Berlin — Tens of thousands took to the streets across Germany during the weekend to protest the center-right leader and front-runner in a Feb. 25 election for sending to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that received the backing of a far-right party. 

Angry protesters in Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Leipzig said that Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democrats broke Germany’s unwritten post-Nazi promise by all democratic parties to never pass any rule or resolution in parliament with the support of far-right, nationalist parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD). 

Merz on Wednesday proposed a nonbinding motion in parliament calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders. The measure squeaked through thanks to AfD’s support. 

Merz was determined to show commitment of his center-right Union bloc, which also includes the Bavaria-only CSU party, to cutting irregular migration after a deadly knife attack last month by a rejected asylum-seeker. 

However, on Friday, the German parliament narrowly rejected a bill calling for tougher rules on migration that risked becoming the first draft legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party. Nonetheless, it has become a focus of a controversy about the attitude toward the far right of the front-runner in the upcoming election. 

Merz has been accused by protesters and politicians on the left of breaking a taboo and endangering mainstream parties’ “firewall” against AfD. He insists his position is unchanged and that he didn’t and won’t work with the party. 

Hundreds of protesters temporarily blocked offices of the Christian Democrats in different cities, and Sunday afternoon up to 20,000 came together for a big rally in Berlin. 

In Cologne, people protested on 350 boats on the Rhine, German news agency dpa reported. The boats lined up in front of the city’s skyline with its famous cathedral with protesters holding up banners with slogans such as “No racism” and “For democracy and diversity.” 

Polls show the center-right Union, which put forward the migration proposal and bill, leading with around 30% support, while AfD is second with about 20%, and the Social Democrats and Greens further down. 

Merz appears to hope that he will gain support by making the Union look decisive in forcing a tougher approach to migration, while blunting the appeal of the anti-immigration AfD and making the governing parties — which say they already have done much to tackle the issue — look out of touch with Germans’ concerns. 

The 12-year-old AfD first entered the national parliament in 2017, benefiting from then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision two years earlier to allow large numbers of migrants into the country. 

A year ago, hundreds of thousands also protested in weeks-long rallies all over Germany against the rise of the far-right and purported plans to deport millions of immigrants, including some holding German passports. 
…

ATHENS — A series of earthquakes near the Greek island of Santorini has led authorities to shut down schools, dispatch rescue teams with sniffer dogs and send instructions to residents including a request to drain their swimming pools. 

Even though earthquake experts say the more than 200 tremors that have hit the area since early Friday are not related to the volcano in Santorini, which once produced one of the biggest eruptions in human history, locals are on edge. 

The strongest earthquake recorded was magnitude 4.6 at 3:55 p.m. Sunday, at a depth of 14 kilometers, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. A few tremors of over magnitude 4 and dozens of magnitude 3 have followed. There were no reports of damage or casualties. 

Earthquake experts and officials from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and the fire service have been meeting daily and decided to close schools Monday on the island of Santorini as well as nearby Amorgos, Anafi and Ios. 

After Sunday’s meeting, they also advised residents and hotel owners in Santorini to drain their swimming pools over concerns that large volumes of water could destabilize buildings in case of a strong quake. 

Another meeting was scheduled Sunday evening at the prime minister’s office with the chief of Greece’s armed forces and other officials. 

The fire service sent a contingent of rescuers including a sniffer dog on Saturday, and dispatched more forces Sunday, as a precaution. The rescuers have pitched tents in open fields. 

Island residents have been advised to avoid large open-air events and to move about the islands mindful of rockfalls. All four islands have steep cliffs and, in the case of Santorini, a large part of the main town is built on a cliffside. 

Experts said it was impossible to predict whether the seismic activity could lead to a stronger tremor, but added that the area could potentially produce a 6-magnitude quake. 

Mild earthquakes have also been recorded in Santorini’s volcano caldera, which is mostly undersea, since September. The strongest one with magnitude 3.8 occurred on Jan. 25. Since then, seismic activity inside the volcano has subsided, experts say. 

