Global News

Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke at a lengthy end-of-the-year news conference, making his first public comments on the economy since the Ruble exchange rate started to swing wildly earlier in the week.  He vowed to fix his country’s ailing economy within two years, and placed blame for the problems.

A second Hollywood movie is cancelled because of North Korea – A Kiwi is on trial for offending the local religion in Myanmar – India’s successful space program soars again – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

As the US and Cuba were announcing the end of more than five decades of animosity, there was another major development in the advance of peace in Latin America.  The Colombian FARC rebels declared an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire.

In announcing the end of more than 50 years of a “failed” policy of trying to isolate Cuba, US President Barack Obama revealed the two sides were releasing prisoners who had long been causes celebres in their respective countries.  And one whose imprisonment was known only in classified files.

US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro took a major step towards erasing one of the last stains of the Cold War.  With one phone call from Havana to the White House they agreed to resume diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of official silence.

A former ally of Vladimir Putin turned prominent critic is holding the Russian President responsible for the economic crisis unfolding in Russia.  The Ruble has stabilized after days of plunging against the US Dollar and the Euro – and even if it remains stable, Russia’s economy is wandering off into uncharted territory.

The US government let it out that it believes North Korea was behind the now-infamous hacking attack at Sony Pictures.  That came shortly after Sony announced that it would not released the Seth Rogan-James Franco comedy “The Interview” because of the hackers threatening to attack theaters where it would have been shown.

Currency traders will be closely monitoring Russia, after the Ruble went into a freefall on Tuesday to hit record lows against the US Dollar and Euro.  Russia’s central bank even raised interest rates from 10.5 to 17 percent to strengthen the Ruble – it didn’t work.

You might not die if you go to see the new Seth Rogan movie.  Two US Security officials are playing down possible threats to movie theaters planning to show Sony’s controversial movie about an assassination of the leader of North Korea.  It might be the only good news Sony’s Hollywood division has gotten lately.

More than a dozen students are killed in an al Qaeda attack – A Cuban musician had some choice words for America after a botched attempt to undermine the government – The nuns are in the clear – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Seeing Nigeria’s largely ineffective response to Boko Haram, France is trying to get traditionally-suspicious West African neighbors to work together in a regional taskforce to combat the terrorist group, as it steps up its gruesome campaign before Nigeria’s presidential election in February.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai she is “heartbroken” by the news of the Taliban massacre of school children in the northern city of Peshawar, killing 141 people – 132 of them children.

How despicable is a terrorist attack if even the Afghanistan Taliban is condemning it as over the top?  That is exactly what has happened.  The Afghanistan Taliban is criticizing its ideological allies in the Pakistani Taliban for the school attack in Peshawar that killed 132 students and all nine gunmen.

Scientists in Brazil say they’ve discovered a so-called “superbug” in the waters of Rio de Janeiro that will host the 2016 Summer Olympic sailing and windsurfing events.  The bacteria is usually found in hospital waste and is notoriously difficult to treat because it’s resistant to most antibiotics.

Police in the United States are looking for an Iraq War veteran for allegedly going on a shooting spree in three towns, killing his ex-wife and five of her family members, and wounding another teen.  The search for 35-year old Bradley William Stone is going on outside the eastern city of Philadelphia.

Cuba has been widely praised for sending doctors to fight the West African Ebola Epidemic, which has killed more than 6,800 people.  But those doctors had to go weeks with pay, and the Cuban government had to cover their food and lodging expenses because of a relic of the Cold War – the US economic embargo on Cuba.

Doctors in Liberia have begun a test program to treat Ebola patients with serum made from the blood of people who survived the disease and built up antibodies.  They hope the trial run will mark a turning point in combating the virus that’s killed more than 6,800 people in the current epidemic in West Africa.

Fresh off of his overwhelming win in Japan’s parliamentary elections of the weekend, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is vowing to try to convince a skeptical Japanese public about what he sees as the need to revise the pacifist constitution to fit his nationalist agenda.  The move risks splitting the nation and alienating Japan’s neighbors.A

Hundreds of Muscovites marched through the Russian capital over the weekend to protest against a proposal to privatize government healthcare and education, a move that threatens to close a number of hospitals and schools.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling LDP party has handily won this past weekend’s snap elections, which also show some veteran opposition figures getting trounced.  The head of the #2 Democratic Party of Japan lost his race and will reportedly step down as party leader.