Global News

Tokyo finally gets the prize its been after for years – Europe moves closer to the US opinion on attacking Syria – Moscow’s mayoral election pits the Kremlin against the highest-profile opposition leader.

As millions of Aussies head to the polls to choose between the Labor Party that presided over six years of economic good times and progress versus Murdoch’s guy, we’ll take a look at what’s going on the rest of the world.

US National Security Agency (NSA) and UK intelligence service GCHQ have cracked the online technology used to encrypt internet services such as banking, medical records and email, according to the latest revelation from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden’s trove of documents.

Remember Australia’s extreme rainfall in 2012?  It also happened in New Zealand.  And a new report says those and other major weather events in 2012 are definitively linked to Global Warming.

Cops rescue kids from a religious cult that teaches physical punishment – South Korea for the first time arrests a sitting lawmaker for alleged treason – Cowardly militants assassinate a middle-aged woman for writing a book – And the British learn to drive as badly as Californians.

Roman Catholic Church officials are denying claims that its recently recalled envoy to the Dominican Republic is accused of child sex abuse.  But officials are refusing to shed any further light on the sudden ouster of Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski.

Chile has extradited a former Argentine judge charged with some hundred crimes against humanity during Argentina’s 1975-1983 military dictatorship, a bloody and shameful period during which 30,000 people were murdered by fascist dictatorships in South America.

Foreign journalists who had predicted fireworks when Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met at the G20 Economic summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia were sorely disappointed when the two men failed to put on wrestling masks and repeatedly bash each other with metal folding chairs.  Things did get a little nasty between Russia and Britain, however.

Kenyan MPs have approved a motion to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), where the country’s president and his deputy are facing trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

Brazil moves closer to full transparency in its legislature – Egypt’s interim leader insists the military ouster of Mohammed Morsi was to protect democracy – One of Hollywood’s biggest names may have quietly slipped into retirement.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic began a criminal investigation into the Vatican's former ambassador to the Caribbean island nation.  It comes a day after a local church official revealed Pope Francis had recalled the envoy because of child abuse allegations.

There could be economic consequences to revelations of the US spying on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is reportedly considering a big move to impress her point upon Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called US Secretary of State John Kerry a “liar” for denying that al Qaeda elements were part of the myriad of groups forming the rebellion against the regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.

When US President Obama gets to the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he will hold a sideline meeting with President Francois Hollande of “America’s oldest ally” France, which says it will stand with the US during any attack on Syria.

A United States Senate panel is approving the use of military force against Syria in retaliation for the 21 August chemical weapon attack on civilians.  The measure specifically strikes out “boots on the ground”.

The teenager who survived being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban, only to become one of the world’s leading advocates of education for girls, kicked off a big week by opening a new, A$321 Million library in her adopted home city of Birmingham, UK.

US President Barack Obama will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, taking place in Saint Petersburg, Russia at the end of the business week.

A flamboyant, tattooed basketball player returns to the stage of international diplomacy – Brazil might grant police protection to journalist Glenn Greenwald – A once-giant name in mobile phones gets bought – And German officials try to clean up the last of the war criminals.

A drugged-out rapist in Manchester, UK has a lot more than jail time to worry about.  He’s finding out that he might have contracted HIV from his victim.

Kenya has called an emergency session of Parliament for later this week to consider leaving the International Criminal Court (ICC).  President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto face separate trials at the ICC for allegedly whipping up deadly violence in Kenya’s 2007 elections.