Syria hacks, Putin gags, Buddha laughs.. and WHAT was Julian Assange doing in that video?  These are your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

It remains to be seen if Syria can defend itself from a missile attack from America and its allies.  But it can annoy America’s newspapers.  Hackers calling themselves the “Syrian Electronic Army” briefly took down the website of the New York Times, which acknowledged the outage was a result of external “malicious attack.”  The group also messed around with The Huffington Post UK’s website and Twitter.

Police in Vladimir Putin’s increasingly authoritarian Russia have super important things to do, such as confiscating a painting of Putin wearing lingerie while brushing Dmitry Medvedev’s hair.  The cops said that broke the law, without specifying which one(s).  The small gallery owner in Saint Petersburg, who does not appear to understand that he’s about to be jailed, says it was an illegal seizure and the cops didn’t even give him a receipt for the cash they took from the lock box.  Best of luck with that defense.

Uhm.. what?  Julian Assange dons a mullet wig to win a senate seat. 

The Colombian government says it will negotiate with striking farm workers and truckers who’ve shut the country’s agriculture sector down with an action now in its 10th day.  The workers say that free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union are flooding the market with cheap imports while their costs for items such as fertilizer and fuel have gone up.  Farmers are losing money and fear their land will be next.  The strike has seen many clashes between cops and workers.

At least seven people are dead in a building collapse in a poor district outside Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The building was a clothing store under construction, and scores of construction workers were hurt.

The show trial of former Chinese Politburo member Bo Xilai might have backfired on Beijing, and that could make things worse for Bo.  An information poll indicated that many peoples’ opinions of Bo actually improved after his corruption trial.  And much of the evidence involved payments that went to Bo’s wife and son, not to Bo himself.  An unnamed source with ties to China’s leadership told the Reuters news agency that if Bo is not executed or does not die of illness, there is the possibility of a comeback that would threaten President Xi Jinping.  China’s State broadcaster said the verdict was expected in early September.

Sri Lankan cops are apologizing for performing adorable police dog “wedding ceremonies”, in a stunt to promote the domestic breeding of sniffer dogs.  But the ceremonies were too realistic, and Culture Minister T.B. Ekanayake said that police officers had “contemptibly devalued” traditional weddings in a devoutly Buddhist country and is vowing an investigation.  The cops said the weddings had nothing to do with Buddhism, but you can’t talk sense into some people.  You’d think that a member of the religion that produced the Bodhisattva Hotei would get it.

Zimbabwe is planning (threatening?) to build a Disneyland-style theme park next to one of the world’s mostly-unspoiled natural wonders, Victoria Falls.  Tourism and hospitality minister Walter Mzembi says the government, which is unable to provide basic services for the vast majority of citizens, is planning to spend US$300 Million on the park (abomination?).  The announcement was made at the UN World Tourism Organization meeting which critics say should never have been held in Zimbabwe, ruled by the corrupt and brutal dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.