China's top political advisory body is scheduled to conclude its annual session later on today.

Several draft documents are set to be submitted for review to the closing session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The documents include a draft resolution on the work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee.

 

Chinese President vows no compromise on national interests

Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling on country's armed forces to "courageously" assume their responsibilities in safeguarding China's national sovereignty and interests.

Xi Jinping has made the comments while sitting in on a meeting of the People's Liberation Army delegation at the ongoing legislative sessions in Beijing.

Xi Jinping, who is also the chair of the Central Military Commission, is also calling on the armed forces to be firm in faith and loyal in mission.

 

Search continues for missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Malaysia's air force chief is denying media reports the missing Malaysia Airlines fight may have turned back and made its way into the Strait of Malacca on the opposite side of Malaysia.

But while the search for the missing flight is still mostly focused in the Gulf of Thailand, the Strait of Malacca has since been been included in the search grid.

Meanwhile, The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency says they're not yet willing to rule out the possibility of a terror link to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

CIA chief John Brennan's suggestion is running counter to comments made Tuesday by the head of Interpol.

There has still been no sign of the flight, which disappeared off radar early Saturday morning while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Of the 239-passangers and crew onboard, 154 are Chinese nationals.

 

Referendum on Crimea "unconstitutional": Ukraine diplomat

The Ukraine's permanent representative to the United Nations has issued a new statement, saying the forthcoming Crimean referendum on joining Russia is "illegitimate under the constitution of Ukraine."

But in making the statement, Yurii Klymenko does say the authorities in Kiev are willing to enter into negotiations to resolve the political unrest in Crimea.

Klymenko's comments come on the heels of a new declaration by Crimean Parliament on Tuesday which specifies that Crimea will become independent if some 2-million people there vote in favor of joining Russia in Sunday's planned referendum.

 

Turkey faces protests over death of student

A new round of mass demonstrations have been gripping Turkey through Tuesday.

This follows the death of a 15-year old protester who was injured in last summer's demonstrations in Gezi Park in Istanbul.

The young man was hit in the head with a police gas canister during last year's mass demonstrations and fell into an irrerversable coma.

He died Tuesday.

The mass demonstrations which gripped Turkey last year began as a local protest in Istanbul, but later expanded into country-wide protests against the administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan, who protesters accuse of corruption and trying to install conservative Islamic values on the country's largely secular youth.

 

Lebanon condemns cross-border attack from Syria

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has issued a new call for the warring factions in Syria to avoid allowing their dispute to spill over into his country.

The call comes after four rockets fired from Syria hit the outskirts of a Lebanese village near the border, wounding three Lebanese nationals.

Suleiman has since told the Lebanese army to take all necessary steps to defend frontier villages.

Lebanon has long been divided over the clashes in neighboring Syria. 

Shiite Hezbollah and its allies back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The Sunni-led opposition supports the rebels.

This has led to sectarian violence against the different factions erupting within Lebanon itself.

 

Michelle Bachelet sworn in as Chile's president

Michelle Bachelet has been officially sworn in again as Chile's President.

The 62-year old takes over from outgoing President Sebastian Pinera.

Leaders from across South America, including the Presidents of Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Columbia and Peru have attended the ceremony in Santiago.

This now becomes Bachelet's second stint at the President of Chile.

The head of a center-left coaltion, Bachelet headed the country from 2006 to 2010.

Bachelet took December's run-off Presidental election with 62-percent of the vote.

She has taken office on a three-pronged pledge to create free education in Chile, overhaul the country's tax codes to fund the new education strategy and adopt a new national constitution.

 

Former Croatian PM convicted of graft, sentenced to 9 years in jail

A former Prime Minister of Croatia has been sentenced to 9-years in prison on a corruption conviction.

Ivo Sanader and four other members of his Croatian Democratic Union party have been convicted of siphoning money from state funds and companies to help bolster the party and their own personal wealth.

In handing down the sentence, the courts in Zagreb have also ordered Sanader to return some 2-million euros worth ill-gotten gains.

Tuesday's sentencing is the 2nd jail term handed to Sanader, who is already serving 10-years in prison on another corruption conviction.