Categories
Cyber Security, Digital Transition, Technology Geopolitics & Worlds In-Defense

Daily news – February 4, 2022

AFRICA Strategies for financing Africa’s health sector. Vera Songwe, Brookings:  Never before in the last half century has Africa’s health care landscape seen so many changes and attracted so much interest. In fact, Africa’s health care sector would be worth an estimated $259 billion by 2030. While these trends reveal a lucrative opportunity for the private […]

Categories
Geopolitics & Worlds

Daily news – February 2, 2022 p.m.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO  At least 60 people killed in militia attack in eastern DR Congo. Erikas Mwisi Kambale, Reuters: At least 60 people were killed in a militia attack early on Wednesday at a displaced persons’ camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the head of a local humanitarian group and a […]

Categories
Geopolitics & Worlds

Bahraini political dissident extradited from Serbia (Al Jazeera)

A Bahraini political dissident has been extradited from Serbia following an Interpol Red Notice issued at Manama’s request, the interior ministry said, despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) prohibiting the extradition. According to the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Ahmed Jaffar Mohammed Ali, 48, was extradited on […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Serbia’s Back-Door Bid To Embed Chinese Snooping Tools In Kosovo (Mila Djurdjevic, Sandra Cvetkovic, Andy Heil, RFE RL)

Kosovo risks becoming a reluctant laboratory for invasive Chinese surveillance technology at the hands of neighboring Serbia, an “iron-clad” friend to Beijing. Belgrade is quietly financing an effort to install advanced and largely unregulated Chinese surveillance tools in Kosovar communities that are partly outside Pristina’s control, RFE/RL’s Balkan Service has learned. Serbia’s Back-Door Bid To […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Serbia Takes ‘Very Important’ Step Forward In EU Accession Process (RFE RL)

Serbia has taken a step toward its goal of joining the EU by opening talks on four policy areas, but European officials warn Belgrade that progress in the process still depends on continued reforms and normalizing relations with Kosovo. Serbia Takes ‘Very Important’ Step Forward In EU Accession Process (rferl.org)

Categories
Uncategorized

Thousands of Serbians block roads to protest lithium mine project (Al Jazeera)

Environmental protesters have blocked roads in Serbia for a third consecutive weekend to oppose plans for lithium mining, despite a bid by the country’s populist government to defuse the demonstrations by agreeing to the key demands of organisers. Several thousand people braved rain and cold weather on Saturday to halt traffic in the capital, Belgrade, […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Thousands Of Serbs Protest ‘Anti-Environment’ Laws; Vucic Vows To ‘Solve Problems’ (RFE RL)

Thousands of demonstrators have protested around the country with blockades in Belgrade and other cities to oppose new legislation on property expropriation and referendums that they contend favor private companies over citizens and the environment. Main streets and a highway in the capital were blocked by protesters. Minor incidents and some skirmishes were reported as […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Four Ex-State Security Officers Jailed In Serbia For 1999 Murder Of Journalist (Predrag Urosevic, RFE RL)

A Serbian court has sentenced four former state security officers to up to 30 years in prison over the 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, an outspoken critic of the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic’s government. Following a retrial 22 years after the killing, the Belgrade Special Court on December 2 handed 30-year prison sentences to both the […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Serbian anti-mining activists block bridges, roads (Al Jazeera)

Skirmishes have erupted in Serbia between police and demonstrators who blocked roads and bridges to protest against new laws they say favour the interests of foreign investors damaging the environment. The government has offered mineral resources to companies including China’s Zijin copper miner and Rio Tinto, but activists say the projects would pollute land and […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Serbian Lawmakers Pass Law Removing Turnout Threshold In Referendums (RFE RL)

Serbia’s parliament has overwhelmingly passed a law on how referendums are conducted amid criticism from opponents that it is undemocratic. The new law on referendums was passed on November 25 with 178 deputies voting in favor and two against. Serbian Lawmakers Pass Law Removing Turnout Threshold In Referendums (rferl.org)

Categories
Uncategorized

Russian, Serbian Presidents Emerge From Meeting With Talk Of Gas Deal, ‘Tactical’ Weapons (RFE RL)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have left a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi talking up weapons sales and the prospect of a crucial gas deal for Belgrade. Vucic has publicly pleaded with the Russian side to offer “favorable” pricing on a new 10-year natural-gas deal to replace the […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Work begins on section of Serbia-Hungary railway in major progress for BRI project (Global Times)

Officials from Serbia and Hungary on Tuesday hailed the start of construction of a railway line running from Novi Sad to Subotica in Serbia, which is part of the Hungary-Serbia railroad project, as not only a significant progress in the major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) but also a step forward in […]