Spain gets a new King, whether people liked it or not – The Vatican is stamping out rumors – And a bad news bear interrupts a game – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Juan Carlos signed the document abdicated his throne to his son, Spain’s new king Felipe IV.  The elder fell out of public favor with a series of public missteps, the worst of which was his high-priced hunting safari to Africa at the height of the global financial crisis which led to thousands of Spaniards losing their jobs, their homes, and in some cases their lives to suicide.  At the same time, many are demanding a referendum on whether to have a monarchy at all.

NATO scrambled several Typhoon fighter jets to intercept seven Russian military aircraft that flew too close to the Baltis states.  The Russians did not file a flight plan and did not use their transponders, making them invisible to civilian air traffic control and a safety hazard to commercial air traffic.  Meanwhile, Russia moved several Sukoi Su-34 fighter jets to the air base at Rostov, near Ukraine’s eastern border. 

The Vatican is denying rumors that Pope Francis is ill, sparked by the pontiff canceling some summer events.  “There is no sickness whatsoever,” said the Rev. Thomas Rosica, who added that if there were he’d be asking people to pray for the Pope.  Francis is planning a trip to South Korea from 13 to 18 August.

Police in eastern Mexico found a mass grave with 31 bodies and warn that there may be more.  This was found on a farm in Veracruz state near the border with Oaxaca state, where the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas drug gang have waged a violent and bloody war.  Throughout Mexico, drug gang-related violence has killed more than 85,000 people dead since 2007.

Libya is condemning the US military operation that captured the terrorist suspected in the 2012 Benghazi attack.  Libya’s foreign ministry called it a “regrettable infringement on Libya's sovereignty”.  On 15 June, US Special Forces swooped in on a location outside Benghazi, arrested Ahmed Abu Khattala, and whisked him out of the country – no injuries, no fatalities.

An explosion rocked an ammunition storage unit at a military base in Hengyang, in China’s Hunan province, killing 17 soldiers.  China’s military operates in high secrecy, and it’s rare for the People’s Liberation Army to admit this kind of mishap.  The blast is believed to have been accidental, which occurred as the soldiers were stacking ammunition. 

Turkey has sentenced the two surviving leaders of the 1980 coup d’etat to life in prison.  That’s probably not going amount to long sentences, as former general Kenene Evran is 97 years old and General Tahsin Sahinkaya is age 87. 

A police chase left the road and went across a golf course in Moorhead, Minnesota, destroying a good portion of the links but providing really cool video for golfers who yanked out their mobiles to take pictures.  The guy in the truck was wanted on drug warrants.  He was caught a short time later in Fargo, North Dakota.

A baseball game in Juneau, Alaska had to be put on hold for a few minutes, so that a big ol’ Black Bear could finish his business and leave.  The players seemed remarkably calm as the enormous, carnivorous predator wandered from left field to the scoreboard and disappeared back into the woods behind right field.