves how will independence look like, what kind of welfare do we want, what kind of democracy, what kind of institutions should guard it, what kind of constitution. We want those debates for ourselves,” she told VOA.

Independence challenges

Could Greenland stand on its own? Just 57,000 people inhabit the island’s 2.1 million square kilometers. Denmark pays an annual grant of around $800 million dollars, which makes up half the Greenland government’s revenue.

Trump may balk at the cost, said Marc Jacobsen, a researcher at the Royal Danish Defense College in Copenhagen.

“I’m not really sure if they are aware of what the cost is to keep a high living standard in Greenland with the welfare system as we know from the Nordic states. So, in comparison with the Inuit in Alaska or for instance [the indigenous people] in Puerto Rico, it’s a different living standard in Greenland. And that comes with a cost,” he told VOA.

There are hopes that the global attention now focused on Greenland will unlock investment to exploit its vast mineral wealth, which includes graphite, uranium and valuable rare earth metals.

“The problem is pretty much that they are staying there at the moment because nobody’s investing in getting them out,” said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland’s mineral wealth at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

“And that’s not a question of Greenlanders not wanting it or Denmark not allowing it. It’s a question of the only supply chains that exist concerning many of these resources are in China. And the Western world, you might say, cannot present a credible business model to the private companies that would in principle be able to use these materials.”

Tourism

A new international airport opened in November, making access to Nuuk much easier. International flights currently depart for Denmark, Canada and Iceland – but United Airlines is due to begin direct flights from New York later this year.

Greenland’s stark beauty is attracting more tourists.

“The international airport in Nuuk has opened up; there will be another one in Ilulissat where the fantastic ice-shelf glacier is. So there are opportunities for growth in tourism. There’s really a lot of desire for relations not just to the U.S., but to Canada, to Iceland, to Europe, to everybody. And if this turns into that, I think many Greenlanders will be happy,” Pram Gad told VOA.

For now, fishing is Greenland’s biggest industry by far, making up around 85% of total exports. It is deeply entwined with the Greenlandic way of life.

Jesper Jacobsen runs a fishing cooperative in Nuuk. In the depths of the January winter, customers drop in to buy cod and halibut, along with duck and reindeer meat brought in by local hunters. Whale, bear and walrus are sometimes available.

“We have fish and we have natural resources,” Jacobsen said. “And the Americans could pay a lot of money to rent the northern part of Greenland. They could use it for their military. Then we will have our independence because the Americans will pay a lot to rent the northern part of Greenland,” he told VOA.

“Make Greenland Great Again”

A ‘Make America Great Again’ or MAGA hat hangs in Jacobsen’s office, given by Donald Trump Jr.’s entourage when the U.S. president’s son visited Greenland in early January.

The visit continues to cause a stir. YouTubers arrived in the wake of the younger Trump’s visit, handing out U.S. dollars and hats bearing the slogan ‘Make Greenland Great Again.’ Some locals criticized the social media stunt. Others welcomed the attention.

“I don’t want to be a part of Denmark. I don’t like [the] Danish. They took children and they colonized us,” said 20-year-old student Hans Louis Petersen, proudly showing off his “Make Greenland Great Again” baseball cap.

Scandals

Petersen referenced a 1950s social experiment run by the Danish state, where Greenlandic children were taken to Denmark, sometimes without the full understanding of their parents. Many struggled to re-integrate when they returned.

Separately, in recent years it emerged that Danish doctors in the 1960s and 70s had implanted IUD contraceptive devices in Inuit women and girls without their permission, allegedly to limit population growth. A group of 67 Greenlanders is currently seeking $6.3 million in compensation from the Danish state. An investigation into the program is expected to be published later this year.

The scandals have further fueled the campaign for independence.

“I think there is a lack of understanding of the impact of these cases in Greenland,” said Greenlandic Minister Naaja Nathanielsen. “It’s not ancient history, it’s current history. We right now have women, men, families that are directly affected by the actions of the Danish state in the past. It’s traumatizing and some of them have not been able to become mothers.”

“This is not some cases that should be solved in a courtroom. They should be solved politically and with the proper amount of respect and understanding and assuming responsibility for the hurt inflicted on the Greenlandic people. And it’s absolutely necessary for us to move forward,” Nathanielsen told VOA.

