SERBIA: Residents in several cities and towns across Serbia blocked traffic and stood in silence for 15 minutes today to commemorate the 15 victims of a roof collapse in the country’s north three weeks ago.

Hundreds took to the streets eight minutes before noon, at the exact time when the outer roof on the railway station building in the city of Novi Sad collapsed on November 1.

CHINA: Higher tariffs on Chinese exports will backfire, just increasing prices paid by consumers, while China can manage to weather the impact of such “external shocks,” a senior Commerce Ministry official said today in Beijing.

Vice-commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told reporters that US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose 60 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports “would push up the prices of the country’s imports from China and other countries.” 

PAKISTAN: Protesters in Pakistan’s north-west region chanted anti-government slogans today as funeral prayers were held for 42 Shi’ite Muslims who were ambushed and killed by gunmen a day earlier in one of the region’s deadliest such assaults in recent years.

The victims were travelling in a convoy from the city of Parachinar to Peshawar when the attack took place on Thursday. 

NETHERLANDS: Pro-Palestinian activists told a Dutch court today that the Netherlands is violating international law by selling weapons to Israel.

If The Hague District Court supports the complaint, the Netherlands will be banned from sending weapons or weapons parts to Israel and trading with the occupied territories.

The Netherlands has already halted the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel following a similar case earlier this year.