Global News

The suicide rate in the central US state of Kansas rose by a staggering 30 percent between 2011 and 2012.  Although there’s no official cause, it coincides with combination of massive cuts to state funding for mental health coupled with the stresses brought on by the global recession.

Wednesday’s christening of Prince George in London will break with royal tradition.  Just five members of the royal family have been invited to what is being described as an “intimate” ceremony.

Not only is Uruguay moving to become the first country in the world where the sale of Marijuana is legal, but the government is setting a price that this reporter is told is a pretty good deal, around A$1 a gram.  Not that I’d know.

The United States’ use of predator drones to attack targets in Pakistan could constitute a war crime:  That’s the allegation in a new report from Amnesty International, which says too many of those killed had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.

The Sultan of Brunei has introduced a tough, new criminal code based on an interpretation of Islamic Sharia Law, which could penalties like amputation for theft, stoning for adultery, and flogging for consumption of alcohol or abortion.  The new code would only apply to Muslims in Brunei, two-thirds of the small country's population.

Red Cross staff and volunteers are helping people affected by the New South Wales bushfires, and forecasters say today’s conditions could be the worst of the traumatic episode.  Please consider helping out with a donation to those who come to our aid when disaster strikes.  Meanwhile, tales of even more US spying on France rankle relations – A second blond girl is taken from a Roma family in Europe – And why does London’s newest MBA love a good scratch behind his ears?

Captive gorillas are being successfully reintroduced into rainforest areas where they had previously been hunted to extinction.  The study in the nature journal Oryx suggests a new front in the effort to save the great ape.

At least one man dead, 208 homes destroyed, and conditions for the New South wales bushfires will be even worse tomorrow.  You can help with a donation to the Red Cross.   Meanwhile, the Roma couple caring for a mysterious blond girl is charged in Greece – Survivors of the immigrant ship disaster in the Mediterranean aren’t allowed to go to their own memorial – A famous singer is charged with slipping drugs in a female friend’s drink.  And America is scary.

A self-proclaimed racist from Ukraine has pleaded guilty to murdering an elderly Muslim man and planting explosive devices outside mosques in central England in his one-man drive to start a race war.

Russia cops believe a woman from Dagestan in the restive Northern Caucuses set off a suicide bomb on a crowded bus in the city of Volgograd.  The blast which killed at least six people was captured on another motorist’s dashboard cameras as the bus rolled down the road.

Signs of desperation from a beleaguered populace in Syria:  A paralyzing violence once believed to have been eradicated is popping up throughout the country; And a town under siege writes an open letter to the world, pleading for its life.

Police in Northern Ireland plan to question witnesses to the “Bloody Sunday Massacre” of civilians by British soldiers in Derry more than 40 years ago.  Those 20 soldiers could conceivably face arrest and questioning for murder, attempted murder, or criminal injury.

If you were to ask people who read the newspapers of Israel about the “Turkish Betrayal”, you’d likely get a good conversation and a lot of opinions about what’s going on.  They’d almost be drowned out by the silence from the Israeli government and Washington, DC over what could be a harbinger of a shift in the Mideast.

China’s terrible smog problem is back.  The schools, roads, and airport are all shutdown for a second day in a row in the far northeastern industrial city of Harbin, and conditions will likely remain that bad for another day.

US Intelligence agencies hacked into the email of a Mexican president's public email account as part of a systematic, multiyear effort to eavesdrop on government officials “south of the border,” according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel’s analysis of intelligence secrets provided by leaker Edward Snowden.

The HMAS Melbourne, acting with the International anti-piracy task force in the Indian Ocean, captured nine Somali Pirates and scuttled two of their boats.

Militants wearing army uniforms have murdered 19 people at checkpoints on a road in northeastern Nigeria's Borno state.  The suspected Boko Haram Islamists stopped motorists, forced the people out of their cars, before shooting them or hacking them to death on the spot.

New South Wales is now in a state of emergency because of the bushfires.  You can help with a donation to the Red Cross.   Meanwhile:  The American President tries to stop the damage from the abortive rollout of “Obamacare” – One of the last witnesses from inside the cold war is gone – But the PM of Japan seems intent to start a new Cold War with his Asian neighbors.

They’re saying conditions can get worse in the New South Wales fires, especially in the Blue Mountains.  You can help with a donation to the Red Cross.  Meanwhile, a very large American bank will pay dearly for its role in causing the 2008 financial crash – You won’t believe what security cameras caught Kenyan troops doing during the Westgate Mall siege – And a deported schoolgirl tells the President of France, “Not without my family!”

Hundreds of homes have been burned and the true extent of the New South Wales bushfires won’t be known for a few days.  But there’s no sense waiting, please give a visit to the Australian Red Cross.  Meanwhile, there’s a troubling radiation spike at Fukushima – A mysterious little blond girl is found in a Roma camp – The US urges Syria to allow food deliveries to starving people in rebel areas.