After nearly a decade of decline, measles outbreaks in parts of Europe and Africa led to 60,000 more cases worldwide in 2010 over the previous year.

A boost in global efforts to vaccinate people against measles lead to a decline in total cases from 853,000 in 2000 to 278,000 in 2008. In 2009, the figures remained stabled. 2010, however, saw an increase to 339,845 cases of measles, due largely to outbreaks in Europe and Africa.

The biggest increase in measles cases came specifically from Malawi, which had 118,712 cases. Burkino Faso came in second with 51,118, and Iraq pulled in third with 30,328. A couple European nations also came in the top 15, with Bulgaria reporting 22,004 cases and France with 5,048. Vietnam also notably reported 9,491 cases, while the Philippines had 6,368.

The measles outbreaks were mostly linked to low vaccination coverage of the population. In some cases this was due to limited or no access to health services, while in other areas it is due to religious or philosophical objections by parents who oppose vaccinating their children.

Japan currently has a population of about 128 million, but by 2060, the population is expected to shrink by one-third and seniors will make up 40 percent of people. This scenario will place a greater burden on the working-age population to support the social security and tax systems. The statistics on just how fast Japan's population will shrink were released on Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry.

Japan will have 87 million people in 2060, and the number of people 65 and over will nearly double to 40 percent. The national work force of people between the ages of 15 and 65 will shrink down to about half of the total population, according to estimates by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

The total fertility rate (or expected number of children born per woman during lifetime) in 2060 is estimated to be at 1.35, which is down from 2010's 1.39. Both figures are well below the 2 needed to keep Japan's population from declining.

Adding to the situation, the average Japanese will continue to live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is projected at 90.93 for women and 84.19 years for men, up from 86.39 and 79.64, respectively, in 2010.

Clevelanders who want to visit Canada must presently catch an international flight, or make a drive over land. Travel to our neighbor to the north by water is not an option and hasn't been for more than 50 years now, but it may be soon in the future. Port officials in Cleveland say that they're talking with officials in Port Stanley, Ontario, about the idea of a passenger ferry service across Lake Erie which could start as early as next year.

The service between Cleveland and Port Stanley would most likely start out as a two-year trial. The ferry service would carry people, cars and a limited number of trucks. Port Stanley would like to limit the number of trucks and would like tourism to be the emphasis of the ferries.

Port Stanley officials have selected an Indiana-based vessel management company to study the concept and the types of boats that could be used for the ferry service.

A similar ferry service was attempted in Toronto and Rochester, New York, but that experiment ultimately failed. It's not clear if a Cleveland to Canada ferry would suffer the same fate, but it'd certainly be worth a try.

According to doctors in India, at least a dozen people are infected with a strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to all antibiotics that are used to treat the disease.

The journal Clinical Infectious Diseases published a report in December that documented four of the cases, but this past weekend news outlets in India reported that there were at least 12 people with the lung disease.

Study co-author Zarir Udwadia of the Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Mumbai told New Scientist:

"It's estimated that on average, a tuberculosis patient infects 10 to 20 contacts in a year, and there's no reason to suspect that this strain is any less transmissible. Short of quarantining them in hospitals with isolation facilities till they become non-infectious – which is not practical or possible – there is nothing else one can do to prevent transmission."

Just a day after the president of Argentina revealed that she is battling cancer, Venezuaelan president Hugo Chavez suggested in a televised speech that the United States may be plotting to infect Sout American leaders with cancer.

In a speech to troops on Wednesday, Chavez said:

"It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now. It is very hard to explain, even with the law of probabilities, what has been happening to leaders in Latin America."

Chavez underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. Argentine president Cristina Fernandez revealed this week that she has thyroid cancer, which she has been battling for a year. She will undergo surgery on January 4. Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with throat cancer in October, and his successor, Dilma Rousseff, survived a battle with lymphoma in 2009. In August 2010, Paraguay president Fernando Lugo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2010.

Chavez insisted in his speech that he "wasn't accusing anyone", but noted that ex-Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had warned him of the U.S.'s biological cunning, saying:

The Beckham brood will no longer be inhabiting Los Angeles and are instead fleeing the country for France, at least according to the latest rumors. Last night it was revealed that David Beckham, who came to the U.S. to play with the LA Galaxy soccer team, had signed a deal with Paris St. Germain and that the family will move to the French capital in January.

