Hello, Australia! – A Russian ship sinks, dozens are killed – The Palestinians might be about to change the game in the Middle East – A cannibal cop is sent to prison (hopefully, not to work in the kitchen) – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

A Russian fishing trawler has sunk off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East, north of Japan.  So far, 54 bodies have been recovered and around 15 crewmembers are still missing.  More than 60 have been rescued, with most of them suffering hypothermia from being immersed in the frigid waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.  Reports from Russia suggest the Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler struck floating ice, which ripped a hole in the ship’s hull.

Police in China have rounded up more than 1,000 people allegedly involved with an online gambling ring, and froze bank accounts worth up to A$70 Million.  Two men ran the operation from within China, using servers located in Thailand.  Other than in Macau, gambling is largely illegal in China – although the practice has a long tradition there.  

The Palestinian Authority has formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.  It’s a key step towards pursuing war crimes charges against Israel for last year’s Gaza War and the continuing construction of Jewish settlements in Palestinian lands. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Palestinians sought “justice not vengeance”.

A new study about the rising suicide rate among US military personnel since the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars found no connection between suicide and deployment.  Guess who conducted the study?  Yeah, the US Department of Defense conducted the study that absolves itself and also contradicts earlier research on the subject.  The new study was massive, analyzing the records of nearly four million personnel who served from 2001 to 2007.  But other researchers say there’s still a lot of research to do.  America’s military suicide rate has nearly doubled since 2005.

A court in Dresden, Germany sentenced an ex-cop to eight and a half years in prison for killing a man he met through a cannibalism fetish chat forum, and cutting the man up with the intention of eating him.  57-year old Detlev Guenzel chopped up the victim in the basement abattoir of his home, which doubled as a bed and breakfast.  Dresden, by the way, is the birthplace of the “Pegida” movement that organizes rallies against Muslim immigrants.  Not rallies against white, German cops who eat people and possibly serve them up with eggs to unsuspecting tourists, but against Muslim immigrants.  So.. screw you, white supremacy.

The first wife of Beatle John Lennon, Cynthia Lennon, is dead at age 75.  A statement issued on son Julian’s website said that Cynthia “passed away today at her home in Mallorca, Spain following a short but brave battle with cancer”.  Julian also uploaded a touching video.  Ringo tweeted his well wishes, and Paul McCartney said, “The news of Cynthia’s passing is very sad.  She was a lovely lady who I’ve known since our early days together in Liverpool.”  McCartney added, “She was a good mother to Julian and will be missed by us all, but I will always have great memories of our times together.”