Australia is hauled before the World Court – A prison walk-away is threatening war against his government – An American in North Korea confesses to.. something? – Iran halts its nuclear program.

East Timor is asking the International Court of Justice in The Hague to condemn Australia for using Secret Intelligennce Service (ASIO) agents to raid the office of its Canberra-based lawyer.  East Timor is demanding the return of those documents, which relate to the two countries' negotiations over oil and gas reserves thought to be worth tens of billions of dollars.  The case refocuses attention on Australian spying activities, adding to last year’s revelations from the Snowden Documents that Aussie spies bugged the phones of Indonesia’s president, first lady, and inner circle.

A UK football club has lost a sponsor because one of the players used an anti-Semitic gesture on the pitch.  Real estate website Zoopla pulled its patches of West Brom’s uniform because Nicolas Anelka celebrated a goal last year with the “quenelle”, the gesture invented by anti-Semitic French Comic Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, and used by his fans to insult Jews and mock Jewish suffering in 20th century European history.  The Football Association is expected to rule later Tuesday on whether Anelka will be banned, and for how many matches.

A fugitive from prison is threatening Greece’s government, accusing rulers of ruining the country with economic austerity measures.  Christodoulos Xiros was convicted of a series of bombings and shootings, but walked away from custody while on leave to visit his family earlier this month.  In a video posted on the Internet, he speaks in front of portraits of Che Guevara and Greek revolutionary heroes, he taunts the ruling parties, condemns the fascist “Golden Dawn” party (nothing wrong with that) and urges security forces to join him.

Central African Republic MPs have elected an interim leader.  The mayor of capital city Bangui Catherine Samba-Panza will be the nation’s first female president, and gets to preside over a chaotic nation wracked by months of sectarian killings.  At least the European Union is sending 500 peacekeepers to bolster African Union and French troops already stretched thin.

South African Platinum miners are planning to lay down their tools this week and go on strike.  As many as 90,000 members of the largest miners union are demanding their wages be doubled to the equivalent of A$1,300 per month – what the workers call a “living wage”.  Mining companies claim they cannot afford the increases due to increasing production costs and stagnated demand.  It could effect half of the world’s platinum futures.

Work on the Panama Canal expansion project is continuing, despite earlier threats to shut it down.  Negotiations are continuing between the canal authority and the Spanish-led consortium which says US$1.6 billion in budget overruns need to be addressed.  The canal authority is refusing to come up with the money.

Two workers are dead and ten are injured, four critically, in an explosion and partial building collapse in Omaha, Nebraska, which is located just about in the middle of the United States.  It happened at International Nutrition, which makes products that are added to livestock and poultry feed to make them more nutritious.

American Kenneth Bae appeared at a “news conference” in Pyongyang, North Korea and read a statement in which he confessed to a “serious” but unspecified crime, and insisted that North Korea doesn’t violate human rights.  He also urged the US and his US based family not to worsen his situation by “by making vile rumors against North Korea.”  Bae was arrested in November, 2012 in North Korea.  He owned a company specializing in tours of North Korea. 

Iran halted some of its nuclear operations under a preliminary deal with world powers that frees up economic deals with Tehran.  The US and European Union are reciprocating by suspending certain sanctions for six months as part of the deal.  Iran should be able to recover US$4.2 billion in oil revenues frozen in foreign accounts over the six months of the interim deal