According to Frontier, Fenster had previously worked for Myanmar Now, an independent news site that has been critical of the military since the coup.
"The charges were all based on the allegation that he was working for banned media outlet Myanmar Now. Danny had resigned from Myanmar Now in July 2020 and joined Frontier the following month, so at the time of his arrest in May 2021 he had been working with Frontier for more than nine months," said the news site.
"There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges."
In a statement before the sentencing, the US state department commented that "the profoundly unjust nature of Danny's detention is plain for all the world to see. The regime should take the prudent step of releasing him now".
Myanmar's military leaders seized power in February after suffering a massive election defeat at the hands of the ruling National League of Democracy.
They said they had been forced into the move by widespread vote fraud, although the country's election commission said there was no evidence to support such claims.
Mass civilian protests rose up across the country, and were brutally suppressed by the military.
Since then, at least 1,260 people have been killed and 7,251 are under detention in a crackdown on dissent, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
Around 80 local journalists are known to have been detained for their reporting so far. According to the AAPP, 50 of them are still in detention and half have been prosecuted.
Fenster was the first Western journalist sentenced to prison in recent years in Myanmar, Reuters reports.
Austria is placing millions of people not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in lockdown as of today as Europe becomes the epicentre of the pandemic once again.
Anyone over the age of 12 who has not been double-jabbed is now only allowed to leave their homes for work, school, exercise and buying essential supplies - with the lockdown affecting about two million of Austria's 8.9 million population.
Image:A lockdown has been imposed in Austria for people who are not fully vaccinated
Europe is now accounting for more than half of the average seven-day cases worldwide and around half of latest deaths - the highest levels since April last year when COVID-19 was at its initial peak in Italy.
Governments across Europe are concerned that enforcing fresh measures will derail a fragile economic recovery as other countries including the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic taking or planning measures to curb the spread.
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COVID-19: Booster jabs explained
Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe, with only around 65% of the total population fully vaccinated.
The country has faced a worrying trend in infections in recent weeks - reporting 11,552 new cases on Sunday, while a week ago there were 8,554 new infections.
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The seven-day infection rate is currently 775.5 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while neighbouring Germany, which has already sounded the alarm over rising numbers, has a rate of 289 in comparison.
In the Netherlands, 15 people were arrested after protests broke out over a three-week partial coronavirus lockdown that was imposed on Saturday night due to a spike in infections.
Image:The Dutch government has also announced new social restrictions for the Netherlands
Caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had earlier said his government wants to "deliver a hard blow to the virus" as bars, restaurants and supermarkets will be ordered to close at 8pm and professional sports matches will be played in empty stadiums.
In eastern Europe, Romania and Bulgaria have reported record numbers of daily coronavirus infections. Case rates have increased by more than tenfold in two months to the end of October, when some restrictions were reimposed.
Daily case rates in the UK have also risen to around 70 cases for every 100,000 people and have remained there for much of the summer.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the fresh concerns as "storm clouds" of a new coronavirus wave are gathering over Europe on Friday and urged Britons to get their booster jabs.
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COVID-19: 'I'm seeing the storm'
According to The Times, the UK government is poised to extend the COVID-19 booster programme to people under the age of 50 to drive down transmission rates as winter approaches.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is expected to give its approval on Monday on the move to extend the rollout, with the newspaper adding that the precise details of the age groups have not been confirmed.
More than two million people in England received their COVID-19 booster in the past week, with health officials describing the numbers as record-breaking.
Professor Neil Ferguson, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said with high levels of COVID immunity and a strong booster vaccination programme, the UK is "unlikely" to experience a "catastrophic winter wave" of infections that would require a Christmas lockdown similar to last year.
Acknowledging however that the UK is seeing a "hint of an uptick in the last few days" following weeks of declining case numbers and hospital admissions, he told the BBC's Today programme: "We've had very high case numbers - between 30,000 and 50,000 a day - really for the last four months, since the beginning of July.
"That has obviously had some downsides.
"It has also paradoxically had an upside of boosting the immunity of the population compared with countries like Germany, the Netherlands and France, which have had much lower case numbers and are only now seeing an uptick."
