SERBIA: Thirteen people, including former construction minister Goran Vesic, were indicted today over the collapse of a concrete canopy last month that killed 15 people.

The disaster has provoked weeks of protests against the government, with those renovating the railway station in Novi Sad where the collapse took place accused of sloppy work due to rampant corruption.

DR CONGO: Ten soldiers face potential death sentences after being arraigned for desertion today.

Thirteen others were charged with other crimes including robbery and rape, which carry lesser sentences.

The republic’s eastern region is mired in civil war, with over 120 different militias active. It resumed use of the death penalty in March after a 20-year moratorium.

IRAN: Authorities confirmed today that Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been arrested, accused of violating unspecified laws.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said Ms Sala, who entered Iran on a journalist’s visa on December 13, was arrested on December 19.

Her employer, the Il Foglio newspaper, says she is being held in the Evin prison.

GERMANY: Two Iraqis accused of involvement in Islamic State (Isis) were charged today with enslavement, torture and war crimes against abducted Yazidi girls when Isis was at the height of its power in Iraq and Syria.

The couple abused the girls, aged five and 12 when their ordeals began in 2015 and 2017 respectively, with the man raping both and both subjecting them to physical torture, it is alleged.

They passed the children to other Isis members before fleeing Syria in 2017.