Global News

Dozens more dead coalminers are found in Turkey – China scoops up activists before a dreaded anniversary – Is Jamaica’s power company punishing the innocent? – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Brazilians have long suspected that the costs of preparing for the 2014 World Cup were artificially inflating because of corruption.  At least one official audit has confirmed those fears, revealing that the cost of building the capital’s stadium has nearly tripled to US$900 Million in public funds, largely because of allegedly fraudulent billing.

China’s surging economy has produced an appetite for high quality furniture, for the nouveau riche who can afford it.  And that demand is causing the near extinction of a rare tropical tree as well as a deadly crime wave that’s sweeping across Southeast Asia.

An Israeli court has sentenced former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to six years in prison for bribery and fined more than A$300,000.  Ten other government officials were convicted alongside Olmert from a real estate deal that happened while he was still the Mayor of Jerusalem.

France’s Foreign Minister says Syria used chemical agents – especially chlorine – in as many as 14 attacks in recent months.  This is despite last year’s agreement to renounce such weapons and the international effort to rid Syria of is chemical weapons stocks.

More than 150 coal miners are dead and some 270 are still buried underground in a major disaster in western Turkey.  This is believed to have been caused by a faulty electrical generator that produced a spark that in turn ignited a massive explosion and fire.

A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet is melting and it appears to be irreversible.  That’s the conclusion from two separate groups of scientists studying the collapse of the ice sheet using two different methods.  Global warming caused by human activity is among the causes. 

Big changes are signaled on India’s political landscape – Mexico kills the founder of a major drug cartel – Brazil’s warning to tourists is a chilling admission of a big problem – Stuff explodes – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

After claiming an overwhelming mandate in a questionable secession vote, pro-Moscow separatists in Eastern Ukraine are asking to be absorbed by the Russian Federation.  The self-declared leaders of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” are also demanding that Ukrainian security forces leave the territory.

A court in Delhi issued an unimaginable ruling, saying that a husband that forces sex, “even if forcible, is not rape.”  It happened in the case of a woman who says she was drugged, taken out of town, married while still unconscious, and then raped.

The head of the provincial government in Leon in Northern Spain was shot down in the street as she walked from her home to a ruling Popular Party (PP) meeting.  Authorities say the killing appears related to a personal grudge rather than having a political motivation.

The terrorist group Boko Haram released a chilling new video showing some of the girls the group kidnapped from a school in northeastern Nigeria.  Dressed in gray and black full length veils, the girls appear frightened as they’re clearly coerced to read verses from the Koran in Arabic.

Separatists claim success in Ukraine – The kidnapped Nigerian girls are reportedly sighted – And an earthquake orphan is finally home after three years – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Michelle Obama steps into foreign policy to demand the release of the kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls – Three are killed when a balloon catches fire above a lot of people with cameras – I really don’t want to bash Brazil, but there are some big problems just a month before the World Cup – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

A new deal could end the fighting in South Sudan – Nigeria’s military allegedly stood down as terrorists kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls – Putin takes a victory lap in Crimea – The mayor of Bolivia’s biggest city is a dirty old man! – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The international effort to find those kidnapped Nigerian girls has begun – Venezuela’s “peaceful” protests claim another life – New technology threatens Japan’s famous low crime rate – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

There are growing fears over security surrounding Pope Francis’ two-day visit to Israel, which is to begin on 24 May.  Just weeks before the pontiff arrives, an increase in hate crime attacks has Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service worried about an attack by right-wing extremists.

As North Korea get closer to what observers believe will be a fourth nuclear test, Pyongyang is under fire for diatribes in its official state media outlets that betray a particularly loathsome racist and sexist world view right out of the 1850s.  It’s a rare view into the brutal dictatorship’s ideology.

Police this morning blocked a somber march of parents of the teens who were killed on the Sewol ferry that capsized and sank off South Korea last month.  The parents are demanding a meeting with President Park Geun-hye, who is facing mounting criticism about the government’s initial slow response to the disaster.

Hundreds of Venezuelan security forces raided opposition camps in Caracas, arresting 243 people and seizing “drugs, weapons, explosives and mortars” in the tents.  Officials say some would use the camps as bases for “violent attacks”, after which they’d return and blend in with the students organizing the peaceful part of anti-government protests.