Swiss vote against raising minimum wage

SWISS voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have introduced the world's highest minimum wage, early results from a referendum indicate.

About 77 per cent of voters cast ballots on Sunday against the measure that would have set an hourly minimum wage of 22 francs ($A27), Swiss broadcaster SRF projected.

The referendum was launched by left-wing parties and trade unions, which argued that such a salary was necessary for making a decent living in Switzerland, where the cost of living is among the highest in the world.

The government and employers associations had campaigned against the plan, warning that companies would shift operations to neighbouring countries and Switzerland's important tourism sector would suffer.

"This is a great success," said Hans-Ulrich Bigler, director of the Swiss trade association, told SRF.

"This is a clear endorsement by the people for the economy and the system to negotiate the wages between employer and employee."

Voters previously backed employers when they opted against extending annual paid holidays in 2012 and against capping manager salaries in 2013.

However, in another referendum last year, Swiss citizens supported a set of policies to stop what were perceived as excessive executive salaries.

In a separate referendum decision on Sunday, 54 per cent of voters narrowly rejected a government plan to modernise the air force by buying 22 Swedish Gripen jets.

Left-wing parties and groups had launched the referendum to stop the 3.1-billion-franc deal, arguing that the money would be better spent on education.

The gap between supporters and opponents of the Gripen deal narrowed in recent months, after a highjacking incident in February exposed the fact that existing Swiss fighter jets are only operational during office hours.

Conservative politicians had also pointed to the Ukraine crisis to make the point that Switzerland needed to be able to defend itself.

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Focus turns to Afghan landslide families

AS Afghans observe a day of mourning for the hundreds of people killed in a horrific landslide, authorities are trying to help the 700 families displaced by the torrent of mud that swept through their village.

The families left their homes due to the threat of more landslides in the village of Abi Barik in Badakhshan province, Minister for Rural Rehabilitation Wais Ahmad Barmak said on Sunday.

Aid groups and the government have rushed to the remote area in northeastern Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan and China with food, shelter and water.

A spokesman for the International Organisation of Migration, Matt Graydon, said the group is bringing solar-powered lanterns, blankets and shelter kits.

He said after a visit to the area on Sunday that some residents have gone to nearby villages to stay with family or friends while others have slept out in the open.

"Some people left with almost nothing," Graydon said.

Authorities gave $US400,000 ($A432,700) to the provincial governor on Saturday to use in the aid effort, said Barmak, who promised the government would provide more money if it's needed.

President Hamid Karzai designated Sunday as a day of mourning for the hundreds of people who died in Abi Barik when a wall of mud and earth broke off from the hill above and turned part of the village into a cemetery.

Authorities still don't have an exact figure on how many people died in the landslide.

Estimates have ranged from 250 to 2700, but authorities say it will be impossible to dig up all the bodies.

The government has identified 250 people who died and estimated that 300 houses were buried under tons of mud, Barmak said.

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Number of children in Japan falls again

THE number of children in Japan has fallen for the 33rd-consecutive year to 16.33 million as of April 1.

It's down 0.1 per cent from the same time a year earlier, the government says, as it struggles to raise the declining birth rate.

The number of those aged 14 and under was the lowest since the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications started compiling such data in 1950.

Children in Japan constituted 12.8 per cent of the population, the lowest percentage among 30 countries with populations of at least 40 million, the ministry said on Sunday.

In 1950, children made up 35.4 per cent of the country's population.

The ministry's report was released ahead of the Children's Day national holiday on Monday.

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French mountain climber dies in Nepal

A FRENCH mountain climber has died in Nepal due to altitude sickness.

Yannick Claude Sylvain Gagneret, 39, was climbing the 8481-metre-tall Mount Makalu in Sankhuwasabha district in northeastern Nepal when he died at its Camp One on Friday.

Police say his body was flown to Solukhumbu district after bad weather prevented flights to the capital.

An autopsy was to be conducted once the body was airlifted to Kathmandu.

