Good Morning Australia!! - The UN Security Council is very interested in two Australians who allegedly did business with North Korea - Trump denies influence peddling - The Pope steers away from conservative culture wars - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Update:

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) is refusing to release a letter from the UN Security Council seeking an update on the investigation into two Australian businessmen who allegedly violated international sanctions against the secretive and oppressive Kim regime of North Korea.  DFAT claims "the material in question is exempt from disclosure as its release could reasonably be expected to cause damage to Australia's international relations".  Earlier this year, the ABC's 7:30 program and the Panama Papers linked a Sydney businessman a Brisbane geologist to banned North Korean deals.

US President-elect Donald Trump is denying an explosive report that he has already used the White House to further his business interests.  Argentinian President Mauricio Macri called to congratulate Trump on his dubious election "victory", Trump reportedly pressed Macri to blast through the permit approval process on a Trump building project in Buenos Aires.  Macri acknowledges the call, but claims the subject of the building never came up.

The UK is considering inviting US President-elect Donald Trump for a state visit.  Number 10 stressed the importance of maintaining the "special relationship" between the countries.

A historian located a 19th Century Royal decree from Bavaria, ordering Friedrich Trump - the grandfather of US fuhrer-elect Donald - to leave the country and never come back after he failed to do military service.  Donald, BTW, also skipped out on his required military service during the Vietnam War.

France's former President Nicolas Sarkozy is leaving politics again after losing the Republican Party's presidential primary.  Two former Prime Ministers, Alain Juppe and Francois Fillon, face each other in a run-off next Sunday.  The winner will represent the center-right in next year's presidential election, expected to be a bruising contest against a surging far right led by Marine Le Pen.

A senior Kremlin defense official is confirming reports that Russia is moving S-400 Surface to Air missiles and Iskander nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to its exclave Kaliningrad, which is a sliver of Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.  Viktor Ozerov of the Federation Council claims it is "response measures to such threats" posed by NATO's planned missile shield in Eastern Europe.  Iskander missiles could easily strike European capitals such as Berlin from Kaliningrad.

South Africa is proposing a national minimum wage of roughly AU$333 per month.  Critics of people being able to eat and clothe their children say businesses can't afford it.  More than half of the South African population leaves on less than half of the proposed minimum. 

The UN emergency relief coordinator for Syria says the number of people living under siege in the war-torn country has jumped from 486,700 to 974,080 in six months.  Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Stephen O'Brien says people are being "isolated, starved, bombed and denied medical attention and humanitarian assistance in order to force them to submit or flee", putting most of the blame on government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

More than a hundred people were hurt when US police surrounded peaceful and unarmed protesters on a disused bridge in frigid North Dakota, spraying them with water hoses as well as using rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray.  The protesters are trying to stop the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which crosses the main source of freshwater in the upper plains region - the Missouri River.  The Morton County, North Dakota justifies the human rights violations by claiming that peaceful protesters standing around and passing bongs around drum circles is an "ongoing riot".  Buckle up kids, when Trump is president it will get a lot worse.

Pope Francis is extending to all Roman Catholic priests the authority to forgive women who have had an abortion - it's not a change in church teaching on Women's Reproductive Rights, but it's a major step away from the "culture wars" of his predecessors.  The Pope started this twelve months ago for his "Year of Mercy" which ended on Saturday.  Prior to that, only bishops or special confessors were allowed to forgive abortion in most parts of the world.