Ukraine is ripped to the East and the West – Brazil is mobilizing the military to get control before the World Cup – 21st Century Female lawmakers storm out in disgust as one nation approves polygamy – Plus, Anime fantasies in Crimea in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law formalizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, signaling that he pretty much does not care about the economic sanctions the US and EU leveled on members of his inner circle.  He might want to start thinking about it, because of the promises of fresh infrastructure improvements dangled in front of Crimean voters in last weekend’s referendum.  The peninsula suffers a complete lack of investment since Soviet days – crumbling roads, broken sidewalks, and apartment blocks that have no running water at night – and Russia’s economic development ministry says the region will require at least A$5.5 Billion with a “B”.

While Putin dragged Crimea to the East, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk went to Brussels to sign a political accord with the European Union.  The pact includes security and defense cooperation, and risks further angering Moscow which sees a Europe-leaning Ukraine as a threat. 

A purported transcript of the final 54 minutes of communication with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing two weeks ago today.  It reveals nothing that suggests any technical problems, human error or sabotage.  This as RAAF planes continue to scour a rough patch of the Indian Ocean for signs of two items detected by imaging satellites that “may” be debris from the missing 777.  Meanwhile, American forensic experts reportedly learned that a flight simulator hard drive belonging the pilot of the missing plane had more data deleted than Malaysian investigators realized – proving nothing more than the guy might have wanted to clear some space on the drive.  It could take a very long time to find this missing plane.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff will send federal troops to Rio de Janeiro’s favelas after criminal gangs set fire to police stations and vehicles.  The gangs are opposed to the government’s attempts to “pacify” the shantytowns ahead of the World Cup and 2016 Olympics.  Critics say the pacification program is only for neighborhoods near the World Cup venues, and merely pushes criminals out to more remote areas where cops don’t dare or bother to go.

Female parliamentarians walked out in protest and disgust as the majority-male chamber approved a law legalizing polygamy for men.  The bill is supposedly to bring Kenyan law in line with some local traditions, but allows men to take as many wives as they like without consulting existing spouses – traditionally, first wives are supposed to give prior approval.  It fails to recognize cohabitating couples and dilutes wives’ property rights.  The law needs President Uruhu Kenyatta’s signature to take effect.

Four men convicted of raping a young photojournalist as she took pictures of an abandoned factor in Mumbai, India have been sentenced to life in prison.  A fifth suspect faces trial as a juvenile.  The case is one of several which alerted India to the horrible rape problem and shabby treatment of victims by the criminal justice system.

French authorities arrested a couple for taking state child support checks while essentially letting their very young children live rough, locked in their housing estate flat.  The baby girl and her older brothers – aged 2, 5, and 6 – were malnourished, had no clothing or toys, had no furniture, and likely had never left the flat since coming home from birth.  The two oldest boys are developmentally disabled.  The parents, originally from India, could be jailed for seven years each and fined A$150,000 if convicted.

Israeli military officials claim they have found a “terror tunnel” leading from Gaza into Israel.  It’s the longest of the tunnels discovered so far, and the military claims it was used to stage attacks on Israelis, as opposed to smuggling goods into Gaza, which was what previously located tunnels were used for.

Pope Francis is warning the Mafia they’ll be swimming with the fishes – in a lake of fire.  “Blood-stained money, blood-stained power, you can’t bring it with you to your next life,” the Pontiff said of mobsters, essentially saying they’re going to hell unless they repent.  Pope Francis made these unusually direct remarks to Italy’s underworld at a mass held for 842 people killed by the mob at the church of San Gregorio VII in Rome.

The US finally pulled Japan and South Korea to stop the rhetoric and have a top-level meeting on the sidelines of an international nuclear conference scheduled in The Hague on Monday and Tuesday.  It will be he first face-to-face (to-face) gathering of President Barack Obama, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and officials are hoping to tamp down nationalist rhetoric in the Northeast Asian neighbors (especially YOU Tokyo) and resume cooperation as rival China flexes its muscles.

You know how sometimes, Japan is a little.. ahem.. different?  This is one of those times, so enjoy the absurdity of a human turned into a cartoon character for fanboys.  When Russian agitators took control of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, they installed Natalia Poklonskaya as the new chief prosecutor.  And there’s an element in Japan who thinks she’s a prose-cutie.  A video posted to a Japanese YouTube channel has gotten almost half a million hits, and websites are sprouting up featuring Anime and Manga-styled Fan Art (G-rated stuff, although it gets wilder on the vast, untamed Internet).  And I do not want to know what they’re making of Ms. Poklonskaya in a little black dress and red heels.