Good Morning Australia!! - The Caliphate without a capital - The US investigates the deaths of its troops in a place where few knew they were stationed - A Game of Thrones star accuses Harvey Weinstein - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The de facto capital of the so-called Islamic State has fallen to a coalition of US backed fighters in Syria after a little publicized, four-month battle.  Clearing operations to rid the city of Raqqa of Islamic State sleeper cells and landmines are underway.  IS made Raqqa the headquarters of its self-proclaimed "caliphate" in 2014, implementing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law and using beheadings, crucifixions, and torture to terrorize opponents.

The Pentagon is launching a full scale investigation into the deaths of four US troops in Niger last month.  At issue is the nature of the mission, why the men were sent into what is believed to have been an Islamic State ambush, and why air cover wasn't called in earlier to try and back up the ground troops.  The bodies of one of the men wasn't recovered for two weeks, which is a sore spot in a military that claims it will not leave a body behind.  It's also grating to many in and out of the military that Donald Trump has not commented on the situation, nor has he called the families of the fallen to express condolences.

Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon is the latest actor to reveal a personal horror story of the Hollywood casting couch, telling a gathering in Los Angeles that she was raped by a director when she was 16 years old.  At an Elle Magazine event in Hollywood event on Monday, the star of "Legally Blonde" and "Walk the Line" star said she felt "true disgust at the director" and anger at the show business executives "who made me feel silence was a condition of my employment".  Witherspoon didn't name the director.  At the same event, fellow Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence said she was a teen when she was paraded naked in front of producers who criticized her weight.  Ms. Lawrence didn't name those producers.

Earlier, Lena Headey - who plays Cersei Lannister on "Game of Thrones" - revealed a troubling encounter with disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.  She said she had once shared an elevator with Weinstein after he had invited her to his room to show her a script.  Headey says she made it clear that she was all business and wouldn't be doing "anything else" - she said he turned angry, grabbed her arm, pulled her back to the elevator, and warned her never to speak about it.  Weinstein has denied allegations of non-consensual sex.  On Tuesday, he resigned from the board of The Weinstein Company after having been removed as boss last week because of the sex abuse scandal.

The son of a journalist who was assassinated by car bomb is accusing the government of Malta of being a "mafia state".  53-year old Daphne Caruana Galizia exposed top politicians' connections to the Panama Papers and had a well-known blog accusing top politicians of corruption.  She was murdered on Monday night near her home in Bidnija, near Mosta.  "My mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it," said her son Matthew.  European Parliament head Antonio Tajini is calling for a full investigation.