Good Morning Australia!! - A major quake shakes the Solomons - Is the clock ticking on Boris Johnson? - Australia is lagging in its Paris Climate Accord commitments - Those Wacky Communists! -  And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

A power earthquake registering magnitude 7.8 struck off the Solomon Islands, prompting tsunami warnings in the South Pacific.  The poor communications infrastructure is making it difficult to assess damage, but there are reports of collapsed buildings and homes in the Solomon capital of Honiara.  Power has been cut and mobile networks are down.  However, Australia apparently is not under threat, and Hawaii has cancelled its tsunami warning.

Astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth on 20 February 1962, has died at age 95.  He later went on to represent his native Ohio in the Senate for 24 years, and in 1998 became the oldest person to fly in space on a space shuttle mission.  Glenn was the last of the original Mercury Seven Astronauts chosen in 1959 as the US got serious about catching up with and surpassing the rival space program in the Soviet Union.

Australia will not meet its clean energy targets in the Paris Climate Agreement, and the private sector has not stepped up because there is no long-term Government policy to reduce carbon emissions.  The ABC reports that this is the conclusion of the preliminary independent report led by Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel, to be released on Friday.  It says there is no way to realize the targets without a clear policy from the government.  Tristan Edis, the director of Green Energy Markets, says the government already knows this:  "There will be no surprises in this report, because they've been hearing it from their advisers, they've been hearing it from the public service, they've been hearing it from major stakeholders."

Syria's military reversed its earlier stance and called a cease-fire in Aleppo, allowing civilians to leave the besieged city.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said some 8,000 people would be able to leave.  Syrian forces, with Russian support, have been able to retake large portions of the rebel-held city.  Meanwhile just over the border in Iraq, a government air strike killed more than 60 people in an Islamic State (IS) controlled town Al Qaim.  Witnesses claim at least 30 civilians were among the dead.

Number 10 Downing Street is disavowing the comments made by sight-gag Foreign Minister Boris Johnson.  Video from an event last week showed Mr. Johnson accused Saudi Arabia - a UK ally - was engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East.  A spokeswoman for PM Theresa May slapped down Boris, saying that these comments represented his "personal views".  This puts Johnson in a precarious position before he goes off on a Middle East visit, seeming to lose his PM's support - and some are wondering if he's long for the government.

US pretender-elect Donald Trump sent a jackass tweet again, probably to distract from his most recent and lousy choices for his cabinet.  Twice-failed GOP senate candidate Linda McMahon is the wife of World Wrestling Entertainment promoter Vince McMahon, she's up for head of the Small Business Administration (the WWE is not a small business); Fast food executive Andy Puzder loves sexist advertising and hates a living wage, so naturally he's up for Labor Secretary; and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt hates clean water and doesn't believe that climate change is happening, and thus Trump put him up for head of the Environmental Protection Agency.  So far, most of Trump's cabinet picks have been old military generals and wealthy white folk out to destroy the agencies they're picked to lead.

As it turns out, Marxist rebels have a sense of humor.  An up to date one at that.  Members of Colombia's FARC have posted a video of themselves doing the Mannequin Challenge.  The rebels are currently in the process of standing down after reaching a peace deal with the government.