Hello Australia!! - High Times in the middle of America - The UK grows ever greener - Julian Assange is in a bad way say investigators - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

More carnage in America's shooting gallery.  Reports from Virginia Beach, Virginia say a disgruntled city employee returned to the municipal center with a gun, killed eleven people, and injured six more.  Police Chief James Cervera says the shooter is dead.  One of his officers' life was spared because of his tactical vest.  The FBI is assisting the investigation in the popular East Coast beach town.

The United Nations' expert on torture says Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been subjected to "prolonged exposure to psychological torture" and is unfit to stand trial.  Swiss law professor Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture, visited Assange in a high-security London prison on 9 May along with two medical experts, and came to the determination.  Assange was too ill to attend a hearing via video link yesterday and is reportedly confined to a prison hospital in the UK, while officials determine if he will be sent to the US to face charges of conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer.

The great state of Illinois in the US voted to legalize recreational Cannabis, making it the 11th US state to do so.  But because of its population, the move means a fifth of the states with a third of the total population will be able to purchase quality, craft-grown weed legally at licensed dispensaries.   Most importantly, the new law expunges the criminal records of people arrested for minor Cannabis crimes, which historically are disproportionately black people and other minorities targeted by the cops.  Cannabis has been decriminalized in scattered localities about the US as well, meaning that people caught with small amounts usually get a ticket and a warning.  

Britain has gone a full fortnight without using coal, making it the longest coal-free stretch since 1882.  "As more and more renewables come onto the system, we’re seeing things progress at an astonishing rate," said Fintan Slye, National Grid electricity system operator.  "We also broke our solar record for this month - with one day seeing over a quarter of the country powered by the sun."  Mr. Slye said that 2019 is on track to surpass 2018 as the UK's greenest year since the industrial revolution.

Donald Trump still doesn't understand how tariffs work.  After looking at a video of undocumented aliens crossing the border into the US Southwest, Trump impetuously announced new tariffs on Mexican imports as punishment.  Except that countries don't pay tariffs, US consumers do when they purchase items from those countries.  Although there's nothing concrete to work with, Trump's tariff would raise the price of Mexican products like beer and auto parts.  Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) simply said his country wouldn't be provoked by Trump's outburst.  Stocks took a pounding on the last day of the week because of Trump's ill-timed remark, with the Dow Jones more than 350 points.  

The US is grossly underestimating the number of civilians killed by its coalition in the Syrian Civil War, say rights groups.  The Pentagon claims its efforts against the so-called Islamic State resulted in 1,300 accidental civilian deaths.  A UK-based war monitoring group believes the true death toll is 13,000 civilians lives ended by the US coalition.  The US is "deeply in denial" about its actions, says Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera:  "Today's acknowledgement of further civilian deaths underscores the urgent need for thorough, independent investigations that can uncover the true scale of civilian casualties caused by coalition strikes, examine whether each attack complied with international humanitarian law and provide full reparation to victims," she said.

An eleven foot long alligator broke through a window and into the kitchen of a home near Tampa, Florida.  And he had a nasty disposition.  Luckily, no one was hurt and an animal control officer got the big chompy lizard out of there.

Baby Hippo Alert!!  Baby Hippo Alert!!  At the Dallas Zoo in Texas.