The Santorini volcano eruption at about 1600 B.C. devastated the island, buried a town, and caused massive earthquakes and flooding that impacted the island of Crete and as far as Egypt. Experts estimate that up to 41.3 cubic kilometers of rocks were ejected and 9-meter tsunamis hit Crete. 

In the 1990s, the Santorini volcano was designated one of 16 volcanoes around the world that need to be monitored because of past massive eruptions and proximity to dense population areas. 
…

ISTANBUL — Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Jordan will come together to fight the remnants of the Islamic State group, a move the Turkish foreign minister says would allow the United States to cut ties with Kurdish militants in Syria. 

Washington’s decadelong relationship with Kurdish-led forces in Syria is opposed by Turkey. Ankara says the People’s Defense Units, or YPG, are tied to another Kurdish group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. 

The YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, has played a central role in fighting IS alongside American special forces and now guards thousands of IS prisoners in northeast Syria. 

“The basic problem is that the YPG has been guarding Daesh inmates and keeping them in prison … they’re not doing anything else,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Sunday, using the Arabic term for IS. 

“So Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Jordan need to come together to fight Daesh. We are capable of doing that and God willing this is the step we will be taking as four countries in the near future. We have already done the preliminary talks for that process.” 

Fidan, who was speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that the new Syrian government had indicated it will take responsibility for IS prisoners. 

Turkey wants U.S. President Donald Trump to step back from supporting the Kurdish fighters, who Ankara regards as terrorists due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged war against Turkey since 1984. 

“We hope that President Trump will make the right decision and right this wrong … it is an open wound that needs to be closed as soon as possible,” Fidan added. 

Since Syrian rebels launched an offensive to take the country in November, Turkish-backed fighters have targeted Kurdish forces, taking a number of towns. Meanwhile, the Turkish military has maintained pressure on Kurdish fighters in both Syria and northern Iraq. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said Turkish troops killed 23 “PKK/YPG terrorists” in northern Syria without providing further details. 

Ankara has called for the Syrian Democratic Forces to be purged of elements linked to the PKK and be absorbed into a future Syrian military. 

The U.S. currently has around 2,000 troops in northeast Syria. During his first term in office, Trump said he would withdraw all American forces from Syria, which triggered a Turkish offensive against the YPG in 2019. 

His seemingly warm relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led to speculation that Trump will again seek to remove the U.S. military presence. 
…

KYIV — Competing claims emerged over a deadly attack on a boarding school in Sudzha, a city in Russia’s Kursk region that has been under Ukrainian control for five months, with Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of carrying out the strike.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Saturday night that four people were killed and a further four seriously wounded in the strike, with 84 people rescued by Ukrainian servicemen from the rubble of the building. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow had bombed the boarding school where civilians were sheltering and preparing to evacuate.

The General Staff said those in need of additional medical assistance were evacuated to medical facilities in Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in the early hours of Sunday that it was Ukrainian forces that had launched a missile strike on the school, saying that the missiles were launched from Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Poltava on Saturday rose to 14, including two children, local officials said Sunday. Seventeen people were injured in the attack on the five-story building, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Moscow sent 55 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 40 drones were destroyed during the overnight attacks. A further 13 drones were “lost”, likely having been electronically jammed.

Two people were wounded in a drone attack in the Kharkiv region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Sunday.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said that five Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight in five regions of western Russia: three over the Kursk region, and one each over the Belgorod and Bryansk regions.

A man was killed in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
…

LONDON — Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced Saturday.

The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison, interior minister Yvette Cooper revealed.

It will also be illegal to possess AI “pedophile manuals” which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, punishable by up to three years in prison.

“We know that sick predators’ activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person,” said Cooper.

The new laws are “designed to keep our children safe online as technologies evolve. It is vital that we tackle child sexual abuse online as well as offline,” she added.

“Children will be protected from the growing threat of predators generating AI images and from online sexual abuse as the U.K. becomes the first country in the world to create new AI sexual abuse offences,” said a government statement.

AI tools are being used to generate child sexual abuse images by “nudeifying” real life images of children or by “stitching the faces of other children onto existing images,” said the government.

