What?  August is half over?  Huhmph.. well, Beirut pays the price for Hezbollah’s jaunt into Syria – The man who did the “James Bond” jump at the Olympics dies doing what he loved best – And we’ll investigate the case of the lyin’ Lion in China.

At least 20 people are dead and more than 200 are hurt in a massive blast in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.  It struck near a complex used by Hezbollah, and at a time when the Shi’a political and militant group has involved itself more deeply in neighboring Syria’s chaos, and local media reports suggest that this is the price for that activity.  Iran backs Hezbollah and Hezbollah backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sending militants in to fight alongside Syrian troops against rebels.

Forces loyal to Syria’s president hacked the websites of CNN and The Washington Post newspaper.  In a tweet, the Syrian Electronic Army said that it attacked the Post, CNN and Time “in one strike” by hacking “Outbrain”, a service that provides external links on those corporate news websites.  The Syrians redirected Internet traffic from those links to its own sites.

Ukraine is accusing Russia of trying to start a trade war, by increasing customs checks on Ukrainian exports.  Hundreds of cargo containers containing everything from candy to steel are stalled at the border.  Some observers say it’s Russian retaliation for Ukraine's attempt to distance itself from a customs union proposed by Russia for former members of the Soviet Union and integrate further with the EU.

“The Devil’s Advocate” is dead.  French attorney Jacques Berges, who represented unsympathetic clients from terrorist Ilich “Carlos the Jackal” Ramirez Sanchez to Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, was 88-years-old. 

Paraguay has sworn in its new President:  Horacio Cartes, a multimillionaire the United States suspects to be linked to money laundering, cigarette smuggling, and drug running.  Cartes frequently points out that he has never been charged. The corruption watchdog group Transparency International ranks Paraguay 150th worst out of 176 countries.

Divers are performing the grim task for finding 18 sailors who were trapped aboard an Indian submarine when it exploded, burned, and sank at port in Mumbai.  Visibility is next to zero in the wrecked sub, so finding anything is going to be difficult.  Even if they could see anything, access is the other problem:  The fire ignited the sub’s missile, and the heat was so intense many doorways were fused shut.  The 16-year-old INS Sindhurakshak had just returned from an upgrade and retrofit from its manufacturer in Russia.

The man who performed the “James Bond” jump at last year’s summer Olympics in London is dead.  Mark Sutton and another daredevil did a tandem jump, portraying the fictional British spy and Queen Elizabeth in the opening ceremonies.  Former Army officer Sutton crashed into a mountain ridge near Mount Blanc in the Alps at almost 150 miles an hour in a “winged suit” in an event for a French Cable TV outlet.  Swiss police are handling the investigation.

Actress Lisa Robin Kelly, best known for playing Laurie on the sit-com “The ‘70s Show” is dead at age 43.  She died in her sleep at a rehab facility in California where she had voluntarily checked in after a lengthy battle with substance abuse after the show’s 8-year run.   The cause of death has not been announced.

The Liu family, visiting the Louhe city zoo in China’s central Henan province, knew something wasn’t right when they got to the Lion cage, and he opened up his mouth and said, “woof woof!”  Which was ill-timed because Mrs. Liu was trying to teach her 6-year old son which sounds the animals make.  Yeah, it’s a Tibetan Mastiff shaved to resemble the king of the jungle.  Despite being located in “Peoples’ Park”, the zoo has a private owner, and he is accused of trying to pass off dogs as lions, leopards, and wolfs.  Oh my.