Image:The UK government is urging the public to get their booster shots
Dawn Bowden, deputy minister for arts and sport, said the measures "will help keep these businesses open during the difficult autumn and winter months ahead".
The Welsh government said the guidance on self-isolation had also been changed and people are being encouraged to work from home to help tackle the rising cases.
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The decision to green light jabs for children in this age group was announced by the health ministry on Sunday, following an agreement by a panel of experts.
It comes after US health officials granted the vaccine safe for the same age group earlier this month.
Central and eastern European governments have had to take drastic action with fresh measures as they struggle to ramp up vaccine uptake.
Latvia, one of the least vaccinated countries in the EU, introduced a four-week lockdown in mid-October. On Friday, its parliament voted to ban ministers who refuse vaccination from voting on laws and participating in discussions.
The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia have also tightened restrictions.
The son of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has announced his candidacy for the country's presidential elections next month.
Seif al-Islam submitted his candidacy papers in the southern town of Sabha, 650km (400 miles) south of the capital of Tripoli, the High National Elections Commission said in a statement.
He is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity related to the 2011 uprising that saw his father toppled after more than 40 years in power.
Muammar Gaddafi was later killed amid the ensuing civil war, and his son captured by fighters.
Image:Seif al-Islam appeared has appeared in public for the first time in five years. Pic: AP
Seif al-Islam, who was seen as the reformist face of Gadhafi's regime before the uprising, was released in June 2017 after more than five years of detention.
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He has appeared for the first time in public in five years in a video shared by an election official following the announcement of his candidacy bid.
Wearing a traditional Libyan robe, turban and spectacles, the 49-year-old spoke to the camera and said that God will decide the right path for the country's future.
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His candidacy is likely to stir controversy across the divided country.
Image:Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (right) is greeted by then Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in 2009. Pic: AP
Political parties and the UN have failed to unite the country since the 2011 violence left Libya split between rival governments - one based in the capital, Tripoli, and the other in the eastern part of the country.
Seif al-Islam is also a divisive figure as he is wanted by the ICC over crimes allegedly committed in the first weeks of the uprising.
ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah declined to comment on Seif al-Islam's candidacy, saying the court "does not comment on political issues".
Gaddafi's son, who has deep-rooted links to tribes across Libya, is the first major presidential hopeful to submit his candidacy to run for the country's highest post.
Image:Powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter is expected to run for the presidency. Pic: AP
Image:Parliament speaker Agila Saleh could also throw his hat in the ring. Pic: AP
Also widely expected to announce their bids are powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter, parliament speaker Agila Saleh and former interior minister Fathi Bashaga.
Abdel-Rahman el-Swahili, a lawmaker from Misrata, voiced his rejection of Seif al-Islam's candidacy, saying that Gaddafi's son should be prosecuted not running for president.
"Those who believe in the possibility of Libya's returning to the era of dictatorship after all these sacrifices, are delusional," he wrote on Facebook.
The election agency began the registration process for presidential and parliamentary hopefuls last week.
Seif al-Islam's candidacy came after an international conference in Paris on Friday expressed support for holding "free, fair, inclusive and credible presidential and parliamentary elections" on 24 December.
Saif al-Islam, a son of former Libyan dictator Muammer Gaddafi, has formally registered as a candidate in his country’s presidential elections due to be held on December 24.
His entry into an unstable political scene divided between squabbling factions is expected to further complicate efforts to hold the election. The ballot is seen by the UN and western governments as a necessary step to unify the oil-exporting country emerging from civil war, analysts say. Muammer Gaddafi was overthrown during a Nato-backed revolution in 2011.
A high-level meeting on Friday in Paris attended by leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Libya, the United Nations and US vice-president Kamala Harris, stressed the importance of holding the poll on time and threatened to slap sanctions on anyone who tries to undermine it.
Wolfram Lacher, Libya analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Saif al-Islam’s candidacy could spur other powerful figures and would-be candidates who are seeking to postpone or scuttle the election to intensify their efforts. There are disputes between political forces in eastern and western Libya over the legal framework governing the poll — something that could signal that the losing side will refuse to accept the results.
