The repudiation of a Latin American dictatorship happens today – A UN report shows a terrible girls’ education gap in the developing world – A scientist no longer stands behind his hoped-for stem cell research – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Latin American leaders are gathering in Santiago for Today’s inauguration of President Michele Bachelet, her second turn at Chile’s presidency.  Her goals are ambitious – opening 4,500 daycare centers to help working mothers, evening the male-female pay gap, providing access to education for all, kindergarten through university, and rewriting the restrictive constitution left behind by the murderous, US-backed fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet.

At its current pace, India will need another 56 years to achieve female youth literacy.  That’s one of the conclusions of a new United Nations study that examined a serious gender imbalance in global education.  More than 100 million young women in low and lower-middle income countries are unable to read a single sentence.  And 31 million will never be enrolled in school.  On current trends, it is projected that only 70 percent of countries will have achieved parity in primary education by 2015, and 56 percent will have achieved parity in lower secondary education.

Oscar Pistorius threw up in court as a pathologist described in graphic detail the injuries that killed Reeve Steenkamp.  She was shot three times, in the head, arm, and leg – something Pistorius does not deny but claims he mistook her for a burglar.  The wounds to her arm and leg might have killed her, the doctor said, because of the extent of the bleeding.  Pistorius’ gun was loaded with a type of bullet that does extreme damage to whatever it hits.

Libya says its forces have taken control of a North Korean flagged oil tanker that loaded crude oil worth US$30 Million from a port controlled by rebels.  Separatists control three oil ports in Eastern Libya, the tanker is being taken to the government-controlled West.  Libya is now forming a force to attempt to retake the rebel-held ports.

A Chilean woman is the first foreigner killed in the weeks of protests in Venezuela.  Rightwing extremists ambushed 47-year old Gisela Rubilar as she helped clear one of their roadblocks from western Merida state, the shot fired from a window allegedly caught on video.  At least 21 people are dead in five weeks of unrest by the minority that can’t win elections in Venezuela.

El Salvador has not yet certified the results of its extremely close presidential runoff election.  But authorities say it’s all but certain that former Marxist Rebel Salvador Sanchez Ceren will win.  Several pre-election polls showed Sanchez was well ahead, but his lead was less than a quarter of a percent at the polls.  Election officials said there were discrepancies in the tallies of 14 ballot boxes.  Rightwing candidate Norman Quijano is refusing to concede and made vague threats involving the military.  Sanchez is vowing to respect the rule of law.

A Japanese scientist is withdrawing his research that two months ago seemed to promise a cheap way to turn regular cells into stem cells by dipping them in acid.  Other researchers have been unable to reproduce his results, and Professor Teruhiko Wakayama says, “It is no longer clear what is right.”  The findings are being questioned, although they have not been discredited.  Stay tuned.