RUSSIA: The Kremlin welcomes US President-elect Donald Trump's readiness to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a senior Moscow official said today.

Russia attaches no conditions to the possibility of face-to-face talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a conference call.

On Thursday, Mr Trump said: “Putin wants to meet,” adding that a meeting is being set up. 

UNITED STATES: Donald Trump was sentenced today in his hush-money case, but Manhattan judge Juan M Merchan declined to impose any punishment, freeing him to return to the White House without the threat of a jail term or a fine.

Mr Merchan could have sentenced Mr Trump to up to four years in prison. Nonetheless, Mr Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

SERBIA: Thousands of people blocked traffic today in the capital Belgrade during student-led street protests over the collapse of a concrete railway station canopy in the northern city of Novi Sad that killed 15 people more than two months ago.

Chanting “We want justice,” the crowd first gathered outside the central courthouse in Belgrade to demand punishment for “pro-government thugs” who attacked protesters at an earlier gathering.

PAKISTAN: At least three miners have died after a methane gas explosion caused a coalmine to collapse in a remote area of south-west Pakistan, officials said today, as authorities launched an operation to rescue nine other missing workers.

Mine inspector Abdul Ghani said that the blast had happened on Thursday night in Singidi, a town in Balochistan province and that rescuers had retrieved three bodies.