Syria’s “sham” election is condemned – The US and Israel split on the new Palestinian unity government – Japan’s SciFi approach to containing Fukushima’s radiation – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Syria’s presidential election is being called a “sham”, a “farce”, and a “grotesque parody of democracy”.  And those are the complements.  Because of the civil war, entire cities are destroyed, 6.5 million people are displaced internally and another three million fled outside the borders as refugees, so it’s not clear exactly who is voting.  Regardless, President Bashar al-Assad is assured of victory.

A human rights group says 344 people were tortured to death in Syrian government-controlled prisons during May.  Two of the victims were children, a boy and a girl.  But it’s not just Assad’s government doing the killing:  The London-based watchdog Syrian Network for Human Rights also says the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – the group so violent they were kicked out of al Qaeda – killed 317 rebels.  Some 400 civilians died at the hands of other rebel groups and government forces.  The Syrian Civil War is more than three years old and shows no sign of ending.

The US will work with and help fund the Palestinians unity government, because the interim Cabinet is composed of technocrats and does not include ministers affiliated with Hamas.  An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed “deep disappointment” with Washington’s willingness to work with the unity government.  Israel suspended peace talks with the Palestinians after the two main factions – Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza – reached an agreement to carry out their unity deal.

Human Rights Watch says witnesses are accusing African Union peacekeepers in the Central African Republic of abuses.  The allegations against the peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo include torture, killings, and detentions.  It apparently happened after one of the factions in the CAR attacked a Congolese peacekeeper’s vehicle.  African Union, European Union, and French troops are trying to restore order in the CAR after months of ethnic and religious violence that has killed thousands and made nearly a million homeless.

Caribbean smugglers in recent days abandoned three groups of migrants from Cuba and Haiti, dumping them on barren islands off of Puerto Rico.  The US Coast Guard found some of them, including a child, clinging for dear life onto rocks.  The Haitians are generally repatriated to the impoverished country, but because of a Cold War hangover, Cubans who reach US territory are allowed to stay.

Opposition activists are crying foul over new Venezuela school textbooks that they claim glorify the late President Hugo Chavez and belittle his adversaries.  The books also present the illegal anti-democratic coup attempt in 2002 as a US-led plot.  Venezuelan officials say the textbooks encourage critical thinking and questioning of a US-led capitalist world order.  They also point out the bigger issue – the huge increase of children getting an education from the previous conservative regimes, that began when Chavez’ Socialist party got into office.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) will meet Wednesday on the island of Batam.  It’s the first face-to-face since the relationship between the two countries got really, really chilly following revelations that Australia had spied on SBY and Australia’s controversial policy of turning back asylum seekers.  The two were to meet last month, but it coincided with another boat turnback.

Japan commenced work on a large, underground ice wall to try and contain radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  The technology has never been attempted in this context before:  1,550 will be inserted into the ground between the three melted reactors and the Pacific Ocean.  Coolant will be circulated in the pipes, creating a giant ice wall in six to eight weeks – in theory.  And even if it does work in Japan’s 35 to 40 degree summers, all they have to do is to keep it powered up and running flawlessly in perpetuity.  Yeah, nothing could go wrong.