Details on the deal to end Ukraine’s political crisis and the reaction – Venezuela is expelling CNN journalists – Nepal is dealing with sharp elbows at the top of the world – Has-been is forced to eat crow – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs.

Heavyweight Hassles

Protesters are staying in their barricades in Kiev’s Independence Square, despite opposition leaders signing a deal with President Viktor Yanukovich to end Ukraine’s political crisis.  Opposition leader and former boxing champ Vitaly Klitschko was loudly booed after he returned from the president’s office to the Maidan protesters, and tried to sell them on the deal – many believe it is too little, too late, and that Yanukovich can’t be trusted to hold up his end. 

Sign The Deal Or Die

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski was caught on video telling Ukraine opposition leaders that if they did not support a deal with the government, it would impose martial law and send in the army.  Sikorski’s exact words were captured by England’s ITV during a break in negotiations: “If you don't support this (deal) you'll have martial law, the army.  You will all be dead.”  Shortly after that, the three opposition leaders signed on.

The Details

The Foreign Ministers of Poland, Germany, and France helped negotiate the deal between the opposition and Yanukovich.  It restores the 2004 constitution and calls for Presidential and Parliamentary elections no later than December; Demonstrators will turn in their weapons and the authorities will not impose a state of emergency; Both sides will cooperate with the Council of Europe in an investigation into violence committed during the three-month crisis.

Former PM Could Be Freed

Ukraine Former Prime Minister and key opposition figure Yulia Tymoshenko could be freed from prison, because part of the deal changes the “abuse of power” law under which she was convicted and sent to prison for seven years.  Tymoshenko was a leader of the 2004 “Orange revolution”.  She was jailed in 2011 on alleged corruption charges that have been disputed by her supporters and the EU as politically motivated.

Good Lord, That’s Enough Of Ukraine!

And now, the rest of the world.

Saturday will be another day of dueling rallies in Caracas, as opposition leader and failed presidential candidate Henrique Capriles called for an anti-government march.  Capriles is seen as a more moderate conservative and might be able to broaden the demonstrations begun by Leopoldo Lopez, who is jailed and facing charges related to violence that happened when he directed the marches.  At the same time, President Nicolas Maduro has called for his supporters to come out.  CNN probably won’t be covering it too closely, because Maduro yanked the visas of seven of its journalists for alleged editorial bias.

Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe marked his 90th birthday with a televised interview in which he slurred his words and rambled on, suggesting he is in poor health.  Or maybe he’s just 90.  “I do not know how I have come to live this long,” he said, a thought no doubt echoed by those who’ve suffered under his erratic four decade rule.

The Basque separatist group ETA in Spain announced it is decommissioning some of its weapons.  The International Verification Commission (IVC) described ETA’s gesture as “credible and significant,” although the Spanish government was skeptical.  More than 800 people have died in ETA’s four-decade long failed campaign for independence.

Nepal will deploy a team of security officers to monitor the base camp at Mount Everest.  Last April, a base camp brawl between Sherpas and rude European climbers, in which a foreigner referred to the Sherpas as “slaves” and one of the guides threw a knife at the Europeans resulting in minor injuries.  But besides ugly tourists, the security force will also help out with climbers-in-distress which is a problem – out of the thousands who’ve tried to scale the world’s highest peak, not all have been qualified.

Beijing has issued an emergency pollution alert for three days of choking smog.  The orange alert is the second highest, and advises schools and kindergartens to cancel outside sports classes.  A red alert would have the city ordering schools to close and keeping government vehicles off the road.

Japan is promising to investigate the mutilation of 265 of copies of “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” and other books related to her at 31 public libraries across Tokyo.  Some libraries put the remaining copies behind the librarian’s desk to protect them.  The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles issued a statement expressing “shock and deep concern” over the vandalism.  Since the 1970’s, Japan’s publishing and media worlds have been stained by idiots spouting anti-Semitic theories, and no significant Jewish community to refute them and educate the public.

Talentless has-been Ted Nugent has been forced to issue a half-arsed apology for calling US President Barack Obama a “subhuman mongrel”.  He claims he was using “streetfighter language”.  Yeah, right gramps, you've been in a streetfight.  Nugent, whose shtick has been to say something incredibly racist or misogynist and then count the times he’s mentioned in the media, has been campaigning with Republican political candidates in that totally enlightened state of Texas.  Nugent allegedly was a musician, although his last hit was in 1977 and since then is more famous for revelations he avoided the Vietnam draft by soiling his pants, singing songs about his pedophilia problem, and saying stupid stuff.  And yet the republicans keep using him.