A multi-million scam unravels in New Zealand – Germany’s Chancellor ticks off Greece with domestic political comments – China’s going to the moon.

A New Zealand man has pleaded guilty to running the country's largest ever Ponzi scheme. Wellington financial adviser David Ross admitted charges including four counts of false accounting and one of theft by a person in a special relationship.  About 1,200 investors lost more than A$300 Million.  Like most Ponzi schemes, it unraveled when investors tried to get their money out, and it wasn’t there.  Sentencing will take place later in the year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has sparked anger in Athens, stating that Greece should never have been allowed to join the Euro.  Merkel was trying to lay blame on her Social Democratic predecessor during a heated campaign in which she is trying to win a third term in office.  Her opposition notes that in the past, Merkel has said she wants Greece to stay in the Euro and the remark may indicate that she’s not being completely forthcoming with the German people about the true cost of bailing out Greece.

China plans to put an unmanned rover on the moon before the end of the year.  The state science agency says the Chang’e 3 rover has officially moved from the design to the launch stage.  The long-term plan calls for two permanent rovers initially, followed by units that can collect rock samples and return to earth.

North Korea did indeed violate international sanctions with the undeclared cargo of Cuban weapons caught when a North Korean freighter tried to pass through the Panama Canal in July.  25 containers of military hardware, including two Soviet-era MiG-21s and some missiles were hidden beneath a false floor on the ship, covered by a shipment of sugar.  Cuba claims the outdated hardware when just going to Pyongyang to be repaired, but the crewmembers now face up to 12 years in prison if convicted of violating the weapons embargo.

Colombia says it’s ready to start negotiating with the country’s second largest rebel group, a day after the National Liberation Army (ELN) released a Canadian hostage.  The ELN has already expressed interest on getting in on the peace talks the government is holding with the other major rebel group, the FARC.

Iran is moving to sue the United States of America for the 1953 coup d’etat that removed popularly elected Left-Wing Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh.  The US recently declassified documents detailing “Operation Ajax”, in which the CIA stomped out Iran’s democracy in favor of the corrupt but US-friendly Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.  Disgust the corruption and the violence of the Shah’s secret police led to the late-1970s Iranian Revolution.

A Detroit man has pleaded guilty to stealing his father’s body from the grave and storing it in a freezer in hopes the elder would be resurrected.  Not sure how meat freezers would bring life back to a 93-year old dead guy, but somehow a court-ordered psychiatric exam found 49-year old Vincent Bright competent to stand trial.  If the case had gone to trial and Bright found guilty, he could have faced 10 years in prison for disinterring a corpse.