The new laws will also criminalize “predators who run websites designed for other pedophiles to share vile child sexual abuse content or advice on how to groom children,” punishable by up to ten years in prison, said the government.

The measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned of the growing number of sexual abuse AI images of children being produced.

Over a 30-day period in 2024, IWF analysts identified 3,512 AI child abuse images on a single dark web site.

The number of the most serious category of images also rose by 10% in a year, it found.
…

NOVI SAD, SERBIA — Serbia’s students led a mass protest and blocked bridges over the River Danube in the northern city of Novi Sad on Saturday, drawing tens of thousands into the streets to express their anger with the country’s populist leadership and to call for change. 

Saturday marked three months since a huge concrete canopy at Novi Sad’s main railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. The crash on November 1 sparked a wide anti-corruption movement and months of student-led street protests. 

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse 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. The issue has come to symbolize a wider discontent over the rule of law in Serbia. 

Tens of thousands of people converged on Novi Sad for the blockades, dubbed “Three Months — Three Bridges.” One of the blockades is set to extend until Sunday. 

As the blockades started, entire bridges and the streets around them were flooded with people, while many more stood on the riverbanks below. Self-appointed student guards had to control the number of people walking on the bridges for security reasons. 

“After long time we can feel positive energy in the air, on the streets, among people,” said Slavica Nikolic, a resident. 

“When I talk to people, it feels like the hope has woken up,” she said. “We remember well some uglier times. This is finally some sort of new hope, that something good is going to happen in this country.” 

Roads into the city were clogged with cars ahead of the rally as people tried to reach Novi Sad from Belgrade and other Serbian cities. 

Tractors rolled through the city streets as farmers drove in front of three separate student columns heading toward the three bridges and thousands of residents cheered them along the way. Many carried Serbian flags in the crowd or banners reading “Three months” or “We are defending freedom.” 

University students have taken a leading role in the protests that have developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country’s powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic. 

Vucic has accused students and other protesters of working for foreign intelligence services to oust him from power, while at the same time offering concessions and talks and issuing veiled threats by saying that his supporters’ “patience is running out.” 

“Today we offer talks and today we offer dialogue,” Vucic said Saturday. “The second someone thinks that they will use violence to seize power, the state will act like a state, just like everywhere else in the world.” 

Persistent demonstrations forced the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic earlier this week and various concessions from the populist government as it seeks to quell growing resistance. 

Thousands of people came out Friday evening to welcome hundreds of students from Belgrade who had walked for two days to join the bridge blockades. 

Apart from Novi Sad and Belgrade, daily protests and traffic blockades have been held throughout Serbia, often marred by incidents, including drivers ramming cars into protesters. 

One such incident happened in Belgrade on Friday, leaving two women injured after a driver knocked them down. 

Along the way on their 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey to Novi Sad on Thursday and Friday, the students from Belgrade were greeted by cheering citizens who honked their car horns or came out of their homes to offer food and drinks. 

Hundreds more on bicycles and motorcycles headed separately toward Novi Sad on Friday and Saturday while Belgrade’s taxi drivers said they would come and give the marchers a lift home Sunday. 
…

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis tripped while entering the Vatican auditorium for an audience Saturday after the handle of his walking stick snapped, but he avoided falling. 

The 88-year-old pope often must use a wheelchair or a cane because of bad knees and has fallen twice in the past two months. 

After Saturday’s slight stumble, two aides helped him to his chair on the stage and the audience proceeded without incident. After he recovered someone in the audience shouted “Viva il Papa” and the audience applauded. 

Earlier in January, Francis fell and hurt his right arm. It wasn’t broken, but a sling was put on as a precaution. 

On December 7, the pope whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall that resulted in a bad bruise. 

The pontiff has long battled health problems including bouts of bronchitis. He uses a walker or cane when moving around his apartment in the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel. 

Speculation about Francis’ health is a constant in Vatican circles, especially after Pope Benedict XVI broke 600 years of tradition and resigned from the papacy in 2013. Benedict’s aides have attributed the decision to a nighttime fall that he suffered during a 2012 trip to Mexico, after which he determined he couldn’t keep up with the globe-trotting demands of the papacy. 