On Tuesday, two Russian climbers died in the Everest region due to altitude sickness.

Meanwhile, a Slovakian tourist has been missing in the Everest region since April 21. Tamas Princzkel, 28, a Hungarian-speaking Slovakian citizen went missing in Dingboche, where he was travelling alone.

Police say they are still looking for him.

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US TV shows ordered off Chinese websites

VIDEO streaming websites in China have been ordered to stop showing four popular American TV shows, including The Big Bang Theory and The Good Wife.

The move suggests government attention is intensifying on the online industry, which is freer than state television and China's cinemas to show foreign productions and other content and has stretched the boundaries of what can be seen in the country.

A spokeswoman for a leading video site, Youku, said on Sunday it had received notification not to show sitcom The Big Bang Theory, political and legal drama The Good Wife, crime drama NCIS and legal drama The Practice.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television didn't give a reason for its order, she said.

A senior manager at another site, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said it received the surprise order last week to "clean their website".

The edict, which was identical to the one sent to Youku and other companies, also listed a Chinese slapstick miniseries made by another site, Sohu, as having to be removed.

Online streaming sites regularly receive orders to take down Chinese or foreign TV programs and movies, but usually because the regulator considers them too salacious or violent or because they infringe copyright laws.

Sohu's most popular US shows are crime drama Nikita - episodes from the first and second seasons have been watched a combined total of 472 million times - and Masters of Sex, which weren't included in the order.

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WA remains Australia's strongest economy

WESTERN Australia remains the nation's best performing economy but the Northern Territory is a close second.

The Top End is leading the way when it comes to economic activity, due to strong growth in construction, according to CommSec's quarterly State of the States report.

South Australia and Tasmania were the weakest performing states, while NSW came in third, followed by Queensland in fourth place and Victoria in fifth.

Every three months, CommSec uses eight key indicators to rank the states and territories - economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, construction work done, population growth, housing finance and dwelling commencements.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said the rebalancing of the Australian economy away from mining investment would soon cause a shake-up in the rankings.

"Western Australia continues to lead the rankings of best performing economies but in the latest quarter there was little to separate it from the Northern Territory economy," he said.

"The mining construction boom is over, replaced by the home construction boom.

"As a result, winners and losers will change across Australia, not just industries but also state and territory economies."

NSW lifted from fifth to third place following improvements in its economic growth, business investment, population growth and dwelling starts.

NSW is now the strongest state for new housing construction, with starts over 39 per cent above decade averages, Mr James said.

"The outlook for housing construction continues to strengthen, underpinned by low interest rates and strong demand by investors," Mr James said.

The jobs market was strongest in the Northern Territory and ACT and weakest in South Australia, where the jobless rate is up almost 28 per cent on the decade average, Mr James said.

He said the outlook for the Tasmanian and South Australian economies remained challenging.

"The hope is that property investors will soon switch attention away from NSW and Victoria to more affordable housing sectors," he said.

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Muslim world body heading to CAR

THE world's largest bloc of Islamic countries is sending 14 delegates to the strife-torn Central African Republic on a fact-finding and solidarity mission.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation said on Sunday delegates would be in the capital, Bangui, for three days from Tuesday.

Guinea's Foreign Minister Lounceny Fall will head the delegation, which will include Turkey's foreign minister and diplomats from some of the 57 member-states, as well as OIC Secretary-General Iyad Ameen Madani and the body's special envoy to the Central African Republic, Sheikh Tidiane Gadio.

The OIC said the delegates were expected to meet with interim President Catherine Samba-Panza, the prime minister and foreign minister, as well as Muslim and Christian religious leaders.

Central African Republic exploded into violence in early December amid mounting resentment toward a Muslim rebel government that had seized power in March 2013 by overthrowing the president of a decade.

The rebel leader-turned-president had little control over his forces, who were blamed for raping, torturing and killing civilians particularly among the country's Christian majority.

