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Serbia: Arrests of former ministers, officials over alleged corruption and inflating invoices for Chinese consortium about Novi Sad’s deadly November accident

Six people, including a former minister, were arrested on Friday over their involvement in reconstruction of a railway station, whose roof collapsed last November killing 16 and triggering Serbia's biggest anti-government protests in decades.

The office of the prosecutor for organised crime said Tomislav Momirovic, former infrastructure minister, was among those arrested.

The six are suspected of inflating invoices from a consortium of the two Chinese companies - China Railway International Co and China Communications Construction Co - who were given the task of reconstructing both the railway station at Novi Sad and tracks, the statement said.

They are suspected of damaging the state budget by $115.6 million, the statement said, and also said that by inflating invoices the Chinese consortium benefited by $18.8 million, but gave no further details.

In December 11 people, including Momirovic's successor Goran Vesic, were detained on suspicion of committing a criminal act against public safety.

Months of protests across Serbia following the roof collapse, including university shutdowns, have rattled the rule of President Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who converted to the cause of European Union membership in 2008.

The protesters, who blame corruption for the disaster, demand early elections that they hope would remove Vucic and his party from power after 13 years.

They accuse Vucic and his allies of ties to organised crime, violence against rivals and curbing media freedoms. Vucic denies the accusations.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he's ordering the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines close to Russia "based on the highly provocative statements" of the country's former president Dmitry Medvedev.

Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he had "ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that."

The president added, "Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances." The deployment comes after Medvedev warned Trump on Thursday to remember that Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.

Leaders of more than 60 countries have been plunged into a fresh race to secure trade deals with the US after Donald Trump unleashed global chaos with sweeping new tariff rates.

Trump’s latest blitz triggered a wave of market jitters and fears for jobs in some of the poorest countries, as tariff rates were signed off ranging from 50% to 10%.

There was a minor reprieve that opened the door to further negotiations, after the White House said the updated tariffs would take effect on 7 August, not on Friday, the deadline previously set by Trump.

The new rates, which Trump sees as benefiting US exporters, create uncertainty for dozens of countries, including longtime US allies. They have also raised fears of inflation in the US.

Rates were set at 25% for India’s US-bound exports, 20% for Taiwan and 30% for South Africa. Switzerland faces a rate of 39%. The deadline for a tariff deal with Mexico was extended by another 90 days.

US President Donald Trump recently warned a Jewish campaign donor that his MAGA base was beginning to turn on Israel, the Financial Times reports.

“My people are starting to hate Israel,” Trump is quoted as having told the unnamed donor recently, citing a Mideast expert, also unnamed, with contacts inside the Trump administration.