“A big part of the opposition to the poll from political forces, especially in western Libya, is that Saif, or Khalifa Haftar [the strongman controlling eastern Libya] would win,” said Lacher. “There are also those politicians who are resisting the election because they want to hold on to their posts. I expect calls for a boycott of the election to get louder now.”
On Sunday, widely circulated footage showed Saif al-Islam, once his father’s heir apparent, filling in the registration papers at the electoral commission’s office in the town of Sabha in Libya’s Saharan south, where he is understood to have support from local groups. The 49-year old has been out of view for almost a decade after his capture by forces from the western town of Zintan during the armed uprising of 2011. He appeared dressed in traditional Libyan robes, with a turban on his head and sporting a beard.
He was freed in 2017, but the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against him for crimes against humanity during the 2011 war. The Libyan prosecution also has an arrest warrant against him.
Saif al-Islam has a constituency among his own tribal group and others that sided with his father. According to polls, a wider swath of Libyans support him because they are nostalgic for a past before 2011 when the country was stable and prosperous, albeit under Gaddafi’s dictatorial rule.
Lacher says polls place the younger Gaddafi at the top of the list of politicians who would win a presidential election, but he notes that this could change once he starts to speak in public and interact with his supporters.
“No one really knows what he stands for today,” said Lacher. “For years he has been that figure on which people projected their hopes without his leading any sort of project. Even if it all happens and he wins, I think it is totally excluded that he could take office in Tripoli or the east. ”
Austria is placing about 2 million unvaccinated people in lockdown from Monday amid record infection levels and growing pressure on hospitals.
"We are not taking this step lightly but it is necessary," Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.
Unvaccinated people will only be able to leave home for a limited number of reasons, like working or buying food.
About 65% of Austria's population is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in western Europe.
Meanwhile the seven-day infection rate is more than 800 cases per 100,000 people, one of the highest in Europe.
Overall, Europe has again become the region most seriously-affected by the pandemic and several countries are introducing restrictions and warning of rising cases.
The unvaccinated were already barred from visiting restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas but will now be told to stay at home.
"In reality we have told one third of the population: you will not leave your apartment anymore apart from for certain reasons," Mr Schallenberg said.
"That is a massive reduction in contacts between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated."
The government says police will carry out spot checks in public spaces to determine their vaccination status.
The new measures - which do not apply to children under 12 or those who have recently recovered from Covid - will initially last for 10 days, Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said.
Some critics have questioned whether the move is constitutional. The far-right Freedom Party has said it will create a group of second-class citizens.
In neighbouring Germany, where Health Minister Jens Spahn has warned of a pandemic of the unvaccinated, the federal government and state leaders are due to meet next week to discus possible new restrictions.
Germany's 67.3% vaccination rate is higher than in Austria, but not by much. Germany has designated Austria a high-risk area, meaning anyone arriving from there must go into quarantine.
And the Netherlands has imposed a "lockdown-lite" designed to limit social contacts in response to a sharp increase in infections.
Measures include early closing for restaurants and shops and barring spectators from sporting events.
About 84% of Dutch adults have been fully vaccinated. Most patients in Dutch hospitals have not had their jab.
Vaccination rates are significantly lower in some eastern European nations.
Latvia, where 59% of the population are fully vaccinated, re-imposed lockdown last month and has banned lawmakers who refuse the vaccine from voting on laws and taking part in debates until the middle of next year. They will also see their pay docked.
In Russia only about 35% of the population are fully vaccinated, according to Our World In Data. At the end of October, Moscow shut shops, restaurants and schools in a partial lockdown and workers were given nine days paid holiday to curb infections.
Many Russians remain suspicious of the Sputnik V vaccine, which is internationally recognised as an effective shield against Covid.
Some other countries are also introducing measures applying only to the unvaccinated. In Australia, the state of Queensland will bar unvaccinated people from restaurants, pubs and sports events from 17 December.
And Singapore has said that those who remain unvaccinated by choice will have to pay for their own medical bills from December.
Austria is putting all unvaccinated residents into lockdown from midnight on Sunday, the government has said.
