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<h1>Myanmar, facing international outrage over the jailing of Reuters journalists for their reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, is conducting a "political campaign" against independent journalism, the UN said Tuesday.</h1>

It slammed the "failure of the judiciary to uphold the fair trial rights of those targeted."

The rights office pointed to the "particularly outrageous" and high-profile example of the conviction of Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, also known as Thet Oo Maung.

Last week, a judge jailed the two -- both Myanmar nationals -- for seven years under a draconian state secrets act over their reporting of the Rohingya crisis.

Around 700,000 of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority were driven into Bangladesh by a Myanmar army-led crackdown in August last year.

The UN report said there were many other examples of detentions and prosecutions of journalists and their sources, indicating "wider trends of suppression of freedom of expression."

According to the report, laws on telecommunications, official secrets, unlawful association, electronic transactions, import-export and aircraft have been used against journalists in a number of cases.

It pointed to one case, where three journalists were arrested in June 2017 after covering a "drug burning" ceremony in connection with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The event took place in area under the control of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan state.

Even though the journalists were covering events unrelated to the armed conflict, they were charged under the so-called unlawful association act.

The report pointed out that the act is "routinely used to allege that any contact with an ethnic armed group is tantamount to a criminal offence."

The report said that in Myanmar it has become "impossible for journalists to do their job without fear or favour."

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned in a statement that the situation was "hardly conducive to a democratic transition" in Myanmar.

She called on authorities in the country to "cease the legal and judicial harassment of journalists and to initiate a review of ill-defined laws that facilitate attacks on the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression."

A fresh report from the UN rights office decried "the instrumentalisation of the law and of the courts by the government and military in what constitutes a political campaign against independent journalism".

UN says Myanmar waging 'campaign against journalists'

Chamisa, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), narrowly lost to Emmerson Mnangagwa in Zimbabwe's first election since the ousting of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe last year.

Chamisa's legal bid to have the result overturned due to alleged electoral fraud and irregularities was rejected by the constitutional court.

"He will be recognised as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe by his party and the people of Zimbabwe following resolutions of the national council," MDC spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda told AFP.

Sibanda said Chamisa had been denied victory by "cheating and chicanery" and that the ceremony would be held on Saturday, when the party celebrates its 19th anniversary.

"Resolutions will be passed to recognise his victory and state it publicly," he said.

Mnangagwa, of the ruling ZANU-PF party, won the election with 50.8 percent of the vote -- just enough to meet the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off against Chamisa, who scored 44.3 percent.

Mnangagwa had pledged free and fair elections to restore relations with the west, but the vote was marred by the fatal shooting of at least six people when soldiers were deployed to quell opposition protests.

Zimbabwes main opposition party will this week hold a mock inauguration to name its leader Nelson Chamisa as the countrys president, highlighting its claims the July 30 election was rigged.

Zimbabwe opposition to declare Chamisa 'president'

The students -- all classical music majors at the same university in the capital -- took protein powder and drank a large amount of juice on the day of their physical examination, the Military Manpower Administration said.

"The classmates shared tips on how to gain weight on an online chatroom," it said, adding they drank an especially large amount of juice containing aloe vera pulp -- considered to stay in the body longer than other food.

Nearly every able-bodied South Korean man is required to enrol by age 28 in the military, for a minimum of 21 months.

Those deemed too overweight or underweight, or diagnosed with certain diseases or disabilities, are exempted and usually assigned to positions in places like courts or public libraries.

The 12 wily students were judged too overweight for conscription and were ordered to work for government services instead.

Two have already finished their public service, while four are currently doing it and six are waiting to be assigned to positions at state offices.

The military said it had used "digital forensic technology" to uncover the ruse, suggesting it may have seen messages from the chatroom used by the students.

Officials have sent the case to prosecutors who will decide whether to charge the group.

If the students are later found guilty, they will have to undergo the physical examination again -- and may have to serve their time in the military after all, the army warned.