Once the government fell in January, Christian militia fighters began attacking Muslim civilians, prompting tens of thousands to flee the country and leaving an untold number dead.

The OIC visit follows that of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Central African Republic earlier this month.

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NAB lags on business customer ratings

NATIONAL Australia Bank continues to lag behind its major rivals when it comes to business customer satisfaction, despite a slight improvement.

NAB, Australia's biggest business lender, had an average customer satisfaction rating of 7.0 out of 10 in March, which lagged behind ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, which all scored 7.4.

But according to the monthly DBM Consultants Business Financial Services Monitor (BFSM), NAB has improved its standing among small and medium sized business.

DBM Consultants director Maria Claridad said the NAB ranked alongside the Commonwealth and Westpac in both categories, with ANZ lagging behind.

However, the bank's performance had been weighed down by its relatively weak standing among micro businesses.

"The key is to delight the micro businesses, as they make up close to 90 per cent of all Australian businesses," she said.

"NAB's score amongst these businesses is 6.9, although it has shown signs of improving in recent months."

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Nigerian economy becomes biggest in Africa

OFFICIALS say Nigeria's recalculated economy is worth $US510 billion ($A554 billion), by far the biggest in Africa and easily surpassing that of previous continental titleholder, South Africa, at $US353 billion.

Figures announced on Sunday are the first recount since 1990 of the GDP of Africa's biggest oil producer but do little for the 112 million Nigerians scrabbling to survive in poverty.

The International Monetary Fund had used the 1990 base to estimate Nigeria's GDP in 2013 at $US292 billion.

But that did not take into account new industries like telecommunications, information technology, music, airlines, burgeoning online retail outlets and Nollywood film production that didn't exist when the last GDP count was made in 1990.

Then, there were 300,000 landlines, while today, Nigeria has 100 million cell phone users.

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One burger 'enough to max out on salt'

A SINGLE Australian burger can contain more salt than an adult can safely eat in a day.

That's without chips, and even after four years of declining sodium in pizzas, burgers and takeaway chicken.

New research shows fast-food companies are using less salt in their products, but health experts say the reduction is not co-ordinated, and is also too little and too slow.

Too much salt is a killer, causing high blood pressure that leads to heart attacks and strokes. It has also been linked to bone damage and stomach cancer.

Research leader Dr Elizabeth Dunford, of The George Institute for Global Health and the University of Sydney, compared the salt content of more than 300 fast-food products over four years.

It will take government intervention to achieve significant sector-wide improvements, says Dr Dunford, whose study is published in the Medical Journal Of Australia.

The average Australian eats more than double the recommended four grams or single teaspoon of salt a day.

People can consume their entire daily quota in one burger, says Dr Dunford, who compared nutrition information on the Pizza Hut, Hungry Jacks, KFC, McDonald's, Subway and Domino's websites.

Overall salt content fell during the four years, but levels in side dishes rose.

Pizza Hut was the only brand to increase the amount of salt on its menu, mainly because of increased serving sizes and side dishes such as chicken bites.

"Salt levels in Australian fast food remain high. These small reductions in salt levels could be easily undone by the trend towards larger portion sizes," Dr Dunford says.

She urges Australia to adopt a strategy similar to the UK's government-led salt-reduction program, which has achieved lower salt levels than other countries.

"Salt reduction is one of the most cost-effective options for improving public health," Dr Dunford says.

Asked for comment, Professor Garry Jennings of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute called for more action.

"The inconvenient truth is that there's too much salt in many commercial foods and being blind to it can cause significant damage," he says.

"Better labelling and a stronger commitment from processed food companies would go a long way to tackling Australia's burden of cardiovascular disease."

The Heart Foundation's Dr Robert Grenfell described the findings as a step in the right direction.

"But we're mindful that what's in the actual product can, in some instances, vary from what's stated on the company's nutritional panels."

"Research suggests that if we cut the nation's salt intake by an average of three grams a day, we could prevent 6000 deaths every year."

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