Anyone over the age of 12 who has not been double-jabbed will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, school, exercise and buying essential supplies.
The lockdown will affect about two million of Austria's 8.9 million population and last for 10 days before being reviewed.
On Friday, the government announced plans to lockdown the unvaccinated in two regions - Upper Austria and Salzburg - but this has now been extended to the rest of the country.
Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe and a seven-day average COVID infection rate of 775.5 per 100,000 people. The UK equivalent is currently 348.7 per 100,000.
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Image:Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced the measures on Sunday. Pic: AP
Ministers hope the new measures will encourage people to get vaccinated and start to curb case levels.
Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told reporters in Vienna on Sunday: "It's our job as the government of Austria to protect the people. Therefore we decided that starting Monday... there will be a lockdown for the unvaccinated."
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Police will be told to monitor people's activities and can fine them up to £1,200 (1,450 euros) for breaking the rules, Mr Schallenberg added.
Mr Schallenberg stressed that while the seven-day infection rate for vaccinated people has been falling in recent days, for the unvaccinated numbers are rising.
"The rate for the unvaccinated is at over 1,700, while for the vaccinated it is at 383," he said.
He also called on people who have already been vaccinated to get their booster jabs, claiming that otherwise "we will never get out of this vicious circle".
There has been growing concern about rising coronavirus cases in Europe, with the Netherlands going into a three-week partial lockdown and officials considering new restrictions in Germany.
About 2 million people are expected to be hit by the restrictions (Picture: Getty Images)
Austria is locking down its unvaccinated population in an effort to stop a new surge in Covid cases.
The move means unvaccinated people older than 12 will be banned from leaving their homes from midnight on Sunday, except for basic activities including working, food shopping or going for a walk.
Thought to impact roughly 2 million individuals, the restrictions will allow people who have not had a vaccine to leave their home for a coronavirus jab.
The plan is far from unexpected – with the Government warning last month that it could restrict the movements of those who have not been jabbed before this week saw a record-breaking surge in cases.
Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe, with only around 65% of people double-jabbed.
Now they can be fined up to €1,450 (around £1,240) if they do not adhere to the restrictions.
A demonstrator holds a placard reading ‘No to compulsory vaccination’ during an anti-vaccination protest in Vienna on Sunday (Picture: AFP)
The Austrian government are concerned that hospitals will struggle to cope with the growing influx of Covid patients.
Last week, it had already said that only those vaccinated against or recovered from the virus would be allowed into restaurants, hotels and cultural venues.
Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Sunday: ‘It’s our job as the government of Austria to protect the people.
‘Therefore we decided that starting Monday… there will be a lockdown for the unvaccinated.’
He added: ‘The situation is serious… We don’t take this step with a light heart but unfortunately it is necessary’.
Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (centre) said the move was designed to protect th population (Picture: AFP)
But there were protests against the new policy on Sunday, with demonstrators claiming the move made vaccinations compulsory.
People who have recently recovered from Covid-19 are exempt from the restrictions in the country of 9 million people, as are those aged under 12 since they are not yet able to be vaccinated.
But, in the capital Vienna, children from the age of five to 11 will be offered jabs from Monday – making it the first region in the EU to offer jabs to the age group.
Appointments were booked for more than 5,000 children when registration opened on Saturday, the city said.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not yet issued an authorisation for any of the vaccines to be used for this age group, though member states have the right to do so in a public health emergency.
The lockdown will initially last for 10 days, with police asked to check people outside to make sure they are vaccinated, Mr Schallenberg said.
Urging people to get jabbed, he pointed out that while the seven-day infection rate for vaccinated people has been falling in recent days, the same rate is rising quickly for the unvaccinated.
In recent weeks, the country has faced a surge of infections.
Some 11,552 new cases were reported on Sunday, compared to 8,554 the previous week, following a record of more than 13,000 on Saturday.
The seven-day infection rate stands at 775.5 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
In comparison, the rate is at 289 in neighbouring Germany.
So far, some 11,700 people infected with the virus have died in Austria.
Parliament, controlled by the Conservative-green coalition, is expected to rubber stamp the move later on Sunday.
