BELGRADE (TIP): Serbia was in mourning on May 4 a day after a 13-year-old suspect shot dead eight fellow students and a security guard after allegedly drawing up a kill list.
The tragedy has left the Balkan nation reeling. Gun violence at schools is extremely rare in Serbia and the country’s president called Wednesday’s shooting “one of the most difficult days” in recent history.
On Thursday, schools across Serbia held a moment of silence, while a leading mental health institute in Belgrade opened a crisis hotline to provide psychological support to students, teachers and the families affected by the shooting. “I cried all day yesterday. My son went to school here,” Mileva Milosevic, an 85-year-old retired lawyer living near the school, told AFP.
“I’ll never forget this, because I have to walk here every day, while I can.”
The Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school in downtown Belgrade’s Vracar district remained sealed off on Thursday, with police guarding the entrance to the building. People continued to place flowers, toys and light candles at a makeshift memorial on the pavement outside of the school.
“Where are we as human beings, where is our empathy? Where did we all fail to see the problem, both with a person who did this, and with all the other people that have led this to happen?” asked Belgrade resident Ana Djuric, 37, as she walked near the school.
Health officials said two of the seven injured were in critical condition after undergoing a string of operations.
Serbia will observe three days of mourning starting Friday. It comes at what is usually a festive time with people flocking outdoors to celebrate spring. (AFP)
Tag: AFP
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‘I cried all day’: Serbia reels after deadly school shooting that left 8 kids dead
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Israel says killed 3 suspects in murders of UK-Israeli women
NABLUS (TIP): Israel said its security forces shot dead three Palestinians blamed for killing a British-Israeli woman and two of her daughters last month, in a raid in the occupied West Bank on May 4.
Two suspects in the killings and a third man accused of helping them were killed in a joint operation in Nablus by the army, police and Shin Bet security service, a statement said.
The three men were identified as the “murderers of Leah, Maia and Rina Dee” who died after the April 7 attack on their vehicle near Hamra in the Jordan Valley, the Shin Bet said, using the women’s Hebrew names.
The army said troops recovered two M-16 rifles and an AK-47 from the apartment where the suspects were holed up. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said all three men were from its ranks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the successful conclusion of the weeks-long manhunt for the women’s killers.
“We settled accounts with the murderers of Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee,” he said in a statement.
“Our message to those who harm us, and those who want to harm us, is that whether it takes a day, a week or a month – you can be certain that we will settle accounts with you.”
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed three people had been killed in the morning raid in the Old City of Nablus. “Two of the martyrs have completely distorted features due to the intensity of the shooting, which makes it difficult to identify them,” the ministry said.
An AFP correspondent heard gunfire erupt near the Old City around 7 am (0400 GMT) as dozens of Israeli army vehicles swooped in from multiple directions. Leo Dee said in a statement he was “comforted” to hear of the men’s killing, and added that he had “asked for the opportunity to speak with the terrorists’ families.”
Hamas described the killing of the three men as an “assassination” of the “heroes of resistance in the city of Nablus”. The raid came just days after violence flared along the Gaza border following the death of a Palestinian hunger striker in Israeli custody on Tuesday.
Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets from Gaza in response to the death of Khader Adnan, 45, a leading figure in Islamic Jihad in the occupied West Bank, who died in prison following an 87-day hunger strike.
The latest deadly raid brings to 105 the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year. Nineteen Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP count based on official sources from the two sides.(AFP) -
European Commission bans TikTok on official devices
BRUSSELS (TIP): The European Commission has banned TikTok on official devices used by staff amid concerns over data protection, a spokesperson told AFP on February 23.
The ban also means European Commission staff cannot use the Chinese-owned video-sharing app on personal devices including phones that have official apps installed, the spokesperson said, confirming a report by news website Euractiv. Employees must remove the app as soon as possible and should do so by March 15. TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is Chinese, has faced increasing Western scrutiny in recent months over fears about how much access Beijing has to user data.
The United States last year banned the app from federal government devices, and some US lawmakers are trying to prohibit TikTok from operating in the United States. Last month, the Dutch government reportedly advised public officials to steer clear of the app over similar concerns. In November, TikTok admitted some staff in China can access the data of European users. TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew was in Brussels last month for talks with EU officials during which they warned TikTok to ensure the safety of European users’ data. (AFP)