Good Morning Australia!! - US President Obama wipes away tears as he puts his foot down on guns - A German city's NYE turned into a nightmare of sexual harassment - Trump might be banned from the UK for his hate speech - And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

"Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad," said US President Barack Obama as he announced an executive order to widen the use of background checks for private and small dealer gun purchases.  Mr. Obama listed the mass shootings in malls, schools, houses of worship, and workplaces that have occurred since he was elected president in 2008 - shedding a tear when he got to the 20 elementary-school children who were murdered in the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.  He said that the people's right to safe assembly outweighed the right to bear arms.  "The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now.  But they cannot hold America hostage.  We do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom," Obama said.

Police in Cologne, Germany are investigating at least 90 criminal sex harassment complaints allegedly committed by gangs of drunk and aggressive men - as many as 1,000 of them -  outside the main train station on New Year's Eve.  Witnesses say the men were of Arab or North African appearance, which is inflaming tensions in a country that is torn over the sudden influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants.  Women say they were grabbed, groped, and pushed around - and it might have been worse if not for their winter clothing.  Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker said she is outraged "over these disgusting attacks and sexual assaults", and Chancellor Angela Merkel said that everything must be done "to find the perpetrators as quickly and comprehensively as possible and punish them, regardless of their origin or background".

The UK Parliament has scheduled an 18 January debate on whether US presidential candidate and vile, attention-seeking racist twunt Donald Trump should be barred from the country because of his hate speech.  Several times on the campaign trail, Trump roused his Fascist rabble with attacks on Muslims, Mexicans, Women, et cetera.  More than half a million Brits signed a petition demanding that he be barred, which is more than five times the threshold for requiring a discussion in Parliament.  Milquetoast PM David Cameron claims he deplores the underachieving "tycoon" words, but doesn't think he should be barred. The UK has banned Muslim and Christian clerics for similar hate speech.

South Africa's ruling ANC party will push for tougher hate speech laws after a white opposition politician referred to black people as "monkeys" on Facebook.  The Democratic Alliance (DA) party sacked Penny Sparrow over her rather ridiculous claims she's not a racist.  But that was not enough for the ANC:  "We haven't had a single person imprisoned for racism despite many instances of racism.  We don't believe it addresses the crime of racism," said ANC spokesman Moloto Mothapo.  Noting that Holocaust denial and hate speech are banned in other countries, the planned legislation would jail anyone guilty of "racial bigotry", or "glorifying" apartheid.

Kuwait is recalling its ambassador to Iran, deepening the regional crisis in the Middle East that began with Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who was known for promoting non-violent resistance against the Saudi regime.  Angry Iranians sacked and burned the Saudi Embassy in Tehran; Saudi Arabia retaliated by cutting off diplomatic relations, flights, and trade, followed by its allies Bahrain and Sudan in varying degrees.  The US, UN and Turkey are among those calling for calm in the region.  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani saying it cannot "hide its crime of beheading a religious leader by severing political relations with Iran".

Venezuela's first opposition congress in 16 years has been sworn in.  Three opposition candidates and one ally of President Nicolas Maduro were not allowed to take their seats, as their elections are being contested.  The assembly will have less power than it anticipated to reverse the successful Socialist policies of Mr. Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, and replace them with pro-market nonsense:  Maduro last week stripped congress of its power to approve the hiring and firing of central bank directors, leaving that power solely in the hands of the President.