Israeli top spies refuse to take part in operations against Palestinians – Pakistan arrests ten militants in the shooting of teenage education advocate Malala – Sarah Palin could have been a heartbeat from the US Presidency, instead her family is getting into drunken brawls – A major figure in Northern Ireland’s Troubles is dead – And much more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Police in Singapore are investigating the death of Nicole Kidman’s father as an “unnatural death”, which often refers to a fall or similar accident when used by Singapore authorities.  Tony Kidman was a clinical psychologist at the University of Technology, Sydney.  He was in Singapore visiting Nicole’s sister and her family, and reportedly died in hospital.

A group of veterans of Israel’s Unit 8200 – a super-secret elite military intelligence unit – say they will no longer take part in reserve duty because of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.  The 43 spies say Israel makes “no distinction between Palestinians who are and are not involved in violence”, and that intelligence “is used for political persecution.”  They accuse Israel’s ultra-conservative Likud party government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being a “non-democratic, oppressive regime that controls the lives of millions of people”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Egypt to discuss the coalition to del with the threat posed by Islamic State militants holding territory in Iraq and Syria.  But he is throwing cold water on France’s idea to include Iran in the coalition.  Iran is Shiite, and Islamic State is made up of Sunni jihadis making them historic rivals.  But Iran also supports Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, which the US and other western nations accuse of being a sponsor of terrorism.

Pakistan has arrested 10 militants linked to the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in 2012.  The Taliban shot her in the head in retaliation for her defiance and calls for girls’ education.  She survived the cowardly attack and rose to become an international spokesperson for children’s’ education.  The Pakistan military says the ten suspects were not all arrested at once and it is unclear why the single announcement came on Friday.

Cuba is sending a medical team of 165 to help battle the Ebola outbreak, arriving in Sierra Leone next months and staying for six months.  “I am extremely grateful for the generosity of the Cuban government and these health professionals for doing their part to help us contain the worst Ebola outbreak ever known,” said the UN World Health Organization’s leader Dr. Margaret Chan.  The killer virus has killed at least 2,400 people there, Guinea, Liberia, and Nigeria (Senegal’s lone patient has recovered).  Without a single hospital bed left in Liberia to treat the rapidly escalating number of Ebola patients, the global soccer organization FIFA is working with the UN to turn the country’s national stadium into an enormous Ebola treatment center. 

BTW, Since the 1959 Cuban revolution, the country has dispatched thousands of doctors worldwide to work on issues ranging from maternal health to cataracts.  But in America, an elementary school teacher was wounded when she sat down on the toilet, and her gun went off, shattering the porcelain receptacle.  Let’s just let that sink in for a moment:  An American teacher brought a handgun to an elementary school, and accidentally shot the friggin toilet.  Oh, and it’s all nice and legal.  Meanwhile, Cuba is sending a 165-member medical team to fight Ebola. 

The parents of Reeva Steenkamp are in a state of “disbelief” and say “justice was not served” after Judge Thokozile Masipa absolved Oscar Pistorius of murdering their daughter (uhm, what trial was she watching?).  The Olympic and Paralympic athlete was found guilty of the lesser charge of culpable homicide and the sentencing phase of the case is next month.  Pistorius could get a suspended sentence, community service, or a few years of real prison time.  Reeva’s mother Hune Steenkamp says, “He shot through the door and I can't believe that they believe it was an accident.”

Prosecutors in Chile have charged a Member of Parliament with murdering three Leftist activists in 1981 under the bloody rule of fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet.  Cops arrested Rosauro Martinez on Thursday, which was the 41st anniversary of the US CIA-backed coup d’etat that brought Pinochet to power.  Thousands would be murdered over the next 17 years.  Pinochet died before being tried for his crimes, but prosecutors are catching up to his minions.  “Chile needs more truth and more justice so we never live the horror of dictatorship again,” said government spokesman Alvaro Elizalde.

China has sentenced three people to death for the knife attack at Kunming Station on 1 March during which 31 people were killed and 141 were injured.  The attack is blamed on ethnic Uighur Muslim separatists from the northwest Xinjiang region.  A fourth defendant was sentenced to life in prison.  Beijing has vowed to fast-track prosecution of terror suspects, especially from Xinjiang. 

The US imposed new sanctions on several major Russian banks as well as defense and energy companies.  Hours earlier, the European Union imposed similar bans.  They come despite the truce in Ukraine pretty much holding.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford ended his bid for reelection, days after saying he had a stomach tumor.  His brother Councilor Doug Ford will run in his place.  Rob Ford’s term as mayor of Canada’s largest city has included drunken benders, belching profane sexist and racist rants, and admitting that he smoked crack cocaine – things that would embarrass a normal person.  Unable to impeach him, the city council eventually stripped him of all significant power ten months ago.

Frozen Fists Of Foolish Fury

Having been usurped by Rob Ford as North America’s most embarrassing politician, America’s Sarah Palin is really getting back into the game.  Her family was reportedly involved in a drunken brawl at a party at someone else’s home in an upscale neighborhood in Anchorage, Alaska.  Daughter Bristol reportedly punched the host; Eldest son Track (yeah, that’s a name, go figure) attacked a former boyfriend of one of his sisters and wounded up shirtless and possibly pantless in the street, flipping off random people; and husband Todd reportedly left with a bloody nose.  Sarah Palin herself was reportedly heard screeching, “Don’t you know who I am?”  No charges were filed

To answer that rhetorical question, Sarah was the governor of Alaska who was chosen to be running mate to 2008 conservative presidential candidate John McCain.  However, it was soon revealed that she knew nothing about domestic or foreign policy, national politics, current events, or simple geography, had connections to screwball religious fundamentalists, and the McCain-Palin ticket lost.  She quit the governor’s office halfway through her term to cash in on her new notoriety as a reality TV star and as a nasty, hateful conservative commentator.

Death Of A Bigot

Northern Ireland’s Ian Paisley is dead at age 88.  The Protestant rabble-rouser was known for opposition to Irish Catholic nationalists who want to split from London and Unite Ireland’s 32 counties, and infamous for his horribly intolerant statements about Roman Catholics.  From organizing vigilante attacks on Catholics in the 1950s to blocking civil rights in the 1960s and ‘70s, he merrily fanned the flames of the conflict known as “The Troubles” that cost 3,700 lives.

Ian Paisley hated many things and many more people:  His honorary divinity degree came from the overtly racist US “Bob Jones University”.  He launched a hateful anti-LGBT campaign called “Save Ulster From Sodomy”.  He tried to have line dancing banned, believing it to be “sinful” because it “clearly caters to the lust of the flesh”.  But his most foamy-mouthed ramblings came against Catholics, whom he termed “mongoloids” that “breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin”.

And yet, the Northern Ireland Peace Process went on without Paisley in the 1990s, initiated by Sinn Fein leaders Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams, Ulster Protestant leader David Trimble, then-UK PM Tony Blair, then Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and US President Bill Clinton.  With peace and power sharing between Catholics and Protestants going on for years without his approval, Paisley finally signed on in 2007.  His life’s work – thwarting equality and fostering hate – lie in ruins, while the decisions of smarter people live on.