The US appeared to free an Indian diplomatic worker accused of gross labor violations – widespread forest fires leave Chile under a shroud of choking smoke – Venezuela makes arrests in the murder of a beauty queen.

The Indian diplomat accused of lying about underpaying her housekeeper in violation of US labor laws was ordered to leave the United States.  No one is saying “deal”, but here’s how it worked out:  Prosecutors formally charged Devyani Khobragade; India transferred her from the consulate in New York City to the UN, thus granting her full diplomatic immunity; the US then ordered her to leave.  Khobragade’s arrest set off anti-American demonstrations in India, although there wasn’t much concern about the Indian maid who was brought to America under allegedly false pretenses.

A young American jailed in Dubai for making a comedy video for YouTube has returned to the US.  29-year-old Shezanne Cassim arrived back in Minnesota on Thursday.  Cassim and seven others were convicted of defaming the United Arab Emirates by making the video about Dubai youth not being as tough as they pretend to be.

The Polar Vortex causing arctic-like weather conditions in the Northeast US and bordering areas of Canada has frozen Niagara Falls!

Five men were killed and a dozen more seriously injured in a blast at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi City, southwest of Nagoya, Japan.  Maintenance crews were working on a heat exchanger used in the production of silicon products for solar power cells and automobiles.  The same plant was shut down in 2010 after being caught generating high-pressure gas without the necessary permits.

The Chilean government issued a health alert in four regions as smoke from bush fires blankets Santiago and other cities.  The current fires, 70 of them, have so far burned as much bush as all of last year.  Strong wind and high temperatures are making life difficult for firefighters.

A lightning strike killed three young people on the beach at Villa Gesell, a coastal resort town southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Witnesses heard a “terrible noise” and saw people thrown in the air by the bolt.  The dead are aged 17, 19, and 21.  Another 20 people were injured, two of them in hospital in intensive care.

Venezuela arrested seven suspects in the murder of popular actress and former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear.  One of them allegedly had Spear’s camera in his home, and on the camera were the same vacation photos she had posted to her social media account.  The murders of Spears and her ex-husband in front of their 5-year old daughter have forced Venezuela to take a look at its frightening murder rate: 25,000 violent deaths last year in the country of about 30 million people.

The Islamist prime minister of Tunisia has stepped down and handed power to a caretaker government in advance of a new constitution and elections later this year.  It fulfills a deal to break the political gridlock in the birthplace of the “Arab Spring”, which saw countries vote in Islamist governments to replace authoritarian ones, only to be saddled with a new brand of authoritarianism.

South Sudan’s army is advancing on the key rebel-held cities of Bentiu and Bor, as hundreds flee their homes before the fighting starts.  The rebels are accused of killing fleeing civilians, torching entire villages, and looting crops.

Professional moron Dennis Rodman is apologizing for has apologized for angry comments he made about an American man detained in North Korea.  The ex-NBA star known more for tattoos and erratic behavior than for actually having played basketball says he was drunk at the time, when he appeared to say that Kenneth Bae’s detention in the hermit kingdom was his own fault.  Rodman is in Pyongyang for a basketball match not sanctioned by any country other than North Korea, for the entertainment of his good pal Kim Jong-Un (the murderous pork dumpling of a dictator).