Good Morning Australia!! - Trump defies all warnings and throws petrol all over the Middle East - Time names its Persons of the Year - A mystery disease is killing college students - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

There is deep anxiety across Jerusalem after Donald Trump announced a major shift in US foreign policy recognizing the ancient city as the sole capital of Israel.  "I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," Trump said in a televised speech on Wednesday, adding that the US Embassy would move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  NATO, Arab leaders, and Israeli and American moderates all tried to talk Trump out of the announcement, which seemed keyed only to please American evangelical voters and Israeli hard-liners.  Palestinian leaders - who claim East Jerusalem as the capital for a future Palestinian state - called for "three days of rage" against the move.  But most responsible leaders around the world fear Trump has caused anger throughout the Muslim world.  Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Trump was "pushing this region towards chaos (and) violence" by "destroying all moderates in the region" and "giving power to extremists".

US Democrats are deserting Senator Al Franken, a former comedian and star of "Saturday Night Live" - and it looks like he's going to throw in the towel on Thursday, having scheduled an "announcement".  Another woman has come forward with a story of Franken groping her before he was a Senator, which was immediately followed by 22 Democratic party members of the US Senate losing patience and calling on Franken to resign.  It's less than a week until the special election in Alabama that pits Republican evangelical and accused pedophile Roy Moore against Democratic candidate and former Federal prosecutor Doug Jones, and it looks like the D's want to occupy the moral high ground in that fight. 

Time Magazine's "persons of the year" are "The Silence Breakers" - the women and men who spoke up about sexual abuse and harassment by perpetrators in Hollywood, government, and the business world.  "This is the fastest-moving social change we've seen in decades," said Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.  It started with Hollywood women standing up against powerful producer Harvey Weinstein, inspiring the "#MeToo" hashtag, and spread out as women detailed the abuse by power brokers they endured, and often being ignored when they sought redress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he is "running" for "reelection", confirming what most observers expected - he's also expected to win, because the Putin-friendly courts tend to known out any viable opposition candidate.  "Russia will continue moving forwards, and nobody will ever be able to stop this forward movement," he told supporters, previewing nationalist rhetoric that will make up his "campaign".  This would put the shirtless wonder in charge of Russia until 2024 - 24 years, including four spent as Prime Minister (during which he continued to call the shots).

The opposition in Honduras is demanding a full election recount.  Election authorities initially acknowledged that opposition leader Salvador Nasralla was ahead in the count from the 26 November election, but have since made erratic pronouncements and claimed conservative US-ally President Juan Orlando Hernandez was ahead.  Critics say the entire process is now tainted and it's ridiculous to wait so long for results of an election held more than a week ago.

Human Rights Watch is calling on Colombia to put off the promotion of five police officials involved in the "False Positive" scandal in which cops would arrest, abuse, or kill civilians but identify them as rebels or insurgents in their reports.  More than 3,000 people were murdered in this way so that cops could claim false progress in the fight against rebels. 

A 40-year old Argentinian woman has been reunited with her family, decades after she was stolen as a baby by the US-backed fascist junta and given to a conservative family to raise.  "Adriana" is the 126th person to be reunited by the group "Grandmothers of the Square" and the Argentine National Commission for the Right to Identity (CONADI).  Her parents were Violeta Ortolani and Edgardo Garnier - two Leftist activists who were disappeared by the fascist scum and never seen again.

Parents have stormed the gates of Kumasi Academy, a college in central Ghana, after a mysterious disease killed four students.  Local health officials are appealing to the United Nations world Health Organization for help in containing an "outbreak".  But college officials don't want to close the school, reasoning that if there is an outbreak for some killer disease they don't want infected students going back home and spreading it around the country.