Global News

Pretoria’s tough prosecutor hammered Oscar Pistorius, depicting him as a liar and a narcissistic bully who routinely berated his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, and recklessly carried a loaded gun everywhere he went.  Pistorius claims he shot and killed Steenkamp a year ago believing she was a burglar, prosecutors say that’s rubbish.

NATO revealed satellite photographs that the western military alliance says show as many as 40,000 combat-ready Russian troops deployed along the border with Eastern Ukraine, along with fighter jets, tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery – all ready for action. 

The strife-torn Central African Republic (CAR) will be getting more international peacekeepers soon, now that the United Nations Security Council gave its approval to creating a new force, nearly 12,000 strong.  It’s hoped the new arrangement will put the lid on sectarian violence that threatens to spill over into another African genocide.

Hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry hinted that Israel’s announcement of 700 new Israeli housing units in Palestinian East Jerusalem has damaged the peace process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his government to cut back contacts with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Venezuelan peace talks will commence – Europe wants to take another whack at reducing obscene executive bonuses – The “go to” drug in flu epidemics may not be all that – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Argentina’s government staged a massive show of force against drug traffickers, deploying more than 3,000 agents in the slums around the city of Rosario to destroy scores of “drug bunkers” and to break up the a violent gang war plaguing the town.

Belgium has joined the club of nations that has destroyed their stockpiles of illegal elephant ivory seized from traffickers, a symbolic action against the illicit trade as the 28-nation European Union is mulling stronger action against illegal wildlife trafficking.

Ukraine is vowing to force pro-Russian protesters out of government buildings in the restive east if they don’t clear out on their own before 11 April.  Interior minister Arsen Avakov said Kiev is seeking a political solution, but the situation would “be resolved in 48 hours” either way.

A teenager with two butcher knives attacked fellow students at a suburban high school outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in America’s northeast.  Twenty people – all students except for one security guard – are recovering from various wounds and three are in critical condition.

When Wednesday rolls around to America, Jonathan Fleming will wake up a free time for the first time in two and a half decades.  He was imprisoned during that time for killing another man, even though he had ample documentation and witnesses placing him in Florida at the time of the crime.

That secure Internet connection you count on may not be secure at all – London police makes arrests in a vicious hammer attack on sleeping tourists – John Kerry explains why the Mideast peace process is breaking down – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The number of people killed by the outbreak of Ebola in the west African nation lf Guinea has reached 101 lives lost, plus another ten people dead in neighboring Liberia.  Part of the problem is that these are poor countries with porous borders over which people cross back and forth often at will.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and a bloc of opposition lawmakers reached an agreement on Tuesday to begin formal talks to stop the nation's worst political unrest in a decade.  The Vatican and Union of South American Nations (Unasur) are invited to mediate.

Ministers from the United States, European Union, Russia, and Ukraine will meet next weeks for talks aimed at an escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.  It will be the first four-way meeting since the crisis erupted and will give an indication if there is even a diplomatic road to take before the situation gets even worse.

The Supreme Court in the Philippines has upheld a controversial law that requires the government’s health centers to distribute free condoms and contraceptive pills.  The bill had been fiercely opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which denounced it as a threat to human life.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he’s ready to offer a “very positive message of peace” in his first meeting with opposition leaders since the start of weeks of streets protests that left at least 39 people dead, both protesters and government supporters.

There are mounting fears that Russia is orchestrating a repeat of its seizure of Crimea, after Pro-Russian protesters who seized the regional government building in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk proclaimed themselves a “people’s republic” independent of Kiev.

Guinea raised the death toll from the Ebola epidemic in the West African country, adding nine to the 86 deaths acknowledged before the weekend to reach 95 lives lost.  Outbreaks are reported in scattered area from the southern forests to the sprawling capital Conakry.

A priest who refused to abandon his war torn city pays the ultimate price – Watchdogs question elections in Europe – Great video of a container ship running aground in busy Hong Kong – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs.

A Toronto, Canada took just four hours to deliberate and return with a guilty verdict against a 32-year-old man who raped and murdered a university student from China.  The woman had been in a webchat with her boyfriend in Beijing, who watched the dastardly crime in horror from thousands of kilometers away