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[ad_1] Image copyright Melyn McKay Image caption Bhutan's culture goes far beyond its mountains and valleys The reclusive kingdom of Bhutan has for years granted only limited access to tourists. But the country is now slowly attracting more visitors - and one way its doing so is through extreme sports, as filmmaker Alex Bescoby recounts. It was 2am on a chilly September morning in Bhutan, and a gruelling 268km (166 miles) slog lay ahead. Between me and the finish line in the capital, Thimphu, lay four mountain-passes each more than 10,000ft high (3,050m) and a feat of endurance that has taken world-class athletes more than 11 hours to complete. As the organisers of the Tour of the Dragon (TOD) point out, real dangers awaited. The TOD has been billed as the "toughest one-day bike race in the world". Bet...

[ad_1] Image copyright RACING NSW Image caption The promotion for "The Everest" is to take place on Tuesday A plan to advertise a horse race on the sails of the Sydney Opera House has prompted a large backlash in Australia. The World Heritage-listed site will show the advert on Tuesday, after an order by the New South Wales premier. Critics say the decision defies Sydney Opera House rules by effectively creating a "billboard" for the racing and gambling industries. But others, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, have defended it as positive for the economy and tourism. Since Friday, more than 150,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the opera house to be "protected". The Sydney Opera House, inaugurated in 1973, is recognised by the UN as a "masterpiece of 20th...

[ad_1] Image copyright EPA Image caption The woman had been watching a bull race in the French city of Aigues-Mortes. File image A woman has died after being struck by a bull during a local festival in the southern French city of Aigues-Mortes. The woman, from Cannes, was watching a bull race with her husband on Saturday. As the bulls left the area after the race, one jumped over the fence separating them from the public. The bull caught the woman in its horns and threw her several metres into the air before she fell on her head. She was evacuated by helicopter, but later died in hospital. The couple had been warned by fellow onlookers not to stand directly behind the fence as the bulls left the track, according to some reports. [ad_2]

[ad_1] BRASILIA: Brazilians will vote on Sunday in a polarized presidential race that could result in the election of a far-right former Army captain, whose praise of past dictatorships enrages critics but whose promise of a brutal crackdown on crime and corruption has electrified his supporters. Front-runner Jair Bolsonaro , who some call a tropical Trump, has surged in opinion polls in the past week. He is riding a wave of anger at the establishment after the uncovering of one of the world's largest political graft schemes, opposition to a return to power by the leftist Workers Party (PT) blamed for much of that corruption, and fears about spiking crime in the country with more murders than any other. But Brazil is split over what cost to its democracy it may pay if it chooses Bolsonaro, a long-time congressman who has repeatedly praised the 1964-85 military regime but now vows to stick strongly to democratic ideals, a conversion many question. Bolsonaro's closest rival is PT...

[ad_1] SYDNEY: A government push to use the Sydney Opera House 's sails to advertise a horse racing event over the wishes of the building's management has sparked uproar among many Australians over the commercialisation of an iconic landmark. The Aus$13 million (US$10 million) Everest race, which boasts the world's biggest turf race prize, is due to take place in Sydney next week and organisers are pushing to promote it on the white wings of the Opera House. Amid protracted negotiations, the state government stepped in late Friday to force the management to allow for the race's trophy, colours and numbers to be projected onto the white wings of the structure early next week. The wings have been lit up previously to promote other major sporting events, including the Olympics, but Opera House chief executive Louise Herron said before the government's intervention that she did not want the building to be used as an advertising "billboard". "If we said y...

[ad_1] Winx was a 1-10 on favourite for the race Top Australian horse Winx won her 28th consecutive race when accelerating from last to first to claim the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington in Melbourne. The popular seven-year-old - a 1-10 favourite for the race - will now be aimed at a record fourth success in the prestigious Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in Victoria at the end of the month. But the Chris Waller-trained filly had to work hard for the victory. "Her champion quality came out in the end," said jockey Hugh Bowman. [ad_2]

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images The World Chess Federation, (Fide), will elect a new leader on Wednesday, after a tense election campaign. Three would-be kings are battling it out to become the next head of chess's world governing body. It's been a game of intense strategy and calculated moves, marred by accusations of corruption and political meddling. The winner will be decided at a ceremony in Batumi, Georgia, at 11:00 local time (07:00 GMT). The players The race is a three-way contest in which 185 Fide national delegates will decide the winner at the international congress in Georgia. Georgios Makropoulos is the Greek current deputy president of Fide. But he has a problem - how to distance himself from former president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who he served under. Mr Ilyumzhinov has been sanctioned by the US for allegedly facilitating transactions on behalf of the Syrian ...

[ad_1] The animal ran amok after escaping its handler in Chantilly, France, [ad_2]