BELGRADE: A teenager who opened fire Wednesday at a school in Serbia’s capital drew sketches of classrooms and wrote a list of people he intended to target in a meticulously planned attack, police said.
He killed eight fellow students and a school guard before being arrested.
The shooter first killed a guard at the school in central Belgrade and then three students in a hallway, according to senior police official Veselin Milic. He then entered a classroom — apparently choosing it simply because it was close to the entrance — and opened fire again, Milic said.
The assailant called police himself when the attack was over, though authorities had already been alerted to the shooting.
A father of a student said the shooter entered his daughter’s classroom, firing at her teacher and then her classmates as they ducked under their desks. Most students were able to flee through a back door, according to a local official.
Mass shootings are extremely rare in Serbia and in the wider Balkan region; none were reported at schools in recent years. In the last mass shooting, a Balkan war veteran in 2013 killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.
Experts, however, have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the large number of weapons in the country after the wars of the 1990s. They also note that decades of instability stemming from the conflicts as well as the ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.
Police identified the shooter as Kosta Kecmanovic, a 13-year-old student at the Vladislav Ribnikar school, whose students would typically range in age from 6 to 15.
Police said Kecmanovic used his father’s handgun, which was licensed. Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said the gun was kept in a safe but the teen apparently knew the code. He said the father was also arrested.
Police showed reporters a sketch they said the shooter had drawn of classrooms and Milic said he also wrote out a list of children he planned to “liquidate” in the attack that he planned for a month.
In addition to the nine killed, six children and a teacher were also hospitalized.
Local media footage showed a commotion as police removed Kecmanovic, whose head was covered as officers led him to a car. Police sealed off the blocks around the school. Authorities later carried body bags to a waiting van.
Police said they received a call about the shooting at around 8:40 a.m. on the first day that classes resumed after a long weekend for the May 1 holiday.
“I was able to hear the shooting. It was nonstop,” said a student who was in a sports class when gunfire erupted elsewhere in the building. Her mother asked that her name be withheld because of her age. “I didn’t know what was happening. We were receiving some messages on the phone.”
The student described the shooter as a “quiet guy” who had good grades.
“He was not so open with everybody. Surely I wasn’t expecting this to happen,” she said.
Milan Nedeljkovic, the mayor of the Belgrade area of Vracar where the shooting happened, said that most of the students were taken out a back door of the school.
“We have video surveillance, but now this is a lesson, we need metal detectors too,” he said. “It is a huge tragedy ... something like this (happening) in Belgrade. Such a tragedy at an elementary school.”
Four students and a teacher were sent to University hospital, according to the hospital’s director, who said one child and the teacher were in serious condition.
Milan Milosevic, who said his daughter was in a history class when the shooting took place, told N1 television that he rushed to the school when he heard what had happened. He received a call from his daughter who had gotten out of the building and was unharmed.
“He (the shooter) fired first at the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks,” Milosevic said his daughter told him.
Police: Serbia school shooter who killed 8 had list of students to target
https://arab.news/27kh4
Police: Serbia school shooter who killed 8 had list of students to target
- The assailant called police himself when the attack was over, though authorities had already been alerted to the shooting
- Police showed reporters a sketch they said the shooter had drawn of classrooms and Milic said he also wrote out a list of children he planned to “liquidate” in the attack
Harvard loses another $450 million in grants in escalating battle with Trump administration
Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government’s demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting another $450 million in grants to Harvard University a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it’s a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.
In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump administration.
The letter said Harvard has become a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and faces a “steep, uphill battle” to reclaim its legacy as a place of academic excellence.
“There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support,” the letter said.
It was signed by officials at the Education Department, Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration.
University officials did not immediately provide comment on the letter.
Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government’s demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism and end diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Trump, a Republican, has said he wants Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security has threatened to revoke the school’s eligibility to host foreign students.
Last week, the Education Department said Harvard will receive no new federal grants until it meets the government’s demands.
The Trump administration has demanded Harvard make broad leadership changes, revise its admissions policies and audit its faculty and student body to ensure the campus is home to many viewpoints.
The demands are part of a pressure campaign targeting several other high-profile universities. The administration has cut off money to colleges including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, seeking compliance with Trump’s agenda.
Harvard is suing to block the federal funding freeze.
Harvard President Alan Garber disputed the government’s allegations in a Monday letter, saying Harvard is nonpartisan and has taken steps to root out antisemitism on campus. He insisted that Harvard is in compliance with the law, calling the federal sanctions an “unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university’s operations.”
The government’s letter on Tuesday said Harvard has repeatedly failed to address racial discrimination and antisemitism on campus. It cited the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down Harvard’s use of race in the admissions process, along with a recent internal report at Harvard detailing cases of antisemitic harassment.
___ Collin Binkley has covered Harvard for nearly a decade — most of the time living half a mile from its campus.
Bulgarian parliament rejects president’s euro referendum proposal
- Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution
- The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro
The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro
SOFIA: The speaker of the Bulgarian national assembly Nataliya Kiselova has dismissed President Rumen Radev’s proposal for a national referendum on adopting the euro, saying it violated the constitution, the BTA news agency reported on Tuesday.
On Monday, Radev had suggested a referendum on Bulgaria’s plans to adopt the euro next year with the question: “Do you agree that Bulgaria should introduce the single European currency ‘euro’ in 2026?” His proposal was criticized by the government, with one minister saying it was an attempt to sabotage its efforts to join the single currency.
Sending back the proposal, Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution and related European Union treaties, and was inconsistent with rulings from the country’s constitutional court.
The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro.
The government aims to adopt the euro next January, pending confirmation from the European Commission and the European Central Bank in June that all membership criteria have been met.
