PAKISTAN: Police arrested a man accused of insulting the Koran in the deeply the conservative north-west today after being alerted that a mob wanted to lynch him.

The man, identified as Humayun Ullah, was arrested in Khazana, an area on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police officer Nasir Khan said.

ITALY: Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suffered election setbacks in two regions as the opposition Democratic Party won a tight contest in the central Umbria region and tightened its control of the traditional left stronghold of Emilia-Romagna in the north.

Stefania Proietti won with 51 per cent of the vote in Umbria, compared with 46 per cent for the right-wing coalition’s candidate. In Emilia Romagna, Democratic Party candidate Michele de Pascale received 57 per cent.

SOMALIA: The opposition won last week’s election in Somaliland, the breakaway region’s electoral commission said today.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi of the main opposition Waddani Party received more than 50 per cent of the votes cast. 

President Muse Bihi Abdi of the ruling Kulmiye Party came second with just over 30 per cent. 

SERBIA: Opposition protesters blocked access to a courthouse today over a deadly roof collapse at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad that killed 15 people earlier this month, setting off a confrontation with riot police.

A group of opposition MPs launched the blockade, demanding arrests and the release from detention of activists jailed following recent protests over the collapse.