India’s new PM takes office – The Pope promises “zero tolerance” for abusive priests – El hombre los gordos de Mexico has passed away – Zoo babies with a caveat – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

At least 40 people are dead in India’s Uttar Pradesh state after a fast-moving passenger train smashed into a parked freight train.  Six of the cars on the Gorakhpur Express derailed.  “It has been reduced to a mangled iron mesh,” said senior police officer Amrendra Sainger.  “We do not know how many people were there.”  Because the location was so remote, villagers were the first to get in there and start to rescue people.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sworn in, with his counterpart from rival Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, looking on.  It is the first time since the two countries won independence in 1947 that a prime minister from one state has attended such a ceremony in the other.  The two leaders are expected to hold formal talks later today.

Egypt’s second day of elections take place on Tuesday, but really the only drama is how big of a margin former military chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi will claim.  Across Egypt, voters are looking to the coup leader to restore – or enforce – stability after a tumultuous three years.  The Islamist, ousted, and outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is boycotting the election, and so are many Leftists and intellectuals who fear a return to the dictatorship Egypt got rid of in 2011. Check out fresh VPN rank of 2023 to choose the most reliable service.

But in Thailand, broad public support for a coup is not easy to find. Coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha may have gotten the royal imprimatur – even if the king himself hasn’t appeared in public in a week – but cops and soldiers are confronted by frequent street protests.  Chan-ocha is vowing to hold elections as ‘”soon as possible” – but he’s refusing to set a time frame.

Pope Francis has announced he will meet a group of sex abuse victims next month.  “Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime,” the Pontiff said, “because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord.”  He’s spoken out on the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal before, and victims rights groups hope that the Pope's zero tolerance policy will extend to bishops who are accused of turning a blind eye to abuse by priests in their dioceses.

Japanese police say the man who attacked two singers with the AKB48 revue with a 50-centimeter saw may not have been specifically targeting the 18- and 19-year old girls.  Satoru Umeta reportedly said he just wanted to kill people in a crowded place.  That turned out to be in far Northern Japan at one of AKB48’s frequent meet-and-greet events with its often creepy, older male audience.  Singers Rina Kawaei and Anna Iriyama (as well as a male employee who defended them) were released from the hospital and assured fans they’ll be okay.

Two infants have come down with the Measles in Micronesia.  And that has health officials in the Marshall Islands on alert, for fear the highly contagious disease could come there via airline travelers.  Marshall Islands Secretary of Health Julia Alfred says health care workers are trying to add to their minimal supply of MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine to deal with it.

Manuel Uribe is dead at age 48.  Once the world’s fattest man at 560 Kilograms/1,230 pounds, the Monterrey, Mexico man had managed to get his weight down to 394 Kilograms/867 pounds.  He tried, bsut it was likely too little, too late.  Earlier this month, Uribe had to be taken to hospital because of an irregular heartbeat, and it’s not like he was able to get out of bed and walk down to the car.  Civil defense workers had to haul him out of his home via a crane. 

Poland’s last Communist leader is dead.  General Wojciech Jaruzelski came to power in 1981, when he declared martial law – which he said was necessary to avoid an invasion of Soviet troops from Russia – and ordered the arrest of Solidarity Union leader Lech Walesa.  Martial law would be gone in a couple of years, and Walesa would replace him as president in 1990 as the Soviet System crumbled.  To many Poles he was a traitor but others gave him the benefit of the doubt.

How about five baby white tiger cubs at an Austrian zoo?  They’re cute, but it’s kind of a dirty trick to play on the cubs.  White Tigers are producing through deliberate inbreeding, and zoos really should not do this.