Outside forces are building pressure on the government. The island’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, has repeated the same message when questioned on Trump’s aim to take control of the territory.

“We have said very precisely that Greenland, and us in this country, do not want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes either,” Egede said in a televised debate on January 20. 

“We are Greenlanders. We will stand firmly as Greenlanders and cooperate with the West. We will also cooperate with other countries in the world,” he added.
…

BEIJING — Lunar New Year festivals and prayers marked the start of the Year of the Snake around Asia and farther afield on Wednesday — including in Moscow.

Hundreds of people lined up in the hours before midnight at the Wong Tai Sin Taoist temple in Hong Kong in a bid to be among the first to put incense sticks in the stands in front of the temple’s main hall.

“I wish my family will be blessed. I hope my business will run well. I pray for my country and wish people peace. I hope this coming year is a better year,” said Ming So, who visits the temple annually on the eve of the Lunar New Year.

The holiday — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea — is a major festival celebrated by diaspora communities around the world. The snake, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, follows the just-ended Year of the Dragon.

The pop-pop-pop of firecrackers greeted the new year outside Guan Di temple in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, followed by lion dances to the rhythmic beat of drums and small cymbals.

Ethnic Chinese holding incense sticks in front of them bowed several times inside the temple before sticking the incense into elaborate gold-colored pots, the smoke rising from the burning tips.

Many Chinese who work in bigger cities return home during the eight-day national holiday in what is described as the world’s biggest annual movement of humanity. Beijing, China’s capital, has turned into a bit of a ghost town, with many shops closed and normally crowded roads and subways empty.

Traditionally, Chinese have a family dinner at home on New Year’s Eve and visit “temple fairs” on the Lunar New Year to watch performances and buy snacks, toys and other trinkets from booths.

Many Chinese take advantage of the extended holiday to travel in the country and abroad. Ctrip, an online booking agency that operates Trip.com, said the most popular overseas destinations this year are Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, South Korea, Macao and Vietnam.

Russians cheered, waved and took smartphone photos of a colorful procession with drummers, costumed dancers and large dragon and snake figures held aloft that kicked off a 10-day Lunar New Year festival in Moscow on Tuesday night.

Visitors shouted “Happy New Year” in Russian and expressed delight at being able to experience Chinese food and culture in Moscow, including folk performances and booths selling snacks and artwork.
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BEIJING — Lunar New Year festivals and prayers marked the start of the Year of the Snake around Asia and farther afield on Wednesday — including in Moscow.

Hundreds of people lined up in the hours before midnight at the Wong Tai Sin Taoist temple in Hong Kong in a bid to be among the first to put incense sticks in the stands in front of the temple’s main hall.

“I wish my family will be blessed. I hope my business will run well. I pray for my country and wish people peace. I hope this coming year is a better year,” said Ming So, who visits the temple annually on the eve of the Lunar New Year.

The holiday — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea — is a major festival celebrated by diaspora communities around the world. The snake, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, follows the just-ended Year of the Dragon.

The pop-pop-pop of firecrackers greeted the new year outside Guan Di temple in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, followed by lion dances to the rhythmic beat of drums and small cymbals.

Ethnic Chinese holding incense sticks in front of them bowed several times inside the temple before sticking the incense into elaborate gold-colored pots, the smoke rising from the burning tips.

Many Chinese who work in bigger cities return home during the eight-day national holiday in what is described as the world’s biggest annual movement of humanity. Beijing, China’s capital, has turned into a bit of a ghost town, with many shops closed and normally crowded roads and subways emptied out.

Traditionally, Chinese have a family dinner at home on New Year’s Eve and visit “temple fairs” on the Lunar New Year to watch performances and buy snacks, toys and other trinkets from booths.

Many Chinese take advantage of the extended holiday to travel both in the country and abroad. Ctrip, an online booking agency that operates Trip.com, said the most popular overseas destinations this year are Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, South Korea, Macao and Vietnam.

Russians cheered, waved and took smartphone photos of a colorful procession with drummers, costumed dancers and large dragon and snake figures held aloft that kicked off a 10-day Lunar New Year festival in Moscow on Tuesday night.

The Chinese and Russian governments have deepened ties since 2022, in part to push back against what they see as U.S. dominance of the world order.

