Global News

Two rockets have struck a district in the southern edge of Beirut, and a separate attack from southern Lebanon appears to have done no damage in Israel.

Pope Francis lashed out at organized crime and warned the Mafia, "They cannot do this, they cannot make our brothers slaves."  This, as the pontiff put on the road to sainthood a priest murdered by the mob.

Two major world economies are letting go of the debt owed by smaller nations in order to boost the economics of the future.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India would “never bow down” before terrorists after suspected Maoist rebels ambushed a political convoy and killed at least two-dozen people.

French Police are investigating the stabbing of a soldier near Paris as a terrorist attack. 

Thousands of marchers protested France’s new Gay Marriage Law, which weeks of opposition protests failed to block.  Although 96 people were arrested, fears of violence from hardliners infiltrating the march did not materialize.

Authorities are keeping a tight lid on the UK’s boiling cauldron;  Sweden is not as successful, as a sixth night of rioting spreads beyond suburban Stockholm;  A nuclear experiment goes bad in Japan, exposing dozens of scientists to radiation.  That and more in our zany world:

Russia says Syria will attend peace talks aimed at ending the civil war, Toronto’s Mayor finally talks about allegations he uses crack, and helping the poor gets one leader a 90 percent approval rating.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is going to Myanmar on a trade mission designed to steal away China’s former friend in Southeast Asia.  It’s the first visit by a Japanese PM since 1977.  Some say he should use the three-day trip to fulfill objectives greater than mere business.

The Pakistani Taliban is claiming responsibility for a terrorist attack that killed 13 people, including 11 members of a newly-created elite police unit in the southwestern city of Quetta.

Police in the Czech Republic are hunting the murderer of four members of a family south of Prague.  Their prime suspect is an American from Palo Alto, California.

Toronto, Canada Mayor Rob Ford has not resigned amid a crack cocaine scandal (he hasn’t even directly addressed it), but he has apparently fired his chief of staff.

A Bangladesh government report says it was a multitude of offenses that led up to the deadly Rana Plaza building collapse.  It’s recommending life sentences for the building's owner and the owners of five garment factories operating there.

The British Soldier killed in a gruesome terrorist attack in London’s South-East has been identified as a well-liked 25-year old “popular and witty soldier” with “a larger-than-life personality” who was the father of a toddler.

Russia is getting ready to evacuate an Arctic research station because the ice field surrounding it is melting, and threatening the very lives of the researchers there.  It’s a sign of the rapid change in the Earth’s overall climate.

There’s a battle for geriatric bragging rights going on at the top of the world, after an 80-year old Japanese man made it to the top of Mount Everest.

US President Barack Obama is expected to deliver a major speech on national security when Thursday arrives in America.  In advance, his administration is formally acknowledging that four American Citizens were killed in Drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

It’s too late for the elephants, but Customs officials in United Arab Emirates have interrupted a smuggling racket that tried to ship hundreds of tusks from Africa to China.

As one member of the embattled Russian Punk Rock band “Pussy Riot” goes on a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment, she’s getting help from the world’s most famous musician.

Horror on the streets of London as two attackers armed with machetes and knives attacked and beheaded a British Soldier before police arrived to gun them down.  Links to gruesome images and video follow the click.