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Beppe Grillo, who leads Italy’s second biggest party, the Five-Star Movement, has been given a one-year jail term for slandering a science professor. Prof Francesco Battaglia said that he had been threatened and his car vandalised after Mr Grillo criticised him for backing nuclear energy. Mr Grillo, who is unlikely to go to jail, also faces damages of €50,000 (£36,000; ...

A Thai journalist has been detained by Thailand’s military rulers for “attitude adjustment” in what appears to be a fresh crackdown on dissent. Pravit Rojanaphruk is a columnist for the English language Nation newspaper. He was detained on Sunday because statements made by him violated junta policies on information, said junta spokesman Col Winthai Suvaree. Thepchai Yong, Nation Group’s editor-in-chief, ...

Kuwait has sentenced seven people to death over the suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in which at least 27 people were killed. More than 220 people were wounded in the 26 June attack, which targeted the Imam Sadiq Mosque in a busy area to the east of Kuwait City. Another eight suspects were given terms of between two and ...

Hungary has declared a state of emergency in two southern counties as tough new laws to stop migrants entering illegally came into force. Police said they had arrested 60 people accused of trying to breach a razor-wire fence on the border with Serbia. The state of emergency gives police extra powers and would allow troop deployments if parliament approves. The ...

Seventeen people were killed in Zambia on Saturday when a truck hit a minibus in the capital Lusaka, police said. “The accident happened after the driver of a Mercedes-Benz truck cut in front of the Toyota Hiace (minibus)” which was trying to turn, police said in a statement. The crash occurred about seven kilometres (four miles) west of the city’s ...

Some 30,000 people joined a rally in Copenhagen on Saturday in favour of taking in thousands of refugees seeking shelter in Europe, police said. “Everything is taking place in a calm and orderly way,” said a post on the official Twitter feed of Copenhagen police, indicating that roughly 30,000 people had gathered for the demonstration. Demonstrators held up signs reading ...

Some 40,000 migrants could arrive in Germany over the next two days, officials say – double the number who entered the country last weekend. Most are expected to arrive in the southern city of Munich but there are concerns about how the region will cope with another large influx. Around 4,000 troops are being deployed in Germany for logistical support. ...

Iraqi military and security officials say Islamic State suicide bombings and clashes between the extremist group and Iraqi troops have killed 13 soldiers in western Anbar province. The officials say Wednesday’s attacks involved at least two suicide bombers that targeted a military outpost in the volatile province, which fell to the IS group during the Islamic State’s blitz last year. ...

When ISIS came for Zeinat and her family, they ran, terrified, for the safety of the mountains. They had heard the horror stories and knew only too well what might happen to them if they stayed in their home. But they were too late; stranded at the foot of Iraq’s Mount Sinjar by the huge crowds of refugees struggling uphill, ...

Four people were killed in two separate incidents of police firing in Nepal on Wednesday as protests over demarcation of fresh states in the country’s new constitution escalated in Madhes, the southern plains bordering India. In the first incident, a 60-year-old was killed when police fired on a group of protesters in Saptari district, after they clashed with security personnel ...