Kim Jong-isn’t.. another no show by the North Korean leader on an important day – Hong Kong protesters want to relight that pilot on their fizzling protests – One of New York’s finest is caught on video apparently helping himself to someone else’s money – The UKIP invades Parliament – And much more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was not on the official guest list of the officials celebration of the 69th anniversary of the founding of the ruling (and only) Workers’ Party, leading to even more speculation that something’s amiss in the Hermit Kingdom.  Earlier, he skipped an annual observance at his dad’s tomb.  Kim hasn’t been seen publicly in more than a month, and skipping major state functions that exist to kiss their butts isn’t something authoritarians do too often.  State media earlier said that the party is “growing stronger under the seasoned guidance of Marshal Kim Jong-un”.  Uh huh.  Yeah.  Sure.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters are calling on supporters to come out for a major rally later on Friday.  This, after the Hong Kong government cancelled planned talks with the leaders of what seemed to be a fizzling movement.  The protesters are demanding a fully free vote in the 2017 elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive – Beijing wants to control who can and who cannot run.

An international tribunal ordered Venezuela to pay the big, giant oil company Exxon-Mobil US $1.6 Billion, and both sides are claiming victory.  Exxon, because it’s getting back some of the money it lost when the late, great Hugo Chavez nationalized its Cerro Negro Project in 2007.  Venezuela, because the award is about one-tenth of what Exxon demanded, and Caracas can manage that.

The ultra-right UK Independence Party gained its first seat in Parliament, with Douglas Carswell winning a special by-election for the Clacton-on-Sea seat he abandoned when he quit the Tories.  Yeah, I know.  The Tories weren’t right-wing enough for these people.  SMDH. It’s a big defeat for Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mexican Federal Police arrested the leader of the Juarez Drug Cartel, calling the arrest “a capture of great importance.”  51-year old Carrillo Fuentes was taken into custody at a routine traffic checkpoint and taken into custody without a shot being fired.  It’s the second capture of a major drug lord in as many weeks.  Mexican authorities nabbed Hector Beltran Leyva of his namesake cartel as he ate fish tacos in a seafood restaurant on 1 October.  And if you’ve ever have a good fish taco, then you know it was worth it.

Meanwhile, Mexican investigators have found another mass grave near the southern town of Iguala, where 43 students were disappeared after a clash with local corrupt cops.  Some two-dozen police officers have been arrested and the military took over security for the area.  The case has outraged people in a country where abuse of authority is common in the rural areas.

New York City police are investigating a video purporting to show a white cop rousting a bunch of black guys during a birthday celebration, and stealing US$1,000 in cash out of a man’s pocket.  When the man complains, the cop pepper sprays him and his sister.  And the cop doesn’t seem to care that he’s being record, he acts with impunity.  It’s just another day in America, where videos of police abuses and violence (usually against black guys) surface daily.

Some 50 people were killed in suicide bombing attacks on Shiite Muslim Houthi rebels in Yemen.  Another suicide attack on a checkpoint killed 20 soldiers.  The attacks come amid a deepening political crisis triggered by the rebels' takeover of Sanaa last month. 

US-led airstrikes seem to be doing something – the Islamic State advance on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani is not only slowing down, the extremists are losing ground.  But it’s slow and frustrating – the Kurds need help on the ground, and the Turks are still sitting on their side of the border, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refusing to send them in unless the US sets up a no-fly zone against the Syrian Air Force.  And 25 Kurds have been killed in violence on the Turkish side in protests over the siege of Kobani.