WARSAW (Reuters) - Migrants fleeing conflict should stay as close as possible to their home countries, Poland's president said on Friday, criticising proposals for an overhaul of the European Union's migration and asylum rules.

"For the sake of those countries from which these people are escaping war today, they need to be as close to their borders as possible in order to have the greatest possible enthusiasm and motivation to come back and rebuild them," President Andrzej Duda told public broadcaster TVP Info.

He criticized proposals for the EU to distribute migrants among member countries, saying that Poland opposed being forced to receive migrants and migrants having no choice in their destination.

"No dictate of the European Union, I believe, should ever force us to do so. We should never agree with that," he said.

The plan would legally oblige all member states to host their share of refugees, in exchange for funding from the EU budget. It also aims to step up returns of illegal migrants and support foreign states in stemming migration before people reach Europe.

On Thursday, after a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the plan was unacceptable to the Visegrad Four (V4) group, which also includes Slovakia.

TUTZING, Germany (Reuters) - Thai activists on Friday planted a symbolic plaque declaring Thailand belongs to the people in front of King Maha Vajiralongkorn's villa in Germany, as protests calling for reforms to his monarchy grow at home.

In the pouring rain, protest organiser Junya Limprasert from Act4Dem read out a letter to the king calling for more democracy and said the Thai people did not want a king who spends most of the year in Germany.

"We want the king to give up the throne, we want the king to stop harassing the Thai people," she said outside the villa in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg, a popular playground for millionaires an hour's drive southwest of Munich.

The Thai embassy in Berlin could not be reached for comment. The Royal Palace made no comment and has made no comment on the protests in Thailand.

Protesters challenging Thailand's palace and army-dominated establishment broke a long-standing taboo by demanding reform of the monarchy in August and the call was taken up last weekend by tens of thousands of people at a demonstration in Bangkok.

The hashtag #RepublicofThailand trended in Thailand on Friday after parliament delayed addressing protesters' demand for constitutional change.

According to the Thai constitution, the monarchy must be held "in a position of revered worship".

The symbolic plaque planted in a flower pot in front of the Tutzing villa resembled one protesters cemented near the Grand Palace in Bangkok last weekend and which proclaims Thailand belongs to the people and not the monarch. Thai police swiftly removed that plaque.

Vajiralongkorn, 68, has been Thailand's king since 2016, but spends much of his time in Bavaria, where his 15-year-old son is at school. The king's lifestyle has been fodder for German tabloids, which have published pictures of him wearing a crop top when he was Crown Prince.

Details of the king's life in Germany are not carried in mainstream media in Thailand, where lese majeste laws set a jail sentence of up to 15 years for anyone insulting the monarchy.

Thai protesters have complained about the cost of the king's stays in Europe as well as his absence from the kingdom.

The protesters in Thailand seek to reduce the king's powers under the constitution and also to remove his direct control of a royal fortune valued in tens of billions of dollars and some units of the army.

“They believe that India is exclusive to Hindus and others are not equal citizens,” Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a prerecorded speech to the U.N. General Assembly as charging India’s Hindu nationalist government with igniting anti-Muslim sentiments in the region.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday assailed India's Hindu nationalist government and its moves to cement control of Muslim-majority Kashmir, calling India a state sponsor of hatred and prejudice against Islam.

Khan said at the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders that Islamophobia rules India and threatens the nearly 200 million Muslims who live there.

"They believe that India is exclusive to Hindus and others are not equal citizens," he said in a prerecorded speech to the U.N. General Assembly, which is being held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Khan has frequently criticized the August 2019 decision by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strip Jammu and Kashmir's statehood, scrap its separate constitution and remove inherited protections on land and jobs.

India's action and a security clampdown that followed have sparked protests. U.N.-appointed independent experts have called on India to take urgent action.

Residents of the heavily militarized Indian-controlled region of Kashmir say security forces have arrested thousands of young men, raided people's homes, inflicted beatings and electric shocks, and threatened to take away and marry their female relatives. Thousands of protesters over the past year have been wounded by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. For seven months, until March, the area was under a communications blackout, with social media and internet access banned.

"The international community must investigate these grave violations and prosecute the Indian civil and military personnel involved in state terrorism and serious crimes against humanity," Khan said.

The larger Kashmir region is split between India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars over the territory.

Khan, as he did in his speech before the world body last year, also condemned the targeting of Muslims in many countries. He noted provocations and incitement, such as the Quran being burned or offensive depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, that took place "in the name of free speech."

Khan also used his speech to call for debt relief for poor nations amid the pandemic.

He said COVID-19 illustrated that "no one is safe unless everyone is safe." He said lockdown measures by richer countries have triggered a global recession that has hit poor countries the hardest. He touted his government's decision not to impose a wide-scale lockdown, which he said would have led to more people dying of hunger than the virus.

"However, we are still not out of the woods, like no country is out of the woods today," Khan said.

Pakistan, with a population of about 220 million, has recorded 6,444 COVID-19 deaths from around 309,000 infections since February.

Khan said a push by the Group of 20 leading rich and developing countries to suspend debt repayment of poorer nations and rapid finance efforts by the International Monetary Fund are not enough. He called for the creation of at least $500 billion in new special drawing rights for developing nations./aa

"While in decades past Turkey had no presence in aviation, now it is among the few countries in the world making UAVs. We will achieve similar successes in the production of automobiles and flying cars. The world now is in a technological transition process, and technology isn't an option, it's a necessity," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in his speech.

Groundbreaking innovations, from artificial intelligence (AI) to blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT), will take root and grow at Teknofest, Turkey's biggest aerospace and technology event, the nation's president said on Saturday.

Teknofest is a place for young people who want to show their abilities in technological fields such as rockets, robotic, and aerospace, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed at the event, held in the southeastern metropolis of Gaziantep.

The four-day Teknofest festival, an annual event, started on Thursday and is set to end Sunday.

Technology's most important capital is productive brains, and Turkey needs successful young people to reach its goals, he added.

After large crowds attended the first two Teknofests, this year the event is not accepting visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

SUPPORT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

"No virus or threat can stop young people's perseverance," Erdoğan also said.

He said around 20,000 teams and 100,000 young people from 84 countries applied to take part in Teknofest competitions this year.

Turkey will continue to back young people with its strong infrastructure, support, and platforms such as Teknofest, he stressed.

"We can't say that everything is ideal, but we're determined to support you," said Erdoğan, adding:

"We address shortcomings, correct mistakes, meet needs, and remove hurdles as long as you don't stop making efforts to make your dreams come true."

'TECH A MUST, NOT AN OPTION'

He also said that while in decades past Turkey had no presence in aviation, now it is among the few countries in the world making UAVs.

"We will achieve similar successes in the production of automobiles and flying cars," he added.

The world now is in a technological transition process, and technology isn't an option, it's a necessity, he said.

"More importantly, our experience shows us that we must make this transition with national and indigenous sources," he added.

After his speech, along with young people Erdoğan cut the ribbon on 30 new technology courses in several cities.

He also handed out awards to champion teams in Teknofest competitions in several areas.

This year's third annual Teknofest featured competitions in around two dozen different categories, including biotechnology innovation, agriculture, environment and energy, transportation, education, helicopter design, and jet engine design.

Anadolu Agency has been the global communications partner of the event since 2018, including this year.

The annual event was originally set for April, but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Teknofest is held in the metropolis of Istanbul in odd years and in even years, in various Turkish cities./aa

The pilot whales got stuck in shallow waters on the west coast of Tasmania during the country's largest-ever recorded stranding. Rescuers were not able to save all 470 of the marine mammals.  

Rescuers saved 108 long-finned pilot whales that got caught up in Australia's largest mass stranding, officials confirmed on Saturday.

In total, 470 whales became stranded on sandbars at Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast this week.

The first 270 whales were discovered on Monday, with a further 200 spotted two days later, some 7 to 10 kilometers from the original site.

A third had already died before rescue efforts began.

There are no living whales remaining in the harbor, Australia's Parks and Wildlife Service said.

Authorities plan to use barges and boats to dispose of the remaining 350 carcasses at sea. This is expected to take several days and relies on calm conditions.

"Collection and disposal is being undertaken with the assistance of aquaculture companies whose equipment and expertise on the harbor is essential for a timely and effective outcome," Rob Buck, Incident Controller and Parks and Wildlife Service manager, said in a statement.

Why do whales get stranded?

Pilot whales are known for mass strandings. The top five largest beachings in Tasmania, dating to the early 1800s, all are from the same species.

While the cause of such strandings is often unknown, some experts think the whales may have been drawn to the coast to feed.

David Hocking, a marine mammal scientist at Monash University in Melbourne, told The Associated Press that pilot whales have strong family bonds, which also means they can travel in groups of up to 1,000, could play a role.

"If one or a few animals get themselves into trouble, they put out a distress call," Hocking said.

"Rather than running away, their instinct is to come together as a group because they have safety in numbers. But that means a few animals getting into trouble means they call more animals into that same area."

Australia's largest mass stranding had previously been 320 pilot whales near the Western Australia state town of Dunsborough in 1996.

Tasmania's previous largest stranding involved 294 whales on the northwest coast in 1935./agencies

Police in Belarus have rounded up dozens of women at a protest against embattled President Alexander Lukashenko. The authoritarian leader riled his opponents further this week by holding a secret swearing-in ceremony.

Hundreds of women joined a protest in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Saturday to renew calls for President Alexander Lukashenko to step down.

Police arrested more than 80 demonstrators, as well as some journalists, according to the Viasna human rights organization. Rallies were also taking place in other cities.

Demonstrations drawing hundreds of thousands of people have rocked Belarus since August 9 when Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in elections that the opposition and Western governments say was rigged.

Lukashenko has rejected allegations of vote manipulation, and instead blames the unrest in Belarus on foreign interference.

Strong and invincible

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko's main election opponent who fled to neighboring Lithuania after the vote, issued a statement on Saturday praising the female demonstrators and criticizing the police.

"You are strong and invincible," she said.

"What about the men themselves, who, hiding their faces, use force against women? Is it possible to live peacefully with such men?"

Lukashenko was sworn in for his sixth term earlier this week in a secret ceremony, sparking an outcry from his opponents. The move was also condemned by the United States and the European Union.

Security forces have detained thousands of people, including prominent opposition figures and journalists, since the protests began, but the anti-Lukashenko movement shows no sign of weakening.

Demonstrators are calling for the 66-year-old strongman to resign, fresh elections, the release of all political prisoners and an investigation into police brutality.

They've called a nationwide demonstration on Sunday, describing it as a "rehearsal for a proper inauguration by the people."

The Belarusian foreign minister is due to address the UN General Assembly later on Saturday.

Macron: Lukashenko 'has to go'

French President Emmanuel Macron said it is clear that President Lukashenko "has to go," in comments he made to French weekly Journal du Dimanche.

"It is a crisis of power, an authoritarian power that cannot accept the logic of democracy and which is hanging on by force," Macron told the Sunday newspaper./ agencies