Le Parisien published the news as an exclusive on it's website, and promised more details in its next edition. The paper claims that after four months of negotiations, Becks approved a year-and-a-half long contract with France's richest club.

Beckham, 36, will earn a an after-tax salary of 800,000 euros per month in Paris, or 4.5 million euros over the entire 18 month period. That's a pretty nice pay day, but is likely only a fraction of what he'll actually take home thanks to marketing deals included in the lucrative contract.

The contract package will also include a new home in Paris for the Beckham family, as well as school places for his sons - Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, 9, and Cruz, 6. PSG's owners, Qatar Sport Investments, has the massive wealth of the Gulf emirate backing them, and are rumored to have offered the Beckhams' "anything they want" in moving to France from the U.S.

North Korea's long criticized ruler, Kim Jong Il, has died at the age of 69.

Kim took over absolute control of community North Korea in 1994 following the death of his father. In recent years, Kim had been suffering from numerous health issues, and had nearly touched off a number of wars with his hatred of the world an love of accumulating weapons of mass destruction.

The dictator who infamously let his people starve while he built nuclear bombs, died of a heart attack at the age of 69 while riding aboard a train Saturday during a "high-intensity field inspection."

He was believed to have also suffered a stroke in 2008, and was a notorious drinker and chain smoker. He was mocked for his crazy hair and love of movies and choreography, but posed a real danger to the world as he was in control of the fifth largest military force in the world.

Kim's youngest legitimate son, Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be in his 20s, was announced as his successor in September 2010.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people in Moscow, as well as thousands more in cities across Russia, assembled to demand an end to Vladimir Putin's rule and a rerun of a parliamentary election. These demonstrations mark the biggest opposition protests since Putin first rose to power 12 years ago, and the largest protest rally since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

The largest protest was in Moscow, where riot police were ready and watching as protesters shouted and waved flags. The protests showed an outpouring of anger over the December 4 election, which the opposition claims was rigged to favor Putin and United Russia, and to show discontent with the current prime minister three months before Putin tries to reclaim the presidency at the polls.

Former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who now leads an opposition movement that was banned from the election, said to a huge crowd at Bolotnava Square across the Moscow River from the Kremlin:

"Today 60,000, maybe 100,000 people, have come to this rally. This means today is the beginning of the end for these thieving authorities."

Diet fads aren't just an American thing; strange new food phenomenon hit other countries as well, and now thanks to a new fat-rich diet, Norway's entire stockpile of butter has been depleted.

Lars Galtung, a spokesman for Tine, the country's biggest farmer cooperative, sales of butter soared 20 percent in October, and then 30 percent in November as the new low-carb diet swept Norway. He said:

"Norwegians are not afraid of natural fats, they love their butter and cream."

Consumers, however, are none too pleased that butter isn't on store shelves, especially with the holidays. Some stores have reportedly been without butter for weeks. Many blame the Tine for not addressing the butter shortage sooner, and being too slow to acquire butter from other countries.

Others, however, say that the shortage of butter shows a bigger problem with Norway's economy. Experts blame the country's protectionist economic policies for the shortage, saying the butter problems show a huge problem with the market.

The lack of butter in Norway has also made the country the subject of a new crop of jokes. Earlier this week, a Danish morning show offered to send 1,000 packets of butter to help.

Three Italian brothers all suffered heart attacks on the same day. Two brothers died, and one lived.

The third brother was already in the hospital visiting his elderly mother when his heart attack struck, and so he received immediate medical attention.

Guido Garofalo, 45, was the first to pass away while he was out on a family picnic on Sunday on the slopes of Sicily's Mout Etna volcano. His brother Alberto, 53, was so overcome with grief with having seen his brother drop dead that he too suffered cardiac arrest shortly after. Despite of the efforts of first responders on the scene, Alberto also passed away.

The oldest of the brothers, Salvatore, 57, is in stable condition after being treated for a blocked artery at the Garabaldi hospital in Catania, eastern Sicily.

The brothers also have a sister who lives in Rome. She suffers from the same congenital heart disease, and the Corriere della Sera reports that she has not yet been told about the brothers' deaths for fear of the news sparking cardiac arrest in her as well.