Good Morning, Australia! – Marriage Equality comes to one of the most conservative places in America – Gunmen prompt French cops to seal off an entire community – Is South Korea sliding backs into bad habits? – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Same sex couples are getting marriage licenses and taking their vows in the Deep South state of Alabama, now the 37th American state to achieve Marriage Equality.  This is despite a last minute order from the ultra-conservative state Chief Justice Roy Moore, a notoriously unconstitutional conservative grandstander, to local judges to defy Monday’s US Supreme Court ruling that paved the way.  In the US Justice system, Federal Courts trump state courts, and most judges apparently respect the constitution (unlike Moore).  A series of cases before the Supreme Court could clear the way for marriage equality in all 50 United States by June.

The man killed by a shark near Ballina, New South Wales is identified as Tadashi Nakahara, an avid surfer originally from Japan but who lived in the area for at least a year.  He was waiting for a wave when the shark came up behind him and bit through the man’s board and legs.  Nakahara’s friends attempt tourniquets and first aid, but the wounds were too profound.  The shark is believed to be a great white or possibly a large tiger shark.

Elite French police troops have locked down a housing estate in Marseilles after masked gunmen opened fire ona police vehicle with Kalashnikov rifles.  Marseille deputy mayor Caroline Pozmentier says the violence, in which no one was actually hit, was part of the city’s ongoing battle against drug dealers – not necessarily terrorism.  This all happened during a two-day visit by Prime Minister Manuel Valls who was commending the city on cutting its crime rate.

Cyprus denies it will lease two military bases to Russia’s military.  Russian media reported the deal involves an air base near Paphos and a naval base at Limassol, which Russia’s military already uses.  Cyprus is a member of the European Union but not a member of NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blames the Ukraine crisis on the West and NATO, saying they broke promises not to expand the military alliance eastward.  Putin says the West forces former Warsaw pact countries to choose between it and Russia.  Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel went to Washington to brief US President Barack Obama about the effort to restart peace talks and end fighting in eastern Ukraine.  It’s believed the plan will call for a demilitarized zone of 50 – 70 kilometers around the current front line in the Donbass region.

Nigeria’s elections will happen in six weeks, according to interior minister Abbo Moro, because enough troops will be available to secure polling stations then.  Voting was pushed back to give the military time to deal with the Boko Haram crisis in the northeast.  That’s prompting a lot of outrage and criticism from the opposition and people wondering what the military is going to do in six weeks that it couldn’t or wouldn’t do during the past six years of the crisis.  Thousands of Nigerians have been killed, maimed, and children enslaved as the Islamist terrorist group attempts to carve out its own caliphate.

Meanwhile, the lunatic leader of Boko Haram has vowed to defeat the African Union’s multinational force gathering around his army.  Boko Haram has already been put on the back heel by recent attacks from Chad and Niger.

South Korea’s ex-spy leader will serve three years in prison for interfering with the most recent presidential election.  Won Sei-hoon violated election laws by ordering National Intelligence Service (NIS) agents to smear the opponents of the current President, Park Guen-hye.  South Korea has a lot of other problems threatening its democracy, including detention of journalists and the banning of political parties.