"It was the day Britain finally put Brexit behind it and assumed its new role in Europe," said The Telegraph. On Sunday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted European leaders in London, with "nothing less than the security of the continent at stake." He proposed a "coalition of the willing" led by France and the U.K. (Europe's two nuclear and major military powers) as well as Germany, to protect Ukraine after a peace deal. 

In the painful aftermath of Brexit, the U.K. "went missing from the world stage." Now, in Europe, a "new world order is being built before our eyes," and Britain is "leading the pack." 

'Assured role in transatlantic diplomacy' 
Starmer has taken a "hammering in the polls" in his home country, said Politico, but internationally he has played an "increasingly visible and assured role in transatlantic diplomacy." One of his "supposed weaknesses" — a "lack of ideological conviction" — might make him a "suitable broker between players with wildly different outlooks," and Starmer's first meeting with President Donald Trump actually "contained some wins." Labour Party insiders and European allies are "asking if his moment has arrived." 

"Post-Brexit, we have really struggled to find our identity," Evie Aspinall, the director of the British Foreign Policy Group think tank, said to Agence France-Presse. "We are never going to be the big world power that we once were." But this is a "sign of us finding our feet" and seeing where we "potentially could lead." 

'Purest wishful thinking' 
Some Labour figures thought this could be Starmer's "Falklands moment," reversing his unpopularity with the electorate as Margaret Thatcher did in 1982, by being "resolute in an international crisis," said The Independent. But that was the "purest wishful thinking." Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance's "ambush" of Volodymyr Zelenskyy "wiped out" any "gains" from Starmer's meeting with Trump. If Starmer thought he was a "bridge between Trump and European leaders," Trump has "blown it up." 

Let's not forget William Gladstone's dictum, said The Times: The first principle of foreign policy is "good government at home." Starmer should remember that voters have "more prosaic matters" on their minds than "international plaudits."

It was like a scene from a movie: a tense parliamentary meeting in Serbia interrupted by opposition party lawmakers who launched smoke grenades, threw eggs and lit incendiary flares. At least three lawmakers were injured, including one who allegedly suffered a stroke during the chaos. This dramatic melee in Belgrade comes amid a monthslong protest movement that has shaken the Balkan nation, started in the wake of a November railway disaster that killed 15 people in the city of Novi Sad. 

What happened this week?
Tuesday's chaotic legislative session, ostensibly called to vote on a bill to "increase university funding," ended up "highlighting" Serbia's "deep political divisions," said The Independent. The violence began after party members accused the Serbian Progressive Party, which leads the ruling coalition and approved Tuesday's legislative agenda, of "planning to approve dozens of other decisions" during the session, said The Associated Press. 

They also demanded lawmakers "first confirm the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and his government," said the AP. Vucevic announced his resignation in January under pressure from the growing protest movement, which described his abdication as an "attempt" to "deflect blame — a tactic he has used to defuse past crises," said CNN. 

How did Serbia get here?
The protest movement began after the roof of a newly renovated train station in the city of Novi Sad collapsed. Protesters attributed the infrastructure failure to "corruption they link to President Aleksandar Vucic's decade in power," said Reuters. 

While initially launched by student groups as a series of silent vigils for the Novi Sad victims, "teachers, farmers and other workers" have since joined the movement, which has become the "biggest threat yet" to Vucic's presidency. Although the protests have been minimized in the American press, they are a "historic development worth paying attention to" given the broader context of "Europe-wide backsliding on democracy," said Al Jazeera.

What could happen next?
Serbian protesters are preparing for a general strike tomorrow, followed by a large demonstration in Belgrade on March 15. The country's ruling coalition, said Reuters, has accused Western nations of "trying to destabilize" Serbia and "topple the government by backing the protests."