Good Morning Australia!! - Actress and Author Carrie Fisher dies after a massive heart attack - How "free" are the rescued Chibok girls? - Israel defies the UN Security Council - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The daughter of actress and author Carrie Fisher says the "Star Wars" star died in hospital in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, after suffering a heart attack aboard a passenger plane on Friday.  "She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly," read the statement from her daughter Billie Lourd released through the family publicist, "Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers."  Born to Hollywood royalty Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher in 1956, she rocketed to fame as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" franchise - the one character who faced down the evil Darth Vader without flinching.  Later on, she went through a period of drug abuse as the roles became less and less rewarding, but turned adversity into triumph with 1977's semi-autobiographical novel "Postcards from the Edge".  Adapting that into a screenplay for 1990's hit movie led to a side career as a highly in-demand script doctor for such blockbusters "Sister Act", "Outbreak", and "The Wedding Singer".

US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are in Honolulu, Hawaii to visit to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, marking the first time that a democratically-elected Japanese leader visited the spot where Imperial Japanese planes bombed the US Navy base, prompting the US to join World War II.  More than 2,400 Americans died in the sneak attack on 7 December 1941. 

Families of the rescued Chibok girls say their daughters are still prisoners - not of Boko Haram, but of the Nigerian government.  Nigeria made a point of announcing that around 20 girls rescued a few weeks back would be reunited with their families for Christmas.  But the girls were taken to the home of a politician in Chibok, and not allowed to leave with their families.  What's more, soldiers prevented the families from taking photos of their reunions.  Of the 276 students kidnapped two and a half years ago, 197 are still reportedly missing, and negotiations for their release are under way.

Searchers found one of the flight data recorders from the Russian military jet that crashed in the Black Sea last week.  The aging, Soviet-era Tupolev-154 was carrying the military's choir to Syria to entertain troops on Christmas Day when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Sochi.  All 92 people on board were killed.  So far, searchers have recovered twelve bodies and several fragments of the plane.

Russia is angry at the US for loosening restrictions on arms sales to western-backed Syrian rebels "who don't differ than much from blood thirsty head choppers," according to the Foreign Ministry.  Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claims it opens the possibility of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles making their way to the battlefield in Syria's Civil War.  The new guidelines on arms sales were written into the new US defense budget signed by President Obama last week.

Israel is poised to approve 390 new construction permits for Israeli homes in Palestinian areas of Jerusalem.  This comes as Israel is still fuming over last Friday's United Nations Security Council resolution that demands an end to settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.  The settlements are considered against international law, and are damaging Israel's relations in the international community.

Jakarta police say six people died of suffocation and five survived after robbers locked them into a tiny bathroom measuring only one meters by two meters.  They weren't found until a day after the robbery.  Before the five were rushed to hospital, police say the survivors told them that the robbers were "were carrying firearms and machetes". 

A judge in Buenos Aires approved corruption charges against former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is alleged to have shown preference to a friend's construction company in awarding government contracts.  CFK denies the allegations and has her federal budget to back her up.

Romania's president will not approve the prime ministerial candidate nominated by the victorious left-of-center Social Democrat Party (PSD) - Sevil Shhaideh would have been Romania's first female and Muslim prime minister.  President Klaus Iohannis has given no reasons for his decision, which is the first time a PM candidate has been rejected by the president.  Now, there's talk of another first - impeaching sexist, bigoted ol' Klaus.