Japan offers concessions to North Korea – The worst-ever Ebola outbreak is still controllable – Sarkozy says a criminal investigation into his presidency is politically motivated – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Japan is lifting some economic sanctions on North Korea as part of ongoing talks about securing the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies in language and culture.  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insists it’s “just a start” on a road to “complete resolution” of the issue.  North Korea says it has returned all of the survivors, Japan disputes that.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Seoul for two days of talks with President Park Geun-hye about the North.  It’s the first time a Chinese leader has visited the South before Pyongyang.  China is North Korea’s closest ally – pretty much its only ally – but Pyongyang’s bizarre and belligerent behavior has caused must frustration in Beijing.

UN World Health Organization (WHO) officials assured West African Health Ministers that they could collectively handle the Ebola outbreak.  “This is not a unique situation – we have faced it many times – so I’m quite confident that we can handle this,” said the WHO's Dr. Keiji Fukuda, who warned that this is “the most complicated Ebola outbreak ever because it is spreading so fast in both urban and rural areas.”  467 peole have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in the deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the influence peddling charges against him are “political”.  Prosecutors are investigation if Sarkozy promised a plum job to a judge to get insider information about an inquiry into whether former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi funded his 2007 election campaign.  Sarkozy calls the charges “grotesque”.  Cops detained Sarkozy on Tuesday, the first time a former president has ever been held by police in France.

Brazilian Police say they’ve arrested 11 people in a criminal ring to illegally sell World Cup tickets.  The gang might have made as much as $100 Million per tournament, and has been in operation for at least four World Cups.  Some of the tickets seized were meant for sponsors, others for Brazilian officials, and they were sold to foreign tourists.

The Caribbean Sea’s colorful coral reefs could disappear in the next 20 years unless action is taken to protect them.  A report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) blames over-fishing of the grazer species such as Parrot Fish that maintain the reefs, as well as pollution.  The coral has declined by more than 50 percent since 1970. 

The number of confirmed cases of Chikungunya virus has skyrocketed in the Caribbean region, with tens of thousands of new patients in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  The mosquito-born virus resembles dengue fever and can cause fever, skin rash, and intense joint pain.  The virus has been reported from Florida to Nicaragua, and even France has 70 cases of holiday travelers bringing it back from the Caribbean.  The only good news is that it can’t be transmitted from human to human.

Libya’s government says government forces have retaken two eastern oil terminals on the Mediterranean Sea.  Ras Lanuf and Sidrahad been held by rebels since last year.  Libya has been largely disjointed and carved up by militias since the ouster and killing of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.