Egypt’s military chief makes it official – Brazil moves to protect online privacy and neutrality in the wake of the US spying scandal – Asia’s frostiest neighbors manage a little sit down without strangling each other – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs.

Egypt’s Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has resigned as chief of the military, clearing the way for him to run for President.  He’ll probably win, too, because there are no serious rivals and al-Sisi is highly popular with most Egyptians, save for the Muslim Brotherhood and other jihadists on whom he ordered a brutal crack down.  Al-Sisi led the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi last July, following massive opposition protests, and has pretty much run the provisional government ever since.

Egypt ordered the prosecution of 919 suspected Islamists in two mass trials.  It comes just after 528 supporters of the previous Muslim Brotherhood government were sentenced to death in proceedings condemned by the United Nations, United States, and European Union. 

A court in Turkey ordered the government’s ban on Twitter lifted, but the telecommunications authority has 30 days to decide if it will comply or fight the ruling.  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “wipe out Twitter” after users spread recordings showing corruption among Turkish officials – including Erdogan himself allegedly instructing his son to hide big, giant piles of money from police.  Thousands of users have been getting around the ban using third party sites that keep their locations anonymous.

Groundbreaking legislation to guarantee equal access to the Internet and protect the privacy of its users has passed Brazil’s lower house.  But the government had to drop a contentious provision that would have forced global Internet companies to store data on Brazilian servers inside the country to guarantee passage.  The legislation picked up a lot of support after revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on the personal communications of Brazilians, including those of President Dilma Rousseff. 

Going forward, the African Union will treat the “anti-Balaka” militia of the Central African Republic as the enemy.  The groups sprouted from the majority Christian community in response to the brutality exercised by the Muslim militias that took over the country for most of last year.  But the militias went way beyond self-defense, attacking and killing Muslim civilians, and chasing thousands of Muslims out of the country.  The militias have killed 21 African Union peacekeepers since being deployed earlier this year.

A cease-fire in Pakistan’s restive Waziristan has reportedly been extended while the government and the Taliban hold peace talks.  Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is spearheading an effort to end the insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.  The militants are fighting for their harsh version of Sharia law across Pakistan.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the “Bishop of Bling”.  Limburg, Germany’s Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst got into trouble for spending more than A$46 Million on rehabbing his official residence – including palatial walk-in closets and a $20,000+ bathtub in which he’d soak his holy loins.  The project came down just as Pope Francis was criticizing bishops for living “like princes” and has called for a “poor church for the poor.”

The first meeting of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye didn’t result in any shots fired, so that’s good.  US President Barack Obama brought them together on the sidelines of the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands.  Abe reportedly tried to converse in Korean, which brought an icy stare from Park.  Relations between the two went south in 2012 in a spat over some islands, and really went to pot when several members of Abe’s inner-circle made boneheaded statements about taking back Japan’s apology to the Korean women forced into brothels for Imperial Japanese troops during World War II.  Abe eventually confirmed that Japan stood by the apology.