Europe sees a full-scale war building up in Ukraine – Ebola spreads to a fifth country – Kim Jong-Un’s banker has escaped North Korea – Bill Kerr is dead at 92 – And much, much more in your CareerSpot World News Mega-Briefs:

The situation in Ukraine is “slipping out of control” according to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and it needs to be reigned in before there is direct military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia.  Moscow is denying claims that it has slipped into the southeast of Ukraine to supply and add combat troops to bolster a rebel offensive against the important port city of Mariupol.  The EU is considering another round of economic sanctions against Russia.

Human Rights Watch is accusing the Russian-backed rebels of terrible abuses – beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions of civilians, pro-Kiev activists, and non-Orthodox religious leaders.  Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Russia’s actions are “utterly reprehensible” and are tantamount to an “invasion”.

More than three million people have registered with the US as refugees from the Syrian Civil War, and the situation is only getting worse.  The UN refugee Agency calls it “the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era”.  Refugees arriving at camps over the border are tired, scared, and hungry, with some spending a year or more fleeing from village to village.  The three year old conflict started with western-backed rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad – they were quickly overpowered by the al Qaeda-linked al Nusra Front and the vile Islamic State, known for its mass executions, lashings, and forced amputations.

The UN is demanding the release of 43 Fijian peacekeepers abducted from the Golan Heights by an armed group in the Syrian Civil War.  75 Philippine peacekeepers are trapped in the area in a standoff with the Syrian rebels.  The UN has not identified the rebel group, but activists say it’s the al Nusra Front.  Fiji’s leader Frank Bainimarama says negotiations are underway.

UK PM David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May say the country’s terror threat level is now “severe”, because of the number of British citizens and residents who’ve become jihadis with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.  The fourth-highest alert level means the government fears an attack on the UK is “highly likely” (or is just milking the panic for political points).  The US has not issued any warnings.  Australia’s terror alert remains “medium”.

Senegal is confirming its first case of Ebola, meaning that the killer virus is now present in five West African Countries – Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria are the others.  The patient is a 21-year old Guinean national who traveled to Senegal and is in quarantine.  Despite this, and the fact the Nigeria’s cases stem from a Liberian-American businessman who brought the virus in via a passenger plane, health officials insist that closed borders and regional quarantines are not helpful and merely interfere with the flow of needed aid.  Ebola has killed more than 1,550 people out of more than three thousand infections. 

Health workers are still battling ignorance and rumormongers in their fight against Ebola.  Riots broke out in a Guinean city when young men armed with clubs and knives, worked up over rumors that health workers had infected people with Ebola, tried to surround a hospital.  Security forces were called in and restored order, but shots were fired and several people were injured.  Guinea had actually gotten something of a handle on the epidemic, and new cases there are down.  Liberia and Sierra Leone are getting the worst of it currently.

A new study shows that the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp is 100 percent effective – in monkeys.  It doesn’t mean the drug will be as effective in humans, but it’s a good indicator.  All 18 monkeys that were infected with lethal doses of the Ebola virus survived, even those that were treated late in the infection.  All three monkeys in the control group died.  The problem is, the world’s ZMapp supply is exhausted.  Mapp Pharmaceuticals of San Diego is making more, but the process takes months.

Everyone LOVES baby Pandas!

Ecuador plans to issue a new digital currency, the world’s first to be issued by a central bank.  It would be in use alongside Ecuador’s existing paper currency, the US Dollar. Central bank officials say the electronic money will be used to pay government bureaucrats, and help poor people make and receive payments using mobile phone technology.  Privately-issued electronic currency issues seem to be working out in parts of Africa.  Ecuador is banning stateless digital currencies like Bitcoin at the same time as introducing its own.

Malaysia Airlines is cutting 6,000 staff – 30 percent of its workforce – as part of its recovery plan for its terrible year.  The A$2 Billion-ish recovery plan will see Malaysian Airlines become completely state-owned.  The disappearance of MH370 and downing of MH17 killed a number of Australians, and undercut confidence in the carrier.  

Japan is already making its neighbors nervous with its massive military expenditures – now, the Defense Ministry is seeking its biggest ever budget, more than A$52 Billion.  Officials say the security environment around Japan is  “increasingly severe”.  Japan is locked ina  bitter territorial struggle over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

The senior North Korean banker who managed money for young despot Kim Jong-Un wants to defect.  Yun Tae Hyong of North Korea’s Korea Daesong Bank flew the coup in Russia’s far east with some US$5 Million, and is looking for asylum in a third country.

A nasty culture clash in Guatemala:  230 members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish community are packing up and leaving the town of San Juan La Laguna after a meeting with town elders.  The Lev Tahor say they were asked to leave, and were threatened with lynching and a disruption of utility services.  The Mayan town elders say the six-year transplants were condescending to residents, paid whatever they wanted to in stores instead of the marked prices, and physically clashed with tourists in an area dependent on ecotourism.  The Lev Tahor came to the town from Canada after a row with child protection authorities.  They say they’ll try to find another town in Guatemala in which to settle.

A Jamaican Gay rights activist is dropping his challenge to the country’s idiotic 19th century anti-sodomy law, a leftover form the British colonial days.  This comes after 25-year old Javed Jaghai said he and family members received a number of threats. Homophobia is a big problem in Jamaica, and activists say the law encourages hate and physical assaults.  A number of Jamaican musical performers have found themselves ostracized in international circles over gay-bashing themes in their music that were popular at local sound system performances at home.

Actor and comedian Bill Kerr is dead at age 92.  Borning in New South Wales, he moved to London in the 1940s and became known as “the boy from Wagga Wagga” on radio.  He returned to oz in 1979 and firmly established himself in the film industry.  Kerr made a number of film and television appearances including “Doctor Who”, “Gallipoli”, “The Dam Busters”, and “The New Adventures of Black Beauty”.