Visitors shouted “Happy New Year” in Russian and expressed delight at being able to experience Chinese food and culture in Moscow, including folk performances and booths selling snacks and artwork.
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Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered government officials to report on the U.S. support programs whose funds are “currently suspended” under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

“These are humanitarian programs,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address Tuesday.  Nearly all of them were not channeled through Ukrainian government, he said. Instead, went “directly through our communities, through various organizations.” 

“There are many projects. We will determine which ones are critical and need immediate solutions,” he said. “We can provide part of this funding through our state finances.” 

Zelenskyy said the priorities will be “those that primarily concern Ukrainian children, our veterans and programs to protect our infrastructure.”

On his first day back in office, Trump placed a 90-day freeze on foreign aid while the U.S. reviews whether the aid is aligned with Trump’s America First agenda.

Also on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview on state television that Moscow would hold peace talks with Kyiv, but he said he would not speak to Zelenskyy, calling him and illegitimate leader.

“Negotiations can be held with anyone,” the Russian president said. “But due to [Zelenskyy’s] illegitimacy, he has no right to sign anything.”

In return, the Ukrainian president said, “Putin once again confirmed that he is afraid of negotiations, afraid of strong leaders, and does everything possible to prolong the war,” he wrote on X.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, national and local elections were banned under a martial law act passed by Ukraine.

A presidential election would have occurred in March 2024, and Zelenskyy’s term would have ended in May 2024.   

Critics are at odds about whether the Ukrainian constitution provides for an extension of the president’s term in office under martial law. Some say it provides for the option, while others believe it does not. 

Some information for this report is provided by The Associated Press.
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MOSCOW — The first Russian official delegation to visit Syria since the toppling of long-term Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad has arrived in Damascus, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

The visit comes with Moscow keen to secure the fate of two military bases there and after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had suffered a strategic “defeat” in the Middle East following the fall of Assad.

The Russian delegation due to meet the new leadership of the war-ravaged country included deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also Putin’s special envoy on the Middle East and Africa, as well as Alexander Lavrentyev, the president’s special envoy on Syria, the RIA Novosti agency reported.

It said it was “the first visit by Russian officials to Damascus” since Assad fled in December in the face of a lightning rebel advance across the country.

Moscow was one of Assad’s key backers, intervening in Syria’s civil war in 2015 in his favor.

He and his family fled to Russia after his ouster by Turkish-backed rebels formerly affiliated with Al-Qaida.

Russia is now seeking to secure the fate of its naval base in Tartus and its air base at Khmeimim – both on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and Moscow’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union – with the new Syrian authorities.

A report by RT Arabic, a Russian state-controlled channel, said the delegation is set to meet Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and other officials.

Russia’s Bogdanov was a diplomat in Syria in the 1980s and 1990s and speaks Arabic, according to the foreign ministry website. Lavrentyev took part in previous negotiations with Assad.

Sharaa leads an Islamist group – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – that is banned in Russia as a “terrorist” organization.

The organization is rooted in Al-Qaida’s Syria branch but has more recently adopted a more moderate tone.

RT Arabic reported that Bogdanov described the visit as aimed at strengthening historic ties based on shared interests, and underlined Russia’s hopes for Syrian unity and independence.

‘Deep strategic interests’

Sharaa in December noted the “deep strategic interests between Russia and Syria” in an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV channel.

“All Syria’s arms are of Russian origin, and many power plants are managed by Russian experts… We do not want Russia to leave Syria in the way that some wish,” Sharaa added.

Ukrainian diplomats visited Syria’s new rulers in December, with Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga urging Sharaa to expel Russia from the country.

“We believe that from a strategic point of view, the removal of Russia’s presence in Syria will contribute to the stability of not only the Syrian state, but the entire Middle East and Africa,” Sybiga told Sharaa while in Damascus, according to a statement.

The Russian delegation’s visit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by the new rulers, aimed at building ties and easing sanctions.

EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to begin easing sanctions on Syria starting with key sectors such as energy.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday stressed the importance of “ensuring that the new government prevents Syria from becoming a source for international terrorism” and “denying foreign malign actors the opportunity to exploit Syria’s transition.”

