Hello Australia!! - The US sanctions Iran - The Cocaine King is on the run - No beer for nazis - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Health Ministry says the death toll from the Ebola outbreak has topped 1,500 lives lost.  As of Sunday, officials say 1,506 people have died out of 2,239 confirmed infections.  Earlier this month, the UN World Health Organization said that the growing problem is still not a global threat.  Much has already been said about the difficulties fighting this second-largest outbreak of the killer virus, because of public mistrust and factional fighting in the DR Congo:  Just Monday, a mob attacked an Ebola crisis team in Beni, DR Congo, hurling bricks and setting their vehicle ablaze.  The driver was injured and is in a critical condition.

Donald Trump signed an order slapping economic sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.  Days after he reportedly called off a US military strike on Iran over the downing of an unmanned US surveillance drone, Trump cited that episode as the reason for the sanctions, as well as "many other things".  Responding over social media, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the Americans "despise diplomacy" and accused Trump of having a "thirst for war".

The Cocaine King of Milan - aka Italian mobster Rocco Morabito - has escaped a jail in Uruguay, where he had been awaiting extradition to Italy to face drug trafficking charges.  He is the suspected head of the 'Ndrangheta crime gang which controls 80 percent of Europe cocaine trade, and has been one of Italy's most wanted fugitives since 1995.  Looks like he'll be wanted for a while longer.

The suspected leader of the failed coup attempt in Ethiopia has been shot dead in a confrontation with government forces.  Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige was reportedly trying to escape from his hideout in the Amhara region's capital.  A day earlier, at least four government officials including the head of the military were shot dead by plotters.

Two German Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon jets crashed in mid-air over the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - both pilots ejected but only one was found alive, dangling from a parachute from a tree.  The remains of the other were found nearby.  The Luftwaffe said the aircraft were not carrying ammunition.

The Netherlands is investigating a major, widespread phone outage that took down the country's emergency services line.  Cops were deployed in conspicuous locations so people could easily find them in case of an emergency.  The national carrier Royal KPN NV said it did not appear to a cyber attack.

Kazakhstan evacuated a town of more than 44,000 after a Soviet-era ammo dump exploded, killing at least one person and injuring several others.  The blast sent a big fireball up over the town.  Amazingly, this is at least the fourth time that the military facility near the town of Arys, about 600 kilometers west of the capital Almaty, has blown up - similar incidents reported in 2009, 2014, and 2015.  Those were blamed on negligence and safety lapses.

The European Court of Justice has dealt another blow to Poland's far-right government, ruling it had violated EU law as well as the independence of its courts when it lowered the retirement age for judges in 2017.  The ruling PiS party claimed it was to modernize the judiciary, while critics argued the not-so-secret truth was to rid the bench of more Left-leaning judges that would rule against PiS's excesses.  The law has since been scrapped and President Andrzej Duda signed a law in December reinstating the judges who had been forced into early retirement.

A neo-nazi music festival in eastern Germany over the weekend really, really sucked, and not just because of the music and people attending.  Disgusted with being associated with the racist far-right, town officials in the town of Ostritz and a court in Dresden enacted an alcohol ban, making sure no one at the "Shield and Sword" festival could get a drink.  Adding a little salt to the dryness, Townspeople went to the stores to buy up all of the beer in case the fascists wanted to try and bring their own.. nope, no beer for nazis.