TUNISIA: A journalist and political commentator has been jailed for six months for insulting a public official, with his defence lawyers denouncing the sentence as “an assault on freedom of expression.”

A judge ordered that Mohamed Boughalleb must remain behind bars, where he has been since his arrest last month.

An official at the Ministry of Religious Affairs had lodged a complaint against Mr Boughalleb over a Facebook post linking him to corruption and misuse of public funds.

BURKINA FASO: The military junta has expelled three French diplomats for alleged subversive activities, according to a government document posted on social media today.

The junta declared that they were persona non grata in Burkina Faso, according to the document signed by the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

The French Foreign Ministry said yesterday that it rejected the accusations.

NIGERIA: Soldiers have rescued a woman who was abducted by Islamist extremists a decade ago while she was a schoolgirl, the army said today, adding that her three children had also been rescued.

Lydia Simon, who is five months’ pregnant, was rescued by troops in Borno state, where the 15-year insurgency by Islamist extremists is concentrated.

Ms Simon was among 276 girls seized from their school in the village of Chibok in April 2014. About 82 remain in captivity.

SWEDEN: The age required for people to legally change their gender is to be lowered from 18 to 16 after the parliament approved the measure on Wednesday.

Those under 18 still need approval from a guardian, a doctor and the National Board of Health and Welfare, but they no longer require a gender dysphoria diagnosis.