Exiled Tibetans Vote to Elect Political Leader To Succeed Dalai Lama

Exiled Tibetans have started voting to elect a political leader for the next five years in a bid to help sustain their struggle to secure complete autonomy for Chinese-ruled Tibet.

Key points:

Tibetans in exile vote to elect diplomatic and political leader Comes after Dalai Lama's decision to relinquish political authority The Central Tibetan Administration is based in Dharamsala, India Men and women in colourful dresses formed long queues outside temporary polling booths in a Buddhist temple in Dharamsala, a town in India's Himalayan foothills where a community of Tibetans lives in exile with the Dalai Lama.

The second such election follows a decision by the Dalai Lama, the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate, to relinquish his political authority and vest it in a democratic system that could outlast him.

China does not recognise the government that represents more than 100,000 exiled Tibetans living mainly in India, Nepal and Bhutan......... Read More

Queensland Referendum Closes In On A 'Yes' For Four-Year Fixed Parliamentary Terms

Queensland's political system is set for its biggest shake-up in decades as a referendum for fixed four-year terms looks likely to succeed.

On Sunday afternoon, just under half of the three million votes had been counted, the yes vote held a 53.16 per cent margin to the no vote's 46.84 per cent.

The Palaszczuk Government remained cautiously optimistic after driving the yes campaign with advertisements and a bipartisan promotional tour in the week leading into polling day.

Road Safety Minister Mark Bailey said Queenslanders had decided they wanted a stable government.

"I think Queenslanders are showing good sense in terms of having provisions that other states have had for a long time," he said.

Shadow Attorney-General Ian Walker said the result made sense........ Read More

Bus crash in Spain kills 13 people travelling between Valencia and Barcelona

Thirteen people have been killed and 44 injured when a bus carrying foreign exchange students crashed in north-eastern Spain.

All the dead were female, according to a regional government source who requested anonymity.

The students were on a European exchange program in Catalonia and were from 16 different countries including Britain, Ukraine, Switzerland, Sweden but also Japan and New Zealand, said regional government official Jordi Jane.

The casualties' nationalities was not immediately known, said Mr Jane, revising down an earlier death toll of 14.

The accident occurred just before 6:00am (local time) near the small town of Freginals, about 150 kilometres south of Barcelona as the bus was returning from a popular festival in Valencia.

The driver "hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that the bus veered onto the other side of the highway," Mr Jane said......... Read More

Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching Threat Level Increased, Greg Hunt Announces Funding For Survey

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt says the coral bleaching threat level on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park will be increased to its highest level.

Mr Hunt took a flight over Lizard Island in Queensland's far north to view the bleaching event, after researchers working on the island reported the worst level of bleaching in 15 years.

But Mr Hunt said it was not as bad as first thought.

"It is not as severe at this stage as 1998 or 2002, which were both El Nino-related events, it is however, in the northern parts a cause for concern,"' Mr Hunt said.

"The reef is 2,300 kilometres long and the bottom three-quarters is in strong condition, but as we head north, it becomes increasingly prone to bleaching.

"Essentially what you could see was patches of coral bleaching as you approached Lizard Island."........ Read More

Istanbul Bomber Identified As Turkish Member of Islamic State Mehmet Ozturk

A Turkish member of the Islamic State (IS) militant group was responsible for the suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed three Israelis and an Iranian and wounded dozens of others, Turkey's Interior Minister says.

Efkan Ala identified the bomber as a man born in the southern province of Gaziantep, adding that five people have been detained so far in relation to the bombing.

"We have determined that Mehmet Ozturk, born in 1992 in Gaziantep, has carried out the heinous attack on Saturday in Istanbul," Mr Ala said.

"It has been established that he is a member of Daesh," he added, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Police were on high alert across Turkey on Sunday in the wake of the attack.

Streets across Istanbul — usually bustling with traffic and pedestrians on Sundays — were eerily quiet apart from the sound of police helicopters buzzing overhead. Television footage showed Istiklal Street virtually empty........ Read More

FlyDubai Plane Crash: Russia Opens criminal Case, Commemorates Victims

Russia has opened a criminal investigation into FlyDubai flight FZ981, which crashed during bad weather at Rostov-on-Don airport, killing 62 people.

The Boeing 777-800 was carrying 55 passengers and seven crew when it crashed at 3:40am Saturday local time (11:40pm AEDT).