Francis has said that he has no plans to resign anytime soon, even if Benedict “opened the door” to the possibility. In his autobiography “Hope” released this month, Francis said that he hadn’t considered resigning even when he had major intestinal surgery. 
…

SHENGJIN, ALBANIA — An Italian navy ship on Saturday took migrants to Italy from asylum processing centers in Albania following a court decision in Rome. It was the third failed attempt by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to process migrants in the non-EU country.

A coast guard ship took 43 migrants from the port of Shengjin, 66 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tirana. They were among the 49 men who were transferred to Albania on an Italian naval ship Tuesday. Six were returned the same day for being minors or deemed vulnerable.

Italian media reported the men were from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia.

An Italian appeals court in Rome on Friday refused to approve the speedy expulsion of 43 asylum-seekers detained in Albania since Tuesday under a controversial migration deal to move the proceedings beyond European Union borders.

The court referred the case to the European Court of Justice, in Luxembourg, which is expected to issue a ruling on Feb. 25 related to the previous cases, in which the series of lower court rulings have opened a fissure between the Meloni government and the Italian judicial system.

In October and November, judges similarly refused to approve the expulsion of much smaller groups of migrants, seeking clarity from the European court on which countries were safe for repatriation of people whose asylum claims are rejected.

Italy last year signed a five-year agreement to process up to 3,000 migrants a month beyond EU borders as part of Meloni’s program to combat illegal migration to Italy, which is the first landfall for tens of thousands of migrants who make the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean Sea.

While the agreement has raised concerns among human rights activists, European partners have expressed interest in the project.

In the first four weeks of this year, 3,704 migrants arrived in Italy, almost three times as many as in the same period last year. In the whole of last year, 66,317 migrants arrived in Italy, a drop of 58% from the previous year. The largest nationality was Bangladeshis, followed by Syrians, Tunisians and Egyptians, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
…

KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia said on Saturday it had captured a village flanking the eastern flashpoint city of Toretsk in Ukraine as Kyiv said four people had died in overnight Russian strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops seized the village of Krymske in the northeastern suburbs of Toretsk, located in the eastern Donetsk region and the scene of intense fighting in recent months.

The Russian army is slowly but steadily advancing in Donetsk, despite heavy human and material losses.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian troops in the region said there was intense fighting in urban areas of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar, a strategically important military hub on the front line.

DeepState, a group of Ukrainian military analysts, says Russian forces have been in the center of the two contested cities for months.

4 killed in Russian strikes

Overnight, at least four people died in Russian strikes on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Ukrainian authorities had issued air raid alerts for the entire country just before 7 a.m. Saturday, warning of missile and drone threats in several regions.

Ukrainian emergency services said on Telegram a “missile strike on a residential building” in Poltava had killed at least three people and wounded at least 13, three of them seriously.

They published images showing firefighters searching through the smoldering ruins of a building.

‘Russian terror’

In Kharkiv, a Russian drone shot down by air defense fell on a residential area, killing a woman and injuring four other people, regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its overnight strikes had hit gas and energy infrastructure that supply Ukraine’s “military-industrial complexes.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks showed his country needed more defense systems to protect itself from “Russian terror.”

He said, “Last night, Russia attacked our cities using various types of weapons: missiles, attack drones, air bombs.

“Every air defense system, every anti-missile is a lifesaver. It is very important that our partners act … and increase pressure on Russia, ” Zelenskyy said, adding that damage had been reported in six regions — Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.

2 killed in Ukrainian attack

Earlier this week, Ukraine launched a major drone attack on western Russia, killing a child and his mother and setting a refinery on fire.

The full Russian invasion of its neighbor enters its fourth year this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said during his election campaign he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office on Jan. 20. He has been critical of the amount Washington has spent arming Ukraine and has also threatened to impose additional sanctions on Russia.
…

The Arctic is one of the coldest and least populated regions on Earth, much of it covered by ice. But in recent years it has become one of the most important sites of geopolitical tensions — and a key focus of American policy.

