In Afghanistan the government admits to using torture on Taliban-linked detainees.

In Papua New Guinea a 20-year-old woman is accused of witchcraft, and burned to death.

In Chechnya, the largest Islamic folk hospital in Europe, people are treated by healers performing djinn (spirit) exorcisms, by reading Quranic verses aloud.

In Pakistan and in Iran as well as other socially progressive countries of the world, charges of apostasy can be cleansed by capital punishment.

In Saudi Arabia and Iraq among other countries where Sharia law informs justice, women may be stoned to death on charges of adultery.

In Egypt, incidents of rape are as starkly common as in parts of Africa. The ancient Coptic Christian population is on the verge of seeking safety elsewhere as refugees from Islamism.

In India, gang rapes and deaths of women and children remain part of the culture of female subjugation.

In China, squadrons of Internet-savvy recruits conduct cyberwar tactics on American institutions and corporations.

In North Korea, a third underground nuclear test has taken place, in a country that threatens its neighbours and promises attacks against the United States.

In Iran, the ruling Ayatollahs reject international concerns of their intractable journey toward nuclear warheads and their perfecting of missile delivery services in aid of their often stated intention to destroy the State of Israel.

In the United States no day goes by without yet another news report of additional crimes committed by gun-owning Americans whom the lobbying National Rifle Association labels "bad guys" making life difficult for law-abiding, gun-owing Americans.

In Vatican City the current pope resigns office due to age and health concerns, leaving his successor to continue grappling with the handling of ongoing sex assaults by priests.

In Canada, the government has had to retract a bill titled Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act introduced to the legislature that would have modernized its Criminal Code to allow for Internet and telephone companies to hand over personal customer identification in the interests of apprehending criminals, because the general public protested interference with their privacy rights.