The plane, which crashed during its second attempt to land, had been in a mid-air holding pattern for more than two hours, the US-based Flight Safety Foundation said.

Russia's Investigative Committee opened a criminal case and said poor conditions, pilot error or a technical failure may have caused the crash, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.

FlyDubai's CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith said it was "too early" to determine the cause, but ruled out speculation a bomb was onboard...... Read More

Company Tax Cuts to Benefit Workers, Economy, Arthur Sinodinos Says

Federal Labor has called on the Coalition to reveal its plans on company tax, after a senior Turnbull Government minister spelled out the case for reducing the burden on business.

Key points:

Arthur Sinodinos says cutting corporate taxes has positive flow on effects He says it encourages investment from overseas He maintains it leads to higher wages for workers, higher employment The Government has backed away from delivering personal tax relief in the May budget, but the option of corporate tax cuts remains.

Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos said cutting corporate taxation would benefit workers along with the economy.

"Putting money into the hands of consumers obviously encourages more spending and disposable income and has good incentive effects. But cutting company taxes also has good effects," Senator Sinodinos said.

"It can encourage investment, it can encourage higher productivity.

"There are lots of studies that show that that ultimately leads to higher GDP in the economy and higher wages for workers."......... Read More

Paris Attacks: Salah Abdeslam 'Changed Suicide Bomb Plan'

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has admitted he wanted to blow himself up but then changed his mind, a French prosecutor says.

Abdeslam has been charged with terrorism offences in Belgium a day after he was seized in a dramatic raid.

Abdeslam will fight extradition to France but has been co-operating with police, his lawyer says.

The Paris attacks in November left 130 people dead and dozens injured.

The so-called Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the bombings and shootings...... Read More

Flydubai Plane Crashes in Russia; 62 Aboard Reported Dead

(CNN) - A passenger jet circled a southern Russian airport in high winds and poor visibility before making a second, fatal attempt at landing Saturday, killing all 62 people aboard.

The flydubai Boeing 737 jet crashed at the Rostov-on-Don airport after traveling from Dubai, Russia's Southern Regional Emergency Center said Saturday.

All those on board died, authorities said.

Officials believe bad weather, which kept the plane from reattempting landing for more than two hours, likely caused the crash......Read More

Migrant Crisis: Turkey and EU Leaders Close in on Deal

European Union negotiators and Turkey have agreed a draft deal over the migrant crisis, which must now be approved by the 28 EU leaders.

Under the scheme, migrants arriving in Greece after midnight Sunday will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum claim is rejected.

In return, EU countries will resettle thousands of migrants from Turkey.

Both the Czech and Finnish leaders have indicated they and their counterparts will accept the deal......Read More

Merrick Garland Profile of US Supreme Court Hopeful

Veteran appeals court judge Merrick Garland will be President Barack Obama's nominee to the US Supreme Court, US media report. If successful, he would replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February. Who is Merrick Garland?

Judge Garland, 63, is the chief judge of the Washington appeals court and a former prosecutor.

He was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1997, winning confirmation in a 76-23 Senate vote. Prior to that, he served in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration....... Read More

US Election 2016: Fall of Republican Saviour Marco Rubio

It was a night when Donald Trump, John Kasich and Hillary Clinton gave victory-style speeches, and Marco Rubio bowed out in defeat.

The Republican field narrowed on so-called Super Tuesday II with the departure of Mr Rubio but it now becomes a three-way fight between Mr Trump, Mr Kasich and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Five big states cast votes and Mrs Clinton has won four of them so far, cementing her lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

So what did it all mean? BBC reporters give their views on some of the candidates.... Read More

China Opens A New University Every Week

China has been building the equivalent of almost one university per week.

It is part of a silent revolution that is causing a huge shift in the composition of the world's population of graduates.

For decades, the United States had the highest proportion of people going to university. They dominated the graduate market.

Reflecting this former supremacy, among 55 to 64 year olds almost a third of all graduates in the world's major economies are US citizens.

But that is changing rapidly among younger generations. In terms of producing graduates, China has overtaken the United States and the combined university systems of European Union countries........ Read More

Whale Missing Tail Fins Spotted Off New Zealand

A humpback whale missing most of its tail has been spotted off New Zealand.

The whale was first seen on Monday off the coast of Kaikoura on the north-east coast of South Island.

