Hello Everybody!! - ScoMo is shunned by residents and firefighters during an ill-fated visit to the fire zone - Carlos Ghosn is officially a wanted man - The Western US is alarmed by mysterious objects in the night sky - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Australia's biggest Bushfire Crisis in years continues.. For more information about bushfires in your state, please click through to these sites:  For Victoria - VicEmergency; South Australia - SA CFS; New South Wales - NSW RFS; Western Australia - EmergencyWA; and Tasmania - TasFire.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison rushed off after being bitterly and brutally heckled by people in the town of Cobargo on Thursday.  Attempting to reach out to residents, they accused his government of failing to do enough to deal with the bushfires such as increasing funding to firefighters.  Residents shouted things like, "You won’t be getting any votes down here buddy.  You're an idiot," and, "Go on, piss off,” and, "You're not welcome."  Later, Morrison grabbed the hand of a firey who refused to shake his hand in an extremely awkward exchange.  Last month, Morrison was roundly criticized for going off on a Hawaiian vacation at the onset of the Bushfire Crisis.

The soot from the Bushfire Crisis is floating far beyond Aussie shores.  The haze has crossed the Tasman Sea and is making New Zealand's skies turn an eerie yellow shade - some say they can smell the fire, and even the glaciers now have a dusting of soot.  

The death toll in flooding in Jakarta has claimed 13 to 21 lives after the Indonesian capital got the most rain in 24 years of record keeping.

Norway recorded its warmest-ever January temperature since record-keepi began.  The village of Sunndalsora hit 19 C Degrees; that's 25 degrees higher than normal.  This also breaks the record for any winter month - December to February - in all of Scandinavia.

A 60-year old woman and her two daughters turned themselves into German police, in the investigation into the horror fire at the Krefeld Zoo.  The women admit lighting and releasing Chinese Sky Lanterns, which are suspected of sparking the fire at the Zoo's primate house.  Dozens of animals, including chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans were killed.  The burning paper lanterns are banned in most places in Germany.

In France, the union workers strike against President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to raise the retirement age is now the longest rail workers' strike since 1968.  Despite the opposition, Macron is vowing to press ahead with his efforts to overhaul the pension system.  And the Chilean anti-austerity protests rage on, despite near total silence in the Western media.  Earlier this week on New Year's Day, thousands poured into the streets of the capital Santiago to protest economic inequality and to commemorate the 26 people who have been killed during the ongoing demonstrations.

Interpol has issued a "red notice" for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, who fled Japan to avoid corruption charges.  Ghosn says he is innocent and the charges were a cynical, political attempt to thwart his plans to put Japanese corporations under foreign management.  Prosecutors say the fact that he fled proves his guilt.  The plane he took from Tokyo to Lebanon made a stop in Istanbul - Turkish media reports seven arrests have been made in connection with the case - four pilots, a cargo company manager, and two airport workers. Australian source: https://www.truebluecasinos.org

People in the western US are watching the skies with suspicion after several nights of odd drone flights.  Witnesses report seeing the drones - big ones, two meters in width - flying across the night sky above eastern Colorado and western Nebraska, usually in groups.  "There are many theories about what is going on, but at this point, that's all they are," said Yuma County, Colorado Sheriff Todd Combs, who described local residents as "very nervous and anxious".  The drones are flying over Federally-owned land, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reportedly "opened a full investigation to learn the source and purpose of the drones".

Also in the US, people in the great state of Illinois spent US$3.2 Million (almost AU$4.6 Million) on weed on the first day of legal recreational cannabis sales.  Crikey, that's a lot of taxable revenue.  Just sayin'.
The Land of Lincoln