Hello, Australia!  One million are on the move against a government they believe is inattentive to their needs in Brazil; One of the world’s highest-paid athletes is accused of tax evasion; Breathing isn’t so easy in Singapore;  And just a reminder, 7-year olds are NOT designated drivers.

The largest protests so far have swept across Brazil, one million people in the streets.  More than 300,000 marched the streets of Rio de Janeiro alone, with hundreds of thousands more flooding other cities.  Simply rescinding the bus fare hike that sparked it all was not enough to quiet the crowds, who've grown tired of the widening wealth gap, as well as public spending on the World Cup and Olympics at the expense of schools, hospitals, and infrastructure.  The protests have been largely peaceful, although several have been injured in clashes with over-zealous cops as well as supporters of the ruling PT Party.  The crisis forced President Dilma Rousseff to delay a trip to Japan.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says a top official at the country’s tax collection agency has been arrested.  The unnamed official apparently lived in a “luxurious’ apartment in Caracas that police searched, seizing more than A$630,000.

A judge in Spain has summoned Barcelona star footballer Lionel Messi to appear in court on 17 September over tax fraud allegations.  The 25-year-old Argentine and his father deny allegations they used front companies in Belize and Uruguay to skip out on paying more than 4 million Euros in taxes.

Spain and France are investigating Google over privacy, specifically over the ways the tech giant allegedly mishandles user data. The Spanish Data Protection Agency said that it had found evidence of five mass data breaches, punishable by fines of 300,000 Euros each.

Greece’s ruling coalition cannot agree on how to resume transmissions by the national broadcaster ERT, as ordered by the country’s top administrative court.  The government pulled the plug on ERT in what it called a move to cut spending, but critics say the true intention was to silence a critical independent broadcaster.

The Philippines is threatening to pull its peacekeepers out of the Golan Heights, putting the entire UN mission acting as a buffer between Syria and Israel in doubt.  The UN is scrambling to find a country to replace Austria, which pulled out because the Syrian Civil War kept getting too close. President Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines cites the same threat to his troops, as well as the use of chemical weapons, claimed by the US, France, and UK.

Singapore’s ties with Indonesia are severely strained by the haze.  Air quality has deteriorated to “hazardous” levels in both Singapore and Malaysia because of out of control forest fires in Indonesia, caused by farmers burning off their fields. Indonesia has accused Singapore, which prides itself on its usually clear skies and clean environment, of "behaving like a child".  And the problem could last for weeks or months.

Here’s one of those things that you’d think wasn’t necessary to have to say out loud:  The designated driver should be old enough to drive.  A 41-year old New South Wales man is in a heap of trouble, for handing the keys to a 7-year old.  Police in Surfers Paradise, Queensland pulled the pair over on the Esplanade.  The drunken man in the passenger seat is charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle and adult in charge under the influence of liquor.