It was not clear how it came to lose its flukes, said local Department of Conservation ranger Mike Morrissey, but "it could have been the result of entanglement" in fishing nets.

But despite what looks like a severe injury, the whale seemed to be doing fine, he told the BBC.

"It appeared to be in good health and it's bending in the water and using its pectoral fins to spin around," Mr Morrissey said. Whales are sometimes caught in fishing gear, which can injure or kill them..... Read More

Rare Act Of Dissent At China's Annual Parliament

After 11 days of interminable speeches, followed by ritualistic voting to approve everything put before it, China's annual parliamentary gathering will, once again, leave little worthy of note in its wake.

That is precisely the intention of course because it is not meant to hold power to account.

That is kept tightly in the hands of the ruling Communist Party, and the key policies have long been decided in advance.

Nonetheless, every year, the meetings do provide an occasional glimpse of something meaningful for those watching closely.

Here then are two of them for 2016; the first, a rare act of dissent that could not be stifled and the second, paradoxically, an all-too-common act of obeisance that was mysteriously hidden from view.

Much has already been written about Jiang Hong........ Read More

Migrants Find New Routes As Old Ones Close

The Balkan route may officially be closed, but the Asylum Information Centre in Belgrade is very much open - and doing a roaring trade.

The location is central but insalubrious - squashed between fast-food shops at the scruffy end of Nemanjina Street, within sight of the city's main railway station.

The hubbub around the door and signs in the window handwritten in Arabic script indicate that arrivals from the Middle East are still coming to Serbia's capital.

Inside, there is organised chaos. On the ground floor, young men lounge awkwardly in hard-backed chairs, waiting for their turn on the computers lined up on one side of the room. Those in front of the machines don headsets and hold ebullient Skype conversations.......... Read More

US Election 2016: Winners And Losers On Super Tuesday II

In a golf tournament, the day before the final round is called "moving day". It's when the leaders pull away from the rest of the pack.

A rookie or little-known duffer may have strung together a few good holes or even posted a nice round, but time and pressure expose their flaws.

Tuesday was such a moment in the US presidential nomination season.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton came into the day with hopes of extending their leads in the all-important delegate count. They did that and more, taking big steps towards a showdown in the autumn general election.....Read More

Viajosola: Women Defend Solo Travelling In Wake of Backpacker Murders In Ecuador

The murder of two Argentine girls backpacking through South America has prompted women all over the world to defend solo travelling by females.

Maria Coni and Marina Menegazzo, 22 and 21, were found dead in Ecuador's pacific coast region in February and two men were later charged with their murder, the Ecuadorian Government said.

The girls had run out of money while travelling and got in touch with a friend who then organised a place for them to stay with two other men, Ecuador's state prosecutor Eduardo Gallardo Roda said.

The two men sexually assaulted the girls and then murdered the pair before dumping their bodies, according to authorities.

In the wake of the tragedy, many pointed fingers at the girls for travelling unaccompanied by a man and even questioned their parents for letting them travel independently.

One of the most controversial opinions was offered by Argentine psychiatrist Hugo Marietan who said the girls "took a risk" and labelled them "scapegoats"........... Read More

Pakistan: Bus Bomb Explosion Kills 15 in Peshawar

At least 15 people travelling on a bus have been killed by a bomb in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, officials say.

The vehicle was carrying government employees from nearby areas to the city.

An improvised device apparently inside the bus caused the blast, police say.

There has been no claim of responsibility, but Peshawar has frequently been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban.

Around 30 others were injured, and many were in critical condition, a medical source told Reuters news agency.

Television pictures showed the vehicle partially destroyed and some of the wounded being taken to a hospital.

The bomb went off as the bus passed a main road busy with morning traffic.... Read More

US Student Otto Warmbier Given Hard Labour In North Korea

US student Otto Warmbier has been given 15 years hard labour in North Korea for crimes against the state. Warmbier, 21, was arrested for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel while visiting North Korea in January.

He later appeared on state TV apparently confessing and saying a church group had asked him to bring back a "trophy" from his trip.

North Korea sometimes uses the detention of foreigners as a means of exerting pressure on its adversaries.

The BBC's Stephen Evans in South Korea says the 15-year sentence is high compared to those given to foreigners in the past.

This could be due to the particularly high tensions at the moment between North Korea and the US, he says.... Read More