Global News

A Human Rights group is claiming that a Buddhist mob rampaged through a minority Muslim Rohingya community in an isolated corner of Myanmar, hacking and stabbing residents including women and children, leaving anywhere from ten to 20 people dead.

The United Nations is warning that despite the resignation of the strongman president the Central African Republic could turn into genocide, as bloodshed and vengeance attacks continue unabated.  At least seven people were killed overnight.

Brazil’s aviation authorities are authorizing nearly 2,000 extra flights to meet the demands caused by the World Cup.  Brazil’s chaotic airports and price gouging have been the prime concerns of outside observers, as the 2014 FIFA championship looms closer.

The US Air Force suspended 34 officers in charge of launching nuclear weapons over accusations they cheated on proficiency tests.  The cheating allegations emerged after another investigation uncovered an alleged drug ring involving bases across the US and in England.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have almost quadrupled in eight years according to a new report from the United Nations.  It backs up claims that Israeli security forces are failing to stem harassment of Palestinians and the conservative government is stacked with pro-settler politicians disinclined to do anything about it.

Some of you should GO HOME from your job.  Seriously!  Details after the jump – India makes arrests after the rape of a tourist – A cop in an iconic photo of police abuse faces repercussions.

For all of the positive publicity that Pope Francis is getting for himself and the Roman Catholic Church in his first year, there is still very serious, unfinished business to be dealt with.  The UN will pose tough questions to Vatican officials on the topic of the sexual abuse of thousands of children by clergy.

The second day of voting in Egypt’s constitutional referendum went fairly peacefully, unlike the first day that saw as many as eleven deaths.  And it appears that voters have given the government a clear mandate to strip away the Islamist-friendly clauses added last year by deposed president Mohammed Morsi.

America’s old wounds from the war against a country that didn’t attack it are refusing to heal.  A website that usually specializes in Hollywood gossip got its hands on graphic photos of US troops in Iraq posing next to and burning dead bodies, allegedly those of insurgents.

Tennis players collapsing and barfing at the Australian Open, fire alerts everywhere, and it’s only going to get hotter on Thursday and Friday.  Folks, do take care in this heatwave.
Meanwhile, Egypt tries again on a constitution – Rolf pleads in a London Court – America has too damned many guns – And shock over the rapid decline of an animal seen by many as the symbol of a continent.

Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon apologized twice to US Secretary of State John Kerry – in Hebrew and English – after being quoted by a newspaper lambasting the top US diplomat’s push for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Anti-drug vigilantes have clashed with Mexican troops who were sent in to Michoacan state to disarm them, and the vigiliantes are mostly defying the government.  It follows a vigilante offensive against the Knights Templar cartel aimed at taking their lives back.

More than 200 civilians in South Sudan have drowned in ferry accident on the Nile River.  They were fleeing the fighting between government troops and rebels loyal to the former Vice President in a town seen as the gateway to the country’s oil production region.

The UK is investigating newly declassified documents that show the Margaret Thatcher government colluded with India on the deadly raid on the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar in June, 1984.  Officially, 492 civilians were killed, although independent estimates claim as many as 5,000 lost their lives.

A newly unearthed memo from the US State Department more deeply links former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to atrocities committed by Argentina’s fascist military junta during the 1970s.  It strongly reinforces that view that Kissinger gave the go ahead for the junta to conduct a state terrorism campaign that would see the murders of as many as 30,000 Leftists and opposition figures.

Thai anti-democracy protesters are packing Bangkok streets for a second day this week, vowing to shut down the capital until the democratically elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra steps down and the government is replaced by unelected ruling councils. 

Authorities in Brazil are investigating a killing spree in the city of Campinas that saw at least a dozen people die – and if that killing spree was the work of off-duty police officers.  The weapons used in the murders reportedly were of the same caliber of those used by cops.

Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos has until 29 January to decide if he will sign the order to dismiss Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro and ban the former Leftist guerilla from public office for 15 years.  But thus far, Santos hasn’t indicated that he will oppose the order.

Israel buries Ariel Sharon – India marks a major public health achievement – An African nation doesn’t bother to announce its has enacted an ugly restriction of human rights.

The US and Britain are warning Syria’s main opposition groups that western support could dry up if the rebels fail to send a delegation to the Geneva II peace conference in Switzerland next week, and take part in talks with their enemy President Bashar al-Assad’s government.