Painted on scraps of clothing with carved soap, cigarette lighters and even syringes, Htein Lin's artworks were his lifeline during years in Myanmar jails -- and the spark for an extraordinary love story.

"These paintings were really dangerous and also precious," said the 46-year-old former student protest leader, who produced more than 200 works during his six-and-a-half years in jail under the junta.

South Korea's low birth rate means the size of its youth population -- those aged between nine and 24 -- will be slashed in half by 2060, a government report warned Monday.

The number of young people peaked at 14 million in 1980, accounting for 36.8 percent of the whole population, census data by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family showed.

The Church of England has dropped its opposition to gay clergymen in civil partnerships becoming bishops, provided the men concerned promise to remain celibate, it confirmed on Friday.

The announcement by the Church's House of Bishops is likely to reignite a row which has split England's state Church since 2003, when gay cleric Jeffrey John was forced to withdraw as bishop of Reading under pressure from traditionalists.

Poland's chief rabbi on Friday voiced outrage over a statue of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler kneeling at a Holocaust site in Warsaw, part of an installation by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.

"When it comes to showing the figure of Hitler, we have an extra special responsibility to be sensitive to those who suffered because of what Hitler created, to Holocaust survivors, to non-Jewish survivors, to those who didn't survive," Rabbi Michael Schudrich told Agence France Presse.

The number of visitors to the World War II Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp soared to a record 1.43 million in 2012, the museum at the site in southern Poland said Friday.

"This is a record in the 65-year history of this museum. We've received over a million visitors each year over the last six years," it said in a statement published on its website.

Pope Benedict XVI will get a good view of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue when he flies by in a helicopter during a Catholic youth festival in July, a church official said Friday.

Organizers expect some two million young faithful to flock to the city for the Roman Catholic Church's next World Youth Day festivities to be held in the Brazilian city from July 23-28.

Only one of Spain's luxury Parador hotels will close, instead of seven, as earlier planned, following negotiations between the parent company and labor unions.

The hotels, located in historic buildings in some of Spain's most beautiful locations, are a symbol of the country's key tourism industry.

Two iconic Ghost Gum trees painted many times by famed Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira have been burnt down just as they were being considered for inclusion on a heritage register.

Northern Territory's Minister for Indigenous Advancement Alison Anderson said police believe arsonists set ablaze the trees, which stood 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the outback town of Alice Springs.

A trove of ancient manuscripts in Hebrew characters rescued from caves in a Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan is providing the first physical evidence of a Jewish community that thrived there a thousand years ago.

On Thursday Israel's National Library unveiled the cache of recently purchased documents that run the gamut of life experiences, including biblical commentaries, personal letters and financial records.

One of France's best-known comic book creators, Jacques Tardi, has refused the country's highest honor saying he does not want to fall under any political influence.

Tardi, best known for his works on the horrors of war and his Adele Blanc-Sec fantasy series, said he had learned this week that he was to receive the Legion d'Honneur medal.