Economists say that Bulgaria, whose lev currency has long been pegged to the euro, would attract more foreign investment if it adopted the single currency and would secure credit ratings upgrades that could cut its debt financing costs.
However, Bulgarians are split on the euro’s adoption, with concerns that it might lead to price hikes, similar to what occurred in Croatia when it switched to the euro in 2023.
Germany’s Merz: EU to tighten sanctions on Russia if no progress on Ukraine this week
- Merz said EU leaders had agreed with Zelensky that he could take part in talks with Russia
- “I believe more compromise and more concessions are no longer reasonable“
BERLIN: The European Union is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if progress on ending the war in Ukraine is not made this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday, adding a new package of sanctions was prepared.
“We are waiting for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s agreement and we agree that if there is no real progress this week, we want to work together at European level for a significant tightening of sanctions,” Merz said at a news conference with his Greek counterpart.
“We will be looking at other areas, such as the energy sector and also the financial market,” he said.
Merz said EU leaders had agreed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he could take part in talks with Russia in Istanbul this week on the condition that Russian bombardment and attacks on civilians in Ukraine must stop.
While saying he admired Zelensky’s willingness to compromise if it could help a ceasefire, Merz added:
“I believe more compromise and more concessions are no longer reasonable,” said Merz.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the EU must be at the center of any peace settlement.
Putin ‘doesn’t dare’ meet Zelensky in Istanbul: EU’s Kallas
- The meeting set for Thursday in Istanbul would be the first direct negotiations
- Zelensky has urged Putin to personally attend the talks
COPENHAGEN: The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Tuesday she didn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would turn up for talks in Turkiye this week with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The meeting set for Thursday in Istanbul would be the first direct negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials since the early months of Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
Zelensky has urged Putin to personally attend the talks that the Kremlin leader himself suggested, but Moscow has so far declined to respond to the invitation.
“I think it’s a good move if they sit down,” Kallas told a democracy conference in Copenhagen, adding: “But I don’t think he dares, Putin.”
“It has been over two months since Ukraine agreed to an unconditional ceasefire,” she said.
“Russia is clearly playing games, trying to find time, hoping that time is on their side. We haven’t seen any good efforts or good signs from their side.”
Ukraine said Tuesday that a Putin no-show would be a clear sign that Moscow is not serious about peace.
“If Vladimir Putin refuses to come to Turkiye, it will be the final signal that Russia does not want to end this war, that Russia is not willing and not ready for any negotiations,” Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a statement.
How Western aid cuts deepen Afghan women’s crisis
- Foreign aid empowers Afghan women through funding, training, market access
- Entrepreneurs say sudden cuts force women-led businesses to close
KABUL: Afghan women entrepreneurs who have carved out spaces of independence for themselves and others, despite sweeping Taliban restrictions, are facing the collapse of their businesses as Western donors abruptly cut the aid they once pledged.
The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Barred from secondary schools and higher education, restricted in public places and not allowed to take up most of the jobs, women have been turning to private entrepreneurship to empower themselves and others.
Aid from Western countries, which have been pressuring the Taliban to uphold women’s rights, has been especially vital in sustaining these female-led initiatives.
The sudden reduction in funding, which started with massive US aid cuts since January, has already affected Afghan healthcare and essential services and is now taking a toll on the very group the West once vowed to support.
“Women’s economic activities have been severely affected by the reduction in international aid. Reduced financial support has led to fewer training and development opportunities, and in some cases international partners that previously provided resources or markets have suspended or ceased their activities,” Behnaz Saljoqi, head of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Herat, told Arab News.
International humanitarian aid has played a key role in empowering women entrepreneurs by providing not only direct support but also training, networking opportunities, microfinance, access to foreign markets, and sponsorship for exhibitions.
“This support not only helped women acquire technical and managerial skills, but also gain greater confidence to participate in the labor market and society. Without this support, many women would not even consider starting a business,” Saljoqi said.
“If the situation continues or worsens, the working environment for women will become increasingly difficult … The empowerment process that began in previous years will be reversed.”
Bahar Anwari, who runs Bahar Canvas Art Gallery in Kabul, is already observing a decline in her business as her usual customers — women — are no longer placing orders.
“With the reduction of development projects, things changed in the country,” she said.
“The purchasing power of people, especially women, has become very low. Employment opportunities became scarce, and most women lost their jobs, and poverty is growing every day. We will have to shut down our workshops and sit at home doing nothing.”
For Afghan women entrepreneurs, doing business means not only helping to sustain their own households but also contributing to society and creating opportunities for others like them.
International support has played a key role in making it possible.
“Women in Afghanistan largely depend on financial support from family and international organizations. While establishing my company, I also received some funds from a development organization, without which it would have been very difficult to set up the business,” said Parisa Elhami, director of fashion brand Watan Collection.
“Being in business as a woman gave me the strength and confidence to maintain my social standing despite the limitations. Business allowed me to be independent and provide employment opportunities for other women.”
The foreign aid cuts, especially from Afghanistan’s main donor, the US — which invaded the country in 2001 and spent billions of dollars on two decades of military and development operations — have already disrupted basic services such as healthcare, education, and food distribution.
Women, whose social role US humanitarian agencies earlier promoted, face losing their place in society, together with the collapsing businesses.
“The presence of women in economic and social spheres is vital. It not only contributes to economic growth, but also contributes to social justice and the overall progress of society,” Elhami told Arab News.
“The decline in international aid, especially from the US, has forced many women-run companies to close or reduce their staff … If the economic situation and global aid levels continue at the same pace or worse, the future of women’s business will be seriously threatened. Many businesses will disappear and women’s access to economic, health and educational opportunities will be severely limited.”