Attempts to dodge conscription are not uncommon, with efforts including deliberately dislocating arms or shoulders.

Celebrities are not exempted, although the government rewards Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medals of any colour with an exemption.

Tottenham Hotspur star footballer Son Heung-min recently avoided being called for military service by leading South Korea to a gold medal in the recent Asian Games in Jakarta.

Twelve inventive South Korean college students deliberately made themselves overweight to dodge mandatory military service, a branch of the armed forces in Seoul said Tuesday.

Students gain weight 'to dodge military service'

<h1>Chinese authorities have drafted sweeping new regulations that would severely restrict religious content online, including images or even descriptions of religious activities from praying and chanting to burning incense.</h1>

The move comes as Beijing tightens the screws on religion, especially for followers of Islam and Christianity.

Individuals would be forbidden from posting photos, videos and even text related to religious activities, or sharing links related to preaching.

Organisations that break the rules could be shut down, the document said, but it did not detail penalties for individuals, beyond saying any violations would be handled "according to law".

China's officially atheist government is wary of any organised movements outside its own control, including religious ones, and analysts say oversight of such groups has tightened under President Xi Jinping.

While Beijing officially recognises five religions, it imposes strict controls on how they may be practised -- regulating everything from who can attend services to what can be said by religious leaders.

The regulations are intended to promote "social stability" and stop religious fraud, cults and appeals to "extremism", the document said.

The propagation of religious information within China by any "overseas individuals and organisations" would also be banned.

As written, the regulations could make it illegal to publish information about virtually any kind of religious activity -- even pictures from a wedding ceremony -- according to Jeremy Daum, an expert on Chinese law.

"As they currently read, the measures cast the net far too wide," he said, adding that "even parts of traditional Chinese culture over which the Party is rightly proud will be excluded".

The country's top leaders recently called for religious practices to be brought in line with "traditional" Chinese values and culture, sparking concern among rights groups.

State supervision of religion has increased in a bid to "block extremism", and in areas with significant Muslim populations authorities have removed Islamic symbols, such as crescents, from public spaces.

In the far-western region of Xinjiang, Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities are harshly punished for violating regulations banning beards and burqas, and even for the possession of unauthorised Korans.

Up to a million minorities are believed to be held in extrajudicial re-education camps in Xinjiang, rights groups say.

Many of them were detained for posting "extremist" religious content -- everything from Islamic State group videos to holiday greetings -- on social media.

The new rules would only allow members of officially licensed organisations to post certain kinds of religious content, according to a draft document published online Monday by the bureau of religious affairs.

Government mulls censoring online religious content

<h1>Workers at a camp for migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos said Friday they will go on strike to protest overcrowding, as the government conceded conditions were "near impossible".</h1>

More than 8,300 people occupy the Moria camp, which has room for only 3,100, in conditions Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas described as "very difficult, near impossible."

Occupants, it said, were made to endure "tragic life conditions unworthy of a European country" -- echoing similar warnings by NGOs and the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees.

"The situation is fraught with dangers, whether it be the risk of epidemics, of deaths caused by inclement weather, suicides, or mutinies," the statement added.

Lesbos has been a gateway to the European Union since the start of the bloc's migration crisis in 2015.

At the height of the influx, some 5,000 migrants and refugees, many from war-torn Syria, landed on the island's beaches daily.

With about 10,500 today, Lesbos has the highest concentration of migrants and refugees in Greece, with Moria infamous as the camp with the worst conditions.

Most arrivals live for months in squalid conditions while waiting for asylum applications to be processed.

Moria's workers said they would embark on work-to-rule action from Saturday, and down tools entirely next Monday.

Camp management was trying to alleviate the situation by accelerating the transfer to Europe of migrants considered "vulnerable" and therefore eligible for asylum, deputy director Dimitris Vafeas told AFP.