Despite its inhospitability, land north of the Arctic Circle has long been inhabited by Indigenous people like the Inuit, Sami and Yukaghir and today includes territories belonging to eight countries: Canada, Russia, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the United States.

In 1996, these countries formed the Arctic Council — a forum that includes all eight countries as member states along with representatives from Indigenous groups. But while the Arctic was once envisioned as a neutral zone where research and conservation could promote deeper international cooperation, multiple developments since then have turned it into a site of competition.

The number one issue facing the Arctic is climate change. Since the 1990s, Arctic sea ice has declined by 7.6 trillion metric tons, with the rate of loss increasing by 57%. Besides contributing to rising sea levels, the loss of ice also reduces global solar reflection. This creates a feedback loop as the darker ocean water absorbs more heat, causing more ice to melt, adversely affecting global weather patterns.

The melting of Arctic ice also directly affects local wildlife, with polar bear populations projected to decline by two-thirds in the next quarter-century as they lose their hunting grounds.

But where some see environmental disaster, others see opportunity. The melting ice is making Arctic trade routes more navigable, providing shorter distances for transoceanic shipping than current lanes using the Suez and Panama canals. Furthermore, increased navigability is expanding potential for exploration and extraction of natural resources.

The Arctic region is estimated to hold over 20% of the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves, with over 400 oil and gas fields already discovered. Both the seabed and offshore areas also hold vast quantities of minerals ranging from staple commodities like iron, gold, nickel and zinc to rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are used in electronics and battery technology. Even traditional subsistence activity may be greatly altered and expanded as global warming leads fish stocks to migrate north and more coastal land becomes available for agriculture.

Yet economic opportunities in the Arctic are emerging at a time of increased geopolitical tensions, as countries scramble to secure resources, stake territorial claims and develop facilities.

With 53% of the Arctic coastline under its control, Russia has the largest presence in the region in terms of civilian ports like Murmansk and Arkhangelsk as well as multiple airfields and military bases along its northern border. More recently, Russia has moved to expand its claims to the Arctic seabed at the same time that its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has led other members of the Arctic Council to suspend cooperation with Moscow.

While land jurisdiction in the Arctic is largely settled aside from a few small disputes, maritime claims are much more complex. Control over Arctic waters is generally governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which defines multiple types of territorial waters where a nation may have the right to restrict the activity of foreign vessels. These range from internal waters that are considered part of a nation’s sovereign territory to exclusive economic zones where foreign ships may travel freely but cannot extract resources.

Although the United States played a formative role in negotiating the treaty and abides by most of its provisions, it remains one of the few countries that has not formally acceded to it because of concerns about limitations it places on seabed mining.

Even among UNCLOS signatories, however, boundary definitions can vary. While Canada considers parts of the Northwest Passage to lie within its territorial waters, for example, most other nations including the United States consider it to be an international strait where foreign ships may transit.

Similarly, Russia has claimed parts of the Northeast Passage along its northern coastline as internal waters, moving to restrict the right of passage in areas where it was previously allowed.

Given these disputes, the Transpolar Sea Route through the center of the Arctic Ocean, which lies fully in international waters, will become more attractive as polar ice continues to thaw.

The increasing importance of the Arctic has attracted the attention of other powers without Arctic territory. Several of these states have been admitted as observers in the Arctic Council, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea. China, which is also an observer, has unilaterally declared itself as a “near-Arctic state” and has expanded both research and commercial activity in the region by partnering with Russia as well as investing in infrastructure in Norway, Iceland and Greenland.

China’s increased presence in the Arctic alongside Russia’s more aggressive posture have been among the reasons cited for U.S. President Donald Trump’s insistence on annexing or buying Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. While Greenland already contains a U.S. military base on its northwest coast, the discussion is likely to result in a further militarization of the territory, even under Denmark.

Satellites are also expected to play a major role in exerting control within the Arctic, given the importance of observation and monitoring in remote areas with poor communications infrastructure.

What was once considered a frozen frontier with little to offer is quickly becoming one of the most contested regions on Earth. And as the planet heats up, competition in the Arctic will as well.
…

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. 
…