Global News

Never a dull moment in the Land Up Over and to the Right.  A troubled country star’s story comes to a tragic end, a speedy racer finally has something to go with all that publicity, and Maker’s will go back to hitting the Mark (after a strong backlash from bourbon aficionados).

Israel’s Knesset will conduct an “intensive” investigation of why Melbourne native Ben Zygier was found hanged to death in his secret prison cell near Tel Aviv back in December 2010.

There are going to be some gory details after the click on “Read More”.  South African police have recovered a bloody cricket bat as a key piece of evidence in the case of Oscar Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Seriously?  We're discriminating with sandwiches now?  Nope, because the sandwich chain Subway quickly shut down one of its stores in France after the local shop advertised a Valentine’s Day special – for heterosexual couples only.

Britons are quickly turning away from ready-made meals and some are foregoing meat altogether in reaction to the discovery of horsemeat masquerading as the more palatable beef in the food supply chain.

UPDATE:  Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa has cruise to victory in this weekend’s election, winning what will be his final term with 57 percent of the vote.  The Leftist economist is praised for using Ecuador’s oil wealth to widen the social safety net for the poor

On his first Sunday mass since announcing his retirement, Pope Benedict XVI asked a crowd of more than 50,000 "I beg you to continue praying for me and for the next pope".

The social network colossus Facebook clicked its way to more than $1.1 Billion in profits in the year 2012.  You’d think that would in turn generate a lot of tax revenue for the government of the United States.  And, you’d be wrong.

The last student of Judo’s founding father has died in San Francisco.  99-year old Keiko Fukuda was also the world’s highest-ranking female in that Martial Art, recognized as “9^th Dan” in Japan and “10^th Dan” in America.

The Horsemeat Scandal galloping across Europe is every bit as much about profits as it is about trust in the food supply.  French investigators say one firm has corralled hundreds of thousands of profit by selling cheaper horsemeat as beef.

Thousands of protesters across Spain hit the streets on Saturday to condemn the growing number of home evictions in this economic crisis.  Four people are known to have committed suicide in response to eviction notices.

Dozens of people are dead in a bombing in a crowded market place in the Pakistani city of Quetta.  The blast occurred in a Shia Muslim neighborhood.  A rival Sunni Muslim group is claiming responsibility.

Harrison Ford is reportedly returning to the “Star Wars” movie franchise, now owned by Disney and to be helmed by workaholic Director J.J. Abrams.

South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon was detained and ordered deported from Malaysia as authorities there labeled him a “security risk” for having been caught up in a Human Rights protest last year.

When a ten-ton flaming meteor blazed across the sky above Russia’s Southern Ural Mountains, there was no shortage of video immediately hitting the Internet in the following moments.  What gives?  Why was this previous top-secret region every bit as connected as Silicon Valley?

North Korea is threatening to detonate two more nuclear devices this year in order to force the United States to the negotiating Table.  Reuters reports its source has direct knowledge of the communiqué.

A Japanese whaling ship harpooned an Antarctic Minke Whale in Australia’s exclusive economic zone in the Southern Ocean off the Davis research base, according to Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Foundation.  This is despite Canberra ordering the Japanese out of Oz’s waters just weeks ago.

Western Powers are readying an offer to Iran to Ease the international sanctions on trading in Gold and other Precious Metals, if Iran shuts down its Uranium Enrichment Plant.

After an embarrassing week of revelations about Israel’s ultra-secretive security agency Mossad, the Israeli government is compensating the surviving family of "Prisoner X", the Melbourne man who was found hanged to death in his jail cell in a secret prison near Tel Aviv.

The “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius broke down several times in a Pretoria Court, denying charged that he murdered his girlfriend and noted fashion model Reva Steenkamp in his luxurious home in a gated community.