Good Morning Australia!! - The Government sounds the alarm about bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef - Obama goes to Cuba to meet Castro - Russia investigates possible "criminal" involvement in the Rostov-on-Don plane crash  - And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

After flying over Queensland's Lizard Island, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt is raising the bleaching threat on the Great Barrier Marine Park to its highest level.  "The reef is 2,300 kilometers long and the bottom three-quarters is in strong condition, but as we head north, it becomes increasingly prone to bleaching," said Mr. Hunt to the ABC.  The Federal government will now fund a study of the reef at some 40 spots where bleaching had been detected.

US President Barack Obama makes a historic visit to Cuba, the first such trip in 88 years.  He'll meet with President Raul Castro to discuss trade and issues and political reform.  US-Cuban relations have experienced a very rapid thaw in the past 18 months, and the idea of such a visit a couple of years ago would have been unthinkable.  The media-savvy American president even recorded a comedy routine with Cuba's number-one TV comedian prior to departing Washington.

A bus carrying dozens of foreign university students crashed south of Barcelona, Spain, killing 13 people and injuring 34.  The female students were part of the ERASMUS program and came from countries all over Europe, plus New Zealand, Japan, and Peru.  The driver tested negative for drugs and  alcohol, and this was his first incident in 17 years with the bus company.  Investigators say the bus veered to the right and bounced off the railing so hard that it shot across the highway into oncoming traffic.

Investigators say the black box flight recorders from FlyDubai Flight 981 were badly damaged in the crash at Rostov-on-Don airport in southern Russia, and may yield no clues as to what happened.  The Boeing 737-800 was seen coming down onto the runway at a steep angle in near hurricane-force winds, exploding on contact and killing all 62 passengers and crew on board.  Russian officials have opened a criminal investigation into the crash, seeing as it's not clear if it was caused by weather, sabotage, crew error, or any other fault.

Turkish officials identify the Istanbul suicide bomber as a member of Islamic State - "We have determined that Mehmet Ozturk, born in 1992 in Gaziantep, carried out the heinous attack on Saturday in Istanbul," said Interior Minister Efken Ala.  Israel is advising its citizens not to go to Turkey, as three of the five people killed were Israeli citizens (two with dual US nationality), as were several of the injured.  Ozturk appeared to target a group of Israeli tourists returning from a culinary tour of Istanbul.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff is fighting back against critics and suing a senator who accused her of involvement in corruption at the state oil company Petrobras, and an attempted cover-up.  Dilma has repeatedly denied this, and has been cleared by an official investigation.  Senator Delcidio Amaral was once a leader of Rousseff's Worker's Party, was arrested in the Petrobras scandal, and struck a deal with prosecutors.

Baby Wombat Alert!!  Baby Bald Eagle Alert!!