Good Morning Australia!! - The world (America) stabs the Kurds in the back (again) - Australia lifts its human rights profile - Is China's Xi Jinping the most-powerful person in the world? - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Hey, did you see the thing about the two stars colliding in space?

Iraqi troops backed by Shiite militias moved into the northern city of Kirkuk, seizing the city in retaliation for the Kurds' independence referendum three weeks ago.  Government troops also took the local governor's office, a key oil field, and a military base.  Kirkuk is outside the Kurdish autonomous zone of northern Iraq, but has a Kurdish majority population.  Referring to the indispensable role the Kurds played in dislodging the terrorist scum of the so-called Islamic state, thousands of Kurds asked, "We were there for the world, why isn't the worst there for us?" as they hit the road north for the Kurdish autonomous territory - where women drive cars, hold jobs and government positions, and dress the way they deem appropriate.

Australia will join the United Nations Human Rights Council, after an election in Geneva overnight.  The three-year term on the influential body commences on 1 January 2018.  This comes despite a report released jsut before the election which criticized "Australia's backward slide" on human rights when it comes to of indigenous people and refugees.  "Australia owes those people obligations," said Hugh de Krester of the Human Rights Law Centre which produced the report.  The balloting placed 15 nations on the Human Rights Council including Congo, which happened over the objections of the United States and UK:  "Countries that aggressively violate human rights at home should not be in a position to guard the human rights of others," said US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who totally ignored chronic poverty and crime on indigenous reservations, murderous police brutality against black people and the lack of justice against abusive cops, and the orange clown in the White House who said he grabs women by the p***y and wants to force footballers to stand for the national anthem. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to be named chairman of the ruling Communist Party at the party's congress this week.  He'd be the first person to hold that position since Chairman Mao Zedong, and as president will hold an extreme level of personal power that critics say threatens to push China backwards in terms of freedom and democracy.  In Xi's first five-year term as President, he drove out rivals and silenced activists, installed himself as head of key committees, overhauled the military to report to him, and launched an aggressive foreign policy that including island-building in what the rest of the world considers international waters. 

At least 31 people are dead in Portugal because of a wildfire that broke out over the weekend.  North of the border, another three were killed in a fire in northwestern Spain.  The conditions were made worse by Hurricane Ophelia, which whipped up wind off of Europe's west coast and spread the soot and dust all the way north to the UK, which reported a red sunset.

In Northern California, a rollover accident of a water tanker truck killed the driver, making him the 41st person to die as a result of the Wine Country Wildfires.  The tanker was meant to go to the front lines of the firefighting effort.  Three large bushfires and several smaller ones have scorched more than 200,000 acres, destroyed or damaged more than 5,500 homes, and displaced 100,000 people.  Officials say the fires are only 15 to 60 percent controlled.

The death toll from the bombings in Somalia's capital Mogadishu continues to rise, with more than 300 dead and at least that many injured.  Investigators now say the devastation was caused by twin truck bombs, including at least one fuel truck.  Authorities buried around 165 unidentified bodies that were burned beyond recognition.  And although the al Shabaab terrorist group hasn't yet claimed credit - perhaps realizing that it had gone too far with this scale of an attack on civilians - it is believed to be its 34th car bombing in Mogadishu just this year.

Venezuela's conservative opposition appeared stunned at the ruling Socialist Party's victory in weekend local elections, and as usual vowed not to accept the results.  But the Socialists won 17 of 23 contested state governorships in polls monitored by 70 international observers. 

France's gender equality minister is proposing a crackdown on sexual harassment on the streets with on-the-spot fines for persons caught catcalling and engaging in lecherous behaviour in public.  Marlene Schiappa said, "The idea is that society as a whole redefines what it is acceptable or not."  She argues the proposal is "completely necessary because at the moment street harassment is not defined in the law," and that women "can't currently make a complaint".  Lawmakers will vote on the new legislation next year.