But continuing new arrivals from the nearby Turkish coast, despite an EU-Turkey pact meant to lessen the Europe-bound flow, prevents any long-term solution, he said.

"From May 1 to August 30, 3,950 vulnerable people were brought to the continent, but 5,450 others arrived in Lesbos," he said, reiterating that Greece "insists on the need for a redistribution" of refugees throughout Europe.

In a statement, a staff committee demanded better police protection for both residents and personnel of the camp, among other relief.

Migrant camp workers strike to protest overcrowding

<h1>Brazils right-wing presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro was transferred Friday to a hospital in Sao Paulo, a day after being stabbed while campaigning, a hospital official said.</h1>

Bolsonaro underwent surgery on Thursday for multiple wounds to his mid-section and was listed in stable condition after the attack in the southeastern city of Juiz de Fora.

The attack was the latest bizarre twist in a presidential race in which the most popular candidate, former president and leftist hero Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is trying to run from prison.

The Supreme Court disqualified Lula on Thursday. First round voting is scheduled for October 7.

Images shared on social media and Brazilian television showed Bolsonaro being carried on the shoulders of a throng of supporters, before a man lunges at his stomach.

A witness told police the attacker held a knife wrapped up in a shirt and attacked Bolsonaro as the group hoisting him walked by.

The attacker was arrested immediately and identified as Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, 40 -- said to have been a member of the left-leaning PSOL party.

After his arrest, Bispo de Oliveira said he was "carrying out a divine mission, a mission from God," said Luis Boundens, head of a union of federal police officers.

Authorities are investigating the suspect's mental health, he added.

"Patient Jair Messias Bolsonaro recently left... and went to the Albert Einstein hospital," a spokeswoman for the Santa Casa de Juiz de Fora hospital said.

Wounded Brazil presidential hopeful moved to Sao Paulo hospital

<h1>Yemens Houthi rebels, expected at UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva with the government, remained grounded in Sanaa Friday citing fears they would not be allowed to return home if they left.</h1>

The Houthi s, powerful armed tribes locked in a war with Yemen's Saudi-backed government, have refused to take off from the rebel-held capital unless the UN meets a list of conditions, which includes securing a safe return from Geneva to Sanaa for their delegation.

The Houthi s' Supreme Revolutionary Council said Friday they were "increasingly suspicious that the coalition intended to insult" the rebels.

It accused the Saudi-led alliance fighting against them on behalf of the government of planning to strand the rebel delegation in Djibouti, where their plane was to make a stop en route to Geneva.

The Houthi s hinted they feared a repeat of 2016, when 108 days of talks in Kuwait broke down and a rebel delegation was stranded in Oman for three months due to an air blockade, the council said in a statement on Telegram.

The Saudi-led military coalition controls the country's airspace and Sanaa international airport has been largely disused for years.

The Iran-backed Houthi s have traded accusations of non-cooperation and stalling with Yemen's government.

The Houthi s also demand the evacuation of their wounded fighters from Sanaa to Oman.

But in Geneva Friday, Yemen's foreign minister Khaled Yamani insisted the Houthi delay was evidence of infighting.

"We came to Geneva .. ready and willing to delve into talks" on confidence-building, Yamani told UAE's Sky News.

He slammed the Houthi "excuses" for not arriving on time as "an attempt to cover up something critical, and that is that the insurgents are arguing about who among them will represent them in Geneva."

Saudi Arabia and its allies have meanwhile said they have already granted the Houthi s clearance to fly, accusing the rebels of intransigence.

Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher accused the rebels of "speaking no language other than force" and "using negotiations to secure more arms", in a tweet on Thursday.

Griffiths' office said Friday he was "still working on getting the Ansarullah (rebel) delegation to Geneva."

In the meantime, the envoy has been holding consultations with the government delegation since Thursday.

