Serbia’s incumbent President Aleksandar Vucic has secured 59.5% of votes in a presidential election — no runoff required. Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party didn’t do quite as well in parliamentary elections (43.4%), but they’ll still be able to govern in a coalition. While Vucic has been accused of corruption and autocratic tendencies, voters could not ignore the fact that GDP per capita jumped by 40% during his first term. His ideology-free campaign may have worked at home, but internationally he will need to choose between longtime ally Russia and the EU, which Serbia’s been trying to join since 2014. (Sources: Reuters, DW)
President Biden doubled down on labeling Putin “a war criminal” — and this time only the Russians disagreed. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman became the first person to face trial for war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan. President Aleksandr Vucic waltzed to reelection in Serbia, but now faces a choice between Moscow and Brussels. And two more Republican senators pledged their support for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, all but guaranteeing her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. All this and more in today’s PDB.
IMPORTANT
Possible War Crimes Trial
Biden Again Labels Putin ‘a War Criminal,’ Calls for Trial
As evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha mounted, Western leaders ramped up their rhetoric. “You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal,” said U.S. President Joe Biden, referring to earlier comments. “We saw it happen in Bucha … he is a war criminal ... we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual … a war crime trial.” Both France and Germany expelled dozens of Russian diplomats, and Lithuania became the first European nation to expel a Russian ambassador. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the U.N. Security Council about the atrocities today. (Sources: NYT, The Guardian)
Actual War Crimes Trial
20 Years Later, ICC Hears First Darfur Trial
The first trial for atrocities committed in Darfur opened at the International Criminal Court in The Hague this morning — nearly 20 years after pro-government Janjaweed militias clamped down on rebel insurgencies in the Sudanese region, leaving 300,000 people dead. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a suspected former leader of the militia, denies all 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, claiming he’s a victim of mistaken identity. Sudanese human rights lawyer Mossaad Mohamed Ali described the trial as “a momentous day for victims and survivors in Darfur who never stopped fighting to see the day the cycle of impunity is broken.” (Source: BBC)
Veni, Vidi, Vucic
Serbian President Wins Landslide Reelection
Serbia’s incumbent President Aleksandar Vucic has secured 59.5% of votes in a presidential election — no runoff required. Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party didn’t do quite as well in parliamentary elections (43.4%), but they’ll still be able to govern in a coalition. While Vucic has been accused of corruption and autocratic tendencies, voters could not ignore the fact that GDP per capita jumped by 40% during his first term. His ideology-free campaign may have worked at home, but internationally he will need to choose between longtime ally Russia and the EU, which Serbia’s been trying to join since 2014. (Sources: Reuters, DW)
Bipartisan Support
Two More Republicans Back Jackson for Supreme Court
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney announced Monday night that they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s elevation to the Supreme Court, all but guaranteeing her place as the court's first Black female justice. Last week, GOP Sen. Susan Collins announced she’d back Jackson, noting her “stellar qualifications” as a federal judge, public defender and member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Romney said Jackson “more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity.” Murkowski said she will “bring to the Supreme Court a range of experience from the courtroom that few can match given her background in litigation.” (Source: AP)
Briefly
Here are some things you should know about today:
Death sentence. An Indonesian high court sentenced an Islamic boarding school principal to death for raping at least 13 students over five years and impregnating some of them. (Source: AP) Chaves for president. Rodrigo Chaves, Costa Rica’s right-wing former finance minister, has won a runoff presidential election amid rising unemployment and a soaring budget deficit. (Source: Al Jazeera) Tweeter-in-chief. Elon Musk has put his money where his mouth is, disclosing a 9.2% stake in Twitter that makes him the platform’s largest shareholder. (Source: Reuters)
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INTRIGUING
Bearing Fruit
Pyrenees’ Brown Bear Population Hits Hundred-Year High
A scheme to reintroduce brown bears to the Pyrenees Mountains in France and Spain seems to be working. In 2021, 70 bears were counted, including 15 newborn pups, the highest number in a century. The study identified 34 females, 32 males and four bears of undetermined gender. The brown bear was almost extinct in the Pyrenees when three bears from Slovenia were introduced in 1996. The repopulation scheme, which has resulted in the birth of 114 pups, has faced stiff opposition from livestock farmers — despite the fact that the bears are largely vegetarian and seldom kill for food. (Source: The Guardian)
Jab Happy
German Man Caught Trying to Get 90th COVID-19 Shot
A 60-year-old man was caught at a vaccination center in Eilenburg in Saxony after trying to get jabbed for the second day in a row. The man, who was carrying several blank vaccination cards, allegedly received around 90 shots at vaccination centers across the state over a period of months. Police say he has been selling forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to anti-vaxxers who crave the Covid passports that make access to public life in Germany much easier. It was not immediately clear what impact the 90 jabs — from different brands — had on the man’s health. (Source: AP)
Teach a Fish to Count
Cichlids and Stingrays Can Count to Five
Fish do swim in schools. Vera Schluessel, a cognition researcher at Germany’s University of Bonn, and colleagues trained eight freshwater stingrays and eight bony cichlids to recognize blue as corresponding to “more” and yellow to “less.” The fish were then shown cards depicting blue or yellow shapes and, depending on the color of the card, were expected to swim toward the gate with more or less shapes. Three of the eight stingrays and six cichlids successfully learned to complete the task. What’s more, the successful students learned to add or subtract one, as opposed to simply distinguishing between less and more. (Source: The Scientist)
Thanks for the Memories
‘EastEnders’ Star June Brown Dies at 95
The British soap icon, who played the chain-smoking laundromat assistant Dot Cotton 2,884 times, died on Sunday. A BBC spokesperson credited Brown with creating “one of the most iconic characters in … British television,” while Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries described her as “a true national treasure.” Meanwhile, actor and writer Stephen Fry focused on her activism, saying: “June Brown, amongst all her other wonderful human qualities and achievements, will be remembered as a tireless and fearless LGBT ally — especially during the darkest days of HIV/AIDS and Section 28,” a raft of Thatcher-era laws that prohibited the promotion of homosexuality. (Source: BBC)
Jayhawks Jubilant
Kansas Overcomes 16-Point Deficit to Win NCAA Championship
The last time Kansas made it to mid-March ranked No. 1 in the country, the pandemic dashed their championship aspirations. This time, nothing — not even the Tar Heels’ massive halftime lead — could stop them from claiming the title 72-69 before a crowd of nearly 70,000 baying Superdome fans. After surviving three attempted 3-pointers in the dying seconds, the Jayhawks stormed the court as soon as the buzzer sounded. The victory was their first since 2008 and their fourth in total. The 16-point deficit they overcame was the biggest comeback in NCAA Championship history. (Sources: NYT, Bleacher Report)
