No peace for Gaza  – An actor in the Harry Potter films is found dead in the harshest of deserts – Germs, germs, who’s got the germs? – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he won’t bow to international and let up on the bombardment of Gaza, as long as Hamas continues to fire off rockets.  Nor will Netanyahu rule out a ground invasion to occupy Gaza.  One of Hamas’ crappy rockets finally hit something (caught on video), a petrol station in the Israeli town of Ashdod – three people were hurt, one seriously.  Palestinians say 113 people died and 750 are injured because of Israel airstrikes.  And thus, rock-throwing protesters and heavily-armed cops clash in the streets.

Iraqi Kurds are taking more steps towards creating their own independence:  Kurdish fighters have taken over two more oil production facilities at Bai Hassan and Kirkuk.  And Kurdish MPs have pulled out of the Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad, after PM Nouri al-Maliki accused the Kurds of harboring terrorists.  Kurdish authorities announced plans to hold independence referendums in the seized areas.

Ukraine is vowing retaliation after pro-Russian separatists killed 20 government troops in a single rocket attack near the Russian border.  90 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the single deadliest attack since President Petro Poroshenko ended the ceasefire last month.  “For every life of our soldiers, the militants will pay with tens and hundreds of their own,” Poroshenko said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Ebola continues to spread in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, bringing the West African Ebola Outbreak death toll to 539.  But whereas Guinea had been the epicenter for the past several months, it’s Liberia and Sierra Leone getting hardest hit last week – 19 deaths in just three days.  Ebola is highly contagious, easily spread, and incurable.  60 to 90 percent of infected patients die.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has closed two labs after revelations dangerous germs were mishandled five times in the last decade.  In 2014, workers mishandled samples of anthrax and the highly-infectious H5N1 avian flu.  This came out of the investigation into the potential exposure of more than 80 lab workers to live anthrax at its Atlanta campus last month.

Mixed Martial Arts fighter and Harry Potter actor Dave Legeno has been found dead in a remote section of California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest and most inhospitable places on earth.  The 50-year old British actor who appeared as werewolf Fenrir Greyback in three Harry Potter movies is believed to have died of severe heat exhaustion and there were no signs of foul play.

Police in Jharkhand state, India arrested three people in the “revenge rape” and murder of a 14-year old girl.  Among the suspect is a village elder who ordered the assault on the girl, who is the younger sister of a boy accused of attacking another woman earlier.  The Indian government has gotten more serious on this kind of sexual violence after the gang rape and gruesome murder of a student on a Delhi bus in 2012.

A Japanese company leaked the personal information of as many as 20.7 million people, a great many of them children who take part in the Benesse Corporation’s extra curricular education programs.  The leaked information includes the names of parents and their children, addresses and telephone numbers as well as the birth dates of the children.  People realized something was up when they started getting direct mail advertisements tuned into the personal information they shared only with Benesse.  This comes as Japanese companies are struggling to deal with a spike in cybertheft attacks on the nation’s online banking systems.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan early this morning.  A 20 centimeter tsunami hit the coast, and people who heeded evacuation warnings were able to return home relatively quickly.  No major damage has been reported.