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, was received by Sharaa on Friday, making his first visit since Assad’s overthrow.
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Russian disinformation narratives about illicit organ harvesting and biological experiments in Ukraine have no basis in fact. Russia intentionally distorts Ukrainian law intended to support vital medical procedures.   
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U.S. President Donald Trump has promised repeatedly to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. But some Ukrainians are skeptical Trump can do anything to make President Vladimir Putin pull back his troops. The problem, as some analysts see it, is that the demands of Ukraine and Russia cannot be reconciled. Lesia Bakalets report from Kyiv. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets
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BELGRADE — Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on Tuesday announced his resignation, becoming the highest ranking official to leave since anti-corruption protests spread across the country. 

Belgrade has seen daily anti-government protests since a roof collapsed in November at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, killing 15 people. 

Protesters including students, teachers and other workers have turned out in their thousands, blaming the disaster on corruption within the government of President Aleksandar Vucic. 

“I opted for this step in order to reduce tensions,” Vucevic told a news conference on Tuesday, announcing his intention to resign. He said the mayor of Novi Sad will also resign. 

“With this we have met all demands of the most radical protestors.” 

Vucevic has been the head of the ruling center-right Serbia Progressive Party since 2023. 
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TIRANA, ALBANIA — An Italian navy ship carrying 49 migrants picked up in international waters arrived in Albania on Tuesday, amid a new attempt by Italy to push ahead with a legally contested plan to relocate migrants to the neighboring country.

The navy ship Cassiopea with the migrants reached the Albanian port of Shengjin early on Tuesday, according to a Reuters witness. They will be identified at a facility there and then moved to a detention center some 20 kilometer away.

The navy did not provide details on the migrants.

The Italian government of Giorgia Meloni has built two reception centers in Albania, the first such deal by a European Union nation to divert migrants to a non-EU country in a bid to limit sea arrivals to its territory.

But the facilities have been empty since November after judges in Rome questioned the validity of the relocation plan and ordered the first two batches of migrants previously detained in Albania to be moved back to Italy.

The controversy surrounding the plan, which Meloni sees as a cornerstone of her government’s aim to curb immigration, revolves around a ruling by the European Court of Justice last year, which was not related to Italy.

The Court said no nation of origin could be considered safe if even just a part of it was dangerous, undermining Rome’s idea of deporting migrants to Albania who hailed from a selected list of “safe” countries with a view to swiftly repatriate them.

Ilaria Salis, a European Parliament deputy from a left-wing Italian party, on Monday criticized the Italian government for forcibly transferring “innocent people fleeing war and misery” despite violations of international law and human rights.

The European court is set to review Italy’s plan in the coming weeks and clarify whether it is in compliance with EU law.
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Around 50 survivors joined world leaders Monday at the site of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in Poland, on the 80th anniversary of its liberation in World War II – marked around the world as International Holocaust Memorial Day. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his British counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, on Monday to discuss a range of pressing global issues and joint initiatives aimed at promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.

“They affirmed the depth of the U.S.-UK Special Relationship and the crucial nature of our partnership in addressing issues like the conflict in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and China’s malign influence,” State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

The U.K. government said that Lammy and Rubio look forward to meeting in person soon.

“They both welcomed the opportunity for the UK and the US to work together in alignment to address shared challenges including the situation in the Middle East, Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, the challenges posed by China and the need for Indo-Pacific security,” the British statement read.

The call between Rubio and Lammy came amid a report by The Guardian that China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, is expected to visit Britain next month for the first U.K.-China strategic dialogue since 2018.

In Beijing, Chinese officials did not confirm Wang’s plans to visit the U.K. but noted what they described as “sound and steady growth” in relations between the two countries.

“China and the U.K. are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and major economies in the world,” Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated during a briefing on Monday. She added it is in the common interest of the two countries to enhance strategic communication and deepen political mutual trust.

Wang is expected to attend the Munich Security Conference between Feb. 14 and 16, making it likely that his visit to the U.K. will take place either before or after the event.

In the past, U.S. Secretaries of State have typically attended the high-profile annual gathering at the Munich Security Conference.

The State Department has not responded to VOA’s inquiry about whether Rubio plans to hold talks with Wang during the conference.

Last week, the State Department outlined U.S. policy toward China under President Donald Trump’s administration. 

“Strategic competition is the frame through which the United States views its relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The United States will address its relationship with the PRC from a position of strength in which we work closely with our allies and partners to defend our interests and values,” the State Department said on Jan. 20.
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