European Union referendum: UK goes to the polls
Voting is under way in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave.
A record 46,499,537 people are entitled to take part, according to provisional figures from the Electoral Commission.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 BST and will close at 22:00 BST.
It is only the third nationwide referendum in UK history and comes after a four-month battle for votes between the Leave and Remain campaigns.
In common with other broadcasters, the BBC is limited in what it can report while polls are open but you can follow the results as they come in across the BBC after polls close on Thursday evening.
- Polling day: Latest updates
- How to vote on polling day
- Polling day guide: What to watch for
- How the BBC reports EU referendum polling day
The referendum ballot paper asks the following question: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"
Turkey blocks German delegation airbase trip over Armenian genocide row
Turkey has blocked a high-level German delegation from visiting troops at an airbase taking part in the US-led mission against "Islamic State." The spat appears to be over Germany's Armenia genocide resolution.
Turkey has denied permission for a senior German defense official and several members of parliament to visit Incirlik airbase in July, a spokesperson from the German defense ministry said Wednesday, as tensions mount between the NATO allies.
Germany has about 250 troops, six Tornado reconnaissance planes and a refueling aircraft at the airbase in southern Turkey as part of the international coalition fighting the so-called "Islamic State" in Syria.
Ralf Brauksiepe, the undersecretary for defense, planned to visit German troops in July with a parliamentary delegation, but has so far been blocked due to tensions between Berlin and Ankara over a Bundestag resolution earlier this month calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians a genocide.
"The Turkish authorities at the moment are not approving the travel plans," a German defense ministry spokesperson said, confirming a report in news magazine "Der Spiegel."
Fighting police violence in Brazil, one amateur video at a time
OBSERVERS
In Brazil, police violence is a common occurrence, but these crimes mostly go unpunished. A Brazilian NGO decided to fight this trend by launching a website where contributors can send videos purporting to show police violence. The organisation then verifies the videos before submitting them to the relevant authorities in the hopes of launching legal proceedings.
On February 22, 2016, police officers killed 19-year-old Igor Silva in the Maré favela in Rio de Janeiro. Many newspapers only covered the official version of events: that the teenager was injured during a clash with police and then died en route to the hospital. He was allegedly in possession of a 40-calibre pistol and a bullet-proof vest.
The teen’s family and other residents of the favela contested the official version of the story. They protested that Igor Silva had no involvement in drug trafficking, but their cries were in vain. That might have been the end to the story except that a video was sent to DefeZap, a website aimed at collecting videos of police violence in Brazil. DefeZap was launched by the NGO Meu Rio, which works to promote democracy in Rio de Janeiro. The footage shows the lifeless body of a young man, presented as Igor Silva, being loaded into the back of a police car. In the video, it does not look like the young man is wearing a bullet-proof vest. The article published on DefeZap alleges that this footage proves that the police did not call emergency services or a forensic team, which is required by Brazilian law in the case of serious injury or death.
Indonesian president's visit to Natuna Islands sends waters warning to China
June 23, 2016 - 5:16PM
Jewel Topsfield
Indonesia Correspondent, Fairfax Media
Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has held a cabinet meeting on a warship in the Natuna Islands in a defiant gesture to China that it has sovereign rights over the disputed waters in the far north of the archipelago.
Diplomatic tensions have been rising after three clashes between Chinese fishing vessels and the Indonesian navy in the region in as many months.
Indonesia is not a claimant in the territorial dispute in the South China Sea and China acknowledges that the Natuna Islands belong to Indonesia.
However part of the waters surrounding the islands, which are rich in marine life, fall within both Indonesia's exclusive economic zone and the so-called "nine-dash line" on which China bases its claim over most of the South China Sea.
Report: China still harvesting organs from prisoners at a massive scale
Updated 0837 GMT (1637 HKT) June 23, 2016
A new report claims that China is still engaged in the widespread and systematic harvesting of organs from prisoners, and says that people whose views conflict with the ruling Chinese Communist Party are being murdered for their organs.
The report -- by former Canadian lawmaker David Kilgour, human rights lawyer David Matas, and journalist Ethan Gutmann -- collates publicly reported figures from hospitals across China to show what they claim is a massive discrepancy between official figures for the number of transplants carried out throughout the country.
They blame the Chinese government, the Communist Party, the health system, doctors and hospitals for being complicit.
Democrats hold chaotic all-night sit-in to fight for gun control vote in House – campaign live
House of Representatives officially adjourned at 3.14am
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