"He has been discussing with them confidence-building measures, including the issue of prisoners, humanitarian access, the re-opening of Sanaa airport, in addition to economic issues," it said in a statement.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the Yemen conflict in 2015, triggering what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The Geneva talks, the first since 2016, had been scheduled to formally open Thursday but were put on hold, although UN envoy Martin Griffiths has held several meetings in the Swiss city with the government delegation.

Yemen rebels grounded in Sanaa as peace talks on hold

<h1>The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) on Friday said their leader Jimmie Akesson has received a letter with a death threat as the party is on course to win record support in Sundays legislative election.</h1>

A copy of the threat letter, with the Islamic State group's flag at the top, was published by Swedish media.

"We will behead you if you do not withdraw from the election by the end of this week," the letter reads, adding a similar threat against Akesson's four-year-old son.

Sapo confirmed that it has launched an investigation into the incident.

"We hope that this threat is not real," party spokesman Oskar Cavalli-Bjorkman told AFP, adding they're awaiting the Swedish security and intelligence service Sapo's assessment.

Swedish far-right leader receives death threat: party

<h1>Entrepreneur Elon Musk sipped whiskey and puffed a little weed while musing at length about artificial intelligence, colonizing space, and the need to give love a chance.</h1>

At one point, Musk described the constant barrage of ideas in his mind as being "like a "never-ending explosion," and said he wondered as a young boy whether he might be insane because it didn't seem to happen to other people.

His comments came as Musk drew questions of late over his leadership and demeanor.

The reasons include an infamous tweet in which the businessman said he was taking Tesla private and had funding lined up -- a statement he later backtracked amid an uproar -- and disparaging remarks about a Briton who helped save boys trapped in a cave in Thailand.

Musk's current endeavors include electric carmaker Tesla; private space exploration enterprise SpaceX; tunnel-drilling Boring Company, and a Neuralink operation working on augmenting human brains with artificial intelligence.

"I don't think you would necessarily want to be me; you wouldn't like it that much," Musk quipped.

"It might be great when it is turned on, but what if it doesn't turn off?"

During the course of a wide-ranging chat with Rogan, Musk drank whiskey and tried a marijuana-and-tobacco cigarette proffered by the comedian.

"I'm not a regular smoker of weed; almost never," Musk said.

"I don't find that it's very good for productivity. It is sort of like a cup of coffee in reverse."

He maintained that getting things done, especially being useful to others, was among his joys.

"A lot of people don't like humanity and think it is a blight, but I don't," Musk said.

"It may sound corny, but love is the answer. Spend more time with your friends and less time on social media."

Musk said that when it comes to social media he only uses Twitter, and that is for its power to get messages out. He contended that he ignores the majority of negative comments at Twitter, but has occasionally been drawn in and made mistakes.

Nearly 90,000 people tuned into the podcast Rogan live-streamed with Musk at YouTube.

Musk said he is less worried about AI than he had been, mostly due to "taking a more fatalistic attitude."

He had long argued that AI would be humanity's undoing, with sentient software treating people, at best, like house cats.

Musk is now of a mind that whatever the future of AI, it is outside of human control.

A danger, he noted, is that humans will turn AI into a weapon to unleash on one another. A best-case scenario would be people merging with AI, enabling anyone to have "super cognition."

Musk appeared to get emotional while talking about harm being done to the atmosphere and oceans by burning fossil fuels.

"The more carbon we take out of the ground, the more dangerous it is."

Musk, who wore a black t-shirt bearing the words "Occupy Mars" in large letters, also pictured a future in which humans explore and colonize the cosmos in manners depicted in science fiction films.

"I think the future in where we are a space-faring civilization out there among the stars, that is very exciting," Musk said.

"If we were forever constrained to Earth, that would not be a good future."

Musk shared thoughts on those topics and more during a podcast with comedian Joe Rogan that lasted more than two hours, stretching into the early hours of Friday.

Techpreneur muses about life over whiskey and weed

<h1>France has detained a suspected former militant commander from Liberias brutal civil war and charged him with crimes against humanity for alleged atrocities including torture and cannibalism, police said Friday.</h1>

Arrested on Tuesday in the northeast Paris suburb of Bobigny where he had been hiding out at the home of a friend, he is suspected of torture, murder, slavery, the use of child soldiers and cannibalism between 1993 and 1997.

Liberia, Africa's oldest republic, formed by freed American slaves, was devastated by two civil wars which killed around 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003.

ULIMO was set up to fight a rebel force headed by warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, who is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting rebels who committed atrocities in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Kunti K., born in 1974, was detained in a joint operation by elite GIGN police and officers from France's OCLCH agency, which investigates war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

"He had arrived in France in 2016, after leaving the Netherlands and passing through Belgium," said Colonel Eric Emeraux, head of the OCLCH.

Paris prosecutors had opened an initial investigation into Kunti K. after victims' rights group Civitas Maxima filed a criminal complaint on July 23.

Contacted by AFP, the Geneva-based group, which offers legal support to victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, declined to comment on the case.

A legal source said the man, identified as naturalised Dutch citizen Kunti K., is suspected of being a former commander in the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), which fought during the 1990s.

France charges Liberia 'ex-militant' for crimes against humanity

<h1>One of the last Indian activists facing action under an anti-gay colonial-era law killed off by a landmark Supreme Court ruling expressed hope Friday that he would escape punishment in a new age of liberalisation.</h1>

Arif Jafar, 48, was arrested in 2001 under the notorious Section 377 law, which was struck down on Thursday.

"It was quite traumatic. I was picked up from my office with four others," Jafar told AFP.

"I was beaten up in the jail for 15 days continuously until my fellow prisoners complained.

"I was denied every basic human right. I was made to sleep on the floor and I was not even given water to drink. It was horrible," he said, his voice choking with emotion.

The case has still not come to trial because other accused are missing. Jafar, who now runs a London-based foundation to counter AIDS and promote gay rights, was at the Supreme Court and collapsed in tears after the ruling.

"Finally I can appeal to the courts by showing them the Supreme Court judgement and I can be free at last," Jafar said.

The ruling was greeted with front page banner headlines such as "Love at First Right", "Rainbow Nation" and "Independence Day".

Many commentators said the five justices may have opened the doors to demands for greater civil rights for long-marginalised gays and lesbians, including same-sex marriage.

The Hindu newspaper called the verdict "a reaffirmation of the right to love" and "a welcome departure" from traditional mores.

The Hindustan Times warned that members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender communities would still face condemnation from their families and colleagues.

"Harassment and violence will continue to occur," it warned.

"But if the long legal battle and the courage of queer people and communities are anything to go by, this fight for equal rights will not end. It will grow even stronger now that even the apex court has said there is no going back."

The United Nations and rights activists around the world welcomed the Supreme Court ruling.

"This is a great day for India and for all those who believe in the universality of human rights," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement Friday.

"I hope that other courts elsewhere in the world will look to India's example and be encouraged to move in the same direction."

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing government has yet to make a comment on the ruling.

Modi's administration had initially opposed dismantling Section 377, though in July government lawyers said they would give in to the "wisdom" of the top court.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who was among the five judges to strike down the law, said in his ruling that the government should have taken a categorical stand.

The Indian Express said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's silence on the issue was "deafening".

<a href="../../video/jpg/MMV1232468_TEN.jpg" id="07732279-5b85-56b4-8faf-4cb53680016b">jpeg</a><a href="../../video/mpg/MMV1232468_TEN.1280x720.mp4" id="91deacc0-e715-5f3a-9b9b-c01cd03d425e">Mpeg4-1280x720</a>Veteran journalist Barkha Dutt said the government had lost an opportunity to bask in reflected glory by choosing to sit on the fence.

"In saying neither yes nor no, it has failed a critical leadership test," she wrote in a column for the Washington Post.

India's main opposition Congress and other small regional parties have welcomed the verdict.

The BJP's ideological Hindu nationalist backer, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said it does not consider homosexuality a crime but it did not support same-sex relations.

"Traditionally, Indian society does not accept such relations," it said in a statement.

But even as India's media widely hailed the Supreme Court for quashing the 157-year-old ban on gay sex, it highlighted the "deafening" silence of the conservative government on the historic verdict.

Activist charged under India's anti-gay law prays for salvation

<h1>The political make-up of Africas most populous nation is coming under scrutiny after a leading election hopeful promised greater devolution if he becomes president at polls next year.</h1>

"Over the years, since (the) military got involved governing the country, they have created too many states and concentrated a lot of power in the centre," he said.

"So, we believe we should return to the principles of true federalism: devolving more power and resources to the components of federalism in terms of security, healthcare, education."

Such issues "will be best dealt with by people nearer to the people than the FG (federal government), which is too far away", Abubakar, 71, told reporters in an interview.

In July, states and local governments received 656.6 billion naira ($1.8 billion, 1.6 billion euros) from a total of 821.9 billion naira in federal funding, according to official statistics.

The money shared out from the central account comes from revenue generated by the states themselves.

But more prosperous states -- particularly those in the oil-producing south -- have long complained they are subsidising less productive counterparts, especially those in the more impoverished north.

Abubakar's call for a loosening of federal ties is significant because it stands at odds with the position of his fellow politicians from the north, including Buhari.

Until now, the idea has had more support in the south.

Nigeria as a single entity dates back to 1914 when British colonial rulers amalgamated northern and southern Nigeria for commercial purposes.

But there have been tensions ever since -- and questions about whether the union can hold -- because of ethnic, cultural and religious divisions.

Regional identity is fiercely guarded in Nigeria, which is almost evenly divided between a mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south. The most obvious division has been between the north and south.

Abubakar, who was president Olusegun Obasanjo's deputy from 1999 to 2007, described Nigeria as "a number of countries in one country".

Critics of the current political set-up, such as the Restructure Nigeria group, have called the current system of allocations "unfair, ridiculous and bizarre" and suggested it provides no incentives and breeds corruption.

Ending "unitary 'feeding bottle' federalism" and giving states more control of areas from natural resources to policing would kickstart moribund local economies and improve security, they argue.

Militancy in the oil-producing south has largely been fuelled by demands for greater control of the revenue generated by oil and gas.

Repeated lack of central funding for infrastructure has equally contributed to the revival of separatist sentiment in the southeast.

But Buhari's administration has maintained that good governance and better execution of infrastructure projects is more important than restructuring.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said last month: "It is about managing resources properly and providing for the people properly, that is what it is all about."

He recalled his time as a commissioner in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, between 1999 and 2007 and how he fought for financial autonomy for the state.

"We felt that there was a need for the states to be stronger, for states, to more or less, determine their fortunes."

Osinbajo on Tuesday said Abubakar lacked proper understanding of restructuring, calling his plan "vague" and ill thought-out.

Abubakar, who wants to secure the ticket for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, admitted that his position would not be popular in his native northeast Nigeria.

But it could be a canny political move to win support in the south, which traditionally has not been inclined to back northern Muslim candidates.

The ethnic Yoruba socio-cultural group Afenifere in the southwest has led calls for greater devolution. The region includes megacity Lagos - a key election battleground and must-win prize for any presidential hopeful.

"When people talk about good governance and promise good roads, agricultural development and all that, we just laugh," Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, said last weekend.

"There must be a country first before any development."

Nigeria is riven with security challenges from Boko Haram Islamists in the northeast to Biafran separatists in the southeast and violence between farmers and herders in central states.

Peace and stability would be elusive without restructuring, he added.

Nigeria's former vice-president Atiku Abubakar said this week he was in favour of handing more powers to the country's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory if he wins in February.