Global News

The elections for the European Parliament are only days away, and the status quo appears to be about to get a big shake up – Polls suggest Euroskeptic parties could wind up with between 25 percent and 30 percent of the 751 European Parliament seats.

The head of Syria’s air defenses was killed in a rebel offensive at a government air base, one of the only high-ranking military officers to die in the country’s 3-year-old civil war.  It’s a symbolic victory for the rebels, who’ve faced a series of setbacks and surrendered territory over the last year.

A London skyscraper is getting what is hoped will be a permanent fix for the way it heated up the streets of the UK capital.  Sunshades are being installed on the building this month, before the hot summer sun is again reflected on the city below with the power to melt parked cars. 

North Korea is making a rare admission of catastrophic failure, after a 23-storey apartment block in the capital Pyongyang collapsed last week.  It is believed at more than 90 families lived inside at the time the building came down.

Three people are charged with ‘causing multiple deaths and injuries through negligence’ in last week’s coal mine disaster in Turkey, as the last of the 301 workers killed was buried.  The suspects were among 25 people detained, including executives, engineers, supervisors and other personnel of the company that operates the mine.

Leaders declare “total war” on Boko Haram – Beijing is pulling it citizens out of Vietnam amid anti-Chinese riots – Radiation soars off Fukushima – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The overwhelming victory of India’s next Prime Minister sends a chill through one community – Colombia and its rebels reaches a deal to fight illegal drugs – North Korea’s military grows – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

An historic change of guard in India – The long-ruling Congress Party is conceding that it has suffered a crushing defeat in the national elections, and that the Hindi nationalist BJP Party has ridden anti-incumbent sentiment to a huge victory.

Former “Hey Dad!” star Robert Hughes is expected to appeal his sentence of up to 10 years and 9 months for sexually abusing children in incidents dating back to his former sitcom’s run in the 1980s.  If the appeal fails he’ll serve 6 years at the very least.

As the World Cup approaches, Brazilian opponents of the tournament are increasingly their demonstrations.  Riot police in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro fired tear gas at thousands of protesters who are livid over the billions of dollars spent to host the matches instead of on housing and healthcare.

A ferry that was carrying at least 200 people capsized and sank in Bangladesh in bad weather on the Meghna River south of the capital Dhaka.  So far, 22 bodies have been recovered and it’s feared that scores more are dead.

The Turkish Government’s callous handling of the Soma Mine Disaster is drawing fire because of images of the prime minister slapping a woman in the town that lost almost 300 workers, and one of his aides is caught on camera violently kicking a protester who is already being arrested by police.

Human rights advocates are blasting a Sudanese court for sentencing a pregnant Christian woman to death by hanging for apostasy for supposedly “renouncing” Islam, and 100 lashes for adultery for marrying a Christian man.  It came over the objections of foreign embassies urging Sudan to respect her choice of religion.

Science has turned one of humankind’s enemies into a potential lifesaver.  Mayo Clinic researchers have successfully treated two patients diagnosed with “incurable” blood cancer with a radical new therapy in which a massive dose of a modified Measles Virus destroyed the malignancy.

South Korea has indicted the captain of the capsized Sewol ferry and three crewmembers on homicide charges.  Prosecutors also indicted the 11 other surviving crewmembers for negligence.   A month after the disaster, 281 bodies have been recovered and 23 passengers are still missing.

Guatemala’s Congress approved a non-binding resolution that denies there was any attempt to commit genocide during the Central American country’s bloody 36-year civil war.  The resolution was introduced by a legislator from the party founded by former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, the former dictator accused of genocide.

Police in Vietnam reportedly arrested hundreds of people after nationalist rampages against factories in Ho Chi Minh City’s industrial tracts and in an adjacent province.  The rioting grew out of a massive protest against China’s efforts to wrest control of the South China Sea from Vietnam and its neighbors.

A CSIRO researcher says she knows how to avoid one of the biggest health risks that plague ocean beaches, the arrival en masse of those nasty little Irukandji Box Jellyfish.  Just brushing up against one is extremely painful and enough stings could prove deadly.  But until now, they’ve never been predictable.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is backtracking over a minister’s claim that the government will negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group.  President Jonathan insists there will be “no negotiations for a prisoner exchange”.

Oscar Pistorius will be sent to a facility for a month-long psychiatric test – An explorer urges action before an important historic site is looted and ruined forever – A hero cat lays down the claw when a mean old dog attacks a little boy – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs: