UN CHIEF ISSUES 7-POINT 'CALL TO ACTION' ON HUMAN RIGHTSThe head of the United Nations issued a "call to action" on Monday tocountries, businesses and all people to help renew and revive human rightsacross the globe, laying out a seven-point plan amid concerns about climatechange, conflict and repression.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the appeal at the start of thelatest Human Rights Council session in Geneva, known as the council's"high-level segment" because it hosts a parade of dignitaries _ includingLibya's prime minister and foreign ministers from countries like Germany,Saudi Arabia and South Korea at the start of the four-week session."I have come to the Human Rights Council _ the fulcrum for internationaldialogue and cooperation to advance all human rights _ to launch a Call toAction," Guterres said, speaking in broad terms and avoiding any referenceto individual countries' rights records.The U.N. chief said he wanted to speak out now because "human rights areunder assault." His seven-point plan involves linking human rights to issueslike sustainable development, crisis prevention, gender equality, thedevelopment of the digital age, and freedom of expression and civil society,among other things."Success must be measured by the yardstick of meaningful change in people'slives," he said. "As a United Nations family, a culture of human rights mustpermeate all we do."In a veiled allusion to China's Communist government, which has madeeconomic and social development a key pillar of its approach to humanrights, Guterres said: "It would be a mistake to diminish economic, socialand cultural rights."But it would be equally misguided to think that those rights are sufficientto answer people's yearning for freedom," he sid.Guterres also spoke out against rising racism, white supremacy andextremism, and lamented violence against women and girls "as the world'smost pervasive human rights abuse."VOTING BEGINS TO FIND JEREMY CORBYN REPLACEMENTAlmost 6,00,000 members of Britain's main opposition Labour party beganvoting on Monday for a new leader to replace leftist Jeremy Corbyn in thewake of a devastating election defeat.Three candidates - all members of Parliament - are on the ballot paper, withthe final result due to be announced on April 4.Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer is the frontrunner, viewed as more moderatethan his main rival Rebecca Long-Bailey.The third candidate, Lisa Nandy, is well-regarded in Westminster but has alow public profile.Mr. Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015, after a political career spenton the sidelines of a party where few MPs share his staunch socialist views.Now 70, he drew an enthusiastic following among youth but was forced to stepdown after a second general election defeat in December.There had been more candidates to succeed Mr. Corbyn but only three reachedthe required threshold of support from fellow MPs, trade unions and localLabour associations.It is now up to the membership to decide. Postal and email ballots were sentout Monday.There were more than 580,000 Labour party members after the election andmore people are believed to have signed up since.GERMANY'S AFD TO RETURN TO HAMBURG PARLIAMENTGermany's far-right AfD party will return to Hamburg's state Parliament bythe skin of its teeth, official results showed, after exit polls fromweekend elections suggested it would crash out.Initially predicted to pick up 4.8% of Sunday's vote in the city State, thefinal count put AfD at 5.3%, just above the 5% minimum required to enterParliament under German electoral law.The anti-immigrant party nonetheless suffered losses compared to the lastState elections in 2015, when they picked up 6.1% of the vote.Largely unpopular in the cosmopolitan port city, the AfD struggled furtherin the wake of a racist attack which killed nine in central German cityHanau last week."Getting in by a whisker is a huge success in this case because we weresubjected to campaigns from the entire political establishment of the cityof Hamburg," said regional AfD leader Dirk Nockemann.The liberal FDP party, meanwhile, also appeared to edge over thefive-percent hurdle to retain its place in Hamburg's parliament.Final estimates put the FDP on 5% exactly, although with some constituenciesyet to finalise their counts, their fate remained in the balance on Mondaymorning.ASSANGE RISKED LIVES, US LAWYER TELLS UK COURTJulian Assange is wanted for crimes that put at risk the lives of people inIraq, Iran and Afghanistan who had helped the West, some of whom laterdisappeared, said a lawyer acting for the United States in its bid toextradite him.Almost a decade since his WikiLeaks website enraged Washington by leakinghundreds of thousands of secret US documents, Assange, 48, is fightingextradition from Britain to the United States, where he is accused ofespionage and hacking. James Lewis told London's Woolwich Crown Court thatAssange was wanted not because he embarrassed the authorities but because heput informants and rights activists at risk of torture or death.Supporters hail Assange as an anti-establishment hero. Chants from 100 ofhis